The 'Sauer Krause' Burger - Essex St. Pub and the Custom Burger Challenge

Two weeks ago, Bob and I went to Essex St. Pub for some late night beers and eats following the Mexican International Dinner, as per our tradition. Jillian, Macky's badass and bodacious waitress, told us about the custom burger challenge and pointed out the board which had four burgers listed.


We ended up choosing the 'Holy Moe' which includes peperjack cheese, jalapenos, mushrooms and macaroni & cheese on a smoked burger. It was pretty tasty.

It got us thinking about all the times we came up with really great burger combos at home and how we could totally create a burger that would leave these four in the dust.

And lo, the 'Sauer Krause' was created!

The marble rye bread, which is like eating a pillow (Oh, it's so soft!) is toasted on the inside. Yes! The inside!

Then a nice layer of not too little and not too much sauerkraut is added. A smoked burger is sliced in half and then drizzled with roasted garlic and cilantro dressing. Served with kettle chips and a crisp pickle, this slim burger eats like a sandwich with a punch of flavor in every nibble.



Like a mouthgasam in every bite. I kid you not, this burger is fan-fuckin-tastic!

Notice the perfection in the close up on the right? I know, right?! Amazing!

You should also know that the best beer pairing for this is an amber. Nothing dark like a porter or a stout, and no pale ales either. We had ours with the ever perfect, Flying Bison, Rusty Chain.

Next time you get a hankering for delicious meat, stop by the Essex and say, "Eins 'Sauer Krause", bitte?"

Late Summer Tomato Dressing

There was a little more than one pint of farmer's market yellow kumquat tomatoes left and I was sick of eating them as they were. I tossed them, along with four 'Baby Girl' tomatoes from my garden, quartered, into my new blender.

Then I squeezed in half an orange and added it's pulp and drizzled in 1/4 cup of D'Avalio's Cilantro & Roasted Onion Infused Olive oil. I also added fresh cracked pepper and flaked salt.

Blended the ingredients on high and then added in 1/4 cup of Pecorino Romano and continued to blend until smooth.

The dressing was strong and rich and brought out the sweetness of the spinach and basil leaves in this salad. It was such a snap to make that I know I'll definitely be making this again soon.

Canned Salsa Verde

8 tomatillos

1 onion

4 large hot peppers of your choice

6 cloves of garlic

lime juice and pulp

fistful of cilantro

1 tbls salt

2 tbls olive oil

2 tsp cane sugar 

Slice and deseed the peppers. Roast the tomatillos and peppers. Cool and chop. Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and blend to desired consistency, adding one or two teaspoons of malt vinegar to thin. This produces enough for four half pint jars.

Boil four half pint jars, the lids and seals. Set up canner with metal basket and ten cups of water to boil. Cover. Drain jars, lids, and seals. Wipe the rubber seal well. Fill the jars with the salsa, leaving 1/2 inch from the top. Wipe the jar edge well. Place on seal and then lid, screwing tightly. When all four are filled, place in the boiling water and cover, boiling for ten minutes. Turn off the heat and uncover. Remove after five minutes. Set on a towel and let cool. 

Over the next hour the seals will pop. If you don't hear anything you can test the tops by pressing on them. If they move, they're not ready. If they are on there nice a tight, once cooled, you can stack them in your pantry. They're good for a year.

Indian Cuisine: A dinner and a show.

Have you ever read a book, watched a movie, admired a glossy photograph in a magazine and imagined yourself doing that. Creating a pureed shmear of beets with an off centered Tournedos Rossini with spears of white asparagus? Or thinly sliced smoked quail with a crackling foie gras and a pineapple confit? Sure you do. That luscious almost erotic quality of a beautifully plated dish hits some primal nerve and drives us to want a small dish of something flavorful, fatty, something that hits our palates and tantalizes us as we try to figure out what that elusive ingredient is.

Today while taking a lunch break, in between running errands and carting children to the orthodontist I put my feet up for a short movie, called Today's Special. In the long list of food movies, this isn't really up there with the greats. It's no Like Water For Chocolate, it's no Babette's Feast, but it does intrigue the senses, particularly if you've ever eaten really good Indian food. 

It's like India Gate here in the city, or Kabab & Curry out on Transit. It isn't food porn but it sure entertains the palate. I refer to all Indian and Pakistani food as "dinner and a show", and this movie highlights that delightful aspect of that continent's cuisine. In the end you see all sorts of fancy dishing going on, but the real basic dishes stay true to form, five ingredient dishes, saucy, hot, ohhh...

So tonight is was a date like dinner for two with home made Tandoori chicken on fluffy Basmati that was fried in sesame oil before boiling water was added (This is the trick to perfect Indian rice). Minced mint, cilantro, deep red sweet peppers and garlic hummus with Lebanese flat bread and tangy plain yogurt.





Tandoori sauce: salt, ground pepper, cumin, coriander, garlic, ginger, chilies, onion, nutmeg, mace, turmeric, lemon juice, vinegar, sesame and olive oil, plain yogurt