Tomatoes and Beans
The tomatoes are starting to come in fast and furious. We're now harvesting daily.
With different varieties, there are different uses. In the grand scheme of things, they're all interchangeable, but they all have characteristics that make them better at some things than others. The San Marzanos are perfect for sauce. The Principe Borghese are perfect for sun-drying. The Black Krim, Yellow, and Green Stripe are perfect for salads and sandwiches.
And they all combine well.
Tonight, we made a bean salad using a homemade sauce from the San Marzanos, mixed with beans, served over Black Krims, and topped with sun-dried Principe Borghese.
What a treat!
The concept for the bean recipe came from Bon Appetit.
Tomato and Bean Salad
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 can beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- salt & pepper, to taste
- thick sliced heirloom tomatoes
- sun-dried tomatoes
- grated parmigiano
Mix tomato sauce, beans, green onions, garlic, oregano, and red wine vinegar. Taste and add salt and pepper, as needed.
Arrange thick-sliced heirloom tomatoes on plate. Top with bean mixture. Sprinkle with parmigiano and top with sun-dried tomatoes.
For the sun-dried tomatoes...
Dried Tomatoes
Slice tomatoes in half and lay out cut-side up on a lined baking sheet. Lightly sprinkle with salt.
Place in a 225°F oven for 2 1/2 hours.
After 2 1/2 hours, remove from oven and flatten with a small spatula.
Return to oven for an addition 2 1/2 hours or until dried to your preference.
You can turn off the oven and leave them in overnight.
Store in refrigerator.
If you're growing some smaller tomatoes, this is a great way to preserve them when they start coming in faster than you can eat them. The tomato flavor just explodes in your mouth.
Perfection.
Stuffed Pattypan Squash
My impulse buy at the produce store on Monday was a huge pattypan squash. I had never seen one that size, so I thought it would be fun to see what I could do with it.
While we did end up with a pretty good dinner, I don't think I'll be rushing out to get more of them - they're actually pretty dull and flavorless. The filling made up for it.
In doing a Chef Google search, I found that one of the better things to do with squash of this size is to stuff them. I also found that they should be pre-baked before stuffing, so I cut off the top, hollowed out the seeds, applied olive oil, salt, and pepper, and place it in a 350°F oven for 30 minutes.
The filling was bacon, leeks, mushrooms, garlic, chicken, and a hot pepper. I cooked everything and when it cooled, mixed in some shredded cheese.
Into the squash and into the oven for another 30 minutes.
The filling was excellent - the squash was meh.
Tuna Burgers
We had a couple of odd-sized tuna steaks in the freezer - one rather large and one rather small - so I thought it might be a good idea to figure out how to make them more equal-sized. Chopping them up and making burgers seemed the easiest. I had roughly 12oz of tuna, so I went to work.
Tuna Burgers
- 12 oz tuna
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1 hot pepper, minced
- 3 tbsp chopped chives
- 1 tbsp chopped basil
- 1 tbsp chopped mint
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- salt and pepper, to taste
- panko bread crumbs
In food processor, mince herbs and hot pepper. Add 2/3 of the tuna and process fairly well. Add mayonnaise and green onions and mix well.
Hand-chop the remaining tuna into small cubes and add to processor. Pulse just until mixed.
Form into patties, dredge in panko, and fry until golden
Serve with tartar sauce, if desired.
I made 4 burgers. Two for dinner and two for the freezer.
We had them with the last of the homemade pasta from Sunday, but they would be equally good on buns with fries or with potato salad. They were really flavorful, juicy, and had a great crunch - everything you want in a seafood burger.
Making the first part of the tuna a bit pasty meant it didn't need egg or a lot of other binder. A bit of mayonnaise worked quite well. Adding in chunks of tuna gave it texture and flavor.
Really quick and easy!
Cooking with Cucumbers
Tonight's dinner is a complete surprise - neither of us has ever had a cooked cucumber before. After tonight, I think we will be seeing more of them!
I did an early morning harvest and brought in a dozen cucumbers - the largest one weighing in at more than two pounds. That's a lot of cuke!
