In honor of Labor Day weekend, here are some recipes to thrill your barbecue-mates. I think my biggest regret for this summer is that we didn’t have nearly enough casual dinner parties out on the deck. The dismal weather in the first half, combined with near-constant travel in the second half, meant we just weren’t around enough to get people over here. One notable exception gathered our friends Lauren and Rafa, who live a mere three blocks away, with our new downstairs neighbors, who had moved in earlier that week. Rafa mixed elderflower-gin-grapefruit cocktails (and mocktails, for Lauren, who is pregnant!), and we ate a rather late dinner after a rather…protracted cocktail hour.

The goods:

I went for upgraded versions of summer classics: The Triple Pork burgers from Sunday Suppers at Lucques (which I’ve been making since Hanover whenever I can summon the strength), an Austrian-style potato salad from the August Cook’s Illustrated, and Goin’s slaw recipe, also from Sunday Suppers. For dessert, plum shortcakes.

I could have sworn that I’d typed up the pork burger recipe at some point, but apparently not. I hate typing recipes.
…
Ok, I’ve gone and fetched fortifications: a Pimm’s Cup and a snack. (It’s 5:12 p.m. on the Friday before a long weekend!)

First of all, the burgers.
They’re made with ground pork, bacon, and fresh chorizo. I’m going to include the recipe at the end because the ingredient list alone is a mile and a half long (But don’t get discouraged! Power through! Your friends will worship at your feet!)

For your visual edification, here are the spices/flavoring (thyme, chiles de arbol, shallot, garlic, cumin):

And the elements of the meat mixture:

Those were combined, made into patties, chilled, and later grilled and served with aoili, arugula, tomato, and manchego.

Next up, the potato salad, which I’d already made once that week with great success. The basic concept is that you cook the potato pieces in chicken broth with a bit of vinegar to keep them from falling apart, and then mash up some of the cooked potato in cooking liquid to make a creamy dressing with no mayo.

Austrian-Style Potato Salad
from Cook’s Illustrated
(serves 4-6)

2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (4 large), peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
salt
1 T sugar
2 T white wine vinegar
1 T dijon mustard
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 small red onion, chopped fine (about 3/4 cup)
6 cornichons (or dill pickle), minced (about 2 T)
2 T minced fresh chives
Black pepper

1. Bring potatoes, broth, water, 1 teaspoon salt, sugar, and 1 tablespoon vinegar to boil in 12-inch heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until potatoes offer no resistance when pierced with a paring knife, 15-17 minutes. [Note: I cooked mine longer and they were still a bit firm for my taste, so test often.] Remove cover, increase heat to high (so cooking liquid will reduce), and cook 2 minutes.

2. Drain potatoes in colander set over large bowl, reserving cooking liquid. Set drained potatoes aside. Pour off and discard all but 1/2 cup cooking liquid (if not enough remains, add water to make 1/2 cup). Whisk remaining tablespoon vinegar, mustard, and oil into cooking liquid.

3. Add 1/2 cup cooked potatoes to bowl with cooking liquid mixture and mash until a thick sauce forms (mixture will be slightly chunky). Add remaining potatoes, onion, cornichons, and chives, fold gently with rubber spatula to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

To call this a hit would be a huge understatement. It was a phenomenal success. The salad is creamy and satisfying but light, and not gloppy since there’s no mayo. Terrific, and I think I’ll make it all winter since it’s great hot.

Next side dish: “Rob’s Famous Coleslaw,” from the same Sunday Supper Menu as the pork burgers. I’d never made it before but I figured I would take a break from my super-simple cider vinegar approach to coleslaw, and give Goin’s a try. (Note: It was handy to use the rest of the bunch of chives from the potato salad in this slaw!)

Rob’s Famous Coleslaw
from Sunday Suppers at Lucques

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 small head red cabbage, about 1 pound, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 small head green cabbage, about 1 pound, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1/2 cup mayonnaise, preferably homemade
Healthy pinch cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons minced chives
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
salt/pepper

In a small saucepan, reduce the vinegar by half over medium heat.* Cool 5 minutes, then stir in the honey until it dissolves.
Combine the cabbages, onion and carrot in a large bowl.
Pour the vinegar-honey mixture over the vegetables, toss well to combine, season with salt and pepper and let sit for 15 minutes, tossing occasionally.
Add the mayo, cayenne, and herbs, and toss well. Taste for balance and seasoning.

*I made half a batch for the party, then another half batch later in the week. The second time I skipped reducing the vinegar, and instead used sherry vinegar and stirred the honey into half as much vinegar.

