Using Up Your Buns

French toast from leftover buns

For some reason I am a terrible recycler, I mean I am great at recycling food, a master perhaps? When it comes to knowing what goes in the blue bin, I’m not a star. I am surrounded by the world’s best recyclers, composters  and general waste-not-ers. I know my daughter watches me, for instance, should I rinse out the dog food can more thoroughly before I toss it in the bin? Does the milk carton go in the garbage or the recycle?  She knows what to recycle and how to do it and often corrects me.  It’s questions like these that don’t keep me awake at night. But what does keep me thinking is what am I to do with all the bread I have in the fridge or those fading apples?  I hate wasting food and most chefs feel the same way, that’s why we use corn cobs to make flavorful stock for polenta or scraps of veggies to enhance a dull broth.

Bread is a real sore spot for me, I am almost all gluten free but my family is not. I find myself buying bread that the two of them can’t finish. The bun situation is the worst, there are always too many buns to burger ratio or you have to buy an extra bag of buns because you are one or two short. Then what, it sits in the back of the fridge alone getting stale? Or you make a great attempt at freezing the abandoned but by the time you resurrect them they are freezer burned and even more tasteless than when they were fresh. Remember a two posts ago I wrote about the At Home Burger, the bun issue happened  for real, so I’m sharing the issue with you because I know you have the same problem, darn buns!

So, use them up for breakfast the next day. Make a regular French toast egg mixture and soak those buns in it. They cook up just right, problem solved! Now after that burger and French Toast we better get to the gym and get those kids outside to run around!

Basic French Toast

Mix the egg up the night before, cover and chill to make the AM easy.

3 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 burger or hotdog buns

Topping

Maple sugar, cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar 

Fresh fruit and vanilla yogurt

Method

Beat eggs in a shallow container ( I prefer square )

Add milk, and vanilla, beat until frothy and light in color.

Separate the buns, poke holes in the top and bottom, soak each in the egg mixture, first on one side, then the other.

Heat a skillet on medium, add butter or butter substitute

Cook both sides until golden about 5-7 minutes.

Serve on warm plates.

In Honor of Julia

I couldn’t resist sharing this video with you, it really brought me back, I hope you like it too.

I grew up watching Julia Child on PBS. My mom and I would snuggle in bed and watch, and watch and laugh. We laughed about how she’d spill something and scrape it up off the counter, pop it in the pot and continue on cooking. She wasn’t graceful but boy could she cook! I do believe that is where I learned to remember a recipe with out writing it down. I had a knack for remembering ingredients and technique I’d seen on TV.  Mom is a great cook who highly influenced me. We would discuss the recipes and think about how delicious Julia’s kitchen set must have smelled.

When I grew up I had the distinct pleasure to work on the set of Jacques Pépin’s PBS Show, Jacques Celebrates. While working on that show Jacques often talked about Julia, how they fought over whether you salt the burger before cooking or after. They disagreed about so many topics but he always spoke fondly of her and with the utmost respect. He, a French trained chef who was the personal chef to three French heads of state, including Charles de Gaulle, and Julia, a home cook who discovered French cuisine later in life, made a perfect pair. I bet some of the things I learned from Jacques he may have picked up from Julia! I consider myself lucky, although I never met her (my husband did get that chance, lucky duck) she is all around me. Thanks Julia for your inspiration and fun spirit, you are missed.

My at Home Burger is an Ugly Duckling

Fast food burger at home

I love summer but I hate the heat, I’m a typical Sagittarius, just can’t make up my mind! The reason I love summer, especially in California is for the tomatoes. With tomatoes comes the grilled summery food of the Gods….the perfect burger and I love those too!!
My darling child states that she hates burgers, at the mention of In and Out Burger she cringes!

Actual Five Guys Bacon Cheeseburger with Cajun Fries (Photo credit: powerplantop)

My at home burger

When there is a food she hates, it just makes me try harder, I just keep making it and serving it in tiny cut up pieces. I make sure to serve something she loves with it, if I’m lucky she eats it all! Enthralling dinner table conversation helps to distract from the detested edible too!!
Anyway, Michael Pollen says if your going to eat junk food make it yourself! I had a hankering for a sloppy Five Guys style burger with summer tomato, so I grilled up a batch. I know eating healthy is a must but once in a while a juicy burger hits the spot. Just be careful not to eat like that daily and you should be A-OK.
I cheated with the roll because I haven’t mastered from scratch extra soft squishy rolls yet…forgive me?
Now I’ve tried it all, adding egg, bread crumbs, onion, A-1 sauce, you name it I’ve tried to enhance my burgers with it. I have gone full circle back to plain old meat, salt and pepper and that’s the way it’s going to stay.  Grinding your own Chuck would be best, a Kitchen Aid mixer attachment is pretty handy! If you can’t grind your own then buy the best meat you can. Buy the best meat with highest fat content. (don’t judge, trust me)

Back to tomatoes…we all love them and the heirlooms are at their peak and sweet as sugar. Keep it simple, cheese, tomato, onion maybe a thinly sliced pickle.

By the way, my kid ate a half of one of these  beauties, think she still hates burgers?

Best Burger

It may be ugly and squished  but it tastes good and when it comes to burgers that’s what’s important.

For easy clean up and to avoid cross contamination:  Place two sheets of foil on a cookie sheet, the top one will have the raw burgers. The clean one stays underneath and is used for the cooked the burgers. When you place burgers on the grill take the  top dirty foil away, use the clean sheet to place the cooked burgers on.

1 lb high fat content ground beef

Salt
Pepper
Softest buns you can find

3 Tbs butter melted
Cheese, sliced tomato, onion, pickle

Prepare a cookie sheet with two large pieces of foil one on top of the other.
Cut up 5 smaller pieces for wrapping burgers after cooking, place near grill.

To form the burgers, gently make 5 thin patties, do not roll into a ball or press into a mold.  Place patties on the  foil lined baking sheet.

Using a small roller or your fingers, press evenly to make a 3 1/2 -4 inch patty. It will look huge but the high fat in the meat will cook and the burger will shrink a lot.
Don’t fiddle with the edges, keep them ragged. The more you touch the meat the tougher the burger will be.
Chill patties for 15 minutes while grill heats up. (you can even freeze them very slightly to make it easire to transfet to the grill)

Brush melted butter on the buns and add to the cookie sheet. Just before cooking, sprinkle burgers with salt and pepper.
On medium high, about 400 degrees place burgers on the grill.

Wait until you see some juices coming to the top, about 7-10 minutes.

Flip burgers once only, you will loose all the juices if you keep flipping it.

Add buns butter side down to grill.

Add cheese to top of burgers. Cook to desired doneness
When finished assemble burgers and wrap in foil.

You may want to mark the “with cheese” ones.
Hand out burgers and let each person add toppings, eat!

Stay tuned for how to use up with those leftover burger buns!