California Burger

The California Burger! from Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes, page 34. Check out that avocados relish on top of this burger. It was made with Haas Avocados, onion, lime juice, and cilantro. The burger was grilled the Bobby Flay way with canola oil, coarse Kosher salt and ground black pepper over the outside and nothing but beef on the inside. I used the basting pan method to melt the cheese. The basting method is really the only way to get the cheese perfectly melted. After the burger turns (and you only turn a burger once), lay the cheese over the burger top and cover the burger with a pan. The pan has to be tall enough so that it does not actually touch any part of the burger, but the grill heat gets trapped in the pan. This delivers equal heat on all sides of the burger and completely melts the cheess. In this case the cheese was a Colby-Jack.

It was a great coincidence that while I was preparing the California Burgers that a delivery from California was made to our house. It was this month's package from the Wine of the Month Club!

Our friend Paul Kalemkiarian, of the Original Wine of the Month Club, in Monrovia, California makes some terrific selections every month. And look, this month he also sent along a Wine of the Month Club binder so I can keep all his newsletters handy. Where I live in Tennessee, we just don't have access to as many different wines and the rest of the country, so Paul's Wine of the Month Club is double great for us. We get to try wines that we otherwise would never be able to get. Go to their website and check them out: http://www.wineofthemonthclub.com/
You really should consider joining this club - even if you are not in Tennessee, but especially if you are!  

The arrival of this month's Wine of the Month Club package was cause for celebration. I mentioned this on a previous blog, but I believe I am growing the world's smallest vineyard - three plants. Here it is last January and here it is today. The leaves have just appeared this week.

This is the third year of these vines. This is the year they are supposed to produce grapes - but we will see if they actually do. They are Sangiovese, the grape that makes Chainti. If we do get grapes, I am not really sure what to do with them!

I think I will stick to grilling, not wine making! Paul