Miami Burger

Since Mother Nature is supposed to dump another foot of snow in our area tonight, a "Miami Burger" seemed like a tasty option for dinner.

If you're familiar with a Cuban sandwich, the foundation for this burger has those basic components: Swiss cheese, smoked ham, a mayo and mustard spread, and dill pickles. Except the usual meat (normally a sliced herbed pork loin) is subbed out here with ground chuck. We're big fans of the traditional Cuban sandwich, and we've tried variations, but this one is close to topping the list. It's simple, especially if you have a grill pan. Not many changes in the recipe here. I didn't have enough time to roast garlic (which normally takes about 30 minutes), so I sprinkled some garlic powder into the mayo, and it worked just as well. Be careful when you assemble the sandwich and place it on the grill--it has a tendency to slip apart, so just take your time when flipping around the pan.

Sides included baked beans (tonight this was just a matter of dumping a can of Bushed baked beans into a saucepan, although I'm not above admitting they're some of my favorite baked beans) and sweet potato fries. The latter is super easy--just cut sweet potatoes or yams (whatever is available in  your local grocery store) into sticks, toss with canola oil, sprinkle with cinnamon, and bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes, flipping once about halfway through baking time. When finished, spray a little cooking spray over the fries and sprinkle with sugar (the spray will help adhere the sugar to the fries). Alternately, you can make a savory version using a sprinkling of salt and pepper instead of the cinnamon and sugar. But I prefer the sweet version. And note to self (and others interested in making some baked fries of any kind at home): I mentioned high and low smoking points for different oils in an earlier post, and I haven't been following my own advice. I normally toss the matchstick potatoes with extra virgin olive oil, but I learned tonight that tossing with canola oil (which, again, has a higher smoking point) produces better results when baking at a high temperature. Lesson learned. Especially since using canola oil tonight didn't set off our ultra-sensitive smoke detector, resulting in all of my 5'5" height trying to jump up and hit just the right button to turn off that horrible noise while my 6'4" husband watches.

So, that's it for tonight. Stay tuned in a day or so for Julia Child's roasted chicken....