What Did Wimpy Say To Popeye?

I'll gladly repay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.
Burgers. Burgers made from our house recipe served on, of course, homemade burger rolls. Yes, I know you can get hamburger rolls for $1 a bag. It's the baking thing. It's knowing every ingredient that was used. It's about making the buns the perfect size for your burgers. It's about Chris saying that the burgers and the rolls were delicious.
Our burger recipe -
Ground Beef, Rye Bread soaked in milk, Worcestershire Sauce, Horseradish Sauce, Salt and Pepper.

The roll recipe is from King Arthur Flour. Simple to make!!!!

Click here for the Beautiful Buns Recipe.

Just a little baking... Part Two

One of the recipes I made from the Italian Moms Cookbook Spreading Their Art to Every Table by Elisa Costantini was Rustic Bread. There was a note at the end of the recipe with instructions for making the dough into rolls. Perfect! We were having burgers this week, so I ended up with 8 Hamburger Rolls, and 2 loaves of bread from that one recipe!

We had the Hamburgers tonight. I made our usual blend of Ground Beef, Rye Bread soaked in milk, Worcestershire Sauce, Horseradish Sauce, Salt and Pepper. The rolls were perfect. Not too much bread. I was able to control the size of the rolls and the burgers. We both had bacon and cheese and I added avocado.

 Oh the salad? Really? It's Farro! We still have Farro in the freezer!

The Best Burgers

The grill is open and burgers are on the menu for tonight.

Ingredients-

Method-
Soak 2 slices of rye bread in milk, add just to milk enough to moisten the bread. Squeeze out excess liquid.
Tear up the bread, like when you make meatballs.
Add the bread to the meat and add about a teaspoon of A-1 Sauce and about a teaspoon of Horseradish sauce. Mix ingredients together.
Form the hamburger patties the same size as the rolls you will be using.
Make an impression in the middle of the patties, this will keep them from shrinking.
Grill and eat!

The Farro and Chickpea Salad. This coming weekend Chris and I are going to a picnic in New Jersey. I was asked to bring something Vegetarians could eat. This was quite the project. I had to find something that could be prepared in advance and stand up to being outside. I finally decided on the Farro and Chickpea Salad. I saw a recipe for a Farro Salad and I decided the Chickpeas and a few other things would be good additions.

Farro and Chickpea Salad

Ingredients-
Salad-
1 cup uncooked farro, rinsed and drained
3 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup diced red pepper
1/2 cup diced orange pepper
1/2 cup diced  yellow pepper
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 14.5 oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup sliced black olives
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Dressing -
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp oregano
salt
pepper

Method-
Rinse and drain the farro. Place in bowl and cover with cold water. Let soak in refrigerator over night.
Drain the farro. Place in pot and cover with 3 cups of stock, enough to cover the grain. Bring to a boil, reduce to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, check to see if is done. Cooked farro looks a bit like barley but it has a chewier texture. Drain off excess liquid .
Transfer farro to a mixing bowl, and add in remaining ingredients. Prepare the dressing and add to the salad. Toss until combined.
Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

We have been eating this the past couple of days. Believe me when I say we have been eating a lot of farro lately. I tried a few recipes and added and deleted things here and there. Chris has been the prefect tester! We found that this salad actually tastes better after it has been in the fridge for a day.

This is Our Hamburger

Well, I may not be allowed in the kitchen for long periods of time, the whole standing thing is not recommended. But I can be in there long enough to conjure up a burger that was deemed, "The Burger We Should Always Make." (Insert applause and cheers)

A couple of weeks ago I found a recipe that used bread and milk in a hamburger patty. I tried it and we liked it. This week, of course I could not find the darn recipe online. So I winged it and changed and adding to the ingredients.

I tore up slices of rye bread and soaked it in milk, as if making meatballs. I let it sit for a couple of minutes. Next I added the beef and then mixed in some A-1 steak sauce and horseradish sauce, just a little of each. I formed them into patties, indenting them in the center. Then tonight Chris grilled them and proclaimed them to be, "The Burger We Should Always Make."