We were able to quickly share four of them, but it still left 8 - including that 2-pound monster.
Victor made a shrimp and cucumber salad for lunch - that used up half of one - with only seven more to go. Oh... I forgot... there were still three in the refrigerator from Tuesday. We have made every kind of salad one can think of and they're still coming in faster than we can eat or give them away.
There's a dozen pints of dill pickles downstairs, and six pints of various refrigerator-type pickles in the 'fridge. We generally don't eat a ton of pickles - I'm not canning any more.
It was time for drastic action. I hit Chef Google.
It was 13 things to do with cucumbers. 19 things to do with cucumbers. 26 things to do with cucumbers. All the same lame ideas. And then I found Stir-Fried Cucumbers with Spicy Ground Pork on a website called Serious Eats.
To say I was skeptical would be an understatement. But... when one is desperate... I mean... cooked cucumber?!?
Well... it appears that not only are cooked cucumbers a thing, they're actually really, really good! Who knew?!?
I don't know how different cukes will work with this, but the ones we are growing have a really small, compact seed row and lots of meaty flesh - even the really big cukes are all meat. They cooked up perfectly.
Stir-Fried Cucumbers with Spicy Ground Pork
adapted from Serious Eats
Ingredients
For the Cucumbers
- 2 pounds cucumbers (about 3 large cucumbers), partially peeled to create alternating peeled and unpeeled vertical strips, seeded, and cut on the bias 1/4 inch thick
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
For the Marinated Pork:
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
- 1 teaspoon canola or vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon Asian fish sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
For the Sauce and Stir-Fry:
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of chili flakes, to taste
- 1/2 head of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- Cooked white rice, for serving
Directions
Place cucumbers in a large bowl and add the salt. Mix and toss until the cucumbers start to release a little bit of water, about 1 minute. Let stand for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, For the Marinated Pork: In a small bowl, combine ground pork with the soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, oil, fish sauce, and cornstarch. Mix well and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.
For the Sauce and Stir-Fry: In a small bowl combine the water, soy sauce, sesame oil, and cornstarch. Mix well and set aside.
Drain cucumbers and rinse under cold running water. Drain well, then pat dry with paper towels.
In a wok, heat 1 teaspoon canola oil over high heat until smoking. Add marinated pork, spreading it out with a spatula so that it makes a thin layer. Let cook undisturbed for 30 seconds. Using the spatula, break the pork into small pieces. Add chili flakes to taste and continue stir-frying until the pork is cooked through and golden brown. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Wipe the wok clean and add the remaining 1 tablespoon canola oil and heat over high heat until smoking. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 10 seconds. Add cucumbers and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Return pork to the wok and stir well. Mix the sauce with a spoon or chopstick and pour it into the wok. Continue cooking and stirring until the cucumbers begin to look glossy, about 30 seconds. Transfer cucumbers to a plate and serve with rice.
For the chili flakes, we used peppers we dried last year - they are really hot - so I went with 1/2 teaspoon. Otherwise, I resisted temptation and didn't change anything other than doubling the amount of ingredients for the sauce.
It was spicy, and the cucumbers had a great flavor and texture. The pork was good, but you could really use anything, here, and some green onions stirred in at the last minute would be okay, too. In fact, this is one recipe that can really be played with.
I'm thinking that the secret, here, really is salting the cukes and getting rid of a lot of the water before cooking. They really had a great texture.
So here's to something new! And 10 more cukes - with more on the way.
Shrimp and Cod
Relaxing after dinner, last night, Victor said: You know what would be good? Those grilled vegetables on rice with shrimp and cod. With one of the pita breads.
A meal was born!
The grilled vegetables in the 'fridge are getting a workout, this week. I can't believe the concept hadn't occurred to us before - grill a bunch of vegetables in advance and have them available when you want them. It really is a simple idea.
Tonight's variation on a theme started with simple white rice. We probably have a half-dozen or more different rice varieties in the cupboard, but Goya Canilla rice is my go-to. 3-pound bag, $2.39.
