Recipes

The Best Burger

The Best Burger

I may have the nerve to suggest a great way to make a burger, but I can’t decide the best condiment for you. That’s a matter of individual choice. I even see quite a few variations at my table. My spouse mixes half ketchup and half mustard, my daughter uses steak sauce, and my son and I slather on the Olive Relish that I provide the recipe for elsewhere in this chapter. And we all agree on potato salad as the perfect side dish. Choose a mayonnaise or oil and vinegar version from the deli or make your own.
Couverts4 servings
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Place the ground chuck in a bowl with the salt and pepper.
  • Gently mix the seasonings into the beef with your hands.
  • Divide the meat into 4 portions and flatten into patties about 3/4 inch thick and 3 inches in diameter.
  • Place the butter and oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet and heat over medium-high heat.
  • When the butter starts to foam, gently ease the patties into the skillet.
  • Cook on the first side about 5 minutes, or until the meat is dark brown.
  • Using a spatula, flip the patties over and cook the second side 3 to 5 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the patty registers 160 degrees.
  • When the patties are cooked, remove and place on toasted hamburger buns.
  • Top with the Olive Relish if you like.
  • Add lettuce and tomato slices and close with the tops of buns.
  • Serve immediately
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Course; Beef / Burgers

Olive Relish

Olive Relish

Kalamata olives are dark, meaty Greek olives. You can find them in bulk in some supermarkets or in jars in stores’ ethnic food sections. Using a food processor to chop the vegetables and olives takes less time than doing it by hand. Notice that this recipe doesn’t call for salt. The olives and capers are salty enough for my taste, but you can add a pinch of salt if you like
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a small skillet.
  • Add the shallot, garlic, and celery and cook over low-medium heat until the vegetables are limp but not browned, about 3 minutes.
  • Remove the vegetables from the skillet and spoon into a bowl.
  • Stir in the olives, capers, oregano, pepper, the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, and the vinegar.
  • Let sit at least 5 minutes for flavors to blend.
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Course; Side Dish

Savory and Sweet Chicken Sandwiches

Savory and Sweet Chicken Sandwiches

Thinly slice leftover rotisserie chicken or roast turkey to use in these sandwiches. Add a green salad and iced tea for a wonderful lunch.
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Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 2 tablespoons cherry jam
  • 4 small slices sourdough bread cut 1/2-inch thick
  • 4 ounces sliced chicken breast meat
  • 2 slices Asiago cheese

Instructions

  • Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet.
  • Spread the jam on 2 slices of bread.
  • Add half the chicken and half the cheese to each slice of the jam-covered bread.
  • Top the sandwiches with the remaining bread.
  • Gently arrange the sandwiches in the skillet and brown over medium heat for 3 minutes per side or until the sandwiches are golden brown and the cheese melts.
  • Remove from the heat.
  • Cut the sandwiches diagonally in half to serve.

Notes & Wine Advice

Vary It!

Using the same salty-sweet concept, substitute ham for the chicken and spread the bread with peach jam or orange marmalade.
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Course; Chicken / Sandwiches

Cheese Quesadillas with Maple-Flavored Sautéed Apples

Cheese Quesadillas with Maple-Flavored Sautéed Apples

This luscious alternative to a grilled cheese sandwich makes a marvelous brunch entree. If you’re serving a crowd, arrange the finished quesadillas on a cookie sheet and place in a 200-degree oven to keep warm. For a complete brunch menu, I’d add a platter of fried, thickly sliced, maple-cured bacon, and a salad of strawberries and spinach with bottled poppy seed dressing.
Couverts4 servings
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet.
  • Place the tortillas on a work surface.
  • Arrange one cheese slice on one half of each tortilla.
  • Fold the cheese in half if necessary to fit the tortilla half.
  • Fold each tortilla in half to form semicircles.
  • Ease two tortillas into the skillet in one layer.
  • Brown the tortillas over medium heat 3 minutes on each side or until the tortillas are lightly browned and the cheese is melted.
  • Remove from the skillet and keep warm.
  • Add 1 more tablespoon of the butter and repeat with 2 more folded tortillas and keep warm.
  • Add the remaining tablespoon of butter to the skillet.
  • Add the apple slices and brown over medium-high heat for 1 minute.
  • Add the maple syrup, apple juice, salt, and nutmeg.
  • Cook over high heat until the apple slices are tender and the liquid is syrupy, about 2 minutes.
  • Stir in the lemon juice.
  • To serve, cut each tortilla in half to form 2 quarters.
  • Arrange 2 quarters on each of 4 plates and top with apple slices and syrup.

Notes & Wine Advice

Vary It!
Add a slice of Canadian bacon with the cheese.
Speed It Up! Skip the apples and maple syrup, and instead, warm up a can of apple pie filling to serve over the quesadillas.
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Course; Cheese / Fruit

Beef Wraps with Red Pepper Salad

Beef Wraps with Red Pepper Salad

Assemble these wraps and place them on a serving platter or offer wraps as a do-it-yourself dinner. Place the red pepper salad, beef, and flour tortillas on separate plates and let your family help themselves. You’re getting vegetables, protein, and starch in a hand-held meal, but for more nourishment, serve homemade or deli coleslaw on the side.
Couverts4 servings
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Combine the red pepper, chile, onion, capers, olive oil, wine vinegar, and pepper in a bowl and set aside for 5 minutes for flavors to blend.
  • Arrange 3 ounces of meat in the center of each flour tortilla.
  • Spoon the red pepper salad in a strip down the center of each sandwich.
  • Fold the sandwiches as shown in Figure 11-1.
  • Serve with napkins; the wraps are juicy.

Notes & Wine Advice

Vary It!

Substitute 12 ounces of smoked chicken for the roast beef. If desired, use leftover steak in these wraps. Also, try pita breads instead of flour tortillas or use flavored tortillas.
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Course; Beef / Wrap’s

Orange and Radish Salad

Orange and Radish Salad

This salad tastes just as delicious if you substitute baby spinach leaves for the salad greens. Serve this salad with a simple chicken entree, such as the Chicken Breasts with Brandy and Mustard Sauce
Couverts4
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Arrange the salad greens on a serving platter.
  • Top with the orange and radish slices.
  • Stir together the orange juice, vinegar, and honey in a cup, blending well to dissolve the honey.
  • Add the olive oil, salt, and pepper.
  • Drizzle the dressing over the vegetables and serve immediately, so the salad greens won’t wilt.
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Course; Salad

Garlic Bread and Chicken Salad

Garlic Bread and Chicken Salad

Set this salad aside for 15 minutes if you’re not pressed for time to allow the tomato juices, oil, and vinegar to thoroughly soak into the bread.
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Rub the bread on both sides with garlic clove half.
  • Cut each bread slice into 1-inch cubes.
  • Place the bread cubes in a serving bowl.
  • Discard any remaining garlic.
  • Add the basil, tomatoes, chicken breast, and red onion to the bread and toss well.
  • Set aside while making the dressing.
  • Stir the oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper together in a cup.
  • Pour the dressing over the salad and toss again.
  • Let the salad stand for 3 to 5 minutes, so the bread absorbs the dressing.

Notes & Wine Advice

Vary It!
Olives, goat cheese, feta cheese, and capers add a delightful piquant flavor to bread salad. Add any or all these ingredients in small amounts. But if you do, taste before adding salt.
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Course; Bread / Chicken

Basil-Scented Salmon

Basil-Scented Salmon

This dish of salmon is unusual yet so flavorful; it’s a hit when I serve it to company. It’s especially good when you pair it with tabbouleh. If you’re entertaining guests on a rushed schedule, reach for this recipe. Spread leftover tabbouleh on a platter and set the basil-scented salmon fillets at a diagonal over the grains.
Couverts4 servings
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Season the pink flesh side of each salmon fillet with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
  • Press the basil leaves onto the flesh side of the salmon fillets.
  • Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat.
  • Carefully add the salmon, basil-side up and cook over medium-high heat about 10 minutes or until the fish is done.
  • Run a spatula or thin knife between the salmon fillets and the salmon skin and separate the two.
  • Discard the salmon skins.
  • Set the salmon aside for 1 minute for the fish to firm up.
  • To serve, spread the tabbouleh on a large platter.
  • Arrange the salmon fillets diagonally over the tabbouleh.
  • Serve immediately.
  • Vary It!
  • You can also serve the salmon without the tabbouleh.
  • Add lemon wedges and a small, mixed green salad on the side.
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Course; Fish

Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh

Years ago, I developed a passion for mint and planted it in patches around my garden. Peppermint, spearmint, and lemon-scented mint have taken over like weeds. But unlike most weeds, they’re delicious in tabbouleh.
Couverts4
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Combine the cooked bulgur, tomatoes, cucumber, mint, red onions (if desired), and scallions in a serving bowl.
  • In a cup stir together the salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice.
  • Pour the dressing into the bulgur mixture and toss well to coat.

Notes & Wine Advice

Vary It!

Tabbouleh, being one of those sturdy grain salads, can stay in the refrigerator a day or two. Make an extra batch to serve, at room temperature, with the elegant salmon recipe that follows.
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Course; Salad

Garden Pasta Salad

Garden Pasta Salad

It used to bother me that beets would bleed their red color into other ingredients that they touch, and I omitted beets from my salads for a long time. How much I missed the sweet taste. Now I accept the running colors as a trade-off. You can sprinkle diced beets on top of a salad just before serving to keep the other ingredients from discoloring. I like penne in this salad, but if you have other cooked pasta in the fridge use it instead.
Couverts4 servings
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Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup chopped Greek olives
  • 6 cups cooked penne or similar pasta
  • 2 medium tomatoes cored and chopped
  • 2 cups canned beets diced
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or thyme, or a combination
  • 4 ounces 1 cup crumbled goat cheese
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • Pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Combine the olives, pasta, tomatoes, beets, and oregano in a large bowl.
  • Add the cheese.
  • In a cup, stir together the oil, lemon juice, and pepper and stir into salad mixture.
  • Toss gently but well.
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Course; Pasta / Salad