Argentinian burger recipe

Posted on February 18, 2011 by linda

BH&T Argentina Burger RecipeAsado Burger with Chimichurri Sauce
Argentina – oh blessed land of beef lovers – is located on the Southeastern coast of South America, bordered by Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil.  It’s a large country whose food and culture is greatly influenced by Europeans (Spanish, Italian and French) who have been coming there since the early 1500’s.

from CIA World Factbook

For our purposes, the most important thing to know about Argentinians is that they eat A LOT of beef.  Argentina is the number one per capita consumer of beef in the world, 55% higher consumption rate than the US (Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, Livestock and Poultry: World Markets and Trade, annual).  It is not uncommon for Argentinians to eat beef with two meals a day, so clearly this burger is all about the meat.

One of the most common ways to cook beef is “asado” over an open fire, or barbeque.  For the most part, because the flavor of beef is so important, seasoning is simple with just salt added to steaks or roasts so that the meat and smoke of the barbeque are the dominant flavors.

So, here is where the real adventure begins – the challenge, grind my own meat to make the BEST BURGER EVER!  Of course, it is never that easy – what kind of meat to use, sirloin or chuck, brisket or ribs, grass fed or feed fed?  I played with different cuts of meat and came up with a combination that was both tender and tasty, we had a great time tasting different options, so I encourage everyone to try it yourself and see what ratio of beef cuts you like best.

sirloin tips, made the best burger ever!

Even though I’m giving you my original combo below, when I went to repeat this recipe, the chuck didn’t look that good, but they had a really nice sirloin tip that had good marbling so I used 100% sirloin tip last night and it was fantastic.  The lesson learned here is that you need to look at the neat available and find something that looks good with enough fat to keep your burger tasty.

One other beef note, we did a side by side taste test of grass fed vs. feed fed beef and there is a taste difference (as a person who made her living in marketing not long ago, I was dubious, hence the taste test).  My whole family liked the grass fed beef slightly better – however, none of us liked it enough to justify the $2 per pound price difference.  I used grass fed beef for this burger, but I doubt I will go to the expense of buying grass fed again.  That being said – fresh is incredibly important, makes a big difference in flavor.  Buy your meat (ground or not) the day you are cooking burgers, once you try a really fresh burger, you’ll never want one from meat that’s sat in the fridge for a few days.

Chimichurri sauce is a staple of the Argentine table and is served as a condiment.  Unlike the chimichurri that you get in restaurants in the US, the Argentine version is more like a vinaigrette than a chili sauce.  I loved it so much, I dipped my burger in the sauce.  You can adjust the recipe to your own flavor preferences, add onion or shallots, increase or decrease the red pepper, add tomatoes, etc…  Unlike many other South American countries, Argentinians do not generally eat spicy food, the flavors are much more European than what Americans think of as typically Latin.  The sauce could be used on a veggie burger, but it feels a little disloyal to the beef loving Argentinians, proceed at your own risk…

This recipe gives you instructions on best practices for grilling (giving the asado part of the burger), but yesterday it was a little cold to dig out the BBQ, so we cooked indoors on my standard grill pan and the burger was still delicious.  The only big difference is that it’s almost impossible to get enough heat on the stove top to surround the burger and melt the cheese (as you can see from the picture), taste is still good, so never fear.

This is the easiest burger yet to make – the only trick is make the sauce ahead of time.  We served it with an Argentinian Malbec, which seemed a good idea, but I tried a new one that was recommended by the little write up at shelf – it was lousy.  Las Perdices 2008 Malbec, too acidic and cheap tasting ($15.99 retail) – we tossed it and opened a bottle of 7 Deadly Zins – a good old standby, inexpensive but tasty.  There are good Malbecs out there, we won’t give up.

Argentina Burger
10 ounces of beef chuck steak
6 ounces of beef sirloin steak
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
Vegetable oil
4 ounces manchego cheese sliced very thin
8 slices Italian bread
Olive oil
1 clove garlic
Chimichurri sauce (recipe below)

Put the chuck and the sirloin in the freezer for ½ hour before you begin (you want it cold, not frozen).  Cut the steak into 1 inch cubes.  Place ¼ of the cubes into a food processor with metal blade and pulse until steak is ground evenly.  Put the ground beef into a bowl.  Repeat with the rest of the beef.  Add salt to the ground beef and mix by hand.  Form four patties about ½-¾ inch thick.

Prepare a charcoal grill and bring to med-high heat (if you can hold your hand about 5 inches over the grill for 3-4 seconds, that’s about the right temp).  Put the cover on the grill and let it heat up for about 5 minutes.  Remove the cover, dip a paper towel in vegetable oil and oil the grill grate.  Place the burgers on the grill, cook uncovered for about 2-3 minutes, then turn.  From here the cooking time will vary depending on how you like your burger cooked.  I found for a well done burger (no pink), it takes about six more minutes, but this varies so much depending on exact thickness of burger and temp of grill that you are going to have to be the judge for your own circumstance.  When the burgers are almost done (about a minute left to cook), add the cheese and put the grill cover on.  Manchego doesn’t melt to a creamy texture, it acts more like a really well aged cheddar, so don’t overcook your burger trying to get a smooth melt.

Meanwhile, lightly oil an indoor grill pan and place the bread slices on the grill to toast.  Turn after the bread browns slightly.  Cut the garlic clove in half and rub the garlic over the toasted bread.  This can be done before you grill the burgers.