On top of the rice went the grilled vegetables. I added a can of chopped green chiles, a pinch of cumin, and a pinch of ancho chili powder to them to switch out the base flavor. I don't over-season them to begin with, so they can go in any direction...
On top of that went the shrimp and cod.
My original thought was to use some tomatoes and hot peppers from the yard to make a quick fresh sauce to poach the fish in. Alas, the skies opened up and torrential rains have been falling. I ain't going out there for nuthin'.
Instead, I used a bit of Salsa Autentica and some chopped roasted red pepper. I brought it to a boil, placed the cut up fish and the shrimp into the sauce, stirred, covered, and turned off the heat. In three minutes I had perfectly-cooked seafood.
That went on top.
At the table, we had some homemade habanero hot sauce I made yesterday. Just one little bottle. It has a bit of heat but it also has a lot of flavor. I cut the peppers and vinegar with tequila and it really helped to mellow it out.
We also had a the pita. We made little bite-sized sandwiches and ate more with our fingers than with utensils.
All-in-all, a very fine dinner.
Taboun and Spiced Chicken
It seems that the more I learn, the less I know. I learn a bit of something and next thing I know, I need to learn a dozen more things to learn the how's and why's for the first thing to make sense - or to put something in perspective. The minutiae...
We were watching a Netflix show on street food and the host was in Amman, Jordan. One of the things he focused on was refugees bringing different foods to the table. Amman has welcomed literally millions of refugees from throughout the Middle East - Iraqi, Palestinian, Syrian to name but a few - and is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. Much of the street food reflects these different groups.
The show had a lot of different flatbreads being made. I know that different cultures have different versions of flatbreads - from injera to lavosh to focaccia or pizza - but I didn't know of the bazillion cooking techniques that can turn the basic ingredients into such different things. As a guy who has never been to the middle east, I kinda figured your basic pita was pretty universal. It is - and it isn't. From baking on a rounded dome, baking on stones, in an oven, on a flat stove... the same but different. For someone who loves to bake, it's fascinating to see.
The flatbread I made today is based on a taboun - but baked on a flat baking stone, not rounded stones - so, I guess it's really just a pita. Another thing I've learned over time is there is really no such thing as a single authentic recipe of anything. Every home has their own authentic version.
Taboun Flatbread
based on several internet recipes
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 tsp honey
- 2 tsp yeast
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Combine the water, honey, and yeast. Let it stand for about 10 minutes until foamy.
Combine the flour and salt with the yeast and water mixture, and stir to form a soft dough.
Add the olive oil and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Form it into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour until it doubles in size.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Place a baking stone or baking sheet in the oven as it heats.
Knead the dough briefly and divide it into 8 balls. Place the balls on a lightly oiled baking sheet, cover, and let stand for about 15 minutes.
On a lightly floured surface, flatten each ball of dough and roll it into a circle 1/8-inch thick and about 7-8 inches in diameter.
Place on baking stone and bake until lightly browned and crisp, about 6 minutes.
The final dish is based on a Palestinian dish called Msakhan - a sumac chicken with sautéed onions.
Za'atar Chicken with Grilled Vegetables
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Za'atar
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 chicken breast, sliced
- 3 cups mixed grilled vegetables
- 2 large thick flatbreads (taboun, lavash, pita, or Syrian saj)
Instructions
Combine the sumac with the lemon juice. Rub the mixture all over the chicken, then place in a baggie and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the grilled mixed vegetables and heat through. Add a splash of wine and simmer until wine is almost evaporated - but not quite. Transfer to a bowl with all the juices.
Wipe out the pan and place over medium heat. Add a bit of olive oil and when hot, lightly brown the chicken pieces.
Arrange the flatbreads in an overlapping layer in a large, lightly oiled shallow baking dish. Spoon over the roasted vegetables, then top with the chicken pieces and drizzle any pan juices on top. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
I made two individual dishes because I tend to really over-do it when making things like this. I'd have enough food to feed the neighborhood, if left to my own devices...
