Hamburgers with odd toppings and Baked French Fries

We had a meeting after church, that conveniently served cookies. I didn’t go through the line, but spotted two of my children with more than one cookie. This told me, I don’t have to have a meal ready for them as soon as possible. I had at least 30 minutes once we walked in the door.

Everyone drops their coats, shoes and sometimes their church clothes right by the door as soon we enter, despite my yelling, “Hang up your coat!”. Does this happen in other homes? I cut right through the chaos of undressing and grabbed a pound of hamburger out of the freezer. The hamburger was placed into a bowl under a dripping faucet of cold water. This is a great, semi-fast way to safely thaw meat. The plan was hamburgers on the grill. When I thaw meat in the microwave, it doesn’t work too well for hamburgers on the grill. Then I joined the chaos by hanging coats, changing clothes, etc.

The hamburger was going to need a bit of time to thaw, so I started a quick load of laundry, cleaned up some leftover dishes and decided we would also have fresh french fries. My husband has been begging me to make “real french fries” instead of sweet potato fries.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. I picked four russet potatoes, because that is all I had. I figured a potato for each person. Scrub the potatoes. I always use steel wool to scrub potatoes. The steel wool is left in my utensil drawer ( used for potatoes only) and when I finish using it, I run it through the dishwasher.

I’ll link one in case you need a new, fast way to scrub potatoes:https://amzn.to/2Hl8tfS

Make sure to dry the potatoes so they cook faster. Cut the potatoes in half and then try to quarter each half , this should give you eight wedges per potato.

Melt two tablespoons of butter in a large bowl. Add about 1/4-1/2 cup of olive oil. Season to your heart’s desire. I added, cayenne paper, kosher salt, pepper, and two garlic cloves (minced). Remember, salt is your friend when it comes to potatoes, but not too much..ya know?

Throw in the potatoes and toss them around to coat them.

Dump the potatoes on the pan and try to arrange them skin side down. I roasted them for 20 minutes.

When the timer went off, I’d forgotten how hot the oven was and that there was butter on that pan…lets just say my eyebrows nearly sizzled off when I opened the oven door. Be prepared when you open the door… Shake the pan and use a spatula to toss those ‘taters around. Close the door, and continue roasting for 15 more minutes.

While the potatoes were roasting my hamburger was almost thawed. I took off the thawed stuff, and made patties. The other frozen hunk I tossed in the microwave at 40% for two minutes. Pat out all the burger, and season with salt and pepper. If you are like me and were not working with thawed meat to begin, its a good idea to put the patted out burgers in the freezer for 5-10, so they don’t fall apart on the grill.

Grill the burgers. I also grilled my buns…my eyebrows were already cooked, might as well do my buns, too. 😉 Spread butter on both sides of the bun.

Toast the buns on a hot griddle.

My favorite griddle, on SUPER sale:http://shopstyle.it/l/G5BU

Everyone in my house likes their burger differently. Today I was feeling extra generous, so I offered to fry an egg for my husband’s burger. He loves a breakfast burger. I had some cooked bacon, so while the egg was frying, I laid the bacon next to the egg to warm it. When I add an egg to my burger, I like it runny.

My husband doesn’t like the egg goo, so I break the yolk and hard fry it.

I wanted to try something new on my burger. After searching through the fridge, I found crumbled goat cheese and an avocado. Might as well see what that combo tasted like…MUAH! Delicious!

My finished meal.

Derek’s finished meal.

The boys picnicked, because it is so beautiful!!

Ingredients for potatoes:

Russet potatoes, as many as you need

2 tablespoons butter

1/4-1/2 cup olive oil

Seasonings of your choice: kosher salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic, fresh herbs , diced onion, paprika..sky’s the limit!

Happy eating!

xoxo,

-k