burger recipe

Finally! (I was able to get off my keester and write something)

~ Gary Bechard ~ Leave a comment

I have been wondering when I would be able to have enough time to cook and then write something worth reading. In my defense, I can say that I have been pretty busy teaching courses at the local community college and learning Spanish (the most fun I have had learning a language,  thank you DuoLingo) and have finally made the time to cook and write something new. However, if you have been following the previous posts, I, unfortunately, have not completed my cabbage stuffing quest (stuffing every kind of cabbage I know) and still have red cabbage left on the agenda.  I have the recipe in mind but have not committed myself to doing the cooking as most of the cabbage recipes can be a bit labor intensive.  Today’s recipe is a twist on a comfort food from my youth. The recipe is easy and makes enough to feed an army. Well, maybe not a whole army but I know it did pretty well for me and my 3 brothers and sister growing up.  The dish has many different names, beef goulash, beef and macaroni casserole, American goulash but we always knew it as American Chop Suey. I wanted to twist the recipe without breaking its simplicity and keep it as an homage to my and probably everyone else’s past.  Without further delay, here is the recipe.

New Twist ACS  – (American “Chop Suey”)

Gary Bechard – The Well Fed Cyclist

Ingredients:

1 lb – Cavatapi (macaroni or any short pasta that suits your fancy, I use Barilla)

2 – 23 ounce jars of smooth spaghetti sauce (a nice marinara or tomato and basil) or you can use some homemade sauce you may have already made.

1 ½ lbs – Ground beef (I use 90/10 ground sirloin)

3 – Cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 – Yellow bell pepper, chopped

1/2 – Green bell pepper, chopped

1/2 – Medium, sweet onion, chopped

2 oz – Sliced black olives (one small can of pre-sliced)

3/4 tsp – Sea Salt

1 tsp – Coarse ground black pepper

Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Just enough to do a couple of turns around the skillet

Construction Instruction – In a very large skillet, one that has a lid, do a couple of turns around the pan with the extra virgin olive oil and bring to medium heat. Next, add the minced garlic and sauté until tender while making sure it does not turn brown as that would cause it to become bitter. After the garlic is done, add the ground beef. Brown the beef and season it with the sea salt and black pepper. When the ground beef is fully browned, move to the outside of the skillet (kind of like a doughnut look), put the peppers and onions in the center and sauté until soft then fold them in with the ground beef making sure everything is mixed evenly. Once that is done add the sliced olives and thoroughly mix again. After completing the mixture, add the 2 jars of sauce, stirring the sauce through the mixture, lower the heat to low and cover. Make sure to stir occasionally to keep the temperature even.

In a large pot, prepare the pasta according to the directions on the box being sure to cook only to “al dente” (nobody likes mushy pasta). Drain the pasta thoroughly and put back into the pot, take the sauce mixture and add to the pasta and fold everything together until ingredients are evenly distributed. At this point you can keep this on the stove on low, stirring occasionally until you are ready to eat or serve it right away.

Serve this with some good Parmesan or Romano cheese, or go wild and have both! I served this along side fresh sliced cucumbers.

Enjoy!

The Well Fed Cyclist

Now that IS a “Proper Burger”…

~ Gary Bechard ~ Leave a comment

I interupt this blog post with a very important message. No, I do not believe you will see the emergency warning symbol on your television but I wanted to remind you of the meaning of this holiday, Memorial Day.

I have a certain thoughtfulness  every Memorial Day. Having been a soldier, both enlisted and officer, I have a soft spot in my heart for all of those that currently serve or have served and for all of the families that supported them in their endeavors.  I know, I know, I should be more upbeat as in my other posts, and I will get to that, but I believe that everyone should pause at least one moment to reflect on the freedoms we have today, the men and women currently serving, their families and those that have gone before us.  With that complete, fire up the grill, crack open a cold one and let’s get ready to eat!

As an aside, it is with a bit of sadness I  say that the rescue effort from the old blog site was only partially successful. Trapped in the ether are quite a few posts which I was not able to salvage from the oldest site but I was able to retrieve the more recent (or semi-recent) and will be able to post them here.  This post was another one from “Burger Week” and it is not quite the healthiest of recipes but sometimes you just have to “Throw Caution to the Wind” which by some coincidence is the title of the former post.

Throwing caution to the wind…

I would like to consider myself a pretty healthy eater (not in quantity but in quality) but today’s offering does not quite fit in the healthy eating category. This burger is more the decadent, throw caution to the wind, hope I do not have a cardiac arrest category. The ingredients are not really that bad but I use a fattier kind of beef more cheese and some bacon to round it out with a bread that has enough sugar to power a hundred toddlers for a couple of days. Why, you may ask, would I do this? Well, first, because I can and second, sometimes you just have to have something that just tastes really good without worrying about all that diet stuff. It’s okay once in a while, right? Just don’t tell your doctor and I will surely never tell. Your secret is safe with me because I am as trustworthy as the Bush bean dog. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more, say no more)

The recipe for this burger was first thought of on a drive home from work on a Friday, stuck behind a cattle truck, in the summer while the Highway patrol was clearing an accident knowing that I was going to have to feed some real “meat eaters” (you know Marines, English footballers and the like). I wanted something decadent (in the “meat eaters” sense) but something that would taste good. The idea for what to use as the bun kind of hit me as I was trying to figure out how I was going to balance out the savory flavors in the burger and voila the Hawaiian sweet bread hit me! Well the idea hit me not the actual sweet bread but you probably already knew that. The burger was named by Simon (the English footballer). It was after his first bite and he exclaimed, ”Now THAT is a proper burger!”