Also excellent. I am such a sucker for cabbage in general, and good slaws in particular. I hate over-dosing on mayo, but this one was perfect.

Finally, for dessert, I macerated a variety of plums in sugar for the afternoon, and then Ben baked biscuits (which I topped with sparkling sugar) and I whipped cream and we made shortcakes. I should have stewed the plums; they didn’t meld well enough!

You still want the pork burger recipe, don’t you? Ok, fine. I live to serve.

Grilled Pork Burgers
from Sunday Suppers at Lucques
Serves 6

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seed
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for grilling
1/2 cup diced shallots
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon thyme leaves
2 chiles de árbol, thinly sliced on the bias
2 pounds ground pork
1/4 pound fresh Mexican chorizo, casing removed
3 ounces applewood-smoked bacon, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
6 slices Manchego cheese
6 brioche buns or other good hamburger buns
Aioli
Romesco sauce [I’ve never made/used this, but she has a recipe for that, too]
2 ounces arugula
Kosher salt
Black pepper
[Sliced tomato, if that’s your thing!]

1. In a medium saucepan, toast the cumin seeds over medium heat a few minutes, until the seeds release their aroma and darken slightly. Pound the seeds in a mortar or spice grinder until coarsely ground.

2. Return the pan to the stove over high heat for 1 minute. Add the olive oil and shallots. Turn the heat down to medium-low, and cook a few minutes, stirring once or twice, until the shallots start to soften. Add the garlic, thyme, cumin, and sliced chile. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and a few grindings of pepper, and cook 3 to 4 minutes, until the shallots become translucent. Set aside to cool.

3. In a large bowl, use your hands to combine the ground pork, chorizo, bacon and shallot mixture, and parsley, being careful not to overmix the meat. Season with 1 1/4 teaspoons salt and lots of freshly ground pepper. Shape the meat into six 6-ounce patties. Chill in refrigerator if not using right away.

4. Light the grill 30-40 minutes before cooking, and remove the pork burgers from the refrigerator to come to room temperature. When the coals are broken down, red and glowing, brush the pork burgers with olive oil, and grill them 3 to 4 minutes on the first side, until they’re nicely browned. Turn the burgers over, and place a slice of cheese on each one. Cook another 3 minutes or so, until the pork is just cooked through. (It should still be slightly pink in the center.)

5. Slice the buns in half, brush them with olive oil, and toast them on the grill until lightly browned. Spread both sides of the buns with aioli. Place a burger on the bottom half of each bun, and dollop with a generous amount of romesco (if you’re using it). Place some arugula leaves on top [and I always add a slice of very good tomato], and finish with the top half of the bun.

I don’t have any photos of the finished burgers from that dinner, because it was dark as Hades by the time we ate. I did have two small extra patties, which I froze, so I’ll try to add a photo once I cook those.

Edited in honor of Matt, who flipped. out. when there were no pictures (see Bridge’s comment, below). These aren’t great, but here are photos from last year’s batch of pork burgers on my birthday at the lake.

Formed patties:

Finished burgers on too-big-rolls:

This batch was actually better-looking because I formed slightly flatter patties. Yum.

I’m posting out of order because Ben said I should get this recipe up for you guys. He rarely makes blog requests, so I’m listening! The week’s veg:

-The prettiest eggplant in the world
-Corn
-Tomatoes
-Beans
-Cucumber
-Parsley
-Garlic
-Mesclun
-1 pepper
-eggs

I had a sudden vision one day of chinese noodles with an eggplant sauce and crispy bits of pork. That lovely little eggplant was too small for what I had in mind, so I picked up a smallish purple one at WF, along with scallions and noodles, and got down to business.

The noodles were a wheat/tapioca flour combo. I was charmed by their little paper belts and the awesome instructions on the package:

These are social noodles. Noodles who like to mingle.

Ahem. So I cooked those, rinsed them, and dressed them with a bit of soy, sesame oil, sesame seeds, grated ginger, a tiny bit of mashed garlic, and a smear of chili sauce.

Meanwhile I was roasting the eggplants, pierced all over, at 475 degrees until they were very tender (about 40 minutes for these eggplants). When they were done I cut them open to cool.

Then I scraped out all the flesh and pureed it with my stick blender.

At this point I looked at the ingredients I was assembling, looked at the prepared eggplant, and decided to just finish the job and use the recipe for Strange Flavor Eggplant (which I’ve written about several times) to make the eggplant “sauce.” Strange Flavor eggplant is one of my favorite recipes from Barbara Tropp’s China Moon Cookbook (which I’ve also written about several times), and is especially wonderful as a way to lure eggplant haters into trying it. It is sweet and spicy and savory and amazing. It’s also kind of unattractive, but you can’t have everything. I’ll paste the recipe in at the bottom of this post.

