Burgers, Round Two

Last night was raid-the-fridge night again.  I had the GF buns in the freezer and some left over grilled chicken cubes from pizza night.  I made those into patties and topped them with some pesto, fresh basil leaves, and low fat mozzarella.  The salad fixins were tossed in a light bright red wine vinaigrette.  In Andrew's words, they were damn good.  We washed it all down with a vodka lemon fizz (vodka, triple sec, club soda, lemon squeeze).  They were little guys, but super duper filling.

Gluten-Free Salmon Burgers

Remember in my last post I mentioned I did some baking on Sunday?  You didn't think I'd miss a chance to tell you in detail how pleasantly and deliciously surprised I was with the results, did you?  Of course not.  This story gets its very own post.

So it all started on Thursday with a fantastic sunny evening that turned into a grill night with two of our good friends.  I did sides and a dessert, Abby brought the salmon, and Alex came over with great wine and the most amazing chocolate macaroon that's ever passed my lips.  We feasted.

There was quite a bit of salmon left over, but it was on the dry side so it needed some attention before it could be reserved.  Salmon burgers were a perfect solution.  I've been craving a good burger lately anyway.

Most of you know I'm trying to be gluten-free these days, but I relapse all the time because bread is so delicious, and it's tough to find tasty alternatives.  Also, it's super inconvenient.  Sometimes it just makes more sense to go with the flow and suffer the consequences.  Not to mention, bunless burgers suck.

This brings me to the baking portion of this post.  I decided yesterday to take matters into my own hands and make some gluten-free buns for future summer grilling opportunities.  I have had a package of Bob's Red Mill gluten-free bread mix in my arsenal for a couple months.  It was time to bust it out.  I was unsure about the results because BRM is really heavy on the garbanzo bean flour, a flavor I really don't like.  However, the recipe called for quite a bit of eggs (or egg replacer), so even though the dough tasted grassy and bitter, the end result was actually really delicious.  I also kneaded in some extra sweet sorghum flour, which may or may not have had any effect at all.  Just thought I'd mention it.  here's what they looked like out of the oven:

They were so light and delicious, they were almost biscuity.  I was darn impressed, because I did not have high expectations for these bad boys.

While those were baking (rather than the recommended 60 min for the loaf, I did 10 min uncovered + 10 min covered with foil for the buns), I whipped up the salmon cakes.  My friend Kori had given me a package of gluten-free breadcrumbs, left over from her gluten-free cooking experiment, so I used that as well as an egg, which gave the salmon the right amount of moisture and texture.  It was already flavored from its first life as grilled salmon fillet, so I just added a little kosher salt and cooked them on the skillet in a little olive oil.

I topped them with some pesto, balsamic-caramelized red onions, and goat cheese.  My bf got dubliner cheese on his instead of goat cheese.  They were phenomenal.  I was halfway through wolfing my burger down when I realized I'd probably want to tell you about them.  Here's the pic I snapped with my phone:

As you can see, I'd been chowing pretty good by this point.  So amazing.  The best part?  It was done entirely with leftovers and condiments I already had in the fridge.  Boo-yow!

bacon-tastic

As you've probably guessed, Andrew got me a digital camera for Christmas.  I'm still figuring out how to use it properly, but I'm not one to go read the manual - no, no.  I need to learn by trial and error.  It's just how I operate.  So while my photography skills aren't the best, aren't you impressed that I'm no longer uploading pictures from my phone?? So am I.

Over the weekend I was a participant in a bacon party, hosted by some friends who do this sort of thing annually.  I had no idea what I was going to make until Friday night when my family came over for dinner.  Then it hit me; with one delicious bite, I knew what to do.

Most of you know I'm living life gluten-free these days.  I've said this before, but it's pretty effortless if I'm cooking for myself.  There are a lot of foods that don't have wheat in them.  I barely notice the change.  But then I start craving pizza, bagels, pasta, and cake.  I haven't had good luck with gluten-free baking in the past, but then I came across a recipe for gluten-free biscuits.  I replaced half of the rice flour with tapioca flour so that it would have a more doughy texture than a grainy one.  My first shot at these was the night my family came over for dinner.  I figured it would be a gentle crowd if they didn't go so well.  Lucky for me, they were AMAZING.  There was no hint that these biscuits were sans wheat.  They were just light, fluffy, and delicious.  I served them with homemade cherry jam that my friend Kori had given me as a birthday gift this past summer, and the crowd went nuts.  I knew at that moment I had to modify these in a bacon sort of way and take them to the party Saturday night.

The problem is, my kitchen is minuscule.  It's so small that two people cooking in there does not work.  Any baking project destroys the kitchen.  See?  No counter space either.

 I threw in some bacon crumbles and some shredded cheddar to the dry mix and then poured the buttermilk (or in my case, lemon juice with fat-free half-and-half) overtop and stirred that baby up.  The recipe made 3 dozen little gougere-style biscuits.  They don't puff up really, so what you see is what you get.  Before they went into the oven, I sprayed the top of the biscuit with cooking spray and then sprinkled some bacon salt over them.

 

 When they came out of the oven, they looked like this:

 

I wanted to eat them all.  But I didn't.  I knew there were going to be some fantastic dishes at the party, so I practiced a little restraint.  I'm glad I did, because when I got to the party there was a plate of bacon-wrapped filet mignon bites.  Helloooooo.

"Hippie" Cookies or "Indoor Kid" Cookies...

I'm not quite sure what to call these cookies. They are your standard chocolate chunk cookies, but with some mods. I have been experimenting this week with cutting wheat / gluten out of my diet (don't ask why), and the real bummer - or perk, depending on how you look at it - is that cookies are out of reach. I know there's a way to mix certain flours to get a blend that will bake like regular old flour, but it sounds like more hassle than I have time for right now. Fortunately, Red Mill has a pre-mixed blend that they advertise simply as gluten-free baking flour. For the quantity, it costs just slightly less than your right arm, but for peace of mind in my first go-round of staple subs, it was worth it. I decided to incorporate the flour into this recipe, but I didn't stop there....

Andrew's mom has a lot of food allergies, which include gluten, eggs, and dairy, and every time we host A's parents for dinner I have to remind myself not to bake something for dessert she can't eat. We usually do some kind of sorbet or coconut milk ice cream, but it would be nice to have more options. I thought this would be the perfect time to just go for gold and see if I can make it happen. So in addition to the gluten-free flour, I subbed the eggs with egg-replacer and the butter with a combo of canola oil and butter flavored crisco. Here are the measurements of the subs:

1 + 1/4 c butter became 3/4 c canola oil + 1/4 c butter flavored crisco.

This seemed to be the right liquid-to-dry ratio, but I hate to say this: it needed more butter flavor. I don't think I'd up the crisco at all, but I'm toying with buying imitation butter flavor, just to see what it's all about. Worst thing that could happen is a batch of cookies tastes terrible. I can live with that.

2 large eggs became the milky white concoction that the box of powdered egg-replacers recommended for 2 eggs. It worked all right, but I think I'd put 3 "eggs" in it next time, just to see if the texture is better.

I threw in chocolate chunks instead of chips (waaaaaaaaay better results than chips) and baked 'em up for 15 min. Right out of the oven they are super soft and fall apart easily. I think that's just the way the flour is, so it is best to let them cool just a little to avoid a crumbled cookie. Andrew and I split one last night and decided they're actually pretty good. No, seriously! They tasted a little nutty because of the flour, but I think if I'd added peanut butter it would have disguised all of that action and no one would know they were not traditional cookies.

Sooooo.... the only real dilemma I'm facing is what to call them. I started out referring to my little creations as "hippie" cookies because they are vegan and gluten-free, and it makes me think of self-important preachy hippies who lecture anyone they can about eating animal products (but they can eat these!!), but then I was thinking that "indoor kids" with lots of food allergies (and probably an asthma inhaler) can also eat these. So what marginalized-yet-still-living-semi-comfortably-in-mainstream-society group should I name them after?