Here is the recipe:

A “Proper” Burger
(makes 4 – 5 servings)

1 1/2 lbs –Ground sirloin (I did 90/10)
1/3 – Medium sweet onion (medium diced)
½ tsp – Garlic powder
¼ tsp – Kosher salt (if you are into measuring things and if not a couple of good pinches)
1 tbsp – Coarse ground black pepper (or to taste)
1 tbsp – Worcestershire sauce (don’t be stingy with this and make sure it is a generous tablespoon)
1/ cup – Cabernet wine (make it a good one because I give you permission to have the rest)
10 slices – Crispy bacon (I used some apple smoked bacon)
Sliced Vermont white cheddar cheese
Sliced provolone cheese
Romaine lettuce leaves
Hearty tomato slices
Loaf of Hawaiian sweet bread (this will become the bun) cut into 1 1/2 inch slices

*Note – a loaf of Hawaiian sweet is kind of round and you may have to start in the center and work your way out with the slices but you want them to be about bun or regular loaf of bread sized.

In a large bowl combine beef, onion, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, salt and your luscious Cabernet. Mix thoroughly making sure all ingredients are distributed evenly through the mixture. Take and make into 4 to 5 patties (depending on who you have eating) and refrigerate for about 15 to 20 minutes (you want the flavors to get to know each other). I made the patties pretty thick. Cook these on a low heat grill (300 to 350 degrees) to slow cook them to desired doneness. Also, don’t get all “flippy” on these burgers because you can let them sit on one side for about 5 – 7 minutes before flipping. Melt one slice of each type of cheese on each burger

Serve the burgers on grilled slices of the Hawaiian sweet bread topped with a couple slices of bacon, a slice of tomato and some lettuce.

Enjoy!

“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax– Of cabbages–and kings (Lewis Carroll, “The Walrus and the Carpenter”)

~ Gary Bechard ~ Leave a comment

I am not so sure about the shoes, ships and sealing wax and,  I am pretty sure I will not be talking about kings but cabbage, well, that is a different subject altogether. I have been eyeing a particular green bunch in the produce aisle for quite some time. I guess you could say that I was kind of stalking it? (no pun intended, really). Its deep green leafy leaves called to me, so, I bought some.  Over the years, I have worked with a wide variety of different cabbages from Bok Choy to Radicchio and have done them grilled, sauteed, stuffed and other assorted ways but this is a new one on me. The picture is of Tuscan Cabbage or sometimes referred to as Tuscan Kale or, if you prefer (to impress your friends),“cavolo nero” in Italian. The green has a flavor profile much like kale only without the slight bitter aftertaste and  seems like a sort of a cross between a Napa cabbage and Kale. I am not quite sure how I am going to approach this one but I have a couple of ideas rambling around in the old noggin. While I try to figure out a direction with this new ingredient, here is the third post from “Burger Week” off the old site. This recipe is the second of the turkey burgers and is quite tasty.

Gotta love a burger with a hula skirt…

Well maybe no hula skirt but it does have sort of a Hawaiian flair. Also, sorry, there are no alcoholic beverage ingredients in this recipe so you will have to fend for yourself and come up with a good excuse to buy extra at the grocery store like, “Honey, you never know when we will be in a beer emergency and since there are solar storms erupting we should be prepared.” There is also the ever popular, “I really thought the recipe called for lots of (insert name of favorite beverage here).” With the follow on, “Since we already have this stuff we might as well drink it because we would not want it to go to waste.” I am certain that even the least creative among you can come up with an excuse. You could even blame it on the dog, if you have one.

I am not sure if I can tell you the exact origins of this particular burger (it may have originated because I was bored and wanted something Asian’esque for the grill or perhaps because I had a fresh pineapple and was not jiggy grilling something in the pig family) but needless to say people liked it. I served this with a nice green salad (fresh baby greens with arugula to tie it to the burger) with a ginger dressing and crispy rice noodles on top for texture and squash sautéed with onions, sliced ginger and red bell peppers.

Here is the recipe:

T2 (Hawaiian) Burger
(makes 3 – 4 servings)

1lb – Ground turkey breast
4 tbsp – Teriyaki sauce
¼ cup – Vegetable stock
1 tbsp – Dried basil (you can substitute with fresh if you have it about 5 large leaves chopped fine)
1handful – Fresh chopped parsley
1 tbsp – Coarse Ground black pepper
¼ tsp – Ground ginger (you can also do fresh grated ginger but go easy because this is a strong spice)
4 slices – Fresh pineapple

In a large bowl combine turkey, teriyaki sauce, vegetable stock, basil, parsley, pepper, and ginger and mix thoroughly making sure that all ingredients are distributed evenly. Take and make into 3 to 4 patties (depending on who you have eating). Because turkey can have a tendency to dry out quickly, these should be grilled on a relatively low temperature (300 to 350 degrees) until done. At the same time grill the pineapple slices until they are warmed through and have those nifty looking grill marks on them.

Serve the burgers on a toasted bun with some spicy arugula.

Enjoy!