Mega Burger Wraps

Ingredients: 3 burgers, 6 slices streaky bacon, onion rings, 3 slices cheddar cheese, 3 tortilla wraps, lettuce, piri piri sauce,

Number of persons: 3

Wrap 3 burgers each with 2 slices streaky bacon. Bake the burgers on both sides brown (bake it about 4 minutes per side). Add the onion rings and cook the onionrings until it has softened. Place on mega each burger a slice of cheddar cheese. Let the cheddar cheese melt. Heat the wraps following the pack instructions. Place on each wrap in lettuce leaves, the burger and onion rings. Fold the wraps and put piri piri sauce on it.

SHROOM SHAKE THE ROOM BURGER

Shroom Shroom Ka'Boom!

Feel that rumbling? That’s not your stomach growling for something homemade and delicious. It’s the sound of a dance party emanating from a sandwich, reverberating across the room and making everything turn raver-licious. Close your eyes and you will see strobe lights. Suddenly we are all wearing baggy pants again and dancing with glow sticks, blissfully unaware how ridiculous we look to anyone sober. Like we care, right? It’s 1999 all over again and I know the DJ. Think of this shroom burger as the ultimate disco biscuit. It is so damn good, you feel like you are high on god knows what. You will certainly appear more attractive to whomever you serve it to. Now the two of you can shadow dance with your hands like epileptic classical music conductors. Rave on ‘til the break of dawn!

Total time: approximately 15 minutes
Projected cost: $12
Drinking Buddy: MO MOJO

Ingredients (serves 2):
1. 2 Portobello mushrooms
2. 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
3. 1 tbsp of olive oil
4. Mayonnaise at your discretion
5. 2 hamburger buns
6. 1 handful of shredded mozzarella
7. 1 onion cut in strips
8. 1 tomato sliced thinly
9. 2 slices of lettuce
10. 1 red CHIL sliced thinly
11. ½ an AVOCADO sliced thinly

Step 1
Wash the Portobello mushrooms, then remove the stems, scrape out the black gills, and finally marinate them in ½ a tablespoon of olive oil and the balsamic vinegar.

Step 2
Prepare the buns by lining the each top bun with the CHILI slices and covering them with the mozzarella. Toast the buns until the cheese melts and the bottom buns brown.

Step 3
Grill the mushrooms on the BBQ or stove tops down, dumping the remaining marinade into the mushroom cup. Cover the shrooms and cook until the bottom browns and softens (approx 5 min). Move onto Step 4 while you wait. Flip the portobellos and re-cover, cooking until that side softens (approx 4 min).

Step 4
Grill the onions in a pan with vegetable oil until they soften and brown (approx 6 min).

Step 5
Assemble the shroom burgers. First spread the mayonnaise or your favorite condom-ment on the bottom bun, and then add the grilled onions. Lay out across the top bun lettuce, tomato, avocado and the grilled mushroom.

Slap it all together, slice in half and serve.

Asian Pork and Mushroom Burger Wraps

Yes, I realize posts have been rather sparse lately, and chances are they will remain so through the bulk of July. Why you ask? Well, something big and exciting, the likes of which I’ll post about shortly. But it has been keeping us more than occupied, and while we have still been cooking, I just haven’t had the time nor energy to write about it.

But I do have a few recipes backlogged, which tends to happen when things get busy. This one in particular, which came from the newest issue of Bon Appetit, was quite stunning. Asian Pork Burger Wraps – wrapped in butter lettuce rather than a bun, which made it a fun combination between a burger and a lettuce wrap (go figure).

I was drawn to this issue’s feature on summer burger recipes because of the photographs. You can see an example of the aforementioned asian pork burgers. The ‘deconstructed’ burger photos were all too familiar (and Jeremy – you will know exactly what I am talking about here!), because of an assignment I had in a drawing class in college. The project was ‘exploding food’, where we drew a food item in the process of exploding into it’s various parts and ingredients. An informational diagram of sorts, much like a blueprint tells you how to build a house, the drawings tell you how to build the food. While I chose to do an ice cream sundae, the example for the project was of a burger.

Maybe I could have skipped the long winded description and just shown more pictures?

