Icelandic burger recipe

Posted on November 4, 2012 by linda

Lamb Cheeseburger with Icelandic Yogurt and Grilled Onions
Where did the year go?  I can’t believe October is over!  This has been a slow year for this blog, too many distractions (aka, children).  I’ve also been spending the last month perfecting (I hope) my dish for Master Chef auditions.  The casting call in Boston was yesterday (Nov 3rd) and it was a lot of fun and totally stressful, but that’s all I’m allowed to say (they don’t like us to tell the secrets of the casting process).  I met some awesome people including a really nice woman from Ivory Coast – I’m hoping she’ll look up my blog and let me know if I got her homeland right.  But now, on to the business of the day, let’s talk about Iceland.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Iceland is an island country located in the North Atlantic (or as Wikipedia says “at the confluence of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans” – who talks like that?).  The capital is Reykjavik and total population is around 320,000.  Strangely, Iceland keeps popping up in our family.  It started years ago when my cousin was stationed at Reykjavik while he was in the US Navy.  He loved Iceland and the Icelandic people – didn’t love the wind storms that would blow you physically from building to building, but otherwise no complaints.  Then fast forward to 2007-2008.  My husband started a new job and one of his colleagues was from Iceland.  This friend had the unfortunate experience of having to send his parents some cash to get them out of Italy (they were on vacation) when the Icelandic Króna (currency) suddenly became worth nothing.  But now we’re getting ahead of ourselves…

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Despite its Northern location, Iceland is warmer than you’d expect because it’s warmed by the Golf Stream.  It was settled by Norwegians, then ruled by Denmark for a while and became independent in 1918.  For a long time Iceland was relatively poor and undeveloped.  With independence, growth in the fishing industry and most recently investment in biotech and software development, Iceland pulled out of its humble beginnings so that by 2007 it ranked as the most developed country in the world by the UN Human Development Index.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Unfortunately deregulation and some extremely poor decision making by Icelandic banks led to a huge financial crisis in 2008.  Basically the world stopped recognizing the króna for a couple weeks and there was real fear that the entire country would go bankrupt.  The government took over the major banks and has slowly built back confidence in the currency and the economic viability of Iceland.  Today Iceland ranks 14th in the Human Development Index.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

So, all of that is kind of interesting, but, because I’m a geek and married to an even bigger geek, the thing that I find most interesting about Iceland is the genealogy.  Well, not so much the genealogy as the genealogical database.  Stay with me now, this is really cool – the database went online a few years ago and covers every living Icelander with monthly updates for births and deaths.  Just about everyone in the database can trace back to the 9th century.  The last 10 generations are really robust in terms of data.  In and of itself, that’s cool, but what’s really cool is the scientific implications of so complete a database (especially with a relatively homogeneous population).  Scientist use this database, combined with medical databases, to track inheritability of disease, and, whenever they start a new study, they know the full family background of all of the subjects – super cool.

Okay, I’m done now…time for the food.  What do Icelanders eat?  Meat and fish, and then some meat and some fish, and on festive occasions…puffins.  Due to climate and growing season restrictions, the Icelandic diet is more focused around proteins with lamb and fish being some of the most popular.  They do actually eat puffins as well, but since we’re unlikely to find puffin meat at our local grocer, I’m going to ignore that.  Dairy products also play an important role in Icelandic cuisine.  They even have their own form of yogurt called skyr.  It’s like the sharpest yogurt you’ve ever tasted, but the sharpness is tempered when you pair it with a meaty burger and some creamy cheese.

Based on this, I kept the Iceland burger pretty simple.  I used lamb as the meat and melted some creamy Havarti on top.  Add some pickled cabbage, skyr and grilled onions and you have a hearty meaty burger that could warm you on a cold windy night in Iceland.  The salty sharpness of the skyr does balance the creamy cheese and rich lamb.  The flavor that comes across most is, surprisingly, the lamb.  It really is a celebration of lamb.  The crunch of the cabbage is nice, but it would be fine to leave it off if you don’t have any around.  We both preferred the sandwich open faced so that the bread wasn’t too strong a flavor, but again you can play and see how you like it.

If you’ve fallen in love with this burger (and I’m sure you will), give the Finland burger a try – it’s a little more complicated (just more ingredients), but it also has a rich hearty flavor that I think you’ll love.

Icelandic Burger
1 pound ground lamb
1 teaspoon salt
Olive oil
4 slices of havarti cheese
4 slices pumpernickel or dark rye bread
½ cup skyr or Greek yogurt
Pickled Cabbage (recipe below)
Grilled Onions (recipe below)

Add the salt to the lamb and mix thoroughly.  Form 4 patties.  Fry the lamb patties in olive oil until they reach your preferred temperature.  Add the cheese slices to the patties about two minutes before burgers are done, cover and melt cheese.  Remove from heat.  Place the four slices of bread into the hot pan and grill the bread lightly (about 2-3 minutes).  To serve, spread 2 Tablespoons of skyr on each slice of bread.  Add ¼ cup of drained Pickled Cabbage.  Place patties on top next then top with Grilled Onions.

Pickled Cabbage
1 cup chopped green cabbage (whichever kind you like)
Cider Vinegar (enough to cover the cabbage)

Place the cabbage in a glass bowl and pour enough vinegar in to cover the cabbage.  Refrigerate mixture for at least 4 hours before serving.  Drain off vinegar before using.

Grilled Onions
1 large onion
1 Tablespoon butter

Cut the onion in half then slice thinly.  In a medium sauté pan, heat the butter until frothy then add the onions and cook over med-low heat for 15 minutes or until onions are golden and soft.

 

©Copyright 2012 Linda Monach

Icelandic burger recipe

 

 

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Hungarian burger recipe

Posted on October 14, 2012 by linda

Meaty Beef and Pork Burger with Paprika/Pork Ragu and Aged Gouda
There are two major problems with writing a blog post about Hungary – first is avoiding obvious Hungary/hungry puns (my husband has suggested several-you should be thanking me now for not taking his advice), the second is choosing the most interesting tidbits from the culture and history of this amazing country.  Hungary is a landlocked country located in Central Europe and bordered by Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria.  In fact several of their neighbors are larger than they were before World War I because when the war ended Hungary lost a ton of its territory.  This loss was reaffirmed at the end of WWII (they were on the losing side of that conflict too).  After that, the Hungarians were gobbled up into the Soviet Union became part of the Soviet Bloc.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Ok, let’s pause here, yes, I skipped a ton of stuff – founding of the kingdom, invasion by Ottomans, Hapsburg rule, etc…  but really, life is short and it’s not like it’s hard to read up on this stuff on your own – even Wikipedia has some pretty good information, so feel free to look it up and read more.  But, before we go into the communist phase I would like to point out that the cultural and ethnic heritage is really cool.    The language itself goes into the super cool/strange category (much like Finnish).   Hungarian is part of the Ugor branch of the Finno-Ugric language family.  The Finno-Ugric languages are basically Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian and a bunch of really obscure languages that are only spoken by very small groups of people.  Check out some Hungarian language videos – it is a really unusual mixture of sounds – I hear some Asian, and Slavic overtones, but I have an absolute tin ear, so don’t go by me.  In addition to a cool language, Hungarians (also called Magyars) have felt a little pushed around by various international forces over the years and because of that they’ve really grabbed hold of their cultural identity and have protected it and kept it alive even while officially part of the USSR Soviet Bloc.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Which brings us back to where we left off.  While Hungary was part of the communist bloc, USSR they were considered the most liberal of the Eastern Bloc member states and eventually opened their borders to Austria and help to speed up the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.  Today Hungary is a popular tourist destination and (before the global financial crisis) had a relatively strong economy.  They are part of the EU and have suffered along with most of Eastern Europe, and in fact, Europe overall, well let’s be honest we’ve all had some tough times lately.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

At any rate, I think it’s time to move on to the food.  All of the vegetarians should probably just stop reading now because Hungarians like meat.  They like meat with their meat – pork, beef, goat – sausages and salami, lots of meat.  And, when it doubt, they cook their dishes in lard, cause nothing makes a dish tastes so good as lard!  I saw several comments saying that if you heat up some lard and cook onions and paprika, you have the foundation for all Hungarian dishes (and your kitchen will smell wonderful).  One note for those of you who get nervous about spice, don’t worry, despite what you may read on Wikipedia, Hungarians use sweet paprika in most of their cooking.  Hot paprika is sometimes made into a paste and served as a condiment tableside, but the dishes themselves are not hot.

sweet paprika, a Hungarian staple!

do not use hot paprika if you want an authentic flavor

So yes, I fried up some bacon and used the fat to cook some onions and paprika as the base for my sauce, then I slow cooked some pork butt and created a burger topping for the ages.  The final sauce (thickened with sour cream as is traditional) reminded me of the wild boar ragu that we got in Italy over parpardelle (which is what I did with the left-overs, served it over pasta and savored the rich meaty flavor).  For the patties I combined beef and pork and ground the meat fresh – you could use pre-ground meat if you want, I just wanted that extra fresh meatiness.  I also found a raw milk Gouda that was a little sharp and perfectly complimented the meat and spice.  We tried 4 different Goudas and there is really a lot of variation in flavor – the aged Goudas are terrific, I highly recommend trying a few if you have a good cheese shop nearby.  We decided not to use the smoked Gouda because the meatiness of the dish doesn’t need the extra richness of the smoke, it’s too much.

cheese, glorious cheese!

The final burger is incredibly rich and hearty (this is not an “eat on the beach in a bikini” type of burger).  We loved it; the sharpness of the cheese comes through with a hint of bacon and a touch of herby freshness.  It held up beautifully to a hearty zin and we were left Hungary for more (ok, maybe one small pun).

Hungarian Burger
1 pound pork cutlets
½ pound sirloin tips
1 Tablespoon fresh marjoram
1 clove garlic roughly chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 ounces aged Gouda sliced thin
Paprika/Pork Ragu (recipe below)
4 slices of sour dough bread
Cooked bacon (from Paprika/Pork Ragu preparation)

Cut the meat into 1 inch cubes and place in a glass bowl.  Add the marjoram and garlic and mix together.  Put the meat cubes in the freezer for 30 minutes then grind the meat.   Form four patties.  Salt the patties.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or grill pan.  Cook until patties reach an internal temperature of 165˚F.  Add the Gouda slices about two minutes before burgers are done and cover until cheese is melted.

To serve, toast or grill the bread.  Add a generous scoop of the ragu then the cooked patties, top with the cooked bacon and enjoy!

Paprika/Pork Ragu
8 ounces thick cut bacon sliced into ¼ inch strips
1 medium yellow onion sliced (about 1¼ cup)
2 Tablespoons sweet paprika
1 pound pork butt cut into 3 chunks
2 cups chicken stock
Water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons flour

Place Dutch oven or heavy saucepan over medium high heat.  Cook bacon stirring occasionally until bacon is crisp (about 10 minutes).

you want a nice thick cut bacon

mmmmm, bacon!

Remove bacon and place on paper towel to drain.  Add onions and paprika to the hot bacon grease and turn heat down to medium low.  Cook for 3 minutes stirring regularly.  Add pork, chicken stock, salt and as much water as you need to just cover the pork.

Raise heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer 1 hour turning pork over once.  Remove cover and cook for another hour. Or until pork is fork tender.

Remove meat from pan and use two forks to shred the pork removing any excess fat.

pulled pork rocks!

Return meat to pan.  Add sour cream and stir until combined.  Add the flour and whisk until flour is integrated and sauce begins to thicken.  Adjust salt to taste.  Simmer for 5 minutes.

you’ll have leftovers of this ragu – just heat it up and serve over a wide pasta – yummy!

 

©Copyright 2012 Linda Monach

Hungarian burger recipe

Posted in beef burgers, european recipes | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Honduran burger recipe

Posted on September 26, 2012 by linda

Burger with Spiced Beans, Chorizo Stuffed Tortillas, Sour Orange Sauce and Fresh Salsa
It is interesting to look at a single country through the eyes of multiple sources, just to get a sense of the overall world and who’s spinning what (although figuring out truth is sometimes challenging).  If you look at what the BBC says about Honduras, the language is pretty harsh with emphasis on corruption “huge wealth gap” and an overall lack of security.  Compare with CIA World Factbook and the New York Times and they talk more about turmoil and focus on how Honduras is helping the US in the drug wars.  So, in an effort to cut through the crap, I’m going to stick to numbers/facts as much as possible.

Honduras a Central American country bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.  It has coastline on both the Pacific and Caribbean.  The Spanish conquered the Maya in the 16th century and during Spanish rule Honduras was a province of the Kingdom of Guatemala.   Honduras achieved independence in 1821.  Now let’s fast forward to modern times.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

The current situation in Honduras, no matter who is spinning it is not great.  They have the 9th highest income disparity rate in the world and 60% of the population lives below the poverty line.  In addition they have the highest murder rate in the world – that’s right, the highest.  Because security is so problematic, the Peace Corps suspended its program in Honduras – they just didn’t feel like they could keep their people safe.

On the positive side, Hondurans have benefited from increased interest in adventure tourism.  Honduras is a natural destination for adventure tourism.  There’s white water rafting, zip lining and cliff diving and lots of unspoiled beautiful land.  So let’s hope that they get security under control, because I would love to add this to the vacation list.

By Dennis Garcia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), via Wikimedia Commons

By Dennis Garcia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

With all that said, how about the food?  Like El Salvadorans, Hondurans eat corn tortillas pretty much every day.  The stuffed tortilla or pupusa is extremely popular, so I decided to make them again.  I stuffed the tortilla with some browned chorizo and found that the second time making pupusas was a lot easier than the first.  Mainly because I ignored the recipe and just added water until it the dough would roll and flatten without cracking.

In general, Honduran food is made from simple ingredients that grow locally and flavored with peppers and spices.  Citrus is used widely since it grows wild.  The food is not typically spicy but is quite flavorful.  Hondurans have a condiment called chismol that is similar to salsa but uses bell pepper rather than spicy peppers.  Beans are an important source of protein and are part of most Hondurans daily diet.

These are pretty basic ingredients in Central American cuisine, so the challenge here was to do something new.  I’ve found that when you combine beans and pupusas, the big challenge is to make sure that you add moisture into the totally dish.  So I decided to take the local flavors and create a sauce that would bring the whole thing together.  The great thing is that citrus makes a perfect base for sauce.  My original intent had been to use sour oranges, but my local store didn’t have any in stock, so I had to make do with limes and regular oranges.  The sauce was tart and slightly sweet with earthy overtones from the cumin and anchiote.  The funny thing is that the sauce in the picture above isn’t the right one – it’s a home made BBQ sauce that I made for ribs the night before.  I grabbed the wrong sauce when I was doing my beauty shot – now I’ve learned to re-taste everything before I shoot the beauty burger.  I dug out the right sauce though, so the picture below with the recipe is the correct sauce and it is delicious.

Somehow when it all came together the result was a hearty but not heavy dish.  The tortilla and beans were rich and heavy, but between the chismol and the sauce the whole burger was brightened up and the effect was surprisingly complex and layered.

jump to printer friendly recipe

Honduras Burgers
1 pound 80% ground beef
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
4 Pupusas (recipe here)
Spiced Beans (recipe below)
Sour Orange Sauce (recipe below)
Chismol (salsa) (recipe below)

In medium glass bowl combine ground beef, salt and pepper.  Form four patties and grill in a non-stick pan until they reach desired temperature.

To serve start with a warm papusa, add a scoop of Spiced Beans, then the cooked burger.  Add a couple of tablespoons of Sour Orange Sauce and a scoop of Chismol.

Spiced Beans
½ cup onion diced fine
1 small pablano pepper minced
¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
1 clove of garlic minced
1 chicken Maggi cube
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 can small red beans rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Water

Put everything in a medium sauce pan with just enough water to cover the vegetables and beans.  Stir and bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer vigorously for 20 minutes without stirring.  Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Sour Orange Sauce
8 small limes juiced (about 2/3 cup)
2 Valencia oranges juiced (about 1/3 cup)
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground anchiote
¼ cup angel flake coconut
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1 Tablespoon water

Combine first 6 ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Make a slurry of the cornstarch and water.  Whisk in the cornstarch mixture.  Turn the heat up and bring to a boil.  Remove from the saucepan from the heat and cool to room temperature.

this is what the sauce really looks like!

Chismol
1 large tomato diced fine (about 1 cup)
½ cup minced onion
¼ cup minced green bell pepper
Juice from ½ lemon

Mix all ingredients together and let sit at room temperature for at least ½ hour before using.  Stir before using.

Honduran burger recipe

©Copyright 2012 Linda Monach

[img src=”https://burgershereandthere.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/IMG_1871-150×150.jpg” alt=”” width=”150″ height=”150″ class=”alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-979″]Honduras burger recipe
Recipe Type: beef burger
Cuisine: Central American
Author: linda
Serves: 4
[b]Burger with Spiced Beans, Chorizo Stuffed Tortillas, Sour Orange Sauce and Fresh Salsa[/b]
Ingredients
  • Honduras Burgers
  • 1 pound 80% ground beef
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground pepper
  • 4 Pupusas (recipe below)
  • Spiced Beans (recipe below)
  • Sour Orange Sauce (recipe below)
  • Chismol (salsa) (recipe below)
  • Spiced Beans
  • ½ cup onion diced fine
  • 1 small pablano pepper minced
  • ¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic minced
  • 1 chicken Maggi cube
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 can small red beans rinsed and drained
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • Water
  • Sour Orange Sauce
  • 8 small limes juiced (about 2/3 cup)
  • 2 Valencia oranges juiced (about 1/3 cup)
  • ½ cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground anchiote
  • ¼ cup angel flake coconut
  • 1 Tablespoon corn starch
  • 1 Tablespoon water
  • Chismol
  • 1 large tomato diced fine (about 1 cup)
  • ½ cup minced onion
  • ¼ cup minced green bell pepper
  • Juice from ½ lemon
Instructions
Honduras Burgers
  1. In medium glass bowl combine ground beef, salt and pepper. Form four patties and grill in a non-stick pan until they reach desired temperature.
  2. To serve start with a warm papusa, add a scoop of Spiced Beans, then the cooked burger. Add a couple of tablespoons of Sour Orange Sauce and a scoop of Chismol.
Pupusas
  1. Follow directions from package to make batter for 8 tortillas. Form four balls out of the batter, then poke a hole in the ball and stuff as much grated cheese as you can (you can also use chorizo browned and out of casing if you want). Close up the hole then mash the tortilla with your hands until it is relatively flat. I did a final pass over with a rolling pin to get even thickness – at the end of the day you want the tortilla to be about ¼ inch thick. Cook the pupusas in a dry cast iron skillet until lightly browned on each side. Serve hot.
Spiced Beans
  1. Put everything in a medium sauce pan with just enough water to cover the vegetables and beans. Stir and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer vigorously for 20 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
Sour Orange Sauce
  1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Make a slurry of the cornstarch and water. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Turn the heat up and bring to a boil. Remove from the saucepan from the heat and cool to room temperature.
Chismol
  1. Mix all ingredients together and let sit at room temperature for at least ½ hour before using. Stir before using.
Notes
©Copyright 2012 Linda Monach
Posted in beef burgers, central american recipes | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Haitian burger recipe

Posted on September 10, 2012 by linda

Citrus Marinated Pork Burgers with Spicy Cabbage and Coconut Rice and Beans
The H’s are really interesting because we are moving quickly around the globe – next stop is Haiti.  Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean (the Dominican Republic occupies the other two thirds).

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

It was “discovered” by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and the Spanish settlers who came after spent the next 25 years killing off the Taino Amerindians who were living there (combination of actual killing/enslaving and disease).  Then the French arrived in the early 17th century and were eventually given the western third of the island by the Spanish near the end of the century.  The French brought in an enormous number of African slaves to work in “forestry and sugar related industries” (that’s a quote from CIA World Factbook).  I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time, but by the end of the 18th century there were half a million slaves in Haiti and they got tired of being slaves and staged a revolt.  The revolution lasted nearly a decade, but in 1804 Haiti was recognized as an independent republic and as such became the first black led republic in the world!

I think that’s a really cool story.  Sure, there’s lots of bad stuff, especially the killing of most of the Amerindians; but I like the idea of people not putting up with repression.  I like it when the underdog realizes that maybe he’s not such an underdog and stands up for himself – it probably why I like the movie Bug’s Life – lots of parallels.  But I digress.

Alasandro via Wikimedia Commons

By Michelle Walz Eriksson, via Wikimedia Commons

Unfortunately from here, things don’t go so well from there.  Today, Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas.  It was already the poorest in the Americas in 2010 when it was struck by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that caused $7.8 billion in damages including destroying much of Port-au-Prince (the capital city).  Now 80% of the population lives in poverty and over half of the countries annual budget is funded from outside of Haiti (in other words loans and foreign aid).  Most Haitians don’t get enough to eat and the average caloric intake is 1,730 calories per day.

