Burger with Mushroom and Onions

I've been eating burgers that Nick creates for more then 2 years now.  I can say with extreme confidence....that they are freaking awesome!  We like our burgers and are sad to say that most the gourmet burger joints that have popped up in Toronto in the past year or so have been very disappointing.  The only place that continue to have decent burgers is Webers (I will post review later), and that's nowhere near Toronto, and nor is it gourmet in any sense of the word.  

Nick always gets requests to make these for friends and family.  They are so popular that he get's slightly annoyed when everyone always seems to request burgers and baked potato wedges (recipe here)....but I guess that's just proof of how great his burgers are.  The addition of sauteed sweet white onions and meaty portabello just takes it over the top!  :-)

Burger with Mushroom and Onions

Serves: Makes 4 Large burgers

approx prep time: 20min

approx cook time: 15min

INGREDIENTS (Makes 4 burgers): 

- 2 1/4 lb Lean ground beef

- 6 slices of Thick Sliced Bacon (I prefer PC Old Fashioned Thick Sliced bacon), or 12 slices of the regular thin bacon.

- 1/3 of a large sweet white onion, finely diced

- 2/3 of a large sweet white onion, sliced.

-  1 large portobello mushroom, sliced

- 1/4 cup of diced sweet pickles or gherkins 

- 2 tbsp Montreal Steak Spice

-1.5 cups of shredded Cheddar Cheese (I prefer extra old)

- Toppings of choice (Pickles, Tomato, etc..)

- 4 large kaiser rolls

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Heat up a non stick frying pan with a little dab of olive oil.

-  Add sliced onions and after a minute, add the sliced portobello mushrooms and sautee till brown, and set aside.

- Fry bacon in a cast iron pan on medium heat till crispy, set on a paper towel to drain and set aside.
- Mix ground beef, diced onion, diced pickles and steak spice thoroughly
- Shape beef mixture into 4 patties, roughly 1" thick.
- Cook patties to desired doneness in a frying pan, on an indoor grill or BBQ.
- Serve patty with bacon, shredded cheese, and topped with sauteed onion and mushrooms on a freshly sliced Kaiser of choice.

Steak and Veggie stir fry

Always a simple dish that's really quick to make and loaded with veggies.  There's always a reason to insert steak into a meal.  :-D

STEAK AND VEGGIE STIR FRY

Serves: 2

approx prep time: 10min

approx cook time: 10min

INGREDIENTS: 
- 1 medium size steak
- 1 Red Pepper
- 1/2 a head of Broccoli
- 1 Zucchini
- 1 stalk of celery
- 3 green onions
- 1 or 2 large handfuls of bean sprouts
- 1.5 tbsp Roast red pepper and garlic seasoning
       (substitute vegetable seasoning and extra garlic if you can't get this)
- Montreal Steak Spice
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil

HOW TO MAKE IT:
- Chop vegetables into large chunks and set aside (excluding bean sprouts).
- Chop green onion into small (1cm) chunks and set aside.
- Mince Garlic and set aside.
- Thinly slice steak, lightly season all the pieces with Montreal steak spice, and set aside.
- In a non-stick pan, over medium heat, warm oil, and when hot add Green onion and garlic.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the steak.
- Cook until browned, then add remaining veggies (excluding bean sprouts), and Roast Red Pepper seasoning.
-  Cook partly covered for 5-10min until vegetables have reached desired tenderness, stirring often.
- Add bean sprouts, cover and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Slow Roasted Beef Ribs

We love beef ribs, they are great in stew, but definitely awesome slow roasted.  This is a very simple recipe for nice tender beef ribs.  :-)  Have a happy and safe long weekend everyone!  Cheers!

