Restaurant Recreations: Granny's Apron

It's been a while since I've done a Restaurant Recreations post, so I figured I'd start the week with one!

Now, a while back, I posted on my Facebook page that I would be trekking around Louisville to find a hole-in-the-wall diner to try.  Upon just seeing the name of this place - Granny's Apron - we knew we had to give it a go.

The restaurant itself is pretty inconspicuous, it's basically a plain brick building - you wouldn't really know it's a restaurant unless you already knew it was there.

We walked in and were promptly seated.  The restaurant was about half full, so you know that something had to bring them there.  One look at the menu and it was a hard decision to pick what we wanted.  They have all your basic comfort foods, from country fried steak to meatloaf.  We decided to do two appetizers, the onion petals and some mozzarella cheese sticks.

The onion petals tasted like a spicy version of a bloomin' onion, and were served with a sauce very similar to bloomin' onion sauce.  They were tasty though.

The mozzarella cheesesticks wern't anything fancy - in fact, they probably came from a frozen package - but hey, we weren't anywhere fancy, so I didn't expect anything more.

For our entrees, Andy chose the fish sandwich and I chose the prime rib burger.

Now let's talk about this fish sandwich.  This thing was huge.  I mean - HUGE.  4 people could have eaten off of this.  And the kicker here?  The sandwich was like $6!  After the sheer shock factor of how big this thing was, Andy said the taste of the fish itself wasn't anything spectacular.

Seriously huge!

There was pretty much only one word for my burger - messy!  It was juicy though!  It had sauteed mushroom and onions on it, as well as some swiss cheese.  Then to top it all off, there was a boatload of gravy on top.  It was definitely way too messy.

Sorry about the blurry picture - but you can obviously see this thing was messy!

All in all, our meal was okay.  It wasn't anything spectacular, but for under $20, we got your typical diner food - and let's not even talk about the "entertainment" we received while people-watching.



So let's get to the recreation!

I liked the idea of my burger, loaded with goods, but the restaurant version was way too messy!  So I decided to "clean" it up a little bit and here's what I ended up with...

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef
8 oz. portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
6 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 slices bacon, cooked and divided
Hamburger buns
Swiss cheese slices

Heat a large skillet under medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Add mushrooms and onions and cook until softened and slightly caramelized, about 10-15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine the beef, orange juice, soy sauce, olive oil, apple cider vinegar.  Chop up 2 slices of bacon and gently combine in the mix, as well.

Form mixture into 8 patties and season liberally with salt and pepper.

Heat a charcoal grill under medium high heat.  Grill patties for about 4 to 5 minutes per side (for a medium rare), or until at desired doneness.  About a minute before burgers are done, add cheese slices on top (if desired) and cook until melted.

Assemble burgers and top with onions, mushrooms, and leftover bacon slices. 

These were extremely juicy burgers!  I don't normally include a lot of acidity like orange juice or vinegar in burger mixtures, but it really worked here.  And you could taste a slight orange flavor in the meat which was a welcomed change!

The burgers were still slightly messy, but manageable, due to the fact that I decided to omit the gravy.

Give these burgers a try for your next grilling adventure and you won't be disappointed!

Have a great Monday guys!

I-Want-My-Warm-Weather-Back Burgers

Hope everyone that celebrated had a festive and amazing Christmas!  I know I did, and I felt extremely loved and surrounded by great family!

I complain when it's too cold.  I complain when it's too hot.  Am I ever satisfied?

Although we didn't get hit quite as bad as the East Coast, Louisville had it's fair share of snow.  We had a white Christmas, which was quite pretty, but enough already.  The snow is cold.  And my dogs are possessed with the devil when they see it.  All they want to do is run around, tugging fiercely on their leashes, making me look like an idiot ragdoll when taking them for walks.  I'm sure it's quite humorous to an onlooker, but to me... it just makes my arms hurt.  And I might have a case of whiplash.  Who knows.

Anyway, I made these burgers with summer in mind.  Although I didn't brave the cold and grill them on the back deck (I'm sure they would have been even better with that smoky grill taste!), they were quite possibly the juiciest burgers I've had in a while.  Andy definitely liked them, as he proceeded to eat two!

Ingredients:
Adapted from The British Larder's Recipe

Burgers:

 

1/2 lb. ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, roasted and mashed
salt and pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon horseradish sauce
1 egg
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

Parsnip Fries:

2 parsnips, peeled and cut into fries
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Toss parsnips in a large bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and cayenne.  Arrange in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast in oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until parsnips are crispy and browned.  

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan under medium high heat. Add onion and carrot and saute for until onions are soft and translucent, about 2-3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper. Turn heat off and cool completely.  Then mix in roasted mashed garlic.

In a large bowl, combine onion mixture with ground beef, horseradish sauce, egg, panko, and worcestershire sauce.  Mix well.

Form mixture into 4 decent sized patties (you can make more of smaller ones, if you'd like).  Season outside of patties with salt and pepper, if desired.