By Master Sgt. Jeremy Lock, USAF, via Wikimedia Commons

Many Haitians eat a vegetarian diet due to poverty and everyone eats rice.  Coconuts, avocados, oranges, limes and mangos grow wild so they are staples of the Haitian diet.  Haitian food is influenced by French traditions, but with more of a Creole flair – and Haitians like their food spicy.  Pork and goat are the most common meats (mainly because those animals will eat anything, so they are cheap to raise), and riz et pois (rice and beans) is the national dish.  Pretty much everyone eats rice and beans at least once every day.  Haitians also make something called pikliz which is spicy pickled cabbage – pikliz is cheap to make and very flavorful and is served with fried meat (usually pork).

So, to create our Haitian burger, I took the ingredients that are readily available and put them together.  I marinated my pork in citrus and jalapenos and let it sit all day to really absorb the flavors.  I pickled my cabbage with habeneros and let it sit overnight so that it would pack a punch.  And lastly, I cooked my rice (just like we did last week with Guyana) with coconut milk, beans and the ubiquitous Maggi cube.  Top the whole thing off with some nice ripe avocado and I am a happy gal!  This is one of the most flavorful meat treatments, similar to the depth of flavor achieved in the Dominica burger, marinating the meat in citrus and peppers really brought out the pork flavor and added complexity to a meat that can sometimes be bland.  The rice was fantastic – I love cooking rice in coconut milk – and the Maggi cube added even more to the flavor, gave it that salty seasoned flavor that is why so many people around the world cook with Maggi.  The cabbage was too sharp to eat on its own, but when you combined it with the creaminess of the rice and the fatty rich avocado, it was perfect.  The dish overall wasn’t as spicy as I think it should have been to hit the authentic mark, but it was the perfect spice level for our taste – spicy enough to notice, but not so spicy Paul ends up sweating – as he says “food shouldn’t be painful”.

I think this burger would go best with a nice cold amber ale, but since I can’t drink beer I settled for a light-ish red blend that wouldn’t fight too much with the spice.

Buy some Haitian coffee or some clothes made in Haiti, help support the struggling Haitian economy and have a beer and a burger and enjoy.

Last note – this is one of the coolest looking burgers to date – that purple cabbage and green avocado are really striking together – so make this burger and wow your friends!

Haiti Burger
1 pound pork cubed (I used boneless pork chops)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Juice of 3 oranges – about ¾ cup
Juice of 7 limes – about ½ cup
1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
1 shallot chopped
1 jalapeno chopped
Coconut Rice and Beans (recipe below)
1 avocado sliced
Pikliz (recipe below)

In a large glass bowl combine pork and next 8 ingredients (salt through jalapeno).  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 hours (this isn’t an exact science but you want enough time for the flavors to get into the meat but not so much time that the citrus makes the pork tough – you can try less time, but I wouldn’t do more).

Grind the pork and form into four patties.  Cook the patties until they reach an internal temperature of 155˚F, let them rest for about 5 minutes before serving if you want to get a more well done patty.

To serve put a generous scoop of Coconut Rice and Beans on each plate, then add the cooked patties, a couple of slices of avocado then a scoop of the Pikliz.

Pikliz
1 small head of purple cabbage sliced thin then chopped (you can use any cabbage, but the purple looks cool)
1 large carrot shredded
2 habanero peppers seeded and quartered
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup white wine vinegar

Put all ingredients in a large zippered plastic bag and refrigerate overnight.  When you’re ready to serve, drain the excess liquid and remove the habaneros.

it really does look that bright!

Coconut Rice and Beans
1 cup long grain white rice
1 can small red beans (15.5 ounces) rinsed and drained
1 chicken flavored Maggi cube
1 can coconut milk (16 ounces)

Put all ingredients in a medium saucepan (break up the Maggi cube as you put it in the pot).  Bring to a boil then reduce to low and cook covered 15-20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked through.

 

Haitian burger recipe

©Copyright 2012 Linda Monach

Posted in caribbean recipes, pork burgers | 2 Comments

Guyanese burger recipe

Posted on September 4, 2012 by linda

 

Spiced Chicken burger with Coconut Rice and Beans and Mango Chutney
I’m back from vacation and ready to make some burgers!  I did get the chance, while we were in Michigan, to enjoy some classic sliders at Green’s – tastes like childhood.  If you’re ever at 10 Mile and Orchard Lake Road in Farmington Hills, check them out – still the best greasy slider EVER!  Ok, enough of that, back to the business at hand…

Our next stop on this adventure is Guyana.  It’s another beautiful Latin American country.  Guyana borders Venezuela, Suriname, Brazil and the Atlantic Ocean.  Although it’s on mainland South America, it is considered part of the Caribbean based on having a culture and history common to the Caribbean.  The country was originally inhabited by Amerindians then it was “discovered” by the Dutch in the 16th century.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

The Dutch brought in slaves and built an economy based on sugarcane and the production of sugar, molasses and rum. In the late 1700s, the territory changed hands between the Dutch, British and French.  The British took control in 1796, then it went back to the Dutch and finally the British again in 1814.  In 1831 it was established as British Guyana and remain such for 130 years.  In 1838, the British emancipated the slaves – but they still needed laborers for the sugar cane fields.  So, they brought workers from Madeira, Portugal, India and China.  Those folks brought their own culinary traditions and flavor preferences that have helped shaped modern Guyanese food.

from guardian.co.uk

Agriculture is a major driver of the Guyanese economy, but Guyana is still a relatively poor country.  Like so many poor country people depend on “ground provisions” root vegetables and fruits.  Beans are an important protein source since meat is expensive.  Like so many Caribbean countries, they Guyanese eat lots of fruit, hot peppers, okra, rice and beans and a dish called “pepper pot”.  But, remember those workers that came over in the 1800s?  Well they are what made this a really interesting country to work on.  The culture here is a mixture of influences, so I decided to lean into that mixture.

I started with mango chutney.  I don’t know about you, but I love mango chutney and it is common in Guyana.  Being the crazy woman that I am, I thought I would try making a home made mango chutney – it takes a lot of ingredients!

too much work!

I also bought three jarred mango chutneys (I’m lucky to live in a fairly multicultural area and we have lots of choices).  All three of the jarred sauces were yummy, some spicier than others, but all good.  I also made my own chutney and it was good, but not better than the stuff in the jars.  So I tossed the chutney recipe and am telling you to find a jar, open it and enjoy.

easy and delicious!

The other challenge was Garam Masala.  This is a spice blend that is common in Indian cooking – my recipe can be found in my Bangladesh burger recipe.  If you have your own recipe, use that.  You can also buy a blend from any good spice store.  It is all your choice, but the blend that you use will affect your flavors, so choose a blend you like.

toast and grind to make your own garam masala

put the extra in a baby food jar and store in the freezer almost indefinitely

or buy a jar from a good spice maker!

