Bul Go Burgers

It's July. This means burger season. If I have to go out in the rain to grill my burgers, so be it. It's summer.

There's a little supermarket not too far from my home. They don't have everything there, but they do have great veggies & the beef is freshly ground. I go in, with the plan of making korean-style beef burgers, I come out & feel as though I will be swept away with the flood rains pouring through the city. No matter, I have everything I need (an umbrella), so I walk home, start cooking & hope that rain will stop.

Bulgogi Burgers with Sweet Potato & Zucchini Fries

330 g ground beef
2 Tbsp red wine
1 Tbsp each minced garlic & ginger
1 green onion, chopped
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp panko (or regular breadcumbs)
1 sweet potato, peeled & sliced thinly
2 zucchinis, sliced thinly
1 medium onion, sliced
Kimchi

Mix beef, wine, garlic, ginger, green onion, soy & panko together, shape into patties & allow to sit (covered, in the fridge) for 30 minutes.
Make zucchini & sweet potato chips: add slices to hot oil & drain.
Sautee onions unitl translucent.
Grill burgers.
Serve burgers with Kimchi (store bought) and cooked onion rings.

Hopefully these rains will stop for more than a few hours. There was a day of sun this week, maybe there'll be another one soon.

Stuffed Stuff

The markets are the only indicator of summer that I have around here. It's rainy, it's cold & I am not planning any beach vacations *sigh*. I don't deserve any pity though, because I'm still able to get all the fresh goodies that my farmer's market has to offer. This weekend, I went out & got some freakish pepper tomatoes and a round zucchini. They say that the pepper tomato is like a bell pepper, but once you have it, you'll never go back to peppers. That sounded like a challenge. I had a red bell pepper in the fridge, so I decided it was time to take all 3 veggies & make Stuffed Stuff.

Stuffed Stuff
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow pepper tomato (or other large tomato)
1 round zucchini
1 cup quinoa, cooked
200 g mushrooms, chopped finely
1/2 red pepper, chopped
100 g ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
sprig each of rosemary & thyme, chopped (or use 1/2 tsp dried)
1 c tomato sauce

Cutting around stems, create a lid for pepper, tomato & zucchini. Seed, or with the zucchini, scoop out the inside, and set aside. Save zucchini bits.
Sautee scooped out zucchini, mushrooms, chopped pepper, garlic, onion & herbs until translucent. Add beef & continue cooking until it is cooked through. Mix with quinoa.
Stuff veggies with quinoa mixture.
Place stuffed veggies in baking dish & place tomato sauce around.
Bake at 170° for 30 minutes, or until done.

I loved the fact that the quinoa got crispy. I also loved the tomato. I'm not too sure if it will keep me off of bell peppers indefinitely, but it'll keep me away from bell peppers as long as the tomatoes are available. Given this German summer, that might be 3 more days.

Tomatoes, Zucchini & Eggs

It feels as though I am constantly cleaning out my fridge. I don't buy food with a plan to cook it, I buy food because it looks good & then I have to find some sort of use for it while it still looks good. The zucchini in the fridge was like that. I made zucchini chips a while back, and while I need to refine this technique, I didn't feel like deep frying. In some sort of an effort to make a balanced meal, I made a tomato salad and a zucchini quiche.

Tomato Salad
6 small tomatoes, sliced
6 leaves of basil, torn
sherry vinegar
olive oil
salt
pepper

Arrange basil & tomatoes on plate.
Top with vinegar, oil, salt & pepper.

The tomatoes are starting to get a lot better now, so they don't need much else.


Zucchini Quiche
2 small zuchinnis, sliced lengthwise
olive oil
1 package puff pastry
5 eggs
1/2 c milk
3/4 c grated cheese
1 tsp thyme
salt
pepper

Sautee zucchini in olive oil until it is bendable.
Line baking dish with puff pastry.
Place Zucchini ribbons in pastry dish.
Beat all other ingredients together & cover zucchini with egg mixture.
Bake in oven at 170° for 35-45 minutes, until browned.

I cleaned out some stuff from my fridge. Now I'm on my way to the market to restock. On the way over, I'll have to rethink this system.

Birthdays, Visits & Other Adventures

It was my birthday on the weekend. Again. After 2 months, I finally cashed in on the trip I got as a present. Venice was good - details will follow.

In the meantime, I still have to buy the giver of the Birthday-in-Venice trip a birthday present. I have 2 days to find something as wicked as a weekend in Venice. I am doomed to fail.

In addition to the stress of work, which has become normal, I am also expecting visitors next week. In my few free moments, I am trying to find amusement for them in Stuttgart. Why? I'm not really sure. I usually provide my own entertainment in Stuttgart, I do not rely on the city.

All this, plus the onslought of allergy season, means that it's meatloaf night tonight. While I make a mean meatloaf, I'm not going to bore anyone with details beyond this: use wine. Lots of it. Not in the meatloaf.

For my birthday this year, I went to a restaurant with sofas. You lie on the sofa, and are fed 10 courses. One of the appetizers was a bajhi with a jogurt tahini sauce. While I'm not a fan of deep-fried foods at home, I am turning into a huge fan of chickpea flour. I thought I would try some zuchinni pancakes with chickpea flour. Not perfect, but I might try it again, with a little bit of tweaking.