Place each patty on a piece of toast and top with 1-2 Tablespoons of Chimichurri Sauce, then finish with remaining bread.  Serve with the rest of the Chimichurri Sauce in a bowl for those who can’t resist adding more.

Chimichurri Sauce
¼ cup plus 1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic
¾ cup flat leaf parsley
¼ cup white wine vinegar
¼ teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
Dash red pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients in a mini food processor and blend until smooth.  Let the mixture sit at room temperature overnight (minimum 12 hours).

BH&T Argentina Chimichurri

 

Argentinian burger recipe

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

Posted in beef burgers, south american recipes | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

Antigua and Barbuda burger recipe

Posted on February 11, 2011 by linda

BH&T Antigua Burger Tropical Pineapple Salsa Burger with Okra Fungee (polenta)
I know, it’s the middle of winter (for many of us), but the alphabet doesn’t give us any wiggle room.  Next stop on our tour of the world is Antigua and Barbuda.  This country is an island nation that comprises the two main islands of Antigua and Barbuda (duh) and a small uninhabited island nature preserve called Redonda.

Map courtesy of CIA World Factbook

The islands are located in the Eastern Caribbean, just Southeast of Puerto Rico.  Isn’t the map super helpful? – I always wondered what those specks were!

The flavors of the country are influenced by the many different cultures that have settled on the islands – Amerindian, African and British.

The challenge with creating recipes for the Caribbean nations is that each country is generally quite small (hence the “speck” comment) and there is a ton of cross pollenization of flavors and ingredients. So, with each country, I’m trying to find what their unique spin/ingredient is.  Antigua contributes to the local flavors the Antiguan Black Pineapple, so I decided to concentrate on pineapple for the flavor of this burger.  Of course, I couldn’t find any source for Antiguan Black Pineapple, so I was forced to use plain old store bought pineapple.  The big difference (according to various sources on the internet) is that the Antiguan version is reported to be the sweetest pineapple that you can find.   It is important that you use fresh pineapple that is at peak ripeness.  Look for pineapple that is golden and that has evenly sized diamond patterning throughout.  The first time I made this recipe, pineapple was in season and it made a really sweet (in a good way) salsa.  This time, neither pineapple nor mango were in season, so I had to rely on imported versions that were less flavorful.  It was still good and the papaya from Belize was really sweet, it just made a slightly different flavor then if you make this when the fruit is really good.  I will say, it was a nice change of pace and almost made us forget that there’s three feet of snow in our front yard, almost…

Some of you may be tempted to ask if you can use canned pineapple and the simple answer is, if you like canned pineapple, sure.  It will taste like canned pineapple (a totally different flavor than real fresh pineapple).  I do not recommend it, but what you do in your kitchen has to make you happy, so just make food you like.

This is one of the easier recipes to make.  Don’t let the fungee scare you, it’s just polenta.  If you don’t want to make polenta I recommend just using an Italian bread for your bun.  I do not recommend the pre-made polenta – I’ve only tasted it once (to see if it could be used instead of making homemade) and I thought it was vile.

The polenta takes about an hour to make – but it is not labor intensive.  Everything else can be made fast.  This recipe isn’t spicy so even my 10 month old was able to eat the burger and the fungee, and even my father thought this was delicious.  Pork and fruit – a classic combination.

Antigua and Barbuda Burger
3 oz prosciutto
1 pound ground pork (ground chicken can be used too)
½ teaspoon allspice
2 Tablespoons coconut oil (you can substitute peanut oil)
8 Tablespoons Pineapple Mango Salsa
4 Okra Fungee “Buns”

Slice prosciutto into strips.  Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat, add prosciutto and cook until lightly browned (about 3 minutes).  Remove from heat and set aside.

Mix ground pork and allspice in a bowl.  Form four patties.  Heat oil on a grill pan until shimmering.  Add patties and cook until they reach an internal temperature of 160˚F (165˚F for chicken).

Prepare four plates by inverting the bowls with the Okra Fungee Buns on each plate so that the formed fungi comes out of the bowl and onto the plate.  Add the pork patties, then put 2 Tablespoons of the Pineapple Salsa on each burger.  Top with strips of browned prosciutto.

Pineapple Salsa
1/4 cup fresh papaya diced
1 cup fresh ripe pineapple diced
1/4 cup fresh mango diced
½  small jalapeno minced
1 Tablespoon cilantro chopped
Kosher salt to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Adjust jalapeno, salt and cilantro to taste (this isn’t intended to be a spicy salsa, but you can make it more spicy if you prefer).  Cover the bowl and refrigerate salsa for at least a half hour before using.

BH&T Antigua Salsa

Okra Fungee “Buns”
 6 fresh okras sliced into rounds (you can also use 1 cup of frozen sliced okra – don’t thaw)
3 cups water
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup fine cornmeal
Butter

Bring water to a boil and add okra and ¼ teaspoon salt.  Cook for 5 minutes.  Remove okra from pot using a slotted spoon.  You should have about 2 cups of cooking liquid left and it will be thick and syrupy.  Put cornmeal into a bowl and ladle in 1 cup of the cooking liquid.  Mix together until cornmeal is completely wet (this seems unnecessary, yet it is really helpful – it makes it much easier to keep the whole dish from clumping up).  Add wet corn meal into the cooking liquid and add ½ teaspoon salt and another cup of water so that you have a total of three cups (if you had less than 2 cups of okra water left, just add more fresh and vice versa).  Stir until completely mixed with no lumps.  Let sit for 2 minutes.  Add the okra into the cornmeal and turn heat to medium until mixture starts bubbling.  Reduce heat to low (make sure it’s still spitting occasionally though, don’t turn it too low) and continue to cook stirring two or three times – don’t worry it to death – until the mixture pulls away from pan (approximately 45 minutes).  If the mixture starts getting pasty or dry but isn’t pulling away from the sides, add a little water and make sure your temperature isn’t too high.

Spoon mixture into 4 buttered bowls or ramekins to mold the “bun” for the burger.  Let sit while you cook the burgers.

BH&T Antigua Fungee

 

Antigua and Barbuda burger recipe

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

Posted in caribbean recipes, pork burgers | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Angolan burger recipe

Posted on February 8, 2011 by linda

BH&T Angola burger recipeRed Palm and Spice burger with Fried Okra and Spicy Pepper Relish served on Yucca cake
Our next stop on this culinary journey is Angola. The Republic of Angola is a beautiful country located in South Western Africa.  It’s bordered by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Namibia.  The West Coast of the country is on the Atlantic Ocean.

Courtesy of CIA World Factbook

With it’s mild weather and fertile soil, Angola is a natural food producer and once had a thriving agricultural industry.  Unfortunately, the story of Angola doesn’t stop there.  Civil war ravaged the country from 1975-2002.  Land that was used for farming and livestock is now riddled with land mines and unusable and Angola has become a net importer of food.  The country is slowly recovering from the decades of war and the economy is growing.  Clean up efforts are underway to recapture the land and free it of mines.  You can learn more about Angola on their embassy website http://www.angola.org/.

Because Angola was ruled by Portugal from the 16th century through to 1975, there is a strong Portuguese influence in the culture and the food.  The food of Angola is SPICY, recipes I found included Habanero peppers and Scotch Bonnet peppers as well as generous use of Jalapenos and Cayenne.  Because of this, the recipe below is pretty spicy – you’ll want to taste as you go (especially the relish) and adjust to your own spice preference.  Overall, what I’ve given you is probably on the mild side to be completely authentic but hot enough to make my husband break a sweat.

One note on working with chili peppers – I firmly believe that you should always taste your pepper before you throw it into any dish.  My experience with Jalapenos in particular is that there is a ton a variation in heat from one individual pepper to the next, so I always taste before I use a pepper.  It’s important to taste from the middle of the pepper as the tip is sometimes milder than the rest of the pepper.

So, we know we need spice, but what about the starch?  In Angola, the primary starch is Cassava or Yucca Root.  This is not an ingredient I had ever worked with before and it is tough.  Yucca flour (or Manioc Flour or Tapioca Flour – all the same thing), can be found in either the Gluten Free section of a specialty grocer or near the corn starch in the baking section.  It’s got the consistency of corn starch.  Here’s where my confidence was crushed – I tried a lot of options to get the starch for this dish, went through an entire Yucca root and a full box of Tapioca flour.  Finally I combined the Tapioca flour with some corn flour and made a pancake that was yummy and moist without being gummy.  The next time I tried finely ground corn meal instead of corn flour and that worked well too.

The last flavor that is a must for Angola is Red Palm Oil.  Again, you can find this at Whole Foods or other specialty markets – or you can get it online.  Its melting point is right near room temperature, so, depending on how warm your store and house are, it can be a solid, semi-solid or a liquid.  It’s also RED – very red, stains everything it touches red, so be careful and don’t wear white when preparing this dish.  The flavor is distinctive and gives a rich base to this whole dish. I can’t think of a substitute, so please, try one jar, it’s an exotic flavor that is easy to combine with other basic flavors.

This burger is unusual and delicious, the flavors are tangy and spicy and even my father, who was dubious, enjoyed it.  I hope you do to.  It’s not hard to make, if you don’t want to tackle the yucca cake, you can just use a non-sweet cornbread and slice it thin, grill it with the red palm oil and it will be tasty.

Angolan Burger
1 pound ground beef (80% lean)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon kosher Salt
1 Tablespoon red palm oil
4 Yucca Cakes (recipe below)
Fried Okra (recipe below)
Spicy Pepper Relish (recipe below)

Mix ground beef, cayenne and salt together in a bowl.  Form four patties.  Heat red palm oil on a grill pan until shimmering.  Add patties and cook to desired temperature.

Place Yucca Cakes on four plates, add beef patties, place Fried Okra on top of each patty and top with Spicy Pepper Relish (about a Tablespoon for each burger, more if you like it hot!).

You can substitute ground chicken for the meat in this recipe, the only change then is that I add 4 teaspoons of red palm oil to the meat itself to give it extra moistness.

Spicy Pepper Relish
2 Tablespoons red palm oil
1 small yellow onion, finely minced
1 large jalapeno, finely minced
6 oz tomato paste
⅓ cup cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar (packed)
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Kosher salt (to taste)

Heat red palm oil in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onions and jalapenos and sauté until just soft (about 3 minutes).  Add all other ingredients, bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cook for 30 minutes.  Remove from heat and cool to room temperature before using.