Rice and beans are so common in Guyana that it was the obvious choice for the starch.  To give the rice an incredibly buttery texture and rich creamy taste, I made it with coconut milk instead of water – Paul swears this is one of his favorite of my “inventions”.  No, I didn’t invent the idea, but I’ll take the compliment since I was smart enough to use the idea.

For the protein I chose chicken because it is a cheap protein and is one of the more commonly found in Guyana.  Add some more garam masala and coconut milk just ties the whole dish together.

So, maybe I went too far, the end result doesn’t have much Caribbean flavor, it’s really far more Indian.  But I don’t really care, it is amazing!  I love the sweet and spicy chutney with the savory roast-like flavor of the chicken and silky creamy rice and beans with a little habenero kick – it’s making me hungry just writing this!

This is an easy burger to make and was big hit in our house.  I recommend a crisp Sauvignon Blanc to serve with it.  Enjoy!

Guyana Burger
1¼ pound boneless skinless chicken breast
1 Tablespoon garam masala
5 Tablespoons coconut milk
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons coconut milk (save the rest for the rice and beans recipe)
Coconut Rice and Beans (recipe below)
Mango chutney
Flaked coconut (optional)

Chop chicken into chunks.  Put the chicken, garam masala, coconut milk and salt into a glass dish and marinate at room temperature for one hour.

Grind the chicken and form into four patties.  Heat coconut oil in a non-stick skillet over med-high heat.  When oil is hot add the patties and cook for four minutes then turn and cook until center reaches 165˚F.

Serve the burgers on top of the Coconut Rice and Beans and then top with 1-2 Tablespoons of chutney and some coconut flakes.

Coconut Rice and Beans
1 can of pigeon peas or black eyed peas (15.5. ounces), rinsed and drained
1 ½ cups of long grained white rice
1 ½ cups coconut milk (just use the remainder of the can from the marinade recipe)
1 ½ cups water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
zest of 1 lemon
1 habenero halved and seeded

Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan, stir and bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is cooked.  Remove the habenero pieces and fluff the rice before serving.

If you’re looking for another burger like this one, well there isn’t one!  🙂 But you may enjoy the Indian Burger as a vegetarian option that has some similar flavors, or the Afghanistan Burger which has different flavors but combines the sweet and savory in a similar way.

 https://burgershereandthere.com/?p=950

©Copyright 2012 Linda Monach

 

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Guinea-Bissau burger recipe

Posted on August 2, 2012 by linda

Spicy Tilapia Burger with Seasoned Cashew Rice
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a small Western African country bordered by Senegal and Guinea.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

In keeping with my goal of being more positive in these overviews, I’m trying to find the positives in Guinea-Bissau.  They are believed to have oil reserves off shore that could be helpful some day – unfortunately that’s pretty much where the good news ends.  Since independence from Portugal in 1974 there have been a series of corrupt governments, coups and general chaos in the political structure.  In April 1012 they experienced the most recent military coup and there is currently no official leader – that makes it hard to run the country.

The people are poor and close to half of them speak only a local tribal language.  Difficulties in communicating, lack of public facilities and infrastructure and chaos in government make for a hard life for the people of Guinea-Bissau.  82% of the labor force is employed in agriculture.  But agriculture isn’t the driver of the economy.  Narcotics trafficking is where the real money is.  Due to the lack of coordinated government oversight, Guinea-Bissau has become a major player in moving cocaine from South America to Europe.

By Colleen Taugher from Lewiston Idaho, USA (Poling) via Wikimedia Commons

So let’s all just hope that they can get it together and elect a government that can stay in power long enough and be honest and strong enough to start fixing what is wrong in the country.  In the meantime, let’s talk about the food.  Food is scarce and refrigeration non-existent.   Thanks to the coastline and the many rivers, fish is a popular and inexpensive protein – so we’re back to fish burgers!  I used tilapia again because it is inexpensive, easy to cook and common in African cooking.

The other flavors are regionally typical – red palm oil is extremely important as a flavor/ingredient; it is one of the quintessential flavors of African cuisine.  They’ve stopped carrying it at my local Whole Foods, but I was able to find it easily online – my only watch out for you is don’t buy it packaged in a bottle (I made this mistake), because at room temperature, red palm oil is a soft solid – impossible to “pour” out of a bottle – go for a jar, make your life easier.  I was also able to find Grains of Paradise which is a common ingredient in African cooking.  I’ve been looking for these for ages, but haven’t found it before.  Now that I have, I’m not sure what the big deal is – it tastes basically like black pepper, just with a little more of a nutty overtone and a little less spicy.  If you can’t find it, just use black pepper – it will be fine.

Again I made a flavored rice – I’m beginning to think that white rice is just too boring, the flavored rices are so much better.  Add some cashews (yum) and some spicy peppers and life is good.  As usual the fish cakes were a pain in the neck in terms of keeping them together – they did have a tendency to fall apart when I flipped them, but even the one that totally fell into pieces still tasted good – so don’t sweat the small stuff.  It helps to form the cakes then refrigerate them (on wax paper) for an hour or so.

The final dish felt ironically like something you’d have for lunch in the Hamptons – well, ok, I’ve never been to the Hamptons, but it’s what I imagine lunch might be like there; fresh, beachy, light.  The spice level was perfect, not too spicy just a little bite, the acid of the tomatoes was balanced perfectly by the rich creaminess of the nuts and the red palm oil just gave the right undertone of complexity that is both a little surprising and delicious.  We served this with a wonderfully bright Sauvignon Blanc and a red pepper relish on the side.  Perfect summer fare.  Don’t be afraid of the number of ingredients, the recipes are actually pretty easy to make, and you can cook the fish ahead of time to make life simple.

Guinea-Bissau Burger
4 fillets of Tilapia (approx 1 pound)
1 teaspoon ground grains of paradise (or ½ teaspoon ground black pepper)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1½ Tablespoon red palm oil
1 cup roasted unsalted peanuts ground in a food processor
1 small onion grated (using the fine grate side of the grater)
2 red Fresno chilies seeded and diced (you can use jalapenos)
2 Tablespoons tapioca flour
½ cup peanut oil
Seasoned Cashew Rice (recipe below)

In a large bowl, combine first four ingredients and let it sit for 30 minutes.  In a large non-stick skillet, heat the palm oil over medium high until shimmering.  Add the fish to the pan and cook about 3 minutes on each side until just cooked through.  Let the fish cool then flake the cooked fish and add the peanuts, onion, chilies and flour.  Mix until the ingredients are evenly distributed then form four patties.  Refrigerate the patties for about an hour until they are firm.

Heat the peanut oil in a large non-stick skillet and fry the patties until they are browned on each side and heated through.

Serve on top of the Seasoned Cashew Rice.

Seasoned Cashew Rice
1 Tablespoon red palm oil
1 small onion diced
1 jalapeno pepper seeded and diced
1 cup long grained white rice, uncooked
¼ cup of cashews chopped
2 tomatoes diced
1 Tablespoon dried bird eye chilies
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground grains of paradise
2 cups water

In a large saucepan, heat the red palm oil over medium high; add onions and jalapenos and sauté for 3 minutes stirring constantly.  Add the rice and stir to coat the rice.  Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer over low heat covered for 15 minutes until cooked through.  Stir and serve hot.