And then, because eating them out of the casserole was impractical, we just slid them out onto plates.
A really fun and flavorful dinner. There was chewy bread, there was bread that had sopped up the juices from the vegetables and the chicken. It was pull-apart eat-with-fingers and a bit of knife and fork. The perfect meal. And you could make this in no time with store-bought pitas.
One of these days we really need to travel the Mediterranean countries from Morocco to Turkey.
There's a lot of good food to be had.....
Thugs and Ainsley
I'm sitting here with the Summer Cold From Hell.
Since I actually don't remember the last time I had a cold - it's been a few years, at least - I suppose I shouldn't complain, too much.
On the other hand, it really sucks. We missed out on a Phillies/Giants game, today, but since the Phillies beat my Giants 10-2, I suppose that wasn't such a bad thing...
Colds tend to dull the taste buds, so I was looking for something fairly bold and spicy - and I had two new sources - so I went with one from each.
The first was my Thug Kitchen Cookbook. It is a hoot - and it has some outstanding recipes! I started off with 5-Spice Fried Rice with Sweet Potatoes. I more or less followed the recipe, but they call for adding bitter greens in and I didn't have any, so I just ignored that part. I used Carolina Gold Rice Grits from Anson Mills for the short-grain rice.
5-Spice Fried Rice with Sweet Potatoes
adapted from Thug Kitchen
- 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and sliced into small cubes
- 2 tsp neutral oil
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1/4 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp chili paste or sriracha
- 4 cups cooked short grain rice
- 1/2 cup sliced green onions
- 1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
Directions:
Heat 1 tsp of oil in a large skillet or wok over medium heat. Add the sweet potato and two tbsp of water and stir fry, stirring often, for about 5-8 minutes until the potato is tender and starting to brown. Add more water if the potato starts to stick.
Add the onion and carrot and continue to stir fry for another 3 minutes, or until the onions are translucent.
Add the 5-spice powder and garlic and stir fry for 1-2 more minutes. Remove all vegetables from the pan, cover and set aside.
Mix soy sauce, rice vinegar and Sriracha in a small bowl.
Heat the remaining oil in the wok over medium heat. Add the cooked rice and stir fry until warm, approximately 5 minutes. Add the sauce mix and the vegetables, plus the peas to the rice and mix well.
Stir fry for another 1-3 minutes. Fold in green onions.
Next up was a Caribbean Chicken from Ainsley Harriott's Street Food. It's a show on Netflix where this guy travels around the world eating street food. A job I should have...
He used bone-in chicken breasts. I used a single boneless breast I cut into strips before marinating. I also adjusted the marinade ingredients - it's simply equal parts lime, rum, and soy sauce - and used demerara sugar in place of palm.
Rum-Drunk Barbecued Chicken
adapted from Ainsley Harriott's Street Food
- 6 bone-in chicken breasts
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) lime juice
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) dark rum
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) dark soy sauce
- 1 small bunch thyme, leaves picked and coarsely chopped
- 1 long red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
- 3 tsp grated palm sugar
Instructions
To make the marinade, place all the ingredients in a large airtight container and shake to combine well.
Using a sharp knife, make 2-3 deep incisions through the skin side of the chicken, to help the marinade permeate the flesh. Add the chicken to the marinade, stir to coat well, then cover and stand for 30 minutes, or refrigerate overnight if time permits.
Meanwhile, preheat the grill to medium heat.
Remove the chicken from the marinade and cook, basting with the marinade and turning regularly, for 15 minutes or until just cooked through. Rest for 5 minutes and serve.
Surprisingly good! There was definitely that rum flavor, but not overpowering. It really was balanced with the lime and the soy sauce.
And both the rice and the chicken had some heat. They balanced one another, as well.
I'm sure we'll be seeing more fun recipes from both as time goes on.
Baked Cod
Time for more fun food from the garden!
First off, is a quick Cucumber Salad. The cukes are coming in fast and furious - and huge. Color me naive, but I had no idea one little cucumber plant could produce so much. I've already made 20 pints of pickles - and we just don't eat pickles every day. I think relish will be next.