SLOW ROASTED BEEF RIBS

Serves: 3

approx prep time: 15min

approx cook time: 5 hours

INGREDIENTS: 

- 1 rack of beef ribs
- 1 bottle BBQ sauce of choice

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Preheat oven to 400F
- Fill the lower portion of the oven broiler pan with about 1/4 inch of water. If you're not using an oven broiler pan, any baking pan, with a wire rack for the ribs to rest on will work.
- Cut rack of ribs into 3 large pieces, evenly spaced between the bones. Each piece should be 3 or 4 bones wide.
- Brush BBQ sauce on all sides and place ribs on broiler pan.
- Using tinfoil, create a tent over the ribs. What you're doing here basically is creating a mini steamer out of the broiler pan. To keep the ribs moist and render, we're partly going to steam them while they cook.
- Bake at 400F for 10-15 minutes.
- Remove from oven, add more sauce and re-cover with tented tinfoil.
- Cook at 200F for 4 hours.
- Remove from oven, add more sauce, and return to oven uncovered.
- Cook at 400F again for 10-15 minutes to crisp up some of the sauce on the outside. Keep an eye on the ribs during this stage to make sure you don't burn them!
- When the sauce on the outside starts to crisp at the edges, remove from oven and serve!

Canadian Burgers

Known as Canadian bacon in the US, in Canada, it is known as peameal bacon or back bacon.  It's delicious when made right, and like salted rubber jerky when made incorrectly.  To the rest of the world, they think back bacon is ham.  IT IS NOT HAM!  Back bacon refers to either smoked or unsmoked bacon cut from the boneless eye of pork loin.  Peameal bacon is back bacon, brined and coated in fine cornmeal.  I especially like my peameal bacon on a bun with a fried egg and cheese....however, paired with Nick's burger, it's adds a whole new dimension.

CANADIAN BURGERS

Serves: 2

approx prep time: 15min

approx cook time: 15min

INGREDIENTS (Makes 2 burgers): 

- 1lbs Lean ground beef

- 2 slices of Peameal Bacon

- 1 small white onion (or 1/2 of a large white onion)

- 1/4 cup Bacon Bits (Simulated, or small pieces of crumbled bacon)

- 3tbsp Montreal Steak Spice

- 2/3 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

- Toppings of choice (Pickles, Tomato, etc..)

- 2 large kaiser rolls

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Pan fry peameal bacon and set aside.
- Finely dice onion
- Mix ground beef, diced onion, bacon bits, and steak spice thoroughly
- Shape beef mixture into 2 patties, roughly 1" thick.
- Cook patties to desired doneness in a frying pan, on an indoor grill or BBQ.
- Serve patty with bacon, shredded cheese and desired toppings on fresh Kaiser roll.

Beef and Veggie Pasta Bake

Baked pasta with crusty stringy cheese.  Totally simple to put together and hearty.  Unfortunately, it's almost mid-March, it's still snowing and freezing cold outside, so what could be better then staying in and the house filling with the aroma of baked pasta and cheese?  This should be an easy kid favorite, there's as much vegetables as there is pasta, but it's hidden under a layer of delicious cheese.  :-)  Heck, neither Nick and I are kids (we're still kids at heart though), and we still love this.  The leftovers are delicious reheated the next day as well. 

BEEF AND VEGGIE PASTA BAKE

Serves: 8-10

approx prep time: 20min

approx cook time: 40min

INGREDIENTS: 

- 2 cups leftover roast beef, diced/pulled or 1.5lbs ground beef, browned

- 1 package of Macaroni pasta (375g uncooked) - we used tri-colored pasta that worked quite well

- 3/4 to 1 bottle pasta sauce

- 1 red pepper

- 1 zucchini

- 1 large carrot, or 1 handful baby carrots

- 1 leek

- 2 bunches of green onions

- 3 cloves garlic

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 2tbsp Italian seasoning

- 3tbsp veggie seasoning

- 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

- 1/4 cup Parmesan

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Dice all the vegetables into roughly 1/4 to 1/2 inch chunks and set aside. Chop or press garlic into very fine pieces and set aside.

