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DREA & SAMHonestly, we're just two girls a long way from home trying to get by with a little help from our friends and this blog apparently. Sam, SPARKY, is in Bloomingtom, Indiana for 10 months of the year and Drea, IGOTNOTHING, is in Boston, Mass. for those 10 months but every so often, they find themselves "comfortably" at home in Los Angeles, Ca. We're pretty cool, no lie. |
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Wednesday, March 3, 2010
cooking electric: making burgers (take 2)  For tonight's dinner, I tried to make myself a hamburger...again. The first time I mistakenly decided to rely on Google rather than my intuition about how to cook burgers in an iron skillet. Let's just say burgers "boiled" in water turn out flat and tasteless...not a very delicious meal if you ask me, and not even the condiments could change that! Well, on to take two. This time I used butter (lots of it, since it is the only way to inject something that resembles flavor to food out here...no wonder Middle America has such a hard time fighting weight). Lots of butter, hold the water. Le Recipe... 1 frozen hamburger patty (78% lean and 27% fat!) 1 potato bread bun 2 eggs 1/3 of a good-sized zucchini, unpeeled 1/4 of a butter stick (more or less to taste) parmesan cheese feta cheese deli mustard (the thick yellow spicy kind) salsa cayenne pepper black pepper ...and 1 12 fl. oz. can of Hansen's Pomegranate soda, chilled Serves One. So, I start out with the patty. Some generic beef product that claims to be more lean than fat...what about animal? Sometimes I wonder how long I can keep eating this "meat." (Yes, I have become a recent convert to the whole Omnivore's Dilemna way of thinking...it's just that my wallet has yet to catch up to my bumper sticker, so "meat" I eat!) Anyhow, given my experience with the first patty, I know that this thing is full of fat and juices and leftover bits I am sure I do not want to know...but hey, it's a patty, what more can I expect? Be grateful, right? (After all, no one made me buy hamburger patties "flash frozen to lock in flavor." I just had a hankerin' for them...) First things first, melt some butter on a skillet on medium to high heat (depends on the stove top...in my case, electric, so I have plenty of time to prep the other ingredients and fiddle around with my laptop). Once butter has mostly or completely melted, put on the patty (don't even bother defrosting the thing, electric stoves will nuke it pretty quickly)and let it start to cook/grill/fry. Add a dash of cayenne and black pepper, again to taste. For those using an electric stove top, while you are waiting for one side of the patty to cook, you can prepare the other items. Crack the two eggs into a bowl and whisk them together, like scrambled eggs (feel free to add milk if you so desire, I just don't really keep milk on hand as it tends to go bad fast here, since neither I nor my roommate really drink milk). After that, let the eggs sit (re-whisk them if they start to get lazy and start to separate), and wash the zucchini. Cut off about a third of the zucchini (save the rest for another meal in a tupperware container or something of the sort), and then slice the bit into coins. Take the coins and then stack them and cut into quarters, so you will have a nice handful of fresh zucchini. By now, the first side of the patty should be cooked enough to flip it over. Check by cutting a section in the middle to see its color. If it is still pink or the color it was when it came out of the freezer, well it still needs a bit more time to cook on a side. In my case, I was kind of impatient. But a full day of classes makes me hungry and unwilling to wait for my food. So I ended up doing a flip-flop process that probably took longer than if I had been patient and had waited for one side to full cook. Regardless, I got to nauseatingly watch the blood seep to the top out of the cut I had made. Kind of disgusting, but a healthy reminder I guess that I am still eating an animal. At least I think so. (If I die of food poisoning or something, I have evidence!) Anyhow, continue to check the beef until it is completely cooked through (unless you are one of those people who like their burgers like their steaks; bloody). Once the patty is done, turn off the heat and set the patty aside on a plate, preferably with a napkin to soak up the grease (mmm, butter). Use another skillet, or clean out the same one, as in my case. Again, wait for the skillet to heat up again. Put a bit more butter on and let it melt. Once it is hot enough, the butter should be all melted, add in the zucchini pieces. Let them cook in the skillet until they are completely sauteed; they should look a little translucent and some of the edges might start to brown or burn from the butter. As soon as the zucchini are ready, pour in the whisked eggs. They should start to cook, so use a spatula to scramble them, or if you are brave, let them cook in a layer like a frittata (which I failed this time, but I'll get it next, you'll see). Add some cayenne and black pepper, while the eggs are being scrambled. When the eggs are mostly done, pop the potato bun (top and bottom slices) into the toaster, that way the bread will still be warm once you finish the eggs. Once the eggs finish, turn off the heat and get out the rest of the ingredients (well condiments really): feta cheese, parmesan cheese, mustard, and salsa. When the bread is toasted, take the bottom slice and put on the salsa and mustard on a plate. Then top it with the cooked patty. Sprinkle on the feta and parmesan cheese (unfortunately, my feta refused to crumble, so it was more like a chunked layer of cheese...). Add the eggs and zucchini scramble as the final layer and top the burger with the other piece of potato bread. After all that, pop open a Hansen's Pomegranate soda, from the fridge of course, and set down to eat dinner. All the flavors might seem distinct and probably distracting, but I promise it all makes an interesting gastronomic mesh. But then again, I am starved for the flavors of home and the sun, that I go a bit overboard. Anything to mask bland works. Even if it is not too gourmet or cuisine. It works, and it is food. Besides, this chick is on a budget...March's table and pantry was paid for under $60... Now, to digest the meal. Watch a little of "The Mighty Boosh" and maybe write a letter or something high-brow. And for dessert? Hmm, rice pudding or frozen Hershey's... eeny meeny miney moe... 3:41 PM
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