In the meantime, though, they are great on salads and as a salad...
Cucumber Salad
- 6 cups cucumber slices
- 3 radishes, sliced thin
- 1 fresh red onion, sliced thin
- 2 small sweet peppers, sliced thin
- 1 hot pepper, sliced thin
- 2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
- salt & pepper, to taste
Mix cucumbers with radishes, onion, and peppers. Sprinkle with vinegar and add S&P, to taste.
Next is the Cod with Tomatoes.
Our tomatoes are coming in slowly but surely. The timing has been perfect, since we've been able to keep up with them. We're going to be inundated in a few weeks, but we have plans for them...
The cod was really thick, so it went into a 425°F oven for 15 minutes with lemon slices, salt, and pepper - nothing else. I topped it with a fresh tomato salsa.
Tomato Salsa
- 1 large heirloom tomato, diced
- 1 fresh red onion, sliced thin
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- basil, mint, and thyme, minced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- S&P, to taste
Mix all ingredients together, adding salt and pepper, to taste.
When the fish was cooked, I removed the lemons and spooned on the tomatoes.
Simplicity.
I've also started buying a single ear of corn for the two of us. I slice it into rings and do a quick simmer. It's more than enough and easy to eat.
Steaks and Marinated Goat Cheese
We took a trek down to the Bryn Mawr Farmer's Market, this morning. We really didn't need anything, but we thought it might be fun just to see what sort of gastronomical delights were available.
We picked up some fresh onions, a pound of really good coffee, a jar of honey aged in whiskey barrels, and then noticed goat cheeses. Naturally, we had to stop.
The first thing that caught my eye was a jar of marinated goat cheese medallions - Tuscan-style in olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, and herbs. The first thing Victor noticed was raw goats milk - perfect for making his own goat cheese!
We bought both.
We got home and Victor immediately set out to make a batch of cheese. You can get his recipe here.
I took the medallions and made dinner.
I first marinated a NY strip steak in some of the oil from the goat cheese. it was really rich and flavorful. Onto the grill it went.
Next was heating up the last of the grilled vegetables - in more of the marinating oil.
Finally, a medallion on top of the steak - with more of the oil on top.
Really quick and easy with lots of flavor. The cheese was really light and the sun-dried tomato marinade was just right. There's still more left over, and I think it will make a great salad dressing!
And we have our own homemade goat cheese for snacking!
Ground Pork and Vegetable Galette
The latest batch of grilled vegetables is almost gone. I really do love having them in the 'fridge - they are so versatile.
Tonight, they got worked into a galette filling - a perfect summer-y dinner.
I started off by making a pie crust. Pretty much the easiest thing in the world to do. Half went for dinner and half went into the freezer for another day...
When making pie dough, I make a few variations on a theme... this is the basic. I add a couple tablespoons of sugar if making a dessert pie.
Pie Dough
- 2 cups flour
- 1/3 cup pastry/cake flour
- 2 sticks butter, frozen
- pinch salt
- 1/2 cup ice water
Using a food processor, add flours, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix.
Chop up frozen butter and add. Pulse until butter is incorporated and mixture looks grainy.
Slowly add ice water and pulse until mixed.
Turn out onto counter. Press and form mixture into two disks . Wrap in plastic and refrigerate about an hour to allow the flour to properly absorb the water and to relax the gluten.
Roll out crust and place in pie plate. Crimp edges and fill.
The filling was a clean-out-the-'fridge affair...
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 2 cups roasted vegetables
- 2 tomatoes
- chopped fresh herbs
- 1/2 cup tomatillo salsa
Brown pork in skillet. Add vegetables and heat through. Stir in tomatillo salsa and mix well. Remove from heat and cool.
I rolled out the crust, lined the bottom with sliced tomatoes, added the pork and vegetable filling, and topped it with more sliced tomatoes. Folded over the crust and baked at 425°F for 40 minutes.
We ate half of it and will have the other half for dinner tomorrow.