I made the sauce (soy, brown sugar, rice vinegar, hot water) and got the aromatics together (ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, scallions).

Then, before finishing the eggplant, I combined 1/2 pound of ground pork with more ginger, scallions and soy (just a splash), and stir fried that in my wok.

I wanted the pork in little pieces, quite crispy. (I was thinking of an Indian-inspired carrot salad Jamie Oliver topped with crispy cumin lamb bits one time.)

It only takes minutes to finish the eggplant. You stir-fry the aromatics, pour in the sauce and bring it to a boil, then stir in the eggplant puree and heat it through. It smells astonishing, so that’s a bonus.

Once I’d finished that, I plated up the noodles, topping them with the eggplant and pork, with a few scallions for garnish.

Then we wolfed them down, mostly in silence. I ate leftovers cold for two days, barely waiting for noon before pouncing on my lunch. And I still had a bit of eggplant, so I’ve been sopping that up with french bread as a snack. Please try the eggplant, if nothing else! It’s so, so delicious. The recipe:

Strange-Flavor Eggplant
From the China Moon Cookbook by Barbara Tropp
Makes: 2 Cups

Ingredients:
1 to 1 1/4 lb. large eggplant

Aromatics:
o 1 tablespoon garlic, finely minced
o 1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and finely minced
o 1/4 cup thinly sliced green and white scallions rings
o 1/4-1/2 teaspoon dried red chili flakes

Sauce:
o 3 tablespoons soy sauce
o 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
o 1 teaspoon unseasoned Japanese rice vinegar
o 1 tablespoon hot water

2 tablespoons corn or peanut oil
1/2 teaspoon Japanese sesame oil
Garlic Croutons*
Scallions, thinly sliced, for garnish

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 475F. Move the rack to middle position.

2. Prick eggplant well in several places with a fork or the tip of a sharp knife and remove the leaves. Bake on a baking sheet, turning once, until fork-tender, 20-40 minutes, depending on size. Remove the eggplant and slit lengthwise to speed cooling.

3. While still warm, remove tough stem end and the peel, scraping off and removing any pulp. Cube the pulp, then process the pulp and any thick baking juices in a food processor or blender until nearly smooth. (Eggplant differs enormously in water content. Some will leech nothing when baked, others leach a tasteless water, while some ooze a tasty liquid. It is only the latter that should be used.)

4. Combine the aromatics in a small dish. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, stirring to dissolve sugar.

5. Heat a wok or large heavy skillet over high heat until hot enough to evaporate a bead of water on contact. Add the 2 tablespoons oil, swirl to glaze pan, then reduce the heat to moderately high. When hot enough to foam a scallion ring, add the aromatics and stir-fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds, adjusting the heat so they sizzle without scorching. Add the sauce ingredients and stir until simmering. Then add the eggplant, stir well to blend and heat through. Remove from the heat, then taste and adjust with a dash more chili flakes, brown sugar or vinegar, if needed to achieve a zesty flavor. Stir in the sesame oil.

6. Allow to cool, stirring occasionally. The flavor is fullest if the eggplant is refrigerated overnight, sealed airtight. Serve at room temperature, spooned onto croutons* and garnished with a sprinkling of scallion.

* Garlic Croutons: thin slices of day-old French bread, rubbed with olive oil and garlic, and toasted.

-Gorgeous fresh onions
-Basil
-Mesclun
-Corn
-Zucchini
-Arugula
-Beets
-Eggs

Ben and I almost share a birthday (he’s 7/31, I’m 8/1), which means it’s more like Christmas or an anniversary in terms of joint celebrations, but since they fell on a weekend this year it felt quite festive. I cooked dinner on Friday for his birthday, and then he planned an excursion for mine.

I went a bit Goin-ish in inspiration with the menu, finally making the heirloom tomato salad my mom has been raving about for a year or two, and using one of her steak recipes as a jumping off point for the main course. First things first, the meat. Goin calls for a tri-tip, which is a cut of meat so identified with California that when I asked for it at Savenor’s the butcher said “You from the West Coast?” In typical Goin style, the meat gets rubbed down with chiles, herbs and spices and spends some time thinking things through in the fridge.

Rosemary, chiles de arbol, cracked pepper (lemon zest goes on at the end)

While that rested, I turned to those stunning young onions from the CSA:

They were drawn and quartered (eighth-ed, actually), then I caramelized them in butter and olive oil, very slowly.

