Barbecuing is a pretty universal concept; with slight regional variations, it consists of cooking meat, fruits or vegetables over an open fire. It is an art that incorporates the acts of seasoning, brining and marinating your food. These practices have the tendency to vary depending on where in North America you happen to be. Every state or region in the bible belt has its own style of BBQ and more importantly, its own preference of meat: Tennessee is known for its ribs; North and South Carolina for their whole hogs; Kansas for its sauces. But when it came time to put together our grilling recipe we wanted to think beyond the pigs and sauces. We won’t deny that there’s nothing like mowing down a pulled pork sandwich in Kansas but why not try something new and exotic (at least to us, North Americans)?
How about…Australian.
Though Americans are big on BBQs, Australians are some of the most notorious grillers. When you’re that close to nature, to fresh meats and produce, you want to do the least possible to damage the flavors. Grilling with light seasoning is the perfect technique for that situation.
And holding to the theme of keeping it simple, we decided to go with the most authentically Aussie recipe: burgers with sliced beets on top. We chose lamb meat but this recipe easily could be done with beef.
Lamb and ‘Beetroot’ Burger
(4 burgers)
1 pound fresh ground lamb
Chocolate mint (in season until late august)
1-2 big beets
3 sprigs of thyme
250 ml greek yogurt, plain
4 burger buns (firm crust)
First step is the beets, since they take the longest to cook. For roasted beets, cut off both ends, and place the veggies in tin foil with salt, pepper, and oil. Put them in the barbecue on a medium flame, and check them every 30 minutes, until you can easily poke through with a knife. Once they are done and cooled down, peel them, and slice them thinly with a mandoline, or a very sharp knife.
While the beets are cooking, mix the yogurt with half the mint and half the thyme; keep the thyme whole, but chiffonade the mint. While that sounds fancy, it’s one of the simplest and most commonly used way to cut leaved herbs. Take 5-6 leaves at a time, and place the smaller ones into the biggest ones. Then, roll them up tightly (stoners will find this both easy and amusing), and then slice them thinly with a very sharp knife. Then, add olive oil, and salt and pepper to the yogurt and herb mixture. This will be placed on top of the lamb patty.
Now the hands-on grilling action starts, and it’s extremely simple: in a bowl, mix the lamb, the rest of the thyme and of the mint chiffonade, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Form four patties of roughly a quarter pound each, about a big handful, making sure not to compact them too much.
Place your patties on a medium high flame and DO NOT TOUCH THEM for at least 5 minutes. The key to grilling is to let the meat cook for around 70% on one side, to keep the juices in. After those 5 minutes, give your patties a 180 degree turn, on the same side, to score them. After 5 minutes, flip them and repeat the operation, 2 ½ minutes for each quarter turn. All in all, for a perfectly cooked, juicy grilled burger, count about 15 minutes total.
Once that is done, your burgers are ready to assemble. Just sandwich the patty and the beets between your toppings of choice, with a healthy dab of herb yogurt on both slices of bread.
Sure, a burger is nice, but you’ll need a side for it. Nature does things beautifully, and anything that grows in the summer is fair game to grill. Of course, any grilled veggie would do, but to complement a nice, healthy burger like this one, I would go with fresh Quebec asparagus.
Grilled Asparagus and Corn Salad
(4 servings)
2 bunches fresh Quebec asparagus
3 ears of Quebec sweet corn
Cherry tomatoes, quartered, to taste
Again, simplicity reigns supreme. When you have fresh ingredients that are at the peak of their ripeness, you don’t need to overdo them. For the asparagus, simply cut off the woody part of the stem (if you apply enough pressure, it will simply snap off and you will know exactly where to cut). Then, with a potato peeler, peel them from the middle down. This is mostly for aesthetic purposes, but also makes them less bitter. However, keep the peels. When fried, they make a nice snack, or a beautiful garnish for any plate.
Toss the peeled asparagus in a bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then simply grill them for around 1 ½ minutes. They should be a little soft, but still nice and crisp. Do the same with the corn, but for about 5 minutes, constantly rolling them around so they cook evenly. Cut the cooked asparagus in half, and cut the kernels off the corn. Put them in a bowl, with the quartered cherry tomatoes, some olive oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of your best balsamic vinegar (you know, the one you keep in the cupboard for a special occasion).
