Monday, July 16, 2012

Hamburgers and Corn, Tomato, Feta & Basil Salad for Dinner - YUMMO!


I found this recipe for Corn, Tomato, Feta & Basil Salad on Pinterest in the Spring.  I knew I'd be trying it this Summer with some fresh corn.  I was a little worried about the flavor combinations and it being a hot dish but it was delicious!  As you can see from my inferior picture, I did not use cherry tomatoes.  I had plum ones in the house so I seeded and chopped those and used basil from the hubs' herb garden.  I highly recommend this recipe.

I served the salad with the best hamburgers I've ever made.  And I've made some pretty good hamburgers in my life.  Flavorful hamburgers will all kinds of stuff in them: Monterey Jack Turkey Burgers, Turkey Stuffing Burgers, Pacific Rim Turkey Burgers, Inside-Out Beef Bacon Cheeseburgers, hamburgers with a little ranch dressing and freshly grated pepper mixed in, etc.  The burgers I made tonight were just plain ole 80/20 ground beef, but the way I cooked them made all the difference in the world!

When I make burgers, I split 1 lb of ground beef into 4-6 burgers, depending upon how much other stuff I put in them.  Tonight, I divided the 1 lb of ground meat into 8 balls.  I have a panini press that opens up completely flat and came with both griddle and grill plates.  I opened that thing up, put on the griddle plates and heat up to sear/425 degrees.  Than I put the back, flat side of my bash 'n chop kitchen tool on top of a ground beef ball and hit it with my meat mallet, smashing the ball into a cardboard thin patty.  I saw this technique used on a show last night.  A gentleman was touring the US, visiting the best burger joints.  One of the places flattened their burgers like this and served 2 on a bun with 1 slice of cheese in-between.  Then they fried the burgers in a pot of grease that is over 100 years old!  I cooked mine on my dry griddle plates.  The burgers weren't handled much because I wasn't mixing anything into them and being so flat, they cooked in a flash.  That's what contributed to the tastiness.  2 patties with a slice of American cheese in between them on a potato hamburger roll and we all agreed they were the best burgers we'd ever had.  I am going to make burgers like this from now on!

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