Guinea-Bissau burger recipe

 

©Copyright 2012 Linda Monach

 

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Guinean burger recipe

Posted on July 21, 2012 by linda

Buttermilk Seasoned Beef Burgers with Spicy Okra and Seasoned Millet

As I was researching Guinea, I, like I usually do, drove my husband crazy by quoting various statistics and factoids to see what would be the most interesting.  Luckily my husband is interested in just about everything.  But we both kind of felt like these stats are starting to all sound the same.  So let me see if I can change things up a bit.  First we do need to orient ourselves on the geography (I can’t help but need to include a map).

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

The Republic of Guinea, often called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from Guinea Bissau (Conakry is the capital city of Guinea), is located in Western Africa bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Mali, Cote D’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

And, yes, Guineans are poor, extremely poor.  Forty seven percent of the people (and there are 10million people) live below the poverty line – which in Guinea means that they live on about $1 a day.  Rather than go into a long list of depressing statistics, let’s talk about the positives and the opportunities for the future.  Guineans held the first “free and fair” (at least according to CIA World Factbook) in 2010.  The current government is working on paying off debts of the past and the international community is beginning to engage again in the country.

A big part of why the international community is interested is because Guinea is actually rich in natural resources.  They have the largest reserves of bauxite in the world.  Bauxite is the main source of aluminum.  Guineans also have iron ore, gold and diamonds – it’s a good start.  So, let’s raise our glasses in the hopes that they can figure out how to take advantage of these resources for the benefit of all Guineans.

The food of Guinea is pretty typical of the region.  The starches are the usual cassava, millet, rice, plantains and yams.  They often eat stews/sauces and their food tends to the spicy side.  They do raise cattle, so there’s some beef around for those who can afford it.  Because there is cattle, there’s also some dairy, given the spotty electricity and therefore refrigeration, buttermilk is the preferred form.

Buttermilk is terrific in cooking; it adds wonderful richness to savory dishes.  I used it both to cook the millet and mixed in the meat to give it a kick of flavor.  I returned to okra as the vegetable base for the sauce – I know that makes about half of you run in horror, but you really should give it a try, okra is tasty and can really work in a dish like this.  You can vary the spiciness by changing the peppers – I used jalapenos because I was in the mood for a medium level of heat.  Scotch bonnet or habeneros would be more authentic, but I just wanted something lighter.

The taste of this burger is fresh and somehow salsa like.  The tomato perfectly compliments the spicy okra and both combined with the spinach make give a lightness to the dish that you don’t expect from beef burgers. The buttermilk flavor ties the whole dish together and integrates well with the other ingredients adding just a touch of sharpness that enhances the freshness of the vegetables and softens the richness of the meat.  I’ve got to say, we were again surprised to find ourselves really liking this burger.  I keep underestimating the appeal of African flavors and now I’m becoming a real fan.  I hope you try a couple of recipes and learn to enjoy this cuisine too.

Guinean Burger
1 pound ground beef
4 Tablespoons buttermilk
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon red palm oil
Seasoned Millet (recipe below)
Baby spinach
1 tomato sliced
Spicy Okra (recipe below)

Combine beef, buttermilk and salt and form mixture into four patties.  Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet and fry the patties to desired temperature.  To serve start with a big scoop of millet on each plate, then put some spinach leaves, slices of tomato and cooked burgers.  Top with a generous scoop of Spicy Okra Sauce.

 

Seasoned Millet
1 Tablespoon red palm oil
1 Cup millet
2 Cups buttermilk
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Heat the oil in a medium sauté pan.  Add the millet and toast over medium heat for 1-2 minutes.  In a large saucepan, heat the buttermilk until just beginning to boil (the buttermilk will separate – it doesn’t look pretty, but don’t worry, it tastes great).  Add the toasted millet and simmer covered over low heat until liquid is completely absorbed (about 25 minutes).  Add salt to taste.

Spicy Okra
1 teaspoon red palm oil
1 small onion diced – about ½ cup
2 Tablespoons jalapeno diced
1 Cup frozen okra slices (do not thaw first)

Heat oil in a medium sauté pan.  Add onions and jalapeno and cook over medium high until onions are soft.  Add the okra and cook until everything is heated through.  Pulse lightly in a food processor until evenly chunky.  Serve at room temperature.

Guinean burger recipe

©Copyright 2012 Linda Monach

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Guatemalan burger recipe

Posted on June 29, 2012 by linda

Burger with Guacamole, Spiced Corn and Refried Black Beans
We’re staying in the Americas for another burger – this time we’re going to explore Guatemala.  With this stop we’re back on the mainland in Central America.  Guatemala borders Mexico and Belize and Honduras and El Salvador with coastlines on both sides.  The Maya culture was huge in Guatemala and today the country is home to the largest Maya community in the Americas.  Estimates vary from 40-60% of the total population being self declared or practicing Maya (and by that I mean speaking the language and dressing in traditional dress).  But almost all of the population is Maya and otherwise is of mixed ethnic decent.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

By Fernando Reyes Palencia, via Wikimedia Commons

By the way – I’ve always used the word Mayan as the adjective form but I noticed when Survivor was located in Guatemala that Jeff kept saying Maya instead of Mayan – so, in the interests of accuracy, I Googled it!  I discovered, according to Wikipedia that Maya is the adjective form and the only time Mayan should really be used is when you’re referring to the language.  Well if both Survivor and Wikipedia say Maya, that’s good enough for me 🙂

Guatemala was a Spanish colony for 3 centuries and achieved independence in 1821.  With 14 million people it is the most populous country in Central America.  Agriculture is extremely important to the economy of the country comprising 13% of the GDP and employing 38% of the labor force.  Unfortunately after suffering a 36 year civil war that ended in 1996, Guatemalans were left with a society with extreme inequality of wealth and more than half of the citizens live below the poverty line.  Even worse, 13% of the people live in extreme poverty and nearly half the children under 5 are chronically malnourished – one of the highest rates in the world.  All of these stats are taken directly from CIA World Factbook which is an amazing resource for global economic data.  If only it had existed when I was in college!

So inexpensive, readily available food is really important.  Corn, especially in the form of tortillas are everywhere – in fact there are even door to door tortilla sales men.  Black beans are eaten almost every day and provide an important source of protein.  Along with corn and beans Guatemalans eat whatever fresh produce is in season and available and meat when it’s available.

So I went pretty close in here and kept it simple.  I started with a corn tortilla, added refried black beans (which are way yummier than standard refried beans).  I then spiced up a little corn with a combo of chili powder and lime juice (a favorite combo of mine), some fresh guacamole and some fresh cabbage for crunch.  The one thing I forgot in the photo version of the burger was the cheese.  I topped the burer with a nice melted Iberico cheese but totally forgot to include it when I took the picture!  Sorry about that.

This burger has classic Central American flavors, it is rich and delicious with just a hint of spice.  The lime juice adds a nice acidic bite to balance the richness of the meat and cheese.  This one goes down as one of my personal favorites – it was delicious and hearty without being too heavy.  Don’t be intimidated by the number of ingredients – this is really easy to make and pretty foolproof.  It is really messy though, so bring lots of napkins.