Fresh Tomatoes
The garden is finally starting to produce something besides cucumbers - and if we can get a bit more sun and a bit less rain, we're going to be in for one hellava harvest, this year.
The Purple Cherokee tomatoes and the Orange tomatoes have been the first to ripen, but the Black Krim, Green Zebra, Mr Stripey, Principe Borghese - and all the San Marzanos - are not far behind. In all, there are 17 tomato plants out there. In a few weeks we're going to be canning a lot of sauce.
I can't wait. In the past, we've just picked tomatoes and blended them all to make sauce. This year, I'd love to be able to can individual varieties. We'll see what the harvest brings.
In the meantime, the first ones are really good eating.
We did a simple salad - a take on a Caprese Salad - with grilled chicken, avocado, tomatoes, and mozzarella, on a bed of greens, dressed with homemade pesto. Classic flavors simply done.
One of life's great pleasures is the taste of a tomato straight off the vine.
We're gonna have a couple of months of pleasures...
Pickles, Buns, and Burgers
Sometimes, I amaze myself.
Actually, I often amaze myself. Usually it's in the form of how did I get to be 67 years of age and not know some basic bit of otherwise common knowledge.
Every once in a blue moon, however, the amazement comes in the form of some gastronomic treat where I'm thoroughly amazed that I actually made it.
That gastronomic treat, today, is pickles.
I have pickled many things over the years, from any number of hot peppers to our own version of a giardiniera - but I have never actually made pickles. Until yesterday.
I may have mentioned that we have a cucumber plant in the garden that is taking over.
It's huge - and producing cucumbers faster than we can eat them. There are a half-dozen this size, right now - and that's not counting the ones I picked yesterday for the pickles.
We've made different cucumber salads, tzatziki, chilled cucumber soup, added them to salads... I had even jarred a few of them in a spicy brine, but they need to be refrigerated. We don't often eat a lot of pickles - definitely not enough to fill the 'fridge with them - and they weren't pickles...
I decided to experiment.
I found a recipe for canning dill pickles online, but it called for fresh dill. I wasn't heading out into the heat, so I decided to wing it and hope for the best. I got the surprise of my life!
Crunchy, flavorful, not sweet but not sour little slices of wonder. I'm actually quite shocked. They're some of the best pickles I've ever eaten. And I made them from a plant that's taking over the backyard. It truly boggles the mind.
This recipe assumes you understand basic water bath canning. If you don't, read about it, here.
Dill Pickles
- 4 large cucumbers, washed and thickly sliced
- 8 cups water
- 1 3/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp dried dill per pint jar
- 8-10 peppercorns per pint jar
- 1 tsp dried shallots per pint jar
Prepare canning jars. (I used six for this.)
Place water, vinegar, salt, and sugar into a pot and bring to a rolling boil.
Meanwhile, place dill, peppercorns, and shallots into hot jars.
Pack jars with sliced cucumbers to 1/2 inch from rim.
Slowly pour boiling liquid over cucumbers, filling to 1/2 inch of rim.
Carefully slide a thin knife or chopstick into jars to release any air bubbles.
Place lids on jars and screw on rings finger tight.
Place in boiling water canning pot, making sure lids are covered by at least 2 inches.
Process for 15 minutes.
Because I was so amazed at how great the pickles were, I decided we needed hamburgers for dinner tonight. That meant we needed hamburger buns. I found the recipe from King Arthur Flour and used it to make some rather large buns.
In theory, the recipe makes 8 buns. Having made buns before and always getting buns that were too small, I opted for six. Naturally, the recipe would have made 8 large buns instead of the six overly-large buns I made. Live and learn.
We don't eat burgers the way we used to, so these were a treat.
Lots of pickles, tomatoes from the garden, lettuce, onions, avocado, mayonnaise...
Absolute perfection.
The four additional rolls went into the freezer. I'm thinking sandwiches or lunches.
The rolls really were light with lots of flavor on their own.
All-in-all... a very successful day in the kitchen!
Amazing, in fact.