Week 2 World Cuisine Challenge: America....Burgers Anyone?

I have decided that I'll document my dishes in the "Southern Stump World Cuisine Challenge" a little more frequently so I'm not throwing too many recipes and dishes to you at once.

Tonight I started my 2nd week of the world cuisine challenge with a staple in America...a good ole fashioned burger served with fries and a salad.  I decided to try Jamie Oliver's recipe from his amazing cookbook "America".  He makes the great point that burgers get a bad reputation because of our fast (junk) food culture but when made at home with great ingredients,  they are amazing...he was right!

He calls for a lot of stuff thrown into the minced burger meat including crushed crackers, an egg, cooked red onions and Parmesan cheese (yum).  I grilled these while also cooking streaky bacon in the pan at the same time...the flavors just blended perfectly and don't get me going about bacon.  I can't believe I didn't eat red meat or pork for 15 years....what was I thinking?  In moderation,  it is AMAZING!  Finally,  Jamie has a recipe for spicy mayo sauce that is super super easy and compliments the burger perfectly.

To go on top?...Lettuce, Tomatoes, and sliced gherkins?????  "What is a gherkin?" I wondered at the grocery store today.  London's skyline has a funky shaped building called the gherkin so I started there in my unsolved culinary mystery.  While looking for pickles (which I thought it strange were NOT included in the recipe)...I stumbled on little mini me pickles......GHERKINS!!!!  Now I know.  They are basically pickle babies!

Check out the recipe for this FANTASTIC burger below and also surf the site....that Jamie Oliver guy is quite good :)!

BURGERS and SLIDERS:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/burgers-sliders

Slice em up and bake into fries!

I also made some fries but did them from scratch peeling potatoes,  boiling them briefly and then baking them in the oven.  I was pleasantly surprised by the crisp factor on this lighter variation of what is typically a very unhealthy side dish.



I got the recipe for these on epicurious.  See below:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/French-Fries-with-Three-Dips-242388

"The Tester**" had a few thoughts also "The burgers were delicious and I liked the baked chips (fries) for a healthier alternative.  The burgers, because of all of the different things inside,  were very complex.  It wasn't too heavy on the meat.  It wasn't too over the top.  A big thumbs up for the American cooking!"

**The Tester will be coming up with a more catchy name.  Stay tuned.

 Tomorrow night I'm either going to do Chicken 'n Dumplings or Beer Can Chicken....we'll see.  Stay tuned and please comment or let me know if you try any of these and what you think!!!!!  Share my blog with all of your fellow foodies!  I have added a link just below where you can upload the blog directly to your facebook page or twitter feed.   Have a great week!