Messy but yummy, this was how it looked on burger night!

Guatemalan burger
1 pound ground beef
Salt and pepper
4 slices of Iberico or Manchego cheese
4 corn tortillas
Vegetable oil
1 can of refried black beans heated through
Lime Cabbage (recipe below)
4 slices of tomatoes
Guacamole (recipe below)
Spiced Corn (recipe below)

Form four patties from the ground beef and lightly salt and pepper each patty.  Grill to desired temperature.  When burgers are about two minutes from being cooked, add the cheese and cover – cook until melted.

In the meantime, in a small non-stick skillet, brush vegetable oil over the pan and heat each of the tortillas, one at a time, until lightly warmed.

To serve, place a tortilla on each plate and scoop some black beans on each tortilla.  Add some Lime Cabbage and a slice of tomato on each.  Next place the patties on each plate and a generous helping of guacamole and spiced corn finish each off.

Lime Cabbage
1 cup cole slaw mix or chopped fresh cabbage
Juice from ½ of a lime
pinch of Kosher salt

Combine all three ingredients in a glass bowl and let sit for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Guacamole
1 ripe avocado (soft but not mushy)
½ jalapeno diced
2 Tablespoons red onion minced
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
Juice of ½ lime

Scoop the meat out of the avocado and remove the pit – I find the safest way to do this is to slice the avocado lengthwise and twist to separate the two sides.  Hold the side with the pit in it in one hand.  Take a knife and bring it down firmly perpendicular with the length of the avocado so that it chops into the pit.  Twist the knife and the pit will come right out easily (I really need to video this next time).  Never try to stab the pit with the pointed end of the knife, this is dangerous, trust me.

Mash the avocado with a fork until slightly chunky.  Add all of the other ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use (no more than 30 minutes or the guacamole can turn grey).

Spiced Corn
3 ears of corn
2 Tablespoons melted butter
Juice from 2 limes
½ Tablespoon chili powder
½ teaspoon Kosher salt

Remove corn from the cob.  Combine all ingredients and let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Sauté the mixture in a medium skillet (don’t use non-stick) over medium high heat until corn is lightly browned and heated through.

©Copyright 2012 Linda Monach

 

Guatemalan burger recipe

 

 

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Grenadian burger recipe

Posted on June 13, 2012 by linda

Jerk Pork Burger with Oil Down and Avocado
It is the little things that bog you down when you’re researching a project like this.  If you’ve been reading along so far, you know I like to start each entry with a brief description of the location and geography of the country.  Well, today we’re talking about Grenada – here’s the thing, Wikipedia tells us that Grenada is comprised of Grenada and 6 other islands.  The official website of the government of Grenada tells us that it is a 3 island country.  I’m going to go with the official government website (although the detailed map I found showed 4 islands, so please, feel free to enlighten me on this apparently obscure detail).  We move on…

courtesy CIA World Factbook

What everyone does seem to agree on is that Grenada is located in the Caribbean at the Southern end of the Grenadines and North of Trinidad and Tobago.  It’s a tiny country about twice the size of Washington D.C.  Now I went to school in DC, and it’s pretty small, so I’m finding it hard to imagine a whole country that size.  Grenadian population is also around 109 thousand people, substantially less than DC.  All of this makes it a little hard for me to understand why the US felt the need to invade this country in 1983, but fortunately for all of us that invasion isn’t the most interesting thing to talk about with Grenada, so again, we move on…

courtesy CIA World Factbook

Grenada is refered to as the “Island of Spice”.  In 1843 a ship passing through left behind a few nutmeg trees.  Today, little old Grenada produces 40% of the nutmeg in the world.  They are particularly known for especially high quality nutmeg and mace.  So things are going pretty well from 1843 until the invasion in 1983, but even that is just a blip and life goes on and the people make the spice, and life is good until 2004.  In 2004 hurricane Ivan hit and damaged or destroyed 90% of the houses on the islands.  Then in 2005 hurricane Emily hit.  Between the two hurricanes 90% of the nutmeg trees were destroyed.  Pre-hurricane there were over 6,500 registered farmers growing nutmeg.  Today that number has declined to around 2,500.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

The government has been able to rebuild since the hurricanes, but the cost has been back breaking debt.  Now tourism is becoming more important and many of the displaced farmers have joined the service sector.  There are a lot of people working to build back the nutmeg industry (particularly because the price of nutmeg has sky rocketed in the world market), and Grenada remains the number 2 producer in the world despite the dramatic losses.  They’re #2 to Indonesia – a country of almost 250million that is slightly less than three times the size of Texas – fascinating.

But, here’s the kicker; I don’t like nutmeg.  I find it cloying and overpowering.  I especially hate it when people put it on mashed potatoes – please don’t do that, please.  Since part of the adventure is to overcome my own prejudice, I knew I’d have to buy some nutmeg and figure something out.

All this talk of spices and the Caribbean bring us to jerk seasoning.  There are as many recipes for jerk as there are boats in the ocean, but in honor of Grenada I made sure to accentuate the nutmeg and keep it spicy.  We tried it on both a chicken burger and a pork burger and I liked the pork a little bit better – the flavors just blended a little better, but both are good.

Nutmeg aside, jerk is not unique to Grenada, so I went searching for more flavors and specific dishes that might give us a more differentiated flavor.  And I discovered “oil down”.  I still can’t find any convincing explanation for the odd name, but oil down is a stew that is considered the national dish of Grenada.  It’s traditionally made with breadfruit and coconut milk, various vegetables and saffron.  Breadfruit isn’t readily available around here, so I substituted potatoe, but if you can find breadfruit, give it a try.  The eggplant and coconut milk combine to make this a really ugly stew, kind of taupe in color.  But, the richness of the coconut milk makes a really tasty base for the stew and somehow the flavors all come together – I get why it’s the national dish, it’s tasty.

I served it on plain rice with some wonderful sliced avocado on top.  It was surprisingly good.  The creamy stew balanced the bright spice of the jerk seasoning and the avocado was the perfect accent.  I also liked the clean flavor of the plain rice – you could definitely use a slice of plain French bread, just don’t pick a really flavor packed starch – the burger has enough going on.  Big flavors, rich sauce, what’s not to love?  If I weren’t allergic, I would recommend pairing this one with a pale ale, but since I am allergic, I pared it with a shiraz and leaned into the spice and strong flavors – it worked!

Grenada Burger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 scallion roughly chopped
1 clove garlic peeled and cut in half
½ jalapeno seeded and roughly chopped
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon peanut oil
1 pound ground pork (you can substitute chicken)
2 cups cooked white rice
Oil Down (recipe below)
Ripe avocado sliced

Place first 10 ingredients in a food processor (nutmeg-peanut oil) and pulse until it forms a paste.  Mix paste with the ground pork until well combined.

Cook the pork patties in a hot frying pan until cooked through.

To serve, place ½ cup of cooked rice on each plate then put the cooked patties on top.  Add a scoop or two of oil down and some avocado slices and serve hot.

Oil Down
12 ounces salt pork rinsed to remove some of the excess salt
4 cups water
1 Italian eggplant peeled and cut into ½ inch slices
2 yukon gold potatoes peeled, cut in half then slice ¼ inch thick
½ cups acorn squash peeled and cubed
1 stalk of celery chopped
1 shallot chopped
½ jalapeno seeded and chopped
1 sprig of thyme
½ teaspoon minced ginger
pinch of saffron crushed
1 can coconut milk
2½ cups baby spinach

There’s a lot of prep for the vegetables and a long cook time (almost 3 hours), but otherwise the dish is easy to make – just do your prep ahead of time and don’t let it intimidate you.  Cut the salt pork into 3 pieces.  Bring the water to a boil in a large Dutch oven and add the salt pork.  Cook for 15 minutes.  In the meantime, salt both sides of the cut eggplant and let sit for 15 minutes.  Wipe the excess salt off of the eggplant then add all of the remaining ingredients (including the eggplant) except for the spinach to the pot.

Bring to a simmer and cook covered for 1 hour then remove the cover and cook for another 1½ hours.  Add the spinach and cook just until the spinach is wilted.

Serve this hot (it’s also good just served over rice, you will have extra).

 

©Copyright 2012 Linda Monach

Grenadian burger recipe

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Greek burger recipe

Posted on May 29, 2012 by linda

Lamb burgers with Tzatziki, Roasted Red Peppers and Feta Cheese
Sorry for the delay in getting Greece on “paper”, but life does get away from me sometimes.  So let’s talk about Greece – oh, where to start?  We were driving up to Plum Island this weekend and my husband was regaling me with the history of Greek civilization, both the classic history and some of the more controversial elements.  But frankly, I think there’s so much going on right now that we can fast forward to today and just keep in mind that Greek civilization is really old and there are lots of cool things that we enjoy today because of stuff the Greeks did in the past.  You guys know what I mean.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Any way Greece is a BEAUTIFUL country bordered by Albania, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia and Tukey, and, according to Wikipedia has the 11th longest coastline in the world (which is truly amazing when you consider that it’s only the 97th largest country in the world).  That coastline is part of what makes it such a beautiful country and one of my top future vacation destinations (in my dreams).

By Tango7174 (Own work) GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), via Wikimedia Commons

By Tango7174 (Own work) GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), via Wikimedia Commons

As of today, Greece is still part of the EU, but I can’t guarantee that this will be true next week.  I don’t want to go into the gory details, because frankly I’m not familiar enough with said details to do the whole thing justice.  Basically, as far as I can tell, Greece hasn’t been able to manage their economy as well as the rest of the EU would like and they’ve had to borrow a bunch of money, then they couldn’t pay back that money and need to get a bailout – from those same EU countries.  They’ve also been forced (in order to get the money and fix the fiscal issues) to institute “austerity measures”.  This includes cutting government spending (=firing government employees) during a time when unemployment was 17% (in 2011) and when public sector spending is 40% of the total economy.  Fast forward to this year and the general election and the Greek people are so unhappy and desperate (not being able to support your family will do that to you) that they elect fascists and communists (not an exaggeration).

Paul and I were talking about this and we both are amazed that the Germans haven’t taken pause and considered if there might be an historical precedent for a country pushed to the brink and it’s people turning to radical fringe elements to govern.  Perhaps they should, perhaps we all should…  Odds are it won’t come to that.  I do have to admit though that I kind of hope that Greece drops the Euro – it would make my vacation prospects so much more probably.  I recognize that this is a totally shallow and potentially terrible thing, but a girl can’t help but dream of the islands…

Ok, enough of that – let’s move on to the food.  I have to admit that even though I did my usual research of flavors and foods, I kind of knew what I wanted to do for Greece before I even started.  Paul took me for Greek food on our first date and we went back that restaurant (Papagus in Chicago – now closed, so sad) many times, including the night he proposed.  We’ve also tried lots of other Greek restaurants both in Chicago and Boston, but this recipe is really dedicated to Papagus and to my husband.

I had to start with lamb.  Lamb just goes so well with Greek flavors it didn’t make sense to do anything else (I tried it with beef and it wasn’t as good, and this from a mid-western gal).  I also had to make tzatziki, I love tzatziki.  This tzatziki varies a bit from the version in the Cyprus burger – it has a little less garlic and more cucumber and a bit of dill.  It ends up being a gentler flavor than the Cyprian tzatziki.  Perfect for this burger.

The next step was to bring in feta and roasted red peppers.  These two flavors are often combined in Greek cuisine.  They used to make an appetizer dip at Papagus from roasted red pepper and feta that was truly crave worthy.  Rather than add another creamy dip to the burger, I deconstructed and roasted some red pepper and sliced some feta to melt on the burgers – yummy!  Then I put the whole thing in a pita.  Yes, I used store bought pita.  I’ve told you a million times now that I don’t like baking, yet I tried to bake a homemade pita and couldn’t get the air pockets or the texture right.  Feel free to lookup a pita recipe and try it yourself (but I highly recommend buying the store stuff as a backup.).

These flavors just work.  The feta blends well into the parsely, mint and orgeno in the lamb.  The dill adds a wonderfully fresh undertone with lots of garlicky and salty notes.  It was super fresh and light tasting, but filling.  It reminded me of the beginnings of my marriage, and it made me happy.  I hope it makes you happy too.

Greek Burger
1 pound ground lamb
½ cup onion diced
1 teaspoon fresh oregano chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh mint chopped
1 thick slice of sourdough bread soaked in milk
1 egg
Kosher salt and pepper
4-6 sandwich size pita bread
4-6 slices of feta cheese
Roasted red pepper (recipe below)
Tzatziki (recipe below)

In a large bowl, combine lamb, onion, herbs, bread, egg and salt and pepper.  Mix until everything is evenly distributed.

Form four large patties or six smaller patties.  Grill on a non-stick grill pan until they reach desired temperature.  Add the feta cheese about two minutes before the burgers are cooked and cover to soften the cheese (if you’re using a grill pan, I just create a tent of aluminum foil to keep the heat in).

To serve; slice off the end of each piece of pita bread and gently open the pitas.  Place the burgers inside and top with roasted red pepper and tzatziki.

Roasted Red Pepper
Coat a whole red pepper with olive oil and place on a cooking sheet in a 475°F oven for 12 minutes or until the skin starts wrinkling.  Cool then peel the skin off and slice into strips.  Note: don’t use jarred red peppers – they tend to be bitter rather than sweet and are generally totally unsatisfying.

Tzatziki
1 cup 2% Greek yogurt
1 cucumber peeled and coarsely grated
Kosher salt
2 large cloves of garlic minced
1 Tablespoon fresh dill chopped
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Lightly salt the grated cucumber and let sit for 5-10 minutes then squeeze out excess moisture.

In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, cucumber, garlic and dill.  Add salt to taste.  Refrigerate for at least two hours before using.

Greek burger recipe

 

©Copyright 2012 Linda Monach

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