Fried Okra
10-12 fresh okra
½ cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 Tablespoons coconut oil

Don’t be afraid of okra – it doesn’t have to be slimy, try it this once and your fears will be conquered.  Don’t wash the okra, water is your enemy, just slice the ends of and slice the okra lengthwise into long strips.  Combine four, cayenne and salt in a bowl.  Dredge okra slices in flour mixture.  Heat oil in a medium sauté pan until shimmering (you want about ¼ inch of hot oil in bottom of pan).  Add okra slices (Note: cook these in batches, if you put all of the okra in at once, the oil will cool too much and everything will be mushy – you’ll need to do about four batches to get it right – add more coconut oil if level gets low) to oil and cook until lightly browned (about 2 minutes).  Drain on paper towel and use while hot.

BH&T Angola Fried okra Yucca Cake
½ cup tapioca flour
½ cup corn flour (or fine ground corn meal)
½ cup cold water
3 Tablespoons red palm oil (melted)
¾ teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon cider vinegar
¼ cup Greek yogurt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl to make a smooth batter.  Heat an additional 2 teaspoons of red palm oil in a frying pan over medium high heat.  Pour batter into pan using a ½ cup measure and forming rounds.  Cook each round until it is firm on the bottom and bubbly on top (this is like making pancakes, you want to get it cooked through before turning or you’ll end up with a mess).  Turn and cook the other side until golden.

These are great warm, but also worked cooled, so don’t think you have to time everything to be ready at exactly the same time.

BH&T Angola yucca cake

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

Angolan burger recipe

Posted in african recipes, beef burgers | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Andorran burger recipe

Posted on February 5, 2011 by linda

BH&T Andorra burger recipePork burgers served over Trinxat with Garlic Camembert
Andorra is in the Pyrenees bordered by Spain and France.  It’s tiny, but prosperous (big tourist destination).  These folks have the 4th highest life expectancy in the world (Source: CIA World Factbook), maybe I’ll take up skiing and move there, live to 82…

from CIA World Factbook

Any way,  the food here is cosmopolitan, lots of French and Spanish influence.  The hardest part of coming up with an Andorra burger was finding something quintessentially Andorran versus generally European.  Located in the mountains, they don’t have a huge agricultural industry, but they can grow potatoes and cabbage and they like cured meats (who doesn’t?).  The most common native dish is Trinxat – a potato and cabbage mixture.  Trinxat recipes vary a bit, but they all include the basics of cabbage, potatoes and bacon.  The dish can be made more like a pancake (by adding egg or some kind of binding agent) or a little more rustically as I have done below.

In addition to Trinxat, I found a lot of references to a cheese infused with fermented garlic.  Rather than torture us all by trying to locate this cheese or find fermented garlic, I chose a more Western cook friendly approach and just combined roasted garlic with a nice buttery Camembert that you can get at your local grocery store.  I have no idea if this comes close to the authentic Andorran cheese, but it is delicious and really easy to make.

The end result is a really hearty burger, good for cold winter nights.  I served it with an inexpensive Spanish wine from the Jumilla region called Wrongo Dongo.  I couldn’t resist the name frankly.  The label claimed that this wine would go with roasts or lighter flavors.  All and all, it was ok, about what you’d expect for $8.99 – sharp, a little spicy and fruity, it worked with the burgers just fine, but next time I might try a mellower pinot…but that’s another blog.

I didn’t think this worked as a veggie burger – it ended up too bland, but it does work well with beef as well as pork.  Be generous with the salt as the potatoes and cabbage tend to suck up the salt.  Lastly, this recipe is a little more complicated than previous recipes because you want to serve the trixat hot you have to get the timing right.  The actual recipes are simple,  the total time is about an hour (you can do much of it ahead though).

Andorra Burger Recipe
1 tomato chopped
2 Tablespoon olive oil
1½  teaspoon fresh Thyme chopped
Kosher salt
1 pound ground pork
Trinxat (recipe below)
4 Tablespoons Roasted Garlic Camembert (recipe below)
8 strips of cooked bacon

In a small bowl, toss the chopped tomato with 1 Tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon Thyme and a pinch of salt.  Let sit while you prepare the burgers

In medium bowl, combine pork, ½ teaspoon thyme, 1 Tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of salt.  Divide the pork into four patties.  Grill the patties to 160 degrees internal temperature (about 8-10 minutes).

Divide the Trinxat into four equal portions and form each portion into a circle on each diner’s plate.  Place patty on top of Trinxat, spread 1 Tablespoon Roasted Garlic Camembert on each then top with 3 strips of bacon and a spoonful of the tomato mixture.  Serve immediately.

Trinxat
½ head of Savoy cabbage, outside layer and core removed
3-4 Yukon Gold potatoes (about 12 ounces), peeled and cut into large pieces
1 clove of garlic crushed and minced
1 teaspoon olive oil
¼ pound bacon (four strips)

Boil the cabbage in large pot for 35-40 minutes or until very soft (fork should pierce easily).  In separate pot boil potatoes until very soft – about 20 minutes.  Drain both potatoes and cabbage.  Put both into a large bowl and mash together (I use a hand masher to get a chunky/rustic feel).  Place oil and garlic in an 11 inch saute pan and turn on heat to low.  Sautee garlic until lightly golden (about 3 minutes), stirring constantly (it burns easily, so keep the heat low and don’t walk away).  Add the garlic to the cabbage mixture.  At this point, you can refrigerate the Trinxat mixture covered for up to one day – just bring it back to room temperature before proceeding.

