I’ve eaten two hamburgers this summer, which has to be a record for me. Honestly, given the choice between a burger and a steak, I’ll choose steak every single time. Growing up, we had hamburgers at home occasionally, mostly in the summer when my Dad was in a grilling mood. (I’m leaving aside the ubiquitous fast food experience of most children of my era and location. I certainly enjoyed going to those burger joints as much as the next kid.) Since leaving home, though, I’ve rarely bought ground beef, mostly out of concern for food processing and contamination issues. Another big reason is that my parents often give me game and their own farm-raised lamb and pork. These meats easily surpass supermarket meats in taste and in healthfulness. I’ve been really lucky in that respect.

I happened to have a package of ground moose in the freezer, which I’d been planning to use in a shepherd’s pie once the weather got cooler. (I suppose purists would say I was planning a hunter’s or cottage pie, really.) Instead, I used it to make these burgers. I thought the flavours of the seasonings would go well with moose, with its slight gaminess.

The recipe calls for tarragon, parsley, capers, and cornichons (small, crunchy, cucumber pickles) to be chopped up and mixed with the meat. Sun-dried tomatoes are also called for, but I skipped those this time. I ground some pepper into the mixture, but omitted salt, as I thought the cornichons and capers would make the burgers more than salty enough for us.

Moose meat, like most game, is very lean, so I was a little worried that it might not hold together well. If it hadn’t, I’d have added a little oil or butter. It wasn’t a problem, though I was careful to be gentle with the patties, just in case. I got seven small patties out of the recipe, kept two aside for us to eat immediately, then froze the rest.

Another advantage of game is that I feel much more comfortable cooking the ground version to medium rare than I do with store-bought ground meat. My parents use a small, meticulous butcher for their meat processing and I trust that there’s no contamination danger from their equipment. This is another reason I avoid hamburgers – I always cook them to well done, though I prefer medium rare. [By now, you may have realized I’m a little fearful of meat-borne illnesses.] The moose burgers were perfect at medium rare, with a nice sear on the surface and a melting, juicy tenderness in the centre.

The burger is dressed with an onion marmalade, which is made by slowly cooking down minced red onion with coriander, butter and black pepper. The recipe calls for ribbons of Parmesan to top the burger, but I used Asiago instead. These dressings are more subtle than the usual mustard, mayonnaise, and ketchup, which allows the seasonings used in the burgers themselves to shine. The final touch was Udi’s gluten-free hamburger buns. I’d not tried them before, but they’re great. They’re tasty, but more than that, they don’t crumble or fall apart. It was such a treat, knowing that we could enjoy our burgers, gluten-free and without any compromise.

I’m happy that we have some more of these moose burgers waiting for us in the freezer. Once they’re gone, I’m hoping that the organic meat store near my house will have opened. This recipe might mean that burgers make it onto my plate more than twice a year.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Café Salle Pleyel Hamburger

Roasting eggplants puts me in mind of our mortality, or at least, aging. The skin of a good eggplant is so beautiful, shining with health. Once roasted, though, it’s all crags, wrinkles and uneven tones. Sort of like what happens to us. Roasting deepens the flavour of eggplant and I hope that aging does the same for character. I think I’ll end the metaphor there.

All this eggplant sacrifice was in service of this week’s French Fridays recipe, Eggplant Caviar. A high-falutin’ name for a very quick and easy dip (or spread, depending on how you use it). Roasted eggplant mashed with garlic, onion, lemon, herbs and spices. Dorie recommends Piment d’Espelette, but I substituted cayenne. You may add chopped, fresh tomatoes if you like, though I didn’t. It has a bite and works well as a sandwich spread or a dip for crudités. This evening, I spread it on rye bread and added thin slices of cucumber. Tomorrow, I think I’ll use it in a chicken sandwich, on Quejos, which are gluten-free, so Kevin can have some, too.

This is another recipe that would make great picnic food. It’s making me want to take a trip to the Westside beaches with a picnic basket and some sparkling lemonade.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Eggplant Caviar

Some treats, in looks and taste, seem decadent out of proportion to the difficulty of their execution. Provided that you have puff pastry on hand, these bâtons fall into this category.

I chose to make the tapenade version of the bâtons, using the Olivada recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. This recipe uses ingredients I generally have on hand, so it’s become a favourite. As I had leftover gluten-free rough puff pastry in the freezer (from this wonderful French Fridays foray), there was no need for a shopping trip at all. I haven’t tried Dorie’s tapenade yet, but it looks wonderful – I just don’t usually have anchovies on hand. Instead of poppy seeds, I used sliced almonds, which toasted nicely while the bâtons (slices, really, the way I cut them) baked.

We enjoyed these, but they won’t become a staple in our house, unless I find a source for frozen gluten-free puff pastry. I like the rough puff pastry recipe I used quite a lot, but it’s a time-consuming task that I’ll probably only undertake two or three times a year. So, we’ll enjoy these with the pleasure reserved for the very occasional treat.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Mustard Bâtons

I’ve never been fond of hiding the flavour of vegetables. Lightly steamed and dressed with a little lemon or butter, most vegetables don’t need anything more. I was reminded of this preference by a former roommate of mine recently, who tried to get me to ship her some chocolate chip cookies, as compensation for all the torture she allegedly endured when I used to steam a head of cauliflower for dinner and eat it, plain.

I’m not puritanical on this point, thank goodness, or I might have skipped this week’s French Friday altogether. I’m not fond of breading in general – Schnitzel is wasted on me, but one of the benefits of this cook-a-long is trying recipes outside one’s comfort zone. Since Kevin was eating with me, I substituted crushed (gluten-free) rice crackers for the bread crumbs, but followed the recipe otherwise.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this dish. The combination of butter, garlic, lemon zest and parsley stood up well against the crunch of the cracker crumbs and the lightly-steamed broccoli.

We served it with Dorie’s broth-braised potatoes (which haven’t come up yet in our French Friday rotation) and her pepper steak (which you’ll be hearing raves about at the end of this month). It made for a fantastic dinner.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Garlicky Crumb-Coated Broccoli