Giving burgers a new do!

Okay, folks, time for another blog! I am going to say this without any shame: I am a burger master.

Okay, maybe not a master by Bobby Flay's standards or anything, but I've learned in the last few months that I have some weird, burger ESP or something to know exactly how much to season them, and exactly how long to cook them. The trick to beef, burgers, speaking of which, is to cook them in a non stick pan (or a regular pan with a small amount of oil) on medium high heat for two minutes, flip them and cook them for another one minute on medium high heat, then turn down the heat to low, cover it and cook it for another two minutes. It will be a perfect medium. Seriously. If you prefer well done, cook it under the lid for another minute or so.

But getting to the point.
The real point of this post isn't to talk about how long to cook burgers, but about what goes with burgers. Traditionally, burgers are made of beef and served with some kind of french fries. But I'm going to let you all in on a couple of crazy, insane, almost radical ideas. Here's the first one:
Burgers do not need to be paired with french fries.

I'm going to repeat that, just in case you all fell on the floor when you read it.
Burgers DO NOT need to be paired with french fries. Get creative! More importantly, get healthy! And by creative and healthy, I don't mean one of those sad looking lettuce and tomato salads that's paired with burgers in some diners (which really are only thrown on when the person ordering is pretending to be healthy, cause I can guarantee that that thousand island dressing is not healthy). I'm talking about something delicious and fun, too! I'm talking about soup. Butternut squash soup, in my case, but really any soup will do. It's like a twist on the soup and sandwich idea, just with a burger. YOU WILL LIKE IT. And you'll be surprised at how much better you feel after eating that than eating french fries. Plus you get to sneak in those veggies in such a way that your burger brain won't mind them. And we all know what I mean by burger brain. We all get it. It's the "I need a burger RIGHT NOW" kind of carnal urge that everyone, including vegetarians (which I do know about) get once in a blue moon.

Tonight for dinner I made Mollie Katzen's butternut squash apple soup recipe from her book Get Cooking. Plus a couple choice herbs that I think added a bit of flavor (rosemary and cinnamon), since I can never leave a recipe alone. The point I'm trying to make is that you don't really need the french fries. Just make a side portion of soup. Go on, give it a try. Before you whine to me about missing your fries, just try it. You won't miss them, and you'll find yourselves so much more full than if you ate french fries.

Here's the second crazy, insane, radical idea:
Turkey burgers CAN taste good.

I'll repeat that one too. Turkey burgers can taste good! Just try putting some chopped red onion, salt, and pepper in it and hold it together in the ground turkey with a bit of egg. Then cook it on medium heat for four minutes, flip, and cook it for four more minutes. The big trick here, which most people seem to have trouble with, is to just NOT TOUCH IT. Just let it go! Don't peek under it over and over, don't press down on it with the spatula (that will release juices that you need in order to make it not horrible and dry). Just let it cook! The combination of that and the onions make it very moist and delicious, and you won't miss the beef. I promise.

My modified turkey burger with butternut squash apple soup on the side

I know I'm expecting people to trust me on this quite a bit, but do give it a try! Try the soup thing first. You'll like it, then try pairing it with a turkey burger. You'll feel healthy, full, and even get in a few veggies here and there. Good luck!

And now, NEXT ON KATE'S BLOG: the next post is going to be about roasted garlic, I think, but I was wondering if anyone's interested in seeing a sample of my writing as well. Garlic and writing...why not. I should also post some of my crazy Grad School, Culinary School, work saga. It's quite the conundrum.

New Thoughts, New Ideas, and Farina

Okay, so since I've been doing such a clearly horrible job keeping up with this blog, I've decided to change it to the food/writer blog...the...fighter blog? That doesn't seem right.

Anyway, I'm just going to start posting things about food, about writing, or about both put together. Basically, whatever tickles my fancy and excites my soul. Because I realized much too late that I should be documenting the recipes that I make, and all the changes I make to them (I can never seem to get myself to use just a recipe on its own. I always have to change it, somehow). So might as well start now!

Today I'm going to talk about cream of wheat. Yes, that is what I said. Cream of wheat, aka farina. Some people love it, and some people really hate it. The only reason I purchased it myself, recently, is because I'm sick and am having difficulty swallowing anything properly. But then I woke up this morning, completely bored with the idea of having your typical cream of wheat with brown sugar. I wanted something with more oomph, a bit more protein and excitement...so I grabbed the eggs.

Yes, the eggs. I'll explain why this thought crossed my mind in a minute.

I made basic cream of wheat, using half milk, half water, then cracked an egg right into the pot as it was cooking. I made sure it was on very low (don't want to cook the egg too fast) then folded it into my cream of wheat. To make it even more exciting, I shredded some sharp cheddar, and mixed that in as well. When I took it off the heat, I also added a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and a little bit of maple syrup. The result was a delightfully light and fluffy sweet/savory cream of wheat, which almost resembled custard. The reason I went for the eggs in the first place, aside from being a protein boost, was because milk, sugar and eggs are a typical custard base. I assumed that if all went well, and I folded the eggs into the cream of wheat properly, it would actually make it fluffier rather than denser.

Cream of Wheat Custard

Kate's Easy Cream of Wheat Custard
makes 1 serving

1/2 a cup of water
1/2 a cup of milk
3 tbs of cream of wheat (farina)
1 egg
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or any kind of cheese you want) <--optional
1 tsp parmasan cheese <--optional
1 tbs maple syrup <--optional

Heat milk and water together in a sauce pan, and let it come to a boil. Add the cream of wheat, and reduce the heat to low, letting it simmer for two to three minutes, until it gets thicker (you can choose how thick you want your breakfast to be, but remember that it will get thicker as it cools too. Crack the egg directly into the pot, and break the yolk. Fold it carefully into the cream of wheat (if you just mix like a crazy person, it will get lumpy and gross with tiny bits of lumpy cooked egg in it. Yuck!). Cook for another minute or so, making sure you see no clear egg white left. Take off the heat, and pour in the cheddar cheese, mixing it in and letting it melt into the hot custard. Put in the parmasan and syrup, and serve. You've got yourself a much tastier, more interesting cream of wheat. You're welcome to use any toppings you want, of course, but the combination of the sweet to the savory is delicious.

NOTE: If you find you're having trouble with cooking the egg too quickly, the next time you make it you can beat the egg ahead of time and mix just a little of the hot cream of wheat mixture to the egg, beating rapidly. This will bring the egg to the right temperature and get it used to the hot without cooking it. Then add it to the cream of wheat. I find that this step isn't always necessary, since the cream of wheat itself isn't super hot, but if are having trouble give it a shot.

The next step for this recipe is to make it into a kind of quick bread. Farina makes a delightful, slightly less dense alternative to cornmeal.

This isn't a very complex or exciting recipe, but it's a start. Think I should move on to soups (which I make all the time) or easy pastas next. Or maybe what I did with that large bag of lemons Rachel's mom gave me and I didn't know what to do with at first.