Barbecuing is a pretty universal concept; with slight regional variations, it consists of cooking meat, fruits or vegetables over an open fire. It is an art that incorporates the acts of seasoning, brining and marinating your food. These practices have the tendency to vary depending on where in North America you happen to be. Every state or region in the bible belt has its own style of BBQ and more importantly, its own preference of meat: Tennessee is known for its ribs; North and South Carolina for their whole hogs; Kansas for its sauces. But when it came time to put together our grilling recipe we wanted to think beyond the pigs and sauces. We won’t deny that there’s nothing like mowing down a pulled pork sandwich in Kansas but why not try something new and exotic (at least to us, North Americans)?
How about...Australian.
Though Americans are big on BBQs, Australians are some of the most notorious grillers. When you’re that close to nature, to fresh meats and produce, you want to do the least possible to damage the flavors. Grilling with light seasoning is the perfect technique for that situation.
And holding to the theme of keeping it simple, we decided to go with the most authentically Aussie recipe: burgers with sliced beets on top. We chose lamb meat but this recipe easily could be done with beef.
Lamb and ‘Beetroot’ Burger
(4 burgers)
1 pound fresh ground lamb
Chocolate mint (in season until late august)
1-2 big beets
3 sprigs of thyme
250 ml greek yogurt, plain
4 burger buns (firm crust)
First step is the beets, since they take the longest to cook. For roasted beets, cut off both ends, and place the veggies in tin foil with salt, pepper, and oil. Put them in the barbecue on a medium flame, and check them every 30 minutes, until you can easily poke through with a knife. Once they are done and cooled down, peel them, and slice them thinly with a mandoline, or a very sharp knife.
While the beets are cooking, mix the yogurt with half the mint and half the thyme; keep the thyme whole, but chiffonade the mint. While that sounds fancy, it’s one of the simplest and most commonly used way to cut leaved herbs. Take 5-6 leaves at a time, and place the smaller ones into the biggest ones. Then, roll them up tightly (stoners will find this both easy and amusing), and then slice them thinly with a very sharp knife. Then, add olive oil, and salt and pepper to the yogurt and herb mixture. This will be placed on top of the lamb patty.
Now the hands-on grilling action starts, and it’s extremely simple: in a bowl, mix the lamb, the rest of the thyme and of the mint chiffonade, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Form four patties of roughly a quarter pound each, about a big handful, making sure not to compact them too much.
Place your patties on a medium high flame and DO NOT TOUCH THEM for at least 5 minutes. The key to grilling is to let the meat cook for around 70% on one side, to keep the juices in. After those 5 minutes, give your patties a 180 degree turn, on the same side, to score them. After 5 minutes, flip them and repeat the operation, 2 ½ minutes for each quarter turn. All in all, for a perfectly cooked, juicy grilled burger, count about 15 minutes total.
Once that is done, your burgers are ready to assemble. Just sandwich the patty and the beets between your toppings of choice, with a healthy dab of herb yogurt on both slices of bread.
Sure, a burger is nice, but you’ll need a side for it. Nature does things beautifully, and anything that grows in the summer is fair game to grill. Of course, any grilled veggie would do, but to complement a nice, healthy burger like this one, I would go with fresh Quebec asparagus.
Grilled Asparagus and Corn Salad
(4 servings)
2 bunches fresh Quebec asparagus
3 ears of Quebec sweet corn
Cherry tomatoes, quartered, to taste
Again, simplicity reigns supreme. When you have fresh ingredients that are at the peak of their ripeness, you don’t need to overdo them. For the asparagus, simply cut off the woody part of the stem (if you apply enough pressure, it will simply snap off and you will know exactly where to cut). Then, with a potato peeler, peel them from the middle down. This is mostly for aesthetic purposes, but also makes them less bitter. However, keep the peels. When fried, they make a nice snack, or a beautiful garnish for any plate.
Toss the peeled asparagus in a bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then simply grill them for around 1 ½ minutes. They should be a little soft, but still nice and crisp. Do the same with the corn, but for about 5 minutes, constantly rolling them around so they cook evenly. Cut the cooked asparagus in half, and cut the kernels off the corn. Put them in a bowl, with the quartered cherry tomatoes, some olive oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of your best balsamic vinegar (you know, the one you keep in the cupboard for a special occasion).