What's for dinner July 25, 2010

I have a long lived love (say that three times fast!) for all things miniature. When I was a girl, I went through a phase where I would rush out and agonize over which teeny tiny little dollhouse accessory to blow my allowance on. And while I intend to build myself Cheeseball her own dollhouse at some point, for now I content myself with making big things small. Tiny little cookies in tiny little boxes. Teeny little bowties on little knitted coffee sleeves. And, tonight...teeny little burgers on mini little buns.



These are a lot of fun for a party. We've put on a mini burger bar before with all the fixings you can think of - different kinds of cheeses, bacon, avocado, sauteed mushrooms, veggies, sauteed onions, etc... - so everyone can try several different combo burgers without filling up too fast.

But, they're also fun for an evening at home with the kiddos. I made two different kinds of burgers.


Raw hamburger...less than appetizing.

On the left, I took a quarter kilo (which I think is about a half pound) of ground beef, pressed a big clove of garlic over it and drizzled some olive oil. I added about a third of an egg. Then, I ground some sea salt and pepper and scissored some fresh basil with my new toy.

How badass are these!?

In the burger mixture on the right, I made my patented World Famous Burgers, known to at least 10 or 12 people. I just eyeballed the ingredients, since it was such a small amount of meat. But, I'll include the recipe at the end of the post.

This was the first time I'd tried the basil, and they came out well! They're even kind of pretty when cooked.


Well, as pretty as hamburger gets.

I chopped some mini fixins.



For our mini burger bar party, I used frozen dinner rolls, since they're so nice and perfectly round and look just like "I'll gladly repay you..." Wimpy's burgers. But, defrosting and rising the rolls was more trouble than I was going to go to for a Sunday evening Q with the fam. I just toasted up some dinner rolls.



I sliced yellow potatoes, and tossed them in peanut oil in our mini-fritteuse (which I believe is called a deep fry to the rest of us), then seasoned.



Yummy, teeny tiny and fresh. What more could I want?

World Famous Sushi Burgers

1 1/2 lbs 80% lean ground beef
1/2 a smallish onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/2 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs worcestershire sauce
1 egg
1 envelope Lipton Beefy Onion soup mix
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste