Best Burgers

Steve and I have been eating many typical summer meals. As part of our CSA, we receive a box full of fresh vegetables every week. Aside from the local, organic and seasonal vegetables, my favorite part of the CSA is that I don't have to wander up and down the Boulder Farmer's Market trying to decide what to buy and where to get the best deal. With our CSA through Cure Farm, someone else does my shopping.

Thanks to our CSA share, our meals are usually built around vegetables - grilled zucchini and squash, tomato and onion salads, carrots of some sort, braised greens, more salads, etc. These vegetables would be wonderful on their own, and usually are, but Steve and I usually prepare a "side" of meat to go with our vegetables. We've eaten a lot of burgers this summer, and have developed a few tricks to make them as delicious as possible. Notably, some sort of mayonnaise- or oil-based sauce, grilled onions, and a very simple burger preparation.

A few weeks ago, I made a mayo sauce with toasted and ground cumin and coriander seeds, and garlic. Yesterday, I used at least a cup of garden basil to make an aioli. Our sauce usually replaces the ketchup.

Then I grill large onion circles (just cut the onion down its length, keeping the rounds intact with eachother, coat with oil and salt, and grill on each side until grill marks appear). It's an easy twist on the regular burger toppings.

Lastly, I used to put all sorts of junk in my ground meat - onions, garlic, ketchup, Worcestereshire sauce, etc. I've learned that this not only makes the meat too crumbly, but it's difficult to grill, and it falls apart easily in the final burger. So, now I only mix with a pound of ground beef salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder to taste; one egg; and about one quarter cup of fine bread crumbs. The seasonings do add a lot of flavor; and the eggs and breadcrumbs help keep the meat together not only while assembling the patties, but on the grill and in the burger.

I will take pictures next time!

Here is a link to our CSA, with newsletters, and links to recipes: http://www.cureorganicfarm.com/csa.htm