Michael Symon's Live to Cook_ Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen - Michael Symon [22]
Build a medium-hot fire in your grill or preheat a stovetop grill pan.
Cook the bacon in a sauté pan over medium-high heat, turning once, until crisp, 5 minutes. Remove the bacon to paper towels to drain. Reserve the bacon fat in the pan.
Form the ground beef into 4 patties, each about 3½ inches in diameter. Season the patties liberally with kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Place the burgers on the grill or in the grill pan and cook for 3 minutes. Flip and top each burger with a slice of cheese. Grill for 3 minutes for medium rare. Remove to a plate. Add the English muffins to the grill or grill pan and toast for 1 minute.
Cook the eggs sunny-side up in the bacon fat while the burgers rest.
Build the burgers by sandwiching them between the muffin halves along with pickle slices, red onion, bacon, an egg, and some spicy ketchup.
RED WINE VINAIGRETTE
BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE
SHERRY VINAIGRETTE
ORANGE VINAIGRETTE
LEMON VINAIGRETTE
SPINACH SALAD WITH FRIED EGG, BACON, AND MORELS
SHAVED FENNEL SALAD WITH ORANGES, LEMON, DILL, AND WATERCRESS
SLOW-ROASTED BEETS WITH BUTTERMILK BLUE CHEESE, WATERCRESS, AND TOASTED WALNUTS
TOMATO SALAD WITH RED ONION, DILL, AND FETA
ZUCCHINI CRUDO
Most people tend to think of salads as lettuce with dressing, but they’re so much more than that. Salad to me is a composed plate like any other and it needs to hit all my benchmarks for a great dish. It often has meat or fish or egg, roasted vegetables, freshly sliced fruits, and greens. I like to serve them warm and cold, and the choice of vinaigrette brings everything together. A simple salad of lettuce with dressing is better after the meal, European style. The following are examples of hearty salads, big bright vivid plates that I like to serve as a first or main course—shaved fennel and orange, for example; spinach, mushroom, and egg; or roasted beets with blue cheese.
Vinaigrettes
Vinaigrettes are a powerful tool for building flavors. I love their versatility in that they can be used to dress a salad, as can all of the recipes here, but they can also be used to finish a sauce (see The Power of the Hot Vinaigrette) or to cut through some of the richness of meats; Fresh Bacon with Watermelon and Haloumi is sauced with a vinaigrette, for example.
They’re so easy, made from such humble and readily available ingredients, that it always amazes me that more people don’t make them at home. They can be put together in seconds and are a lot cheaper to make yourself than to buy—plus you know everything that is going into them and don’t have to worry about the additives that go into most processed salad dressings.
The other great thing about making vinaigrettes yourself is that you can control the acidity levels to your taste. The traditional ratio for a vinaigrette is three parts oil to one part vinegar. But I tend to like things a little bit on the bitey side so the ratios that I give are a little more tart. The best way to achieve the right level of acidity for you is simply to taste the vinaigrette as you’re adding the oil and stop or add more to please your palate. Remember as you’re tasting, though, that you’re not going to be eating your vinaigrette plain, so err at first on the side of too much acidity and then scale up your use of oil accordingly.
I start all my vinaigrettes with some minced shallot and garlic, which are first combined with the acid, whether that’s lemon juice or vinegar. The acidic component immediately neutralizes the sharpness of raw garlic and shallot, and magnifies their aromatic and sweet effects. I build the vinaigrette from this base. The basic technique is always the same: Combine the acid, garlic, shallot, and salt (so that the salt melts; it’s harder to incorporate salt once the fat has been added), and then slowly whisk in the oil. If you want to add additional fresh herbs, do so just before serving the vinaigrette. A basic vinaigrette, without aromatics, will keep for a week refrigerated. Once aromatics have been added to a vinaigrette, it will keep only for about