As I mentioned last week, we’ve been grilling as much as possible and enjoying eating on our patio.  Burgers are always a great thing to grill, but sometimes you gotta spice it up a little from plain old ground beef (not that that isn’t wonderful, too, from time to time).  These burgers were inspired by some that my friend Sadie made for a cookout for the Fourth of July, and I immediately had to go back home and recreate them.  They are chock full of bell peppers and onions, as well as a bunch of herbs and spices.  The only peril is they don’t hold together real well.  I might add some breadcrumbs or something next time.  But it’s a tasty combination – almost like a light, summery version of meatloaf, and endlessly adaptable to whatever veggies, herbs, and spices you have on hand.  I somebody forgot to put buns on the grocery list, so we ate them on a bed of watercress since I happened to have some (also good if you’re trying to go the low-carb route).  Either way, a cheap, easy, and quick dinner, perfect for eating under the summer sunset.

Doctored-Up Burgers

1 lb ground beef
3 strips bacon
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 of a green pepper, diced
1/4 of a yellow pepper, diced
small onion, diced
1/4 c cilantro, diced
1 t salt (or to taste)
1/4 t ground cumin
1/4 t ground coriander
1/4 t ground mustard
black pepper to taste
dash cayenne pepper

6 slices of cheese (cheddar, American, colby-jack, etc.)
leafy lettuce such as watercress, arugula, mesclun greens, etc., or buns

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and form into burgers (I made 6). Try not to handle it too much or squeeze it all together too tightly, as that can make them tough. Grill over medium high fire, covered, a few minutes to a side until desired doneness. When almost done, top with cheese so it can melt a bit.  Serve over greens or on a bun, with the usual accompaniments.  Sit outside and enjoy!

Can you believe it? I’m actually on time for a Whisk Wednesday’s event! It’s amazing. (Of course, I’m also late for Daring Bakers, but that’s another story.) This week’s assignment was a Lamb Stew with Spring Vegetables. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find lamb except for chops, which I didn’t want to waste on stew, so I used stew beef instead. I took a fair amount of liberties with this one — I used rosemary instead of thyme, and changed the vegetables around a bit. (I should’ve also included pearl onions and green beans, but I left those out, and added a parsnip.) Also, I was supposed to cook each kind of vegetable (carrots, turnips, onions) in its own pot, but I didn’t have enough saucepans — and wouldn’t have wanted to clean them if I had — so I cooked them all together. I actually think to make it even easier they could’ve been just added to the stew directly, but maybe they would’ve gotten too soft, I don’t know.

I also had trouble reading the recipe, which I seem to be doing a lot of lately. More on that when I get my Daring Bakers post up. Anyway, it said to drain the potatoes before adding them, but I thought it was saying to drain the lamb. I thought it seemed strange to drain the liquid out of a stew, but figured that the folks at LCB probably know better than I, so I dutifully drained it. Then, reading again later, I realized the ambiguity, and decided I should’ve drained the potatoes and not the stew. Luckily, I had saved the broth and added it back in later, but that’s why my pictures seem to have a bit less liquid in them than they should.

Anyway, despite all the changes and screw ups, this turned out delicious. The meat had a great flavor from simmering in the water with tomatoes and especially picked up the taste of the rosemary. Since it actually cooled of this week, this was a great dinner. It also could be simplified quite easily without, I expect, losing much flavor, so that this might actually start making regular appearances at our house!

As always, if you want the recipe, check out the Le Cordon Bleu at Home book, though you can see the basics below, after the jump. And look to see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group did, on the blogroll to the right. (more…)