- Cook the pasta you're using, per the directions, until it's al dente.
- While the pasta is cooking, saute the vegetables and garlic, along with the olive oil and vegetable seasoning in a fry pan, stirring often.
- Mix half the pasta sauce into the vegetables while still in the fry pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine meat, all the Parmesan cheese and 1 cup cheddar cheese.
- Add drained pasta, Italian seasoning, vegetables and 1 cup of cheese.
- Mix together thoroughly.
- Pour mixture into a large glass baking dish, making sure it's spread out evenly.
- Top the dish with the remaining cheese.
- Bake at 350F for 20min then broil for 3-4min to brown the cheese. Pay close attention to the oven while broiling to avoid burning the top.

Beef Stew Mini Pies

Any reason is a good reason to use the Breville mini pie maker.  It' makes picture perfect mini pies in 10 minutes, so what could be better?  :-D  I've yet to do a sweet pie with the Breville pie maker, but savory pies with the leftovers beef stew is just the thing on a cold night.  If you prefer Mini Chicken Pot Pies, check out this recipe HERE.  Enjoy!  :-)

 

Beef Stew Mini Pies

Makes 3 Mini Pies (machine has the ability to make 4 pies)

approx prep time: 10min

approx cook time: 10min

INGREDIENTS: 

- 1/2 pack of Pillsbury Pie crust (at room temperature)

- 2 cups of cooked beef stew leftovers leftovers (recipe HERE)

HOW TO MAKE IT:

1) Preheat the Breville Mini Pie Maker (Red light means it's heating, Green light means it's ready)

2) Take out beef stew, and cut any large chunks in the stew into smaller 1/2 inch cubes (such as potatoes)
3) Roll out the Pillsbury pie crust, stamp 2 bottom crusts and 2 top crusts. 
4) Recombine the remaining pie crust, roll it out thinly, and stamp the last bottom and pie crust (you should have 3 tops and 3 bottoms)
5) Place bottom crust into the machine, use the black push wedge from the pie maker to set it into the pan, fill each pie up to the top with beef stew and a bit more, making a mound on the top.  (You need really over full filled pies in order for the top crust to brown and cook evenly, otherwise the crust can get undercooked because it doesn't fully touch the top heating element.)

6) Top pies with the top crust.
7) Lock machine, bake for 9-10 minutes.
8) Serve immediately.

Beef Stew

This beef stew is one of my favorites beef stews out there.  Instead of just stewing beef, Nick often makes it with beef ribs and prime rib chunks that bring so much more flavor and much thicker then other beef stews because of all the bones and fat.  Easy to assemble in the morning, and then just set it and forget it till dinner!  Bake a batch of biscuits (if we're lazy we just use a tube of Pillsbury) to go with the stew for dinner, and you've got a hearty meal.  

BEEF STEW

Serves: 4-6

approx prep time: 15min

approx cook time: 7 hours

INGREDIENTS: 

- 3 to 4 large beef ribs, with as much meat on them as possible. (If the ribs you can get are a bit on the lean side, add in about 1/2lbs of stewing beef or a strip steak diced into 1 inch cubes)

- 1 large potato

- 1 medium size sweet potato

- 1 large carrot or 1 handful of baby carrots

- 2 celery stalks

- 1 red, orange or yellow pepper

- 1 handful of fresh green beans or sugar snap peas

- 1 large onion

- 1 beef bullion cube

- 1/2 cup all purpose flour

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 2 tbsp oregano

- 1 tbsp vegetable seasoning

- 1 tbsp seasoned salt

- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Chop potatoes into 1.5" cubes, leaving the skin on the potato, but peeling the sweet potato first. 

- Chop vegetables into 1.5" cubes (leave peas and baby carrots whole).

- Dust all ingredients lightly with flour.

- In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients. I suggest placing the beef ribs in the bottom and stacking/cramming the vegetables on top. When the slow cooker is roughly half filled, add the beef bullion cube, seasoning, and remaining flour.

- Once full, pour in approx. 1/2 to 2/3 of a cup of water.

- Cover and cook on low for 7 hours. Do not remove the lid until the last hour of cooking.

- When cooked, remove beef bones, and stir thoroughly.

