We planned to have burgers the other night but my 12 year old daughter decided she wanted to prepare them and use a recipe from a collection of recipes she received from her day camp. The booklet is called Gourmet Camper Caribbean Flair and is made up of recipes the kids could prepare at camp and at home.

You know I am a big proponent of Kids Can Cook because of the many benefits associated with teaching your kids how to cook including:

• following a recipe
• measuring and math skills
• understanding various food groups
• safety and lots more

The recipe she found in the camp recipe booklet was for Bifteki Burgers. What are Bifteki burgers?  I didn’t know so I looked them up on the Internet to find out they are Greek burgers and there are lots of variations for making them.

Here’s my daughter’s version of Bifteki Burgers. The original recipe is for twelve servings so we cut it in half.

Ingredients

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon olive oil
freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 small red onion, chopped
1 1/4 pounds of ground beef
6 burger buns
(cheese for cheeseburgers - optional)
Fixings to serve with the burgers: fresh lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard

How to Prepare Bifteki Burgers

It’s the same as preparing any hamburger. You get the ingredients prepped and combine them in a large mixing bowl.

Start by peeling and carefully chopping the onion to small pieces. If you are letting your kids do this, you may want to watch closely or do this with them. My 12 year old is very good with sharp knives, but I’m less inclined with my 10 year old daughter.

Combine the ingredients together in the mixing bowl being careful not to over work the meat. The less you handle the meat, the better the burger turn out. Shape the burgers into 6 patties and here’s where your kids can have some fun. Let them make their own favorite shapes like stars, hearts, squares.

Grill the burgers for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. If you like them more rare, cook them for less time or if you like them more well done, let them cook longer. Please do not overcook them or they will taste like hockey pucks.

If you are going to add cheese, wait until the last minute of cooking, top with cheese and cover your grill so the cheese melts quickly. While the burgers are resting, toast the buns on a cooler part of the grill. It takes less than a minute to toast them. Do not let them burn.

Put the burgers on the buns and serve with your favorite toppings. We served ours with fresh farm corn on the cob and tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella.

Although my oldest daughter made the patties, my 10 year old helped me grill them. More great learning experiences when teaching your kids how to work around hot grills. She learned that when there is smoke there is fire as the fat from the burgers dripped onto the hot flames. The lesson learned was don’t walk away from the grill when cooking.

The burgers were delicious and having my kids prepare most of the meal made it even better.

Have a great weekend!

Chile Rellenos

Chile Rellenos are a classic Mexican dish. They begin with poblano peppers which are stuffed with a ground pork concoction known as picadillo, or cheese.  They are then dipped in an egg-based batter and deep fried.  They can be served with any of a myriad of sauces.

Poblanos are dark green chile peppers approximately 4-5 inches long and 2 ½ -3 inches wide.  Poblanos are the “bell pepper” of Mexican cuisine.  Poblanos are triangular in shape and flatter than bell peppers.  They are also less sweet, more savory and a little hotter.  Their heat level can vary but usually they are in the mild to medium range.  They are perfect for individuals who like a modicum of spiciness but not too much heat.

Picadillo is a mixture of ground pork, onions, garlic and tomatoes.  Raisins and nuts are also commonly added.  To make picadillo, saute a pound of ground pork and one chopped onion.  Give the meat and onions a head start and then add some garlic.

How to Make Picadillo

Add a 28-oz. can of tomatoes.  Break up the tomatoes and simmer until a thick consistency is achieved.  While the tomatoes are simmering add salt, pepper, and additional seasonings such as cumin, coriander, chili powder or hot pepper if you like.  Some chefs also add cinnamon.  If desired, add some raisins and toasted slivered almonds a few minutes before the cooking is complete.

Sometimes chile rellenos are made with a cheese stuffing alone.  Mexican melting cheeses such as Queso Chihuahua or Queso Oaxaca are customary but you could also use Monterey Jack.  Sauce options vary but a tomato based sauce is quite common.

Below is my recipe for Italian chile rellenos as well as the conventional ones.  Italian chile rellenos!!!  What!!!  I know, I know, I can hear the rabble amassing; anxious to accost me like a pinata.  The Latin chefs out there will think I’m totally loco.  If you’ve followed my column you know that I am normally an ardent purist and usually scoff at fusion cuisine.

With that said, I do find my Italian twist on the venerable dish quite tasty.  Basically I substitute mozzarella for the Mexican cheese and employ yellow bell peppers instead of poblanos.  I also abandon the batter and the frying.  However, the original dish remains iconic and peerless and below is the recipe for the batter followed by instructions for making the traditional classic.