BH&T Andorra Trinxat

Cut the bacon strips in half.  Turn the heat up on the sauté pan (don’t clean the garlic and oil out, it adds flavor), add the bacon cook until crispy (by cutting the strips in half you should get less curling in the bacon, and they will be the perfect size for the burgers).

Drain the bacon on paper towels.  Reserve up to 2 Tablespoons of the bacon grease, pour off the excess.  Do not clean the pan, heat the bacon grease in the same pan over medium high heat and add the Trixat mixture – flatten it so that it makes a large pancake shape.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  This is the only hard part – using a large plate or a cutting board, invert the Trinxat onto the plate/board, then slide back into the hot pan (so you can cook the other side).  You’ll have to re-form the pancake, don’t worry if it sticks, just use a spatula and turn over the parts that don’t move easily.  Cook for another 5 minutes or until hot all the way through.

BH&T Andorra Trinxat2

Roasted Garlic Camembert
2.5 ounces Camembert – rind removed, at room temperature
2 cloves of roasted garlic

In small bowl, mash the garlic into the cheese.  You can make this ahead of time and refrigerate for several days.  It’s best if you bring it to room temperature again before using.

Andorran burger recipe

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach


Posted in european recipes, pork burgers | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

make your own bbq sauce – it’s easy

Posted on February 2, 2011 by linda

So, I promised on my facebook page (search for burgers here and there) to share what I’ve learned about creating easy, great bbq sauces and “ketchups”.  This post is dedicated to keeping my sister from following any recipe that calls for grape juice and ketchup – it’s just not right (although it’s possible that it isn’t as wrong as it sounds).

Along this journey, we’re going to make a lot of sauces – sweet, spicy, chunky, smooth, tangy, etc…we’ll cover all the basis.  We’re only three countries in and already we’ve made two delicious sauces (you guys are cooking out there, right?).  So, pick a snow day and try creating something yourself – the best part is, it’s just a sauce, if it sucks, throw it out and use your K.C. Masterpiece (yes, I worked for the company that makes that particular brand many years ago, but they haven’t paid me for years so don’t worry, you are not being subjected to a compensated mention – if they want to send me a bunch of free sauce, bring it on!)

Here’s the basics….

chop an onion and saute in a small sauce pan in some oil (olive oil is my go-to, but vegetable or peanut is fine too – even coconut if you want to go wild – most oils (except sesame) don’t add a ton of flavoring and won’t drastically change the final product).  add something sweet – fruit, sugar, juice, honey…you get the idea – start with about a cup, you can add more later if it doesn’t taste right.  You can also combine two sweet things, live a little.

Now add some of your favorite spices – paprika, chili powder, coriander…i suggest you mix a few spices in a separate bowl, then smell them – do they smell good, yes=add them in, no=start again or adjust.

Now add something tart – vinegar is always a good choice, less vinegar will make your sauce sweeter, more will make it tangier. Start with 2 Tablespoons and add until it tastes good.  Cook everything until it’s reduced and smells and tastes good.   TASTE after every addition – even if you have a recipe, taste it, if it seems too tart, add sweet, too sweet, add tart.  If you’re looking for a traditional tomato flavor, you can use tomato paste or even (gasp) ketchup as the tart base.  Since tomatoes are only lightly acidic though, you’ll want a vinegar to spice it up a bit.

Most of these kinds of sauces only need about 15 minutes of total cooking time.  If you want a smooth sauce, toss it all in a blender and puree.  If you want chunks, leave as is or use a food processor to lightly chop.  I haven’t met a bbq sauce or ketchup that didn’t benefit from a little time to sit and think about things – so put it in the fridge or on the counter for a while, let it come together.

“Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death.” Auntie Mame

Enjoy and share your creations, please (oh yeah, write down what you did, nothing worse than creating a masterpiece and having no idea how to do it again – I’d rather have a recipe bomb and have to order pizza, it’s less painful long term).

Posted in food chat | 5 Comments

Algerian burger recipe

Posted on January 30, 2011 by linda


Spicy Merguez burger with Sumac Roasted Zucchini and Sweet Date “Ketchup”
Again, we’ll start our adventure with a little (very little) geography.  Algeria is in Northern Africa and is bordered by Tunisia, Morroco, Libya, Nigeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania and Mali.  It is located on the coast of the Mediterranean across the water from France, Spain and Italy.

Map courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Algerian cooking is amazingly rich in terms of flavors and ingredients.  It was a blast experimenting with the spicy and the sweet flavors typical in this part of the world.  One food that is typical in Algeria (confirmed by a dinner guest who had traveled there) is the spicy Merguez sausage.  I searched all of my local grocery stores, but alas, even Whole Foods failed me, no one carries this sausage around here.  So, I investigated recipes to make the sausage so I could get a sense of the flavors, and we’re using that as the basis of this burger.  The heat of the burger is balanced well by the sweet date flavor of the ketchup and the date yogurt, if you don’t like things so spicy, just cut back on the cayenne and use a standard chili powder instead of the hot version.

I tried four different versions of this burger to get it just right – we 86’ed the mint yogurt and the sliced figs and the fried leeks didn’t work at all as a burger topping.

That being said, the fried leeks were soooo tasty, that I’m including them as a side dish – they’re a pain in the neck (unless you are an expert deep fryer), but they are totally addictive.  Don’t get used to the side dish thing though – with 193 recipes to go, I can’t commit to adding side dishes for each country – many of my friends have pointed out that I might be a little crazy trying for 196…so adding more, forget it.

I should point out that some of the spices are a bit exotic, but not scary at all.  Sumac is the most unusual – it’s kind of citrusy and pink, so that’s fun!  Coriander is the other one that you may not have handy – this is pretty available in major grocery stores, it’s a little perfumy and flowery, smell it – it tastes a lot like it smells.  If you can’t these spices in your local grocery store, try searching online.  I’m a huge fan of Penzeys.com, their spices are alway super fresh and in most cases cheaper than at the grocery store (especially when you buy in bulk).  They don’t pay me anything for that mention – in fact, no one is paying me for anything I write here – I’ll let you know if I ever get lucky enough for that to change.

This burger is really easy to make.  You can do the toppings ahead of time and mix up the spices ahead too, so that all you have to do at the last minute is grill the burgers.  The spice mixture makes extra, so use it for a rub on another dish (or make burgers).  The toppings make just enough, so if you are a topping fan (guilty!), make extra.  Also, I tried this with a veggie burger, just sprinkled a bit of the spice mixture on the burger, then grilled it and used all the toppings – it was delicious.

Final note before we dive into it, this is one of our favorite burgers – it is surprising how well the flavors combine – it always leaves us wanting more, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.  And, if you do find you love it, try the Afghanistan Burger, another burger with sweet and spicy balance, it’s another favorite.

Spicy Merguez Burgers
1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
½ teaspoon ground cayenne
½ teaspoon hot chili powder
2 Tablespoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 large clove garlic chopped
1 pound ground lamb
8 thin slices of French bread (approximately ¼ inch thick) lightly toasted or grilled
12 slices of Sumac Grilled Zucchini (recipe below)
4 Tablespoons of Sweet Date Ketchup (recipe below)
4 Tablespoons of Yogurt with Dates (recipe below)

Put first 8 ingredients in spice blender and blend until garlic is

broken down and mixture is homogenous (don’t worry if all of the seeds aren’t pulverized).

Combine 2 Tablespoons of spice mixture with the ground lamb and mix until spices are evenly distributed.  Form four patties and grill to desired temperature (about 5-8 minutes for medium).

Spread 1 Tablespoon of Yogurt with Dates on each of four slices of bread.  Place burgers on top of yogurt mixture.  Top each patty with 3 slices of zucchini and 1 Tablespoon of the ketchup, then cap with the remaining four pieces of bread.

Sweet Date Ketchup
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion chopped (about 3 Tablespoons)
4 dates chopped
1/3 cup black raisins
½ teaspoon ground sumac
2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
2/3 cup red wine vinegar

Heat oil in saucepan, add onions and sauté over med heat for about 5 minutes or until soft.   Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Continue a soft boil until sauce is reduced by half stirring regularly.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.  Pour mixture into a blender.  Puree mixture.   Refrigerate covered until you’re ready to use (preferably at least ½ hour).

Yogurt with Dates
½ cup 2% milk fat Greek yogurt
6 dates pitted and chopped
Small pinch of ground coriander

Combine all ingredients in mini food processor and pulse until dates are reduced to small pieces.  Can be used immediately or refrigerate covered until ready to use.

Sumac Grilled Zucchini
1 zucchini sliced ¼ inch thick (approximately 12 slices)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground sumac

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Toss zucchini slices in olive oil (make sure both sides are well coated).  Place slices on a cooking sheet .  Mix together coriander and sumac.  sprinkle top side of each slice with the spice mixture.  Roast in oven for 5-7 minutes or until soft.  These can be used hot or room temperature on the burgers

 

Fried Leek Side Dish
20 oz. Peanut oil
1 large leek
1/3 Cup flour
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon sumac
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg

Pour peanut oil into a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Heat oil slowly to 350 degrees.  While oil is heating, clean the leek and trim off the dark green ends.  Slice the leek into strips and separate out the layers.  Combine the flour, coriander, sumac and salt in a bowl.  Toss the leek strips  n the flour mixture.  Beat the egg in a separate bowl.  Coat the flour covered leek strips in egg, then put them back into the flour mixture and coat them with the mixture.

When oil is hot, drop leek strips a few at a time into the oil and fry for about two minutes or until lightly browned.  You’ll want to do the leeks in batches so that you don’t over fill the pan and risk spilling the oil or reducing the temperature of the oil.

Place fried leeks on paper towel and let sit for a minute or two before serving.  Serve hot.

Algerian burger recipe

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

Posted in african recipes, lamb burgers, middle eastern recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Albanian burger recipe

Posted on January 26, 2011 by linda

BH&T Albania burger recipe2 Lamb Burger on Roasted Garlic Corn Bread with Caramelized Onion and Feta Cheese
So, the first thing I do when researching a new country is look at a map.  Unfortunately for me, it’s been a long time since I studied geography and, believe it or not, some countries have changed names or disappeared entirely (not physically disappeared, that would be crazy, just been swallowed up or broken apart).  So let’s start Albania with a map (courtesy of our friends at the CIA World Factbook)

From CIA World Factbook

In contrast to Afghanistan, I figured that Albania would be easy.  It’s a Mediterranean country bordered by Montenegro, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (yes, that is its real name), Serbia and Greece and across the water from Italy.  Now, I’ve been to Italy, love Greek food and my grandmother is Croatian, so I assumed I’d be able to conquer Albanian cooking with no issues, right?  Wrong!

