Our kitchen is big enough for one person, but definitely not for two people, especially if those two people are both trying to do different things while simultaneously attempting to boss the other person around.
Me to Jens, multiple times, as he made the burger: “Over handling is the enemy of a good burger!”
Jens to me, multiple times, as I prepare the toppings: “Make sure you cut the tomato into meaty slices!”
Burgers, vegetable salad, two types of potato salad, and for desert, my first-ever (both for making and eating) plum-nectarine bourbon crumble.
Recipes for the burgers and veg salad after the jump.
Jens cooks, I grill. We have a great Weber Q220 gas grill. We also have a super-efficient charcoal grill, which I have been known to wax poetic about when I’ve had more than one drink (watch for an upcoming post!). But nothing beats a gas grill for sheer convenience.
Burgers (based on Cooks’ Illustrated instructions)
- ground beef from the Hollywood Farmer’s Market (HFM)—Farmer To You booth (no hormones, no antibiotics, and we lucked out today b/c the package we got had never been frozen)
- raw blue cheese, crumbled—HFM, a booth that specializes in gouda
- shallots, minced, sauteed briefly in butter—HFM, the booth where we usually get our bok choy
- garlic—toasted over medium heat in a dry (not non-stick) pan, minced once cooled
- soy sauce
- worcestire
- smoked salt
- pepper
- balsamic vinegar
Potato burger buns—HFM
Toppings
- lettuce
- an awesome tomato
- mayonnaise for buns
- parmesan crisp—courtesy of friend’s Silpat and parmesan
- avocado
Salad
- armenian cucumber
- cherry tomatoes
- sprouted grains
- kohlrabi
- carrot
- lettuce
- avocado
Dressing—recipe based on one from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
lime zest, lime, olive oil, dijon mustard, black pepper, salt, cumin, apple cider vinegar
Picture of Plum-Nectarine Bourbon CrumbleSorry no recipe here, but I’ll try and put up the recipe in a forthcoming post. It was really tasty! And I’m not normally a fan of any non-apple crumbles.
Sunday, October 10th, 2010, 10:45 pm | 
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October 11, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Hey, are you trying to tempt East Coast relations to come visit you guys? Cuz it’s working! I love the “Jens/me” dialogue here and there–nice touch. Looking forward to more posts when time allows. I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t know Jens was such the cook!
October 12, 2010 at 10:26 am
The burger looks delicious although I’m not a red meat eater. Tracy gets ground bison and we have many of the other ingredients from our CSA farm down the street. Could probably do it with ground turkey though. Yum Yum!
October 12, 2010 at 9:19 pm
I like the conversations between you and Jens–sounds very true to life. Get back to me on how Armenian cucumber is different from regular cucumber. Oh wait, I’m turning Armenian cucumber into the Other. Sorry about that.
October 15, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Thanks everyone for leaving a comment!
@Prof Kitty: East Coast relations are always welcome to visit – you’d love the Hollywood Farmers’ Market during summer!
@Eric: The HFM actually sells bison and Jens has been making grumblings about trying it instead of beef next time. My worry would be that it’s too dry – what’s your experience?
@Claire: The Armenian cucumber was free – we got it as a sample from the farmer (sort of like a drug dealer). It was, I think, less seedy. And othering Armenian is less embarrassing than othering Asian veg when you’re Asian, in front of the Asian farmer, as your Caucasian boyfriend calls you out on your othering.