Recently in Appetizers Category

Mmmmm. Burgers and pizza. Are there more perfect foods? Well, the answer to that usually depends on my mood, but tonight, there was nothing better than a burger that tasted like pizza.

We discovered this recipe on Get Your Grill On. If you like to grill, this is a fantastic blog.

Ingredients

• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion
• Salt and pepper
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 pound ground beef (preferably organic, grass fed beef)
• 1/4 cup pepperoni or salami (about 5 slices salami)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 2 slices of bread, or 2 small hamburger rolls
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 slices Provolone or other mild cheese

Directions

Despite all of those ingredients, this is a rather simple recipe. Thinly slice the onions (a mandolin works well here) and throw them in a pan with a glug or two of the olive oil over medium heat. Cook the onions for a few minutes, covered, until they are softened. Remove the cover and cook for another few minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the onions are cooking, chop the salami or pepperoni. Mix the ground beef, chopped salami, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Form into burgers (ours were smaller, almost like sliders).

When the onions have cooked down and softened, add the tomato paste and saute until the paste gives off a sweet aroma. Add the wine and cook until the wine has nearly dissolved.

Meanwhile, heat up the grill and cook the burgers.

When the burgers are almost done, melt some butter and minced garlic in a pan. Brush the bread or rolls with the melted garlic butter and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Turn on the broiler and broil the cheese covered buns for just a minute or so. When the burgers are done, broil the bun, burger, and Provolone cheese all together just until the cheese melts.

Yum! This was fantastic. The burgers were spicy and rich, the onions were sweet, and the buns were toasted garlic goodness. Our only problem was that our burgers were a little too big to be sliders and a little too small to be a burger. Next time we'll alter the size a bit.

We've branched out a lot over the past two years. John now eats sausage, I eat a lot more vegetables than I used to, and we both eat mushrooms (well, morels at least).

I've liked eggplant parmesan for several years now, but that's not the same as liking eggplant. After all, in eggplant parmesan, the eggplant is basically just a conveyance for sauce and cheese. What doesn't taste good with sauce and cheese?

Today, while browsing Slashfood, I came across a new eggplant recipe. Wouldn't you know it? I had two eggplants sitting in the fridge. So, onto the experiment.

Ingredients

• 2 local, organic eggplants
• Organic light mayo
• Wheat germ (a few tablespoons)
• Parmesan cheese (a few tablespoons)
• Salt and pepper

Directions

The directions couldn't be easier. Peel and slice the eggplant and lay it on a foil lined oven sheet. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and brush each slice of eggplant with a thin layer of mayo. Then sprinkle the whole dish with wheat germ, salt, pepper, and grated parmesan cheese.

Broil until the cheese is brown and crispy.

This was quite good. We both felt, however, that this would have been even better with some sort of dip. Hmmm... maybe with say a tomato sauce? While that would be ironic, I do think I will use this method the next time I want to make eggplant parmesan as well. It would be a lot easier than breading the eggplant and a lot healthier than frying it.

Next time I'll also brush the foil with a thin layer of olive oil. The eggplant stuck to the foil just a bit.

Here's a close-up. 

Hi everyone....

This is the other half of Cook Local (I guess you can call me Local, and she's Cook ) here and, as you may know, I recently came into a whole bunch of free time by way of the early ending of a contract gig I was working at Microsoft.

So, since I'm at home, I figure I should be doing some cooking and, in doing so, expand some of my horizons.
Cue up the way too many blogs I read, most notably, What We're Eating and their particularly scrumptious looking Chipotle and Blue Cheese Souffle.

Patricia and I have been on a bit of a blue cheese kick lately, so this recipe seemed right up our alley (or down our gullet, as the case may be).

This recipe is not without its hurdles for me, most namely that I really don't work well with eggs.  And I'd never made a souffle before.  And I'm not much of a baker.

Making this dish, which calls for 4 eggs total, I used 6.  First one I crushed in my own hands trying to bread, the fourth or fifth I managed to tear the yolk wide open.  That isn't to say the others were 100% either.  I managed to rip two of the yolks and my egg whites were a little yolky, and I'm sure my yolky was a little white.

All in all, tho, it seemed to work out in the end, but before we go to the digital proof...

Lets look at the local-ness of the ingredients.

Butter - Organic Valley, like Horizon, does get some bad press for being such a large organic farm and being too corporate.  I half agree with it and generally try to buy some other brand... Mother's Choice I think.  But overall, I just keep getting tempted to make my own butter.  It seems pretty easy, really.  Here, go see for yourself:  http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article.php?id=113&title=Making+Butter. 

Milk - Sea Breeze Farm, Vashon Island.  Local and Raw.

Sharp Cheddar - Tillamook Cheese, Tillamook County Oregon.  We generally like much less mass produced cheese, but, sometimes cost comes into play.  At least Tilamook is right down the road, more or less.

Blue Cheese - Wisconsin.  No, it isn't local.  Which is sad, since Oregon has such a nice selection of blue cheeses, but 2/3rds of a cup is a pricey proposition, and it might be a waste of a good cheese.  But, on the other hand, for some recipes, the quality of ingredients make for a much better dish.

Pureed Chipotle in Adobo - Ok, this was really not local, it was from a can.  If we end up needing more of this, we'll learn how to make our own.  Peppers are pretty plentiful over the summer at the farmer's market.

Green Onions, Cilantro - Organic, yes.  Local, not a clue.

Parmigiana - I wonder if there is even a local source for parmigiana.

Eggs - Skagit River Ranch.  They sell us meat, they sell us eggs.  Luckily, during the winter, the eggs are plentiful.  Over the summer, you need to get there and line up before the market opens to get the eggs.

Flour, Cream of Tartar, Salt and Pepper - Not a clue.

Now, all that said, lets look at the photographic evidence of my souffle mastery.  Unfortunately, I didn't actually do photographs for the whole process.  I was a bit rushed and nervous.  Next time I won't be cooking it alone and I'll have some help... and a new camera.

Before we put it in the oven:

And lo, they are risen!

First, the 'in the oven' shot.  We were a bit worried they'd fall fast, so P grabbed a shot before even pulling it out.

But the fears were unfounded, they lasted to the stove-top:

Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close ups!

That second one was one of my favorites, along with the other back one which looked similarly craggy, but the front one looks..... well, it looks like a biscuit topped pot pie, funny enough.

You know, I wrote this entire post and never even stopped to think about talking about how they tasted.  They weren't 'Oh. My. God.' level, but, they were good.  The insides are... well, I'll be honest, this is the second souffle I've eaten in my life, and the first was a dessert, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  The insides are... well, if you would almost think it wasn't cooked, it isn't exactly soupy, it isn't solid.  It is almost like oatmeal, but a little thicker.

But, over all.  It was good.  We will make these again.