The way I start the process is by figuring out where each country is and what they grow.  Albanians grow wheat, corn, figs, lemons, olives, potatoes, sugar beets and grapes among other things.  Next step is to look up as many main dish recipes as I can find and get a list of common ingredients.  So, for Albania, this added onions, parsley, garlic, lemon, rosemary, celery, eggplant, mint, walnuts and a few other things that were totally not helpful.  Basically, from what I could determine, onion and garlic make up the main flavorings, they just don’t seem to use a lot of spices, this is basic rustic cooking.  I’m a fan of rustic cooking, but it makes it hard to make a recipe which will stand out as particular to one country.  At this point I had a burger with onions and garlic, not very exciting.  I continued to research and read about Albania and discovered that cornbread is a staple that is eaten all the time (couldn’t find much in the way of recipes though – just blogs that indicated that it was not sweet).   Then I researched cheese and found that they love feta (as do I), and finally inspiration hit…

I failed miserably on my first corn bread attempt – the bread was hard as a rock and totally without flavor.  But then I rallied and added the roasted garlic and the fresh corn, and with that the whole dish came together with a unique and wonderful flavor.  You’re going to need a bunch of roasted garlic, so I recommend roasting a whole head.  Anything you don’t use you can store in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.  You can use roasted garlic in many recipes that call for regular garlic, it gives a nice sweet and smoky flavor.

This recipe takes more time than I generally like – but the roasted garlic and the onions (both of which take about an hour), can be done hours in advance, so the recipe is not very difficult.  I’ve tried this with beef and tonight I made one with a veggie burger and they worked great too – I recommend doubling the aioli recipe if you’re going the veggie burger route as the end product was a little dry, but other than that, it works as written.

I haven’t written down a real recipe for roasted garlic – just take one head of garlic, slice off the top, drizzle with olive oil and roast on a cooking sheet for about an hour at 350°F or until fragrant and soft.

One final note before the recipe, I tried this in a cast iron pan this time because I had read so much about how cast iron was the only way to cook cornbread.  I found no difference in texture, taste or cooking time, so I’m not sure what the fuss is about.  Use either cast iron or a regular sauté pan, they both work well.

If you like this burger, you should also check out the Cyprus Burger – another celebration of cheese!

Albania Burgers
1 pound ground lamb
Salt and pepper
4 Roasted Garlic Cornbread rounds (recipe below)
Roasted Garlic Aioli (recipe below)
Crumbled Feta Cheese
Caramelized Onions (recipe below)
Chopped parsley (optional)

Mix lamb with salt and pepper then divide into four patties.  Flatten patties and cook on an indoor grill to desired temperature.

Place cornbread round on each plate, spread aioli on cornbread. Place warm patty on top of aioli, sprinkle with feta, then spoon onion mixture on top of burger.  Sprinkle with parsley (optional) and serve.

Caramelized Onions
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions halved and sliced thin
¼ teaspoon rosemary
Zest of ½ lemon

Heat oil to shimmering, add onions and reduce to lowest temp possible on a standard burner.  Cover and cook for approximately one hour until golden and sweet.  Resist the urge to open the lid and check constantly, keep temp low and leave it alone.  Add lemon zest and rosemary and cook for 10 more minutes.

This can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator, just make sure the onions are at room temperature or warm when you assemble your burgers

Roasted Garlic Aioli
4 large cloves of roasted garlic
½ cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Pinch salt

Blend all ingredients in mini food processor.  The aioli is best if you make it ahead and let sit covered in the refrigerator for at least ½ hour.  It can be made a day or two ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.

Roasted Garlic Cornbread
2 ears of corn (or 1 ½ cups frozen corn, thawed)
2 Tablespoons salted butter
2 cloves roasted garlic
½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons buttermilk
2 eggs
1 cup fine milled corn meal
½ cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon double acting baking powder
Salt
1 Tablespoon salted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut kernels off of the cobs.  Melt butter in an 11-12 inch oven proof sauté pan.  Sauté corn over med high heat stirring regularly until lightly browned (about 5 minutes), add roasted garlic and sauté for one minute more.  Transfer corn mixture to a food processor and add buttermilk and eggs.  Blend together until combined (corn will still be somewhat lumpy).

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients then stir in corn mixture.

In same pan, heat 1 Tablespoon butter over high heat until just starting to brown, add corn batter and smooth the top so that it’s relatively flat.  Transfer immediately to oven and bake on middle rack for 15 minutes or until center is firm.

The cornbread should easily slide out of the pan once it has cooled a bit.  Then use a small bowl or glass to cut 4 rounds.

 

Albanian burger recipe

 

©2011 Linda Monach, all rights reserved

Posted in european recipes, lamb burgers | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

vegetarians

Posted on January 25, 2011 by linda

I’ve been getting a lot of emails asking if I’ll be doing vegetarian burgers so I thought I’d make note of that request here (would love to hear from more of you if you are interested).  The Afghan burger’s flavors come mainly from the toppings which would work great with a plain veggie burger.  I would think you could take the spices that I put in the lamb and sprinkle them on the burger itself too, but I haven’t tried that.  If one of you does give it a whirl, please let me know how it turns out.