I put those aside to be combined with beans and thyme later, and made the salad, which is aaaaamazing.

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Burrata and torn croutons
Adapted from Suzanne Goin’s Sunday Suppers at Lucques
(If you still haven’t bought this cookbook, DO NOT DELAY. It inspired this blog, it inspires me, it will make you a better cook.)
To serve 6 (I made a half batch)
1/3 lb good country white bread
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon oregano leaves (I used parsley)
1/2 clove garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (I used all sherry vinegar instead of the combination of the two)
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
3 pounds assorted heirloom tomatoes (varied colors and sizes)
1 teaspoon fleur de sel
2 tablespoons sliced opal basil; 2 tablespoons sliced green basil (I used all green)
1 pound burrata* cheese
1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
Salt and pepper

*Burrata is a heavenly ball of fresh mozzarella that has been filled with cream or, in this case, mascarpone. I found a fresh local one (made in Somerville) at Formaggio Kitchen. Pricey but worth it for a special occasion.

Croutons: I’ve been making croutons like this for a while; it makes them chewy and crunchy and delicious, WAY better than cubes and nothing like what you buy in a bag.
Preheat oven to 375. Tear up the inside of the bread and toss with 2 T olive oil, squeezing the oil into the bread.

Toast on a baking sheet until golden but still soft inside. I like to add a bit of salt before toasting them.

Dressing: Pound the oregano (parsley, in my case), garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt in a mortar and pestle to make a paste.

Transfer to a bowl and add the vinegars. Whisk in the 6 T olive oil remaining, season to taste.

Tomatoes: Prep the tomatoes–core the heirlooms, halve the cherry tomatoes.

Cut half of the heirlooms into wedges and slice the other half into 1/4 inch slices. Season the slices with a bit of salt and pepper and lay them out on a platter, overlapping. Spoon on a bit of the dressing and scatter on some of the basil.

Slice the burrata into 12 slices and nudge them in between the tomato slices.

Dress the heirloom wedges and cherry tomatoes with 3 T of the dressing, tossing them with the shallots, salt, and pepper.

Gently add in the croutons, then arrange the mixture on top of the tomato/cheese slices on the platter, making a pretty heap. Top with the parsley and remaining basil.

You guys. I know that’s a long ingredient list for a tomato salad, but everything is fast and easy and so worth it. Major step up from the basic caprese.

As for the rest of dinner, the dining room was pretty:

I had roasted potatoes to accompany the steak and beans. We had some technical issues with the steak–there was a band of fat that made it shrink up and my ideas of timing were all off, so it was way underdone and needed to go back on the grill *after* resting, but it worked out.

I bought the tiniest chocolate cake at Whole Foods, and put the tallest birthday candle on it:

But mostly I’m still thinking about that tomato salad.

Can you blame me?

—
Next up: My birthday ramble.

Coming soon: A visit to the Farm!! Also, a dinner party. And some nice quick summer meals.

-Chard
-Summer squash
-Fennel
-Cucumbers
-Basil
-Beans
-Weekly eggs

Small share that week–but those little cucumbers, in addition to the pile of them I’d gotten the week before, prodded me into trying a recipe I’d seen on the farm’s recipe page, for refrigerator pickles.

Fridge Pickles
Adapted from Stone Soup Farm
Brine (amounts are for 3 largish cucumbers)
* ½ head garlic, peeled and sliced (doesn’t have to be perfect)
* ½ bunch dill, cut through a few times
* 2 cups water
* 1 cup white vinegar
* 3 TBS salt

Note: I made half again this much, and ended up adding a bit of extra water after a few days when the pickles seemed too harsh.

Slice up your cucumbers into whatever shapes you prefer—I made a mixture of spears, sandwich slices and rounds, since I like pickles in a variety of contexts!

Combine the brine ingredients in a jar. I started with a quart jar but it was too small and I moved up to a larger one that I had been using to store beans and rice and things. (PSA: I nearly dropped it the first time I put it back into the fridge after taking pickles out—be careful with big glass jars covered in condensation!)

Add in the liquids and give a good stir or shake to get the salt dissolving, then add in the cucumbers. Cover up the jar, pop it in the fridge, and wait a few days for the brine to do its magic.

According to the recipe, “The vinegar and salt preserve this somewhat, and these will keep fine in the fridge for 2-3 weeks, possibly more.” I started munching on the spears after about a week, and the pickles taste great. We used some rounds on burgers the other night, with great success.

