Recipe for Company

Tomorrow my sister is coming over for dinner and a slumber party...who doesn't love a little mid-week slumber party? So it gives me an excuse to cook a lavish dinner :) I picked out a main course of maple mustard short rib bacon burgers. Yes you read it correctly. Here is a picture from the website where I got the recipe (Paleomg.com)

So basically you use the crock pot and cook the short ribs all day in maple mustard concoction (which the recipe wants you to have from a specific vendor, but i'm going to just make my own), then add it in with some ground beef so it sticks together, and cook it like a burger. I think I'm going to sautee some onions and top it with that and greens...possibly a bun if I'm feeling festive that day (probably not since I had lots of processed food last weekend).


For a side dish I think I want to make some simple roasted brussel sprouts with thyme (I have a bunch of thyme left over from last weekend). Maybe I'll throw in some carrots, too.


I also have a bunch of speck, prosciutto, and soppressata and a nice hunk of dubliner that will do just fine for appetizers. I'm very excited to cook something new :)




Review:

Okay so we made these burgers and this is how they turned out: Pretty good. I say only pretty good because there were some difficulties. Since part of the burger is cooked and part is not, it's really hard to a) get the patties to stick together and b) tell when the uncooked part is cooked. We did them on the grill, but it was so windy the flame kept going out. SO we transferred them to the broiler and they turned out nicely...basically by luck because the touch method for doneness was out the window and when we cut to check one it was raw--we didn't want to keep cutting them all in half to check!

 Also, I didn't use the maple mustard sauce, and just made my own, which probably made a difference. Otherwise they were good, esp with bacon, caramelized onions, cheese, tomato, and spinach.

I would do these again, but not for a large group, and on a day when the grill will behave more reasonably.