Thursday, December 10, 2009

Boca Burger with Grilled Haloumi and Lemon


Please check-out Jamie Dougherty's excellent write-up for The Examiner on easy homemade foodie gifts under $15.  It includes our recipe for Sage Salt, plus many other excellent ideas for the holidays.  

We're getting ready for the first night of Hanukkah tomorrow, which means making sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts) with the boys for our family celebration.  Our younger son wants to fill his sufganiyot with ketchup, his favorite condiment.  If anyone has any suggestions for how to make that work, they would be most welcome.

We are in one of our busiest seasons at both the restaurant and the flower shop, which means long tiring days at work.  Add in all of our holiday preparations, and it's been a week for quick and easy dinners.  Boca burgers are one of our favorites for those nights because everything is on hand without running to the store.  Last night, we added grilled haloumi, lemons, and a lemon-garlic sauce for some fantastic "burgers".

Boca Burger with Grilled Haloumi and Lemon
serves 2


Ingredients

                 sourdough bread, sliced thickly
                 boca burgers (we use the "original")
                 defrosted, salt and pepper sprinkled on
                 both sides
                 olive oil
1