As for future veggie options, I will let you know which recipes will work with a prepackaged veggie burger and how I recommend you prepare them, but, unless I come across a society of vegetarians, we’re going to be dealing with meat here folks.  (yes, I know, India has a lot of vegetarians.  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we haven’t even made it to Albania together yet).

I can tell you that there will be fishcakes in our future.  I know that fish isn’t a vegetable, yet several of my vegetarian friends have been known to eat fish fairly regularly.  So if you are one of them, you will enjoy the islands when we get there.

Albania should be up by Thursday.

Cheers

Posted in food chat | 3 Comments

Afghan burger recipe

Posted on January 20, 2011 by linda

BH&T Afghanistan Burger Recipe

Sweet and Spicy Lamb Burger with Cilantro Marinated Cucumbers

Starting the project of creating a burger recipe for each country, I’ve decided to tackle this alphabetically.  That way we won’t get bored eating similar flavors every week – plus it’s just kind of fun to jump from Barbados to Belarus, should make life interesting.

This brings us to Afghanistan as our first stop – yikes!  I’ve never been to the Middle East, and didn’t even have a clear picture in my head of where Afghanistan was, let alone what the cuisine is like.  So, thank God for the internet, Afghanistan is a landlocked country bordered by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China, Pakistan and Iran.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

The Afghan culture embraces hospitality, guests (whether expected or not), are embraced and fed the best food the household can supply.  The flavors of the country center around fruits and nuts which grow well in the climate – pomegranates, sweet grapes, apricots, cherries, figs, pistachios, and almonds figure prominently in Afghan recipes.  The primary meats are chicken and lamb.  Beef shows up in some recipes, but I get the impression that it is not common to find beef used.  Because this is a primarily Muslim country, pork recipes are virtually non-existent.  The spices are rich and provide the rich flavors for the food, cilantro, coriander, cumin, cardamom, turmeric, cinnamon and paprika are used liberally in the recipes I found.

So, using all of that information (and a bunch more that would probably bore you), I decided to attempt a pomegranate chutney burger with coriander/cumin spiced meat.  Well, the chutney turned into a sweet and spicy ketchup that was tastier than I ever expected.  The burger needed a little crunch though and I could find no evidence that lettuce is used much in Afghanistan.  I attempted to make a cilantro chutney (chutni gashneez) but it was way too watery, so I sliced up some cucumbers (very thin) grated some carrot and used the mixture as a pickling sauce.

Amazingly, for the first recipe of this entire endeavor, somehow it turned out delish.  Even my father ate it with relish (pun intended, sorry).  Don’t be intimidated by the length of the recipe, the prep instructions are easy – you can make both the toppings ahead and store them in the refrigerator.  The “ketchup” will store for about a week, the cucumbers you should use the same day.

If you like this burger, you should try the Armenian Burger, even though I found out after publishing that the mixture of sweet and savory is not authentic to Armenian cooking, I’m having trouble changing it because I love it so!

Afghanistan Burger
Olive oil
Naan or other flat bread*
1 pound ground lamb
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Sweet and Spicy Ketchup (recipe below)
Cilantro Marinated Cucumber (recipe below)

Grill the naan on a lightly oiled grill just until warmed.

Combine lamb with spices.  Form meat into 4 patties and grill (on same grill that you cooked the naan) to desired doneness.  Note: lamb takes a little longer to cook than beef, plan on a few extra minutes to get the same level of doneness.  If you don’t like lamb, this is also good with beef, but I didn’t think I liked lamb until I made this burger – now I’m a convert, so try it, be fearless…

Slice the naan into 8 burger sized pieces.  Place each burger on a piece of naan, add 1-2 tablespoons of the Sweet and Spicy Ketchup to each burger.  Add 2-4 Cilantro Marinated Cucumber slices to each and top with the remaining four pieces of naan.

*if you can’t find naan, this burger is yummy on a regular burger bun too.

Sweet and Spicy Ketchup
½  sweet onion chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
¼ cup dried apricots chopped (Turkish apricots are best, but California works too)
⅓ cup dark brown sugar (lightly packed)
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup pomegranate juice
dash of kosher salt

In small saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onions and cook stirring regularly until onions are golden (5-7 minutes).  Add all of the other ingredients and raise heat to high.  Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer vigorously until sauce is reduced by about ¼ cup and somewhat syrupy (about 15 minutes).  Pour sauce into a blender and puree.  Let sauce cool to room temperature.

BH&T Afghanistan Date Ketchup

Cilantro Marinated Cucumber
½ cup cilantro chopped
½ teaspoon garlic chopped
¼ teaspoon jalapeno chopped
1 teaspoon toasted walnuts chopped
¼ cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon black raisins
1 cucumber sliced thin (1/2 if you are using an English cucumber)
1 carrot grated

Combine first seven ingredients in blender and puree.  Pour into a bowl and add cucumber and carrot.  Cover and refrigerate for ½ hour or more.  When building the burger, use the cucumber pulled right out of the marinade (it will have carrot and cilantro sticking to it, leave those they add flavor and crunch).

BH&T Afghanistan Cilantro Marinated Cucumbers

Afghan burger recipe

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

BH&T Afghanistan Burger

Posted in lamb burgers, middle eastern recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 23 Comments