Heat frying pan under medium high heat and add a little bit of olive oil.  Cook the burgers for 5 minutes on each side, or under middle is no longer bright pink.

Right before burger is done, you can add some cheddar cheese to melt on one side if you'd like a cheeseburger!

When parsnips are done, drizzle them with honey and serve with burger!

 

Like I said, these were damn good and juicy!  It definitely reminded me of grilling out (although these weren't grilled) in the summertime.  I want my summer/spring back.  Soon enough!

Enjoy guys!

One Big Mouthful: Cheeseburgers

Alright.  This is going to be a semi-tutorial type of post.  This is one of those things I learned a while back... that you don't need fancy equipment to get certain things done in the kitchen.  Case in point... grinding your own meat.

You don't need a special attachment on your Kitchen-Aid Mixer.  You don't need a full-fledged meat grinder.  You don't need to spend a bunch of money on things you don't really need in order to get the job done.  Now, I'm not saying that if you have that spare cash, and like new gadgets, that you shouldn't go get them... by all means, spend away.  But if you're a tight-budgeted college student like myself... you find shortcuts.

So what exactly do you need to grind your own meat at home?  Well... just 3 simple things.  (Most of which are found in EVERY kitchen, or can be borrowed from a friend, parent, or neighbor)

1. Food Processor
2. Freezer 
3. Meat

Sounds simple enough, right?  Well let's do it to it.


Ingredients:
Adapted from Bon Appetit's recipe

1 lb. sirloin, cut into cubes
1 lb. short ribs, meat cut from bone
1 lb. skirt steak, cut into strips
5 strips bacon, chopped
3 ounces bone marrow, chilled (I roasted about 5 soup bones and scooped the marrow out)
1 tablespoon red miso mixed in 1/4 cup water, chilled
1 tablespoon Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce 
olive oil, for brushing

optional toppings:

sliced cheddar cheese
challah buns
tomato slices
red onion slices
watercress sprigs
sliced pickles
ketchup

So first, what you'll want to do is spread your 3 meat products and the bacon on a baking sheet or bowl that will fit in your freezer.  Place in freezer for about 30-45 minutes, or until pieces are partially frozen.  This will help your food processor break down the meat easier.

Working in batches, add the meat to your food processor and set on low until you get your preferred grind, maybe about a minute or two.  And voila!  You have your very own ground beef for use in burgers, meatloaf, tacos, you name it!  So let's get to these burgers.

In a large bowl, combine 1 lb. ground beef (I saved the remainder of my ground beef for other uses) and bone marrow.  Add miso mixture and Worcestershire sauce, and stir just to incorporate.  Divide beef into 4 nicely-sized patties.  Generously season each patty with salt and pepper.

Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add burgers to skillet and cook for about 5-7 minutes per side, for a nice medium.  About 1 minute before burgers are done, add slices of cheddar cheese and cook until melted.  Remove from heat and let rest for about 2-3 minutes.

Toast your challah buns, if desired, and begin to assemble burgers.  We went with bottom bun, burger, tomato slice, red onion slice, watercress, pickles, ketchup, and top bun.  We had potato chips as a nice and easy side item!

These burgers were awesome!  Juicy, delicious, and well worth the effort to grind our own meat!  These were perfect for eating while watching the football games on Sunday, too!  They could definitely be made to be mini sliders also! 

And by the way, I received a few free coupons for some Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce from Foodbuzz's Tastemaker program and believe that the added flavor of the Worcestershire sauce definitely gave these burgers a great hint of flavor!


And it's Wednesday CSA day...  I'm getting kind of sad because we've only got 2 more pick-ups before the season is over!  But they're definitely loading us up!

 3 ears of popcorn corn (I'm pretty excited about this one!)
1 head of cabbage
1 bunch mizuna (this is new for me and I had to Google it... it's similar to arugula, but less of a peppery taste)
1 bunch of kale greens
2 turnips
2 lbs. red potatoes
2 lbs. apples
1 french baguette

Sunday Morning Burger

No, this isn't meant to be eaten for breakfast... however, it wouldn't be a bad idea. I just think this whole concept of a burger came out of pure adaptation for what was available in my fridge. And seriously... every time I top something with an egg (whether poached or fried), it's been absolutely delicious. This is no exception... I highly recommend you try this... like, now.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground pork
1 Granny Smith apple, grated
1 onion, grated
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tablespoon ground sage
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg/burger patty
cheese (I used slices of Velveeta)
Kaiser rolls
margarine or softened butter
1 teaspoon olive oil

In a medium bowl, combine the ground pork, apple, onion, bread crumbs, sage, salt, and pepper. Mix until well combined. Form into 4 good sized patties. You can probably make 8 thinner patties if you wanted to, but I'm a fan of a big juicy burger.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Heat a large oven proof skillet under medium heat and add olive oil. Brown the patties on each side, about 2-3 minutes per side. You don't want to cook them all the way through, just get a nice crust on the outside.

Place skillet in oven and cook for about 20 minutes, or until cooked through.

Meanwhile, you can fry your eggs. I did mine one at a time and I like them over-easy. You can cook them up any way you wish, but make sure you have a nice oozy (but still done) yolk!

Open Kaiser rolls and butter both sides. Place in oven for about 5 minutes to toast.

To assemble burger, place patty on bottom bun, top with egg, then cheese and cover with top bun. In my opinion, this doesn't need any condiment. The oozing egg is just what it needs and the burger is one of the juiciest burgers I've ever eaten.

This was absolutely wonderful. This to me, is like a sausage, egg, and cheese muffin to the extreme. McDonald's has nothing on this. This. Is. Great. Try it now! Enjoy!

Vietnamese Banh Mi Burgers

I love a good burger. Big burgers, small burgers, thin, thick, whatever... as long as it's good, I'm down for it. I like this recipe because it takes a tradition Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich (here's the Wikipedia article here) and converts it into a burger. Definitely makes the house smell pretty awesome too.

Ingredients:
Adapted from Food & Wine Nov 2009 Issue - "Vietnamese-Style Banh Mi Burgers"

2 carrots, shredded
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Frank's Red Hot Sauce
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper
1 & 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 & 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 ciabatta rolls
10 jalapeno slices (more or less depending on your like/hatred of spiciness)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine the carrots, jalapenos, rice vinegar, and sugar. Toss to combine and let sit for about 10 minutes. Drain, then set aside.

In another small bowl, mix the mayonnaise, tomato paste, hot sauce, garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix well and set aside.

Patty up the beef into 4 large burgers. You could go as thick or thin as you want, but I just quartered my ground beef and made a patty out of each one. It made for a decent size patty. Season each patty with curry powder, salt, and pepper. It's pretty simple seasoning here, but I think the curry powder really adds a depth of flavor.


In a large skillet, heat the oil under medium-high heat. Add the patties and cook until nicely browned on each side. Flip only once, took about 15 minutes or so, depending on how thick your patties are.

While the patties are cooking, you can start crisping up your ciabatta rolls. Cut each roll in half and spread butter on cut sides of bread. Set bread, cut side up, and bake for about 5 minutes so get a nice lightly toasted roll.


Spread spicy mayo on on side of roll, then place patty on roll, and top with pickled carrots and jalapenos.

These were definitely different, but still had a good flavor for a burger. The bread was crunchy. The burger was juicy. The toppings and condiments worked well with everything. Definitely a must try burger. Enjoy!

Bratwurst Sliders

I love bratwursts. I love mini-cheeseburgers. So why not combine the two to make a bratwurst patty slider? Seems like a good idea in hind-sight, but I don't necessarily think I executed it very well. Andy still ate them, but I think it was just missing something. Recipe was adapted from the Bon Appetit Oct 2009 issue recipe for Homemade Bratwurst Bites.

Ingredients:

1 & 1/4 lbs country style pork spareribs, cut into small cubes
1 package bacon, cut into thin slices
1 & 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage
1 & 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon ground mace
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup lager beer, divided

I think my first wrong turn in this recipe was using the bacon to replace pork fat in the original recipe. I think the bacon really overpowered the pork and made it taste like breakfast. Now breakfast isn't a bad taste, but it's not really the taste I personally wanted in a burger/slider. And I know that bacon IS pork fat, but I think using an uncured pork fat was what this recipe needed.

Freeze the bacon and the pork cubes in the freezer for about 30 minutes. It should be partially frozen. Then, in batches, place half the bacon and half the pork in your food processor and pulse until you get a good ground consistency. If you have a meat grinder, it would work as well, but I know most people have food processors that could do the same job.

When all done, place mixture in bowl and mix in sage, salt, mace, pepper, coriander, and sugar. Stir in about 1/4 cup of the beer. Cover mixture and refrigerate overnight.

Next day, form mixture into slider sized patties. Heat patties (I did about 6 at a time in a large frypan) under medium heat for about 5 minutes, until browned on the bottom. Then add remaining 1/2 cup of beer (you may need more beer than above if you want to continue this step, because there was enough of the mixture to make TONS of patties, or you could just brown both sides and still be fine). Cover with lid slightly ajar and cook until beer is almost all evaporated, maybe 10 minutes or so. Flip patties over and cook until brown on other side and cooked through, about 5 more minutes.

I used Hawaiian Sweet Bread Rolls for my buns (which I absolutely LOVE), and topped my burgers with swiss cheese, spicy brown mustard, and carmelized onions. Andy didn't want swiss, so he put Velveeta on his. Dress your sliders accordingly and enjoy!

Like I said, these weren't BAD, it just seemed like something was missing. Maybe you guys could play around with the recipe and find a way that works for you! Or who knows, maybe THIS way works. Enjoy!