- Serve hot and with a side of biscuits (optional). 

Grindhouse Burger Bar Toronto

Location: 365 King Street West Toronto, ON - (416) 977-3010

 

Gourmet burgers seem to be all the rage these days.  It's the ability to up sell your typical $5 burger with lots of different toppings and charge extra for everything.  Nick loves burgers, well, he makes a mean burger and mini burger.  Most burgers served any where else then "Chez Nick's" tend to disappoint and be lacking.  He recently went to M:brgr, known for their $100 burger, and he said that place was overpriced and disappointing.  About a week after his visit, the Globe and Mail newspaper published this terrible review of M:Brgr which just confirms that we will never go to that place again.

However, this review wasn't about M:Brgr, it's about Grindhouse, located at King and Peter st, it's another of many gourmet burger joint that just popped up in the same area as of late.  My good friend Karen and I had tickets to the opera at the Four Seasons Centre.  We needed a quick meal before the show and thought we would try this place out to eat and Nick came with.  The place was decent, it had a small storefront, but the restaurant was quite deep.  We were seated and the atmosphere was relaxed.  We ordered a selection of burgers....

 

Nick ordered a Signature Beef Burger ($7) with Double smoked house bacon ($1.75) and cheddar ($1.75).  The total burger was $10.50.  The bun was just a tad too small for the burger, the bacon was flavorless, and the burger patty was too small for his liking.  He would not get this again.

Karen ordered a Wild Boar burger with mixed greens, grilled onions, mushrooms and goat cheese ($12).  She really enjoyed it.  The bun was toasted on all the burgers, which was a nice touch and added a lot more barbecue flavor to the burger.  The wild boar patty was gamey, but flavorful, and definitely the largest patty from the 3 burgers we ordered.  Which is odd, burgers should all be the same size.  If I were to come ere again, I'd definitely order the wild boar burger. 

I ordered the Kangaroo burger for $14.  It was the most expensive burger on the menu, and came with sliced beats, a slice of tomato, lettuce and a fried sunny side up egg.  The meat was well seasoned, and didn't taste that gamey, I thought the wild boar tasted more gamey.  I really enjoyed the creamy texture of the egg yolk with my very lean kangaroo burger cooked to medium.  I can't really say what kangaroo tastes like, it doesn't taste like beef, or bison, or venison, it is mild red meat.  My only complaint is that because the bun was a tad on the small side, everything kept falling out of the burger and it was a huge mess.  I had to finish this burger with a knife and fork.  So considering the entire point of a burger is to eat it with your hands, this is a slight burger fail.  However, it was so tasty I'd get this again.  Or next time I should fry an egg to put on top of our own homemade burgers.

Lastly, since we were all not too hungry, we only ordered these Onion Rings with Seasoned buttermilk batter ($4), it came with their own homemade aoili.  The dipping sauce was tasteless, it was really just liquid fat.  The onion rings were quite good though, very crispy, well seasoned, the portion was small but I would get these again.

All in all, it's not a bad gourmet burger joint.  I do like the particular game meats, the prices were decent, and as long as you don't get their signature beef burger and try the weirder stuff, I think it's worth a look.

Extra Beefy Pasta Sauce

There's pasta sauce, and there's beefy pasta sauce.  This one is definitely the beefcake of pasta sauces.  It's thick, has the consistency and thickness of chili, and slow cooked to bring together all the flavors.  A welcome hearty meal on a cold winters day.

EXTRA BEEFY PASTA SAUCE

Serves: 6-8

approx prep time: 15min

approx cook time: 6 hours

INGREDIENTS: 

- 2 lbs extra lean ground beef
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
- 1 can tomato paste
- 1 large onion
- 2 or 3 stalks of celery
- 1tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 2tbsp dried oregano
- 2tbsp italian seasoning mix
- 2tbsp dried parsley flakes, or 1/4 cup fresh parsley (finely chopped)
- 2 cloves of garlic

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Peel and finely chop garlic
- Dice celery and onion into small to medium size pieces

- In a slow cooker, combine all the ingredients.

- Mix thoroughly.

- Cook on Low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours, stirring once or twice in the last hour of cooking as well as right before serving.

- Server fresh right over your favorite pasta, and top with cheese.

Roast Beef Jambalaya

When Nick makes a large slow cooked roast beef and there's leftovers, we always figuring out what we can do with the mound of leftovers.  There's always roast beef sandwiches with jus dip (which is excellent), and grilled roast beef sandwiches, but that's more like a lunch rather then a dinner.  The solution?  Roast beef jambalaya.  It is hearty and made with leftover roast beef and lots of vegetables, and most notably bacon to give the entire dish a slightly smoky flavor, this is a flavorful rice jam packed with vegetable and beefy goodness.

ROAST BEEF JAMBALAYA

Serves: 6-8

approx prep time: 20min

approx cook time: 45min

INGREDIENTS: 

- 1 handful fresh sugar snap peas
- 1 large Red, Yellow or Orange bell pepper
- 1 Zucchini
- 1 medium size white onion
- 2 spring onions
- 1 cup uncooked white rice

- 2 cups leftover roast beef (recipe here), shredded or cut in chunks

- 3 strips of bacon

- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

- 1/2 bottle of Tomato Sauce or Pasta Sauce
- 1tbsp Vegetable Seasoning
- 1 clove garlic
- 1tbsp olive oil

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Cook the rice according to the directions on it's packaging.
- Dice vegetables (Onion, Peas, Zucchini, pepper) into medium size pieces and set aside.
- Finely chop green onion and very finely chop garlic.

- If you're using a leftover roast beef, chop the meat into small chunks or pull it apart into small pieces.
- Cut bacon into small pieces.
- When the rice is almost ready, heat a large non-stick fry pan over medium heat.
- Add oil, onion, green onion and garlic, cooking for approx. 2-3 minutes, stirring often.
- Add bacon, cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add remaining vegetables and seasoning, cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally
- Add roast beef and cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring once.
- Add rice, pasta/tomato sauce, Parmesan cheese, and if desired additional seasoning or salt/pepper.
- Mix well, and cook for 2-3 minutes on low.
- Serve hot!

Mini Burgers

MINI BURGERS

Serves: 6-8

approx prep time: 15min

approx cook time: 15min

INGREDIENTS (Makes 12 mini burgers): 

- 1.5lbs Lean ground beef

- 6 strips of Bacon

- 1 small white onion (or 1/2 of a large white onion)

- 5 sweet gherkin pickles

- 3tbsp Montreal Steak Spice

- 3tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

- 2/3 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

- Toppings of choice (Pickles, Tomato, etc..)

- 12 Mini buns, or, alternately, sliced Baguette

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Cook the bacon in half strips until crispy and set aside.

- Very finely dice onion and gherkin pickles.

- Combine ground beef, diced onion, diced gherkins, Montreal steak spice, and Parmesan cheese, mixing thoroughly.

- Form mix into patties, roughly 1.75 to 2" in diameter and 0.75" thick.

- Cook in a grill pan to desired doneness. For medium well, this should be about 4-5 minutes per side. You'll want to rotate the burgers around the pan, as the heat in different portions of the pan may be uneven.

- Once cooked, put the burgers on the bun, with all the fixings, and serve hot!

Steak and Grilled Veggies

This: 

Came from this:

 

We usually buy our steak from St. Lawrence market or when AAA prime rib is on sale in a grocery store then slice the steak ourselves (so we get steaks of proper thickness, which is about 1.5" thick).  So simple to make we almost have steak weekly.  That's simply awesome.

STEAK and GRILLED VEGGIES

Serves: 2

approx prep time: 10min

approx cook time: 25min

INGREDIENTS: 

- 2 Steaks (we used prime rib steak, with the bone removed). A proper steak should be roughly 1.25-1.5 inches thick, and cut to even thickness, without thick/thin spots.
- Montreal Steak Spice
- 2tbsp butter, softened but not melted
- Vegetables of your choice (in this case 1 each of: White Onion, Red Pepper and Zucchini)

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Chop vegetables into large chunks and set aside. If using Onions, set those aside separately.
- Heat a frying pan to HIGH heat (do NOT use a non-stick Pan. If you have it use a Grill pan or Cast Iron pan)
- When the pan is hot, butter one side of the steaks, then sprinkle with steak spice.
- Place steaks, buttered/seasoned side down in the pan.
- Butter and season the other side of the steak (while It's in the pan).
- Cook for 6min per side for Medium-Rare to Medium, Less for a more Rare steak, and more for a more well done steak.
- Place the steaks on a place to rest, covering tightly with tin foil, and leave them covered until ready to serve.
- Using the same pan the steaks were in, add onions, cook for approx 2min, stirring often.
- Add other vegetables, stirring occasionally, and cook until they reach your desired tenderness. Approx 3-4min.
- Serve and Enjoy!

Burgers!

BURGERS

Serves: 2

approx prep time: 15min

approx cook time: 15min

INGREDIENTS: 

- 1lbs Lean ground beef

- 4 strips of Bacon

- 1 small onion (finely diced)

- 3-4 sweet gherkin pickles (finely diced)

- 2tbsp Montreal Steak Spice

- 2tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

- 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

- Toppings of choice (Pickles, Tomato, etc..)

- Buns of choice (Kaiser rolls recommended)

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Cook the bacon in half strips until crispy and set aside.

- Combine ground beef, diced onion, diced gherkins, Montreal steak spice, and parmesan cheese, mixing throughly.

- Form mix into patties, roughly 3 to 3.5" in diameter and 1" thick.

- Cook to desired doneness. I use either a grill pan, or a mini george foreman grill. If cooking in a frying pan or grill pan, you'll want to cook for about 5-6min per side for Medium.
- When cooked, put the burgers on the bun, with all the fixings, and serve hot!

Slow cooked Roast Beef

SLOW COOKED ROAST BEEF

Serves: 6

approx prep time: 10min

approx cook time: 7 hours

Super simple, fall apart, roast beef done in the slow cooker. Great for hot sandwiches, or served with rice or potatoes.

INGREDIENTS:

- Roast of your choice (We used a Sirloin roast for this one) approx. 4lbs

- Schwartz's Steak & Beef spice (from Schwartz's Deli in Montreal, which can also be ordered online at http://www.schwartzsdeli.com/. Or for an easier to get solution, you can use Montreal Steak Spice)

HOW TO MAKE IT:

- Rub all sides of the roast generously in seasoning.

- Place the roast in the slow cooker, along with approx 2tbsp of water.

- Cook on low for 7-8 hours (7 hours for a roast 4lbs or less, and 8 hours for a 4-6lbs roast).

- Do not open the lid of the slow cooker while cooking, or until ready to serve.

- Slice and serve immediately.

Beef and Red pepper pasta.

BEEF AND RED PEPPER PASTA

Serves: 2
approx prep time: 5min
approx cook time: 10min

INGREDIENTS: 
1 lbs ground beef
4 slices genoa salami
2 green onions
1 red pepper
1.5 cups shell pasta (or other pasta of your choice)
1 tspb olive oil
1/2 cup old cheddar cheese, shredded
Club House Vegetable seasoning (approx. 1tbsp)
Seasoned salt (2-3 shakes)

REQUIRED KITCHEN GIZMOS:
small pot
frying pan with lid
stirring spoon
cutting board
chopping knife

HOW TO MAKE IT:
- Start water boiling for the pasta.
- Chop pepper, onions, salami, and grate cheese.
- Heat frying pan on medium heat, adding olive oil when warm. Add pasta to boiling water.
- Brown onion and beef in pan, along with vegetable seasoning and seasoned salt.
- Add chopped red pepper, salami when beef is browned.
- Drain pasta and add to frying pan with meat and veggies when ready. Stir together.
- Sprinkle with shredded cheese, stir together, serve.