Yesterday I got a few more cucumbers in the CSA share, and I added them into the brine. You can see the effect of pickling here: The pickles that have been in brine for two weeks are the duller olive color on the left; the new additions are on the right, bright green.

I know refrigerator pickles like this aren’t rocket science, but that’s exactly why I was so pleased. I doubted that something this simple would stand up to good store bought pickles, but they are great, super easy, and incredibly cheap to make. I go for really garlicky dill pickles, and I liked being able to tweak the brine to my taste as the pickles sat in the fridge. Definitely worth a try!

Let’s move past that sad pesto, shall we?

The goods:

-Kale
-Mesclun
-Iceberg lettuce
-Sage
-Sugar snap peas
-Cucumbers
-Zucchini
-Weekly eggs

My favorite restaurant in the neighborhood is Rendezvous in Central Square. It’s in a converted Burger King, but it’s just the perfect New American/seasonal kind of place, with great food and fantastic servers. The one downside is that they’ve priced everything just a tad too high for it to be the “we’re regulars” neighborhood joint that the decor and level of formality convey.

Anyway, Rendezvous famously serves a meatball dish (one that the chef has tried to take off the menu but ended up having to reinstate, I’m sure due to people like me calling in and saying “and when we’re there, could we get a few orders of the veal meatballs?”), described as follows: “Braised pork and veal meatballs with toasted orecchiette, maitakes and piave cheese.” We ordered them on our first visit, ages ago, and since then I’ve only ordered something else once, because once someone says “Let’s go to Rendezvous,” I start daydreaming about veal broth.

This dish is heaven. Forget the meatballs, which are great but—in my not-so-humble opinion—the merest decoration. A sideshow, if you will. The mushrooms vary by season but are always divine. The cheese adds a note of sharpness, as do the greens, which are also tossed with the toasted orecchiette. The toasted pasta gives another layer of texture and flavor, instead of just being a backdrop. And the whole thing sits in a pool of broth that cannot be described in words. I’m sure it is the result of restaurant resources, in the form of veal stock and AGES to cook it down, but it’s the kind of broth that you have to hold back from licking out of the bottom of the bowl. I do not, however, hold back from mopping it up with bread.

Ahem.

This dish, it is amazing. And last week I got kale in the CSA and I had very little else in the house aside from frozen pancetta and a bit of cheese and a box of….orecchiette! So I decided to make a Weeknight Tribute To the Best Pasta Ever.

I started by cooking the pancetta in a sacepan. I removed that to drain, and cooked my kale, making it very garlicky and starting with the chopped stems a while before adding the leaves.

(Nature’s colors are always so perfect:)

I asked Ben to pick up fresh mushrooms, and he brought home a dozen nice cremini. (Meanwhile I had also soaked a bunch of dried porcini in boiling water; I bought a cheap bag somewhere and it’s impossible to get the grit out of them but they’re good for making broth.)

When the kale was cooked, I put it aside and put chicken broth, the mushroom broth, halved garlic cloves and a bit of the pancetta in the same pot to cook down while I finished everything else off. Oh, I also boiled the pasta.

(Twirling contents in the broth)

In my large nonstick pan, I sautéed the mushrooms:

Dumped those on the cutting board with the kale and got to work toasting the pasta, which takes longer than you’d expect (I actually didn’t take it as far as I could have.)

When the pasta was toasty (again, it wasn’t toasty enough), I put the mushrooms and kale back in, tossed it all together, plated it with a ladle or two of the broth, and topped it with pancetta and parmesan.

Not. Half. Bad. I certainly wolfed mine down fast. Considering that I was using cremini mushrooms, and Swanson’s Low Sodium chicken broth (doctored up) instead of some kind of amazing veal reduction, I was pretty impressed. Will make again.

But Rendezvous? I love you. Please start serving the pasta-only version of the meatball dish. It’s almost my birthday, you could make it my present. xo!

—

I’m off to Aruba for the wedding of a dear, dear friend! I had a long sundress and dangly earrings. I’ll be back briefly next week, and then off again for some New England Jaunting with my parents. Want a preview of the things I haven’t posted yet (and some that I have)? I finally started using Flickr instead of Picasa for my blog pics, and you can find all my fancy new sets here. Also enjoy some of my all-time favorite photos, the blurry pictures of the signs my nutty and ancient Brooklyn landlord festooned around our building. “Major” use of “inappropriate” punctuation “on those.” (FYI, when he says “Silent-Alarm” he means “high decibal buzzing sound whenever the bolt is unlocked, audible from anywhere in the building.”)