Starting Up The Grill

With the weather warming up and swimsuit season... here!... I can't cook exclusively Julia. I feel her meals are very hearty and comforting (butter, butter, butter) and summer doesn't allow for too many sweatshirts, if you get my drift. I will continue to use her cookbook, but I am definitely going to blog about 'non-Julia' recipes.

Josh's Review: Burger & Fries: "Good" Mayo-Dijon Dip: "Really Good"

Last night, I decided to make Grilled Buttery Burgers and Grilled Steak Fries with a Mayo-Dijon Dip. I found the recipe in one of my cooking magazines and tweaked it a bit to make it a little healthier.

"Almost addictive, buttery burgers are something of a Midwestern phenomenon. They got their start in Milwaukee, where these thin beef patties are served with a hefty pat of real butter. Instead of schlepping a lot of toppings to your favorite cookout spot, just toss this butter log into the cooler."

Condiment Butter ~ What a great idea! I love, love, love this concept. I mixed together unsalted butter, ketchup, yellow mustard, red onion, pickle and a little kosher salt and formed it into a log in parchment paper and placed it in the freezer. Make sure you take it out of the freezer while the burgers are cooking, so it softens before being placed on the burger. I think it makes the burgers look so pretty! Look at that color!

Mayo-Dijon Dip ~ For the Dip for the Steak fries, I mixed together Light Mayo, Dijon Mustard and Turkey Bacon Bits. Light Mayo tastes the same as regular and Turkey Bacon is very good and Half the price of regular bacon. I put the dip in a cute serving cup and put it in the fridge.

The Steak Fries were very simple. I sliced potatoes into wedges and tossed them with olive oil and s&p. They are prepped and ready to be grilled.

When Josh got home from work, I said, "I'm going to start up the grill. We are having burgers tonight." What was his response? "I'll do it." So, I said, "No it's okay, you don't have to do it." Well. Apparently, women can't grill. Did you know this? "Grilling is a man's job." So, I must give credit, where credit is do. Josh did the grilling... with my supervision. :)

The Steak Fries were grilled to perfection and placed in a pyrex dish. After I put the grilled steak fries in the dish, I sprinkled them with cheese and placed the dish on the grill to melt the cheese.

Turkey Burger ~ Instead of beef, I used ground turkey mixed with a little relish, red onion, yellow mustard and worcestershire (whats this here) sauce. I decided to dress the burger with shredded lettuce mixed with cilantro and slices of Roma tomatoes on a ciabatta bun. Cilantro brought such an amazing freshness to the burger. And ciabatta buns are the only way to go when it comes to burgers! With the addition of the slice of condiment butter to top it off, the burger was so colorful. How often can you say that about a burger?

It was so nice to sit outside at our picnic table. What a beautiful night. I didn't tell Josh what was in the dip... and he was definitely using a lot on his fries! Halfway through the meal, he was in love with the mayo-dijon dip and asked what it was... After I told him, he stopped using as much for each fry, because he wants to watch his figure. :)

Complete Meal! :)