ITALIAN CHILE RELLENOS

4 yellow bell peppers
4 pieces of mozzarella cheese, ½ -inch thick, cut to the approximate size of the peppers
Chile-tomato sauce, as needed, (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Roast the peppers over a gas flame on the stove, on a grill, or under a broiler until charred all around.  Or drop them in a deep fryer until the skins are blistered.  When cool enough to touch remove the skin.  Slice the stem end off the peppers and remove the seeds.

Insert a piece of mozzarella into each pepper.  Place the peppers in an 8-inch x 8-inch baking dish.  Smother them with the tomato-chile sauce.  Sprinkle them with some additional cheese if you like.  Place them in the oven until the cheese filling is melted.

CHILE-TOMATO SAUCE

1 large red bell pepper
1-3 fresh or dried habanero peppers, depending on how hot you like it.
1 small onion
4 garlic cloves
1 cup water
1/3 cup of red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
6 oz. tomato sauce

Roughly chop the bell and habanero peppers, (or grind the habaneros if using dried), onion and garlic.  Combine all of the ingredients except the tomato sauce in a pan, bring to a boil, and simmer, covered, for 8 minutes.  Puree the mixture in a blender.  Add the tomato sauce to complete.  If you don’t want any heat, just eliminate the habaneros.  Or if you prefer it just a little spicy, use one jalapeno instead.

CHILE RELLENO BATTER

4 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon of flour, plus extra for dredging the chiles
½ teaspoon salt

Preheat a pot of vegetable oil to 375 degrees.  In an electric mixer whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.  Mix in the yolks one at a time.  Finally mix in the flour and salt.

For traditional chile rellenos, begin with four poblano chiles that have their stems intact.  Roast the peppers over a gas flame on the stove, on a grill, or under a broiler until charred all around.  Or drop them in a deep fryer until the skins are blistered. When cool enough to touch remove the skin.  Do not remove the stems.

Make a small slit in the side of each chile and scrape out the seeds.  Fill each chile with a Mexican cheese or the pork picadillo as described above.  Do not overfill.  Leave enough room that you can close the slit and make a small flap.  Thread the slit in each chile with toothpicks to close it.

Renowned chef Rick Bayless, the American doyen of authentic Mexican cuisine, freezes his stuffed chiles to hold them together before frying.  This bypasses the toothpicks altogether.  Dredge each stuffed chile lightly in flour.  Holding the stem, dip each chile into the batter and then drop into the hot oil.

Fry until they are a deep golden color, turning them once, for about four minutes.  Serve with the chile-tomato sauce.

Chef Mark R. Vogel

Meat & Heat - Cooking with Hot Pepper

One of my favorite combinations is meat and hot peppers.  There is something about meat, particularly red meat, and hot peppers that I find irresistibly enticing.  Like most “chile heads” I think a wide variety of foods are amenable to heat augmentation, but for our present purposes I wish to focus on meat dishes that are hot.

The Difference Between Hot & Spicy

Allow me to propose an informal distinction between “hot” and “spicy” in the interest of clarity.  By “hot” I am specifically referring to chile peppers and more specifically, capsaicin, the chemical compound that gives hot peppers their fire.  I think of “spicy” as spices or aromatic vegetables that are piquant, but do not contain capsaicin.  Thus, black pepper and garlic are spicy while jalapenos are hot.

I see four avenues by which to incorporate hot peppers into your meat:  hot chile oil, dried ground chile pepper, hot sauces, and most obviously, directly employing whole hot peppers, be them fresh, dried or canned.

Make Your Own Chile Oil

You can buy chile oil or you can easily make your own by simply adding ground hot peppers to a container of oil and allowing it time to infuse.  The oil can be used as a constituent for a marinade or another sauce, or to sauté or pan-fry your meat.  Or you can drizzle some on at the end as a finishing touch.

There are many varieties of pre-made, dried, ground hot pepper.  Some are in powdered form such as ground cayenne and some are in flakes like the crushed hot pepper found in pizza parlors everywhere.  But of course, buying whole chiles, (fresh or dried), and making your own will afford the best flavor.

If the peppers are already dried, merely whiz them in a spice grinder or food processor and then store in a jar.  If they are fresh, cut them open, spread them out on a sheet tray, place them in a 200 degree F. oven overnight until dried, and then grind them.

Ground hot pepper can be added to a marinade or a spice rub applied to meat before cooking.  Or you can sprinkle some in as the dish is cooking or again, use it as a condiment it at the end of cooking.  Like most dried spices however, you will reap its fullest flavor if the recipe in question involves liquid and the ground chiles are allowed to slowly permeate it.

Should I Buy Store-Bought Chile Powder?

If you plan on relying on store-bought chile powder, please note that there is a difference between chile (with an “e”) powder and chili (with an “i”) powder.  Chile (with an “e”) powder is solely ground chile peppers.  Chili (with an “i”) powder is a mixture of chile powder and other spices such as cumin, coriander, garlic, etc.

(more…)