Onion-Dijon Burgers with Gruyere and Baby Greens

I love a good cheeseburger, but don’t necessarily want it served with a big ol’ bun. I love carbs as much as the next person, but too much bun detracts from the deliciously seasoned patty, melty cheese and other toppings. I want just enough bread to hold everything together so I can still eat the burger with my hands -- anything more than that and you run the risk of either wasting food or going into a food coma.

With that in mind, I wanted to use something for this recipe that didn’t have too much bulk but other than a standard sesame-seed bun. I got excited when spotting some ciabatta rolls at Trader Joe’s, but they were massive, so I opted for the pane rustico, a broad, flat loaf that I could cut into eight pieces to make reasonably sized buns. Can’t find pane rustico? Ciabatta’s a great alternative.

While the topper on the burger pictured above might look a bit tall, I promise that this bread has some air to it and smashes down quite nicely when you pick up this deliciously juicy burger and take a bite.

Onion-Dijon Burgers with Gruyere and Baby Greens
Serves 8 
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 tablespoons plus one teaspoon dijon mustard, divided
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 cups diced yellow onion (from 1 large onion)
2 pounds lean (90/10) ground beef
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 loaf pane rustico or any broad, flat loaf (like ciabatta), cut into eight pieces and sliced
Sliced gruyere
Baby greens salad mix
Equipment: 2 baking sheets and 2 skillets or frying pans

Use a fork to whisk mayonnaise with 2 tablespoons dijon in a small bowl and put it in the fridge until you’re ready to build the burgers.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread bread slices in a single layer on two baking sheets and set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in skillet or frying pan over medium heat. Cook onions, stirring often, for 7-8 minutes, until dark golden brown. Transfer onions to large mixing bowl and add ground beef, remaining dijon, salt and pepper. Combine mixture with your fingers and then form eight patties.

Add one tablespoon oil to the skillet you used to cook the onions, and the remaining oil to your second skillet or frying pan. Use your spatula to move the oil around so the surface of each pan has a consistent, light coating. Cook patties (4 to a pan) at high heat for 4 minutes before flipping. Add sliced gruyere and continue to cook patties for an additional 4-6 minutes or until they’re cooked to your liking.

Once you’ve flipped the patties, put bread in the oven and toast for 3-4 minutes and remove from oven.

Build each burger with two slices of bread, one patty, a handful of baby greens and a good smear of the dijon/mayonnaise spread.

Make-Fast Mondays: Grilled Chicken and Brie Sandwiches with Honeycrisp Apples and Arugula

Ever try a Honeycrisp apple? Take one bite and you’ll be hooked -- they’re absolutely delicious, so sweet and juicy. Just as their name implies, these apples are nice and crisp, and they hold up great in this quick, suuuuuper tasty sandwich.

Grilled Chicken and Brie Sandwiches with Honeycrisp Apples and Arugula 
Serves 4 
8 slices whole wheat bread
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
¼ cup whole grain dijon mustard
1 large Honeycrisp apple, cored and sliced thin
1 pound shredded rotisserie chicken
4 ounces Brie, sliced thin
1 cup arugula

Butter one side of each slice of bread and then spread mustard on the inside of each slice. Layer half the slices, buttered side down, with apples, chicken, Brie and arugula. Top each sandwich with a second slice of bread, buttered side up.

Heat a large nonstick frying pan or skillet over medium heat. Put 1 sandwich in the pan at a time (or 2 if you’ve got a big enough pan) and cook 2-3 minutes on each side, carefully flipping once, until cheese has melted and the bread is toasted.

Much to celebrate!

I don’t write about life outside the kitchen too much on this site -- this is a food blog, after all! However, happenings outside of the blogosphere have been pretty darned exciting so I figure it’s time to bring everyone up to speed (which also explains why you haven't seen a ton of new posts in recent months). The two biggies?

1. Chris and I moved from Sacramento to Mountain View last year and are loving life in the Bay Area, and

2. We got married!

Our big day was everything we’d hoped and planned for -- so much joy and love shared with our families and friends. Now that things have calmed down and we’re settling into daily life as husband and wife, I’m really excited to get back into the kitchen and to create new, share-worthy recipes. First up is a new Make-Fast Mondays treat I whipped up the other night.

Open-Faced Salmon Sandwiches 
Dark rye
Sliced smoked salmon
Whipped cream cheese
Capers, drained and rinsed
Mustard (Inglehoffer Creamy Dill, if you can find it, but Dijon's also great)

Apply a good slathering of cream cheese to toasted rye slices. Add salmon, top with capers and a dollop of mustard, and enjoy.

Make-Fast Mondays: Dill-icious Pasta Salad

Tonight’s Make-Fast Monday dinner is the end result in taking what I love about this recipe and ramping it up while scaling back the pasta. The end result is an entree-worthy pasta salad loaded with delicious shrimp, crunchy cucumber and a delightfully dilly dressing. It’s easy to prep all the components of this salad while boiling water and cooking your pasta. It’s also worth noting that I used Trader Joe’s Brown Rice  & Quinoa Fusilli Pasta, a new favorite, but a whole-wheat pasta would also yield similar results. 

Shrimp and Cucumber Fusilli with Dill Dressing 
¾ cup olive oil
5 tablespoons Dijon mustard
½ cup chopped dill
⅓ cup white wine vinegar
8 ounce fusilli, cooked al dente and rinsed with cold water
4 green onions, sliced
1 pound Persian cucumbers, halved and cut into thick slices (English cucumber would also work)
1 pound cooked medium shrimp, tails removed and deveined
1 cup fat-free crumbled feta

Blend olive oil, Dijon, dill and white wine vinegar in a blender until smooth and creamy. Combine remaining ingredients in large bowl, and stir in dressing until everything’s evenly coated.

May 6 Salad

I based this whole salad around the dill that’s been chilling in my fridge for the past couple days. We had a royal potluck at work last week to celebrate Wills and Kate getting hitched. My contribution was a huge batch of tea sandwiches — dill rye, English cucumber, cream cheese and fresh dill. The only thing that would have made this potluck better would have been a visit from one or more of those adorable corgis from “The King’s Speech,” but I digress.

I had dill to spare after the potluck, and thought I’d use it to make the Mustard Dill Vinaigrette that goes along with an orzo salad recipe I absolutely love. I drizzled said dressing over a plate full of butter lettuce, grape tomatoes, English cucumber slices and grilled salmon. Yum.