From Bon Appetit:

Drawing from CDES333:

(I can’t believe I still had this drawing saved on my computer!)

Anyways, I think Chris Ficken (the awesome professor of aforementioned drawing class) would approve of this recipe, or at least it’s presentation!

Asian Pork and Mushroom Burger Wraps

Makes 6 servings. Recipe from Bon Appetit.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons canola oil or peanut oil
2 tablespoons minced lemongrass (from bottom 3 inches of about 4 stalks)
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps chopped
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt, divided
1 3/4 pounds ground pork shoulder (Boston butt)
2 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
3 teaspoons Asian sesame oil, divided
3/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 cup hoisin sauce*
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
1 teaspoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)*
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 heads of Bibb lettuce, cored, leaves separated
1 cup matchstick-size strips red bell pepper
1 cup matchstick-size strips peeled carrot
1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves

DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add lemongrass and garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add mushrooms. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt; sauté until mushrooms are tender, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat; cool in skillet.

Place pork in large bowl. Mix in 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, cracked pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, then fold in mushroom mixture. Using 2 generous tablespoonfuls for each, shape into 18 patties, each about 2 1/4 inches in diameter; arrange on plastic-lined baking sheet.

Whisk hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, chili sauce, and remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 2 teaspoons sesame oil in small bowl for sauce. DO AHEAD: Burgers and sauce can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover separately; chill.

Spray grill rack with nonstick spray. Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat ). Grill burgers until cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Or heat a few tablespoons oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook burgers until browned and cooked through, about 3-4 minutes per side.

Arrange burgers on platter; set out sauce. Place lettuce, bell pepper, carrot, and cilantro in separate bowls. Serve, allowing guests to wrap burgers in lettuce and add sauce and vegetables as desired.

Ultimate Veggie Burger

We’ve tried our hand at a good number of veggie burger recipes. Some work (Lentil Walnut Burgers and Eggplant Burgers), while some don’t (Black bean burgers… a crumbly mess on the bun can not be called a burger.)

Finding the right combination of legumes, greenery, and various other forms of vegetation to simulate the patty-forming prowess of meat is tricky business. If you don’t get the right texture, you’ll either end up with something that crumbles to bits in the pan, or something that tastes oddly like library paste.

This recipe is spot on.

Topped with some fresh tomato, avocado, and broccoli sprouts (for me at least, don’t you dare feed Taylor sprouts – he’ll never forgive you – so don’t tell him these have sprouts inside the patty too.), on one of the homemade burger bunswe made earlier, and you’ve got yourself a killer burger. Without the killing part, of course. :)

Ultimate Veggie Burger

Makes a lot… halve the recipe for 4 good sized servings.
Recipe from 101 Cookbooks.

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups sprouted garbanzo beans (chickpeas) OR canned garbanzos, drained and rinsed
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 onion, chopped
Grated zest of one large lemon
1 cup micro sprouts, chopped (try broccoli, onion, or alfalfa sprouts)
1 cup toasted (whole-grain) bread crumbs
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (or clarified butter)

DIRECTIONS
If you are using sprouted garbanzos, steam them until just tender, about 10 minutes.

Most of you will be using canned beans, so jump right in and combine the garbanzos, eggs, and salt in a food processor. Puree until the mixture is the consistency of a very thick, slightly chunky hummus. Pour into a mixing bowl and stir in the cilantro, onion, zest, and sprouts.

Add the breadcrumbs, stir, and let sit for a couple of minutes so the crumbs can absorb some of the moisture. The mixture should be moist enough to easily form and hold a patty shape. Add more bread crumbs a bit at a time to firm up the dough if need be. Conversely, a bit of water or more egg can be used to moisten the batter. Form mixture into 12 patties.

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium low, add 4 patties, cover, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the bottoms begin to brown. Turn up the heat if there is no browning after 10 minutes. Flip the patties and cook the second side for 7 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the skillet and cool on a wire rack while you cook the remaining patties. Serve on buns topped with avocado, tomato, onion, and more sprouts, if desired. Alternatively, you can make extra-thick patties (1 1/2 inches), and slice them in half after cooking. Put the filling inside the patty, and you have a self-bunning-burger.