Bertha's Big Day!

Bertha is a Kitchenaid 12 cup food processor. She has been in one chef's family for at least a year now. Bertha is very powerful, but often doesn't know her own strength.

Tonight's menu featured old fashioned burgers. For the chef who does not eat hooved animals, there was a piece of barbequed chicken. Also served were french fries and grilled vegetables. Dessert was an old favorite, key lime bars.

The burgers were most special. The meat was sirloin and short ribs (boneless short-ribs, the butcher thought we were crazy when we first asked for short ribs to make burgers with). There were a number of steps involved in preparing the meat. First, it was cut into 1 inch (2.54 cm) cube chunks. One cubed, it was placed in the freezer for 20 minutes. Once it was nice and firm, but not frozen, then it was Bertha's big moment! She tore that meat apart, but only to the proper consistency, no further. The meat was then patted gently into patties, but not handled any more than ABSOLUTELY necessary.






These burgers were much to fragile for throwing on the grill, they were carefully fried in a 12 inch skillet. The buns were prepared in that pan before, lightly toasted on both sides. Once the burgers were flipped, cheese was added. The cheese was melted, then the burgers were assembled!




We can't forget the "special sauce". A delightful mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise, vinegar, and sweet relish. The relish played an integral part. That's why we splurged on the organic sweet pickle relish.

The french fries were quite a production. They were first soaked in cold water (in the refrigerator) for 30 minutes. Then they were fried for 6 minutes in 325F oil. After the first frying, into the organic paper bag from Whole Foods they went, to soak up some of the oil. A ten minute rest, and then back into 350F oil to crisp them up.





The vegetables were delicious, but pretty standard as far as grilled vegetables. Zucchini, onion, and red pepper. Brushed in olive oil and sprinkled with salt.

All in all, a delicious meal.


And we can't forget the key lime bars. A truly dreamy dessert. This time we did the more conventional baking in the oven method. They can, however, be successfully prepared on the grill. Bertha did another lovely job on the crust. Go Bertha Go!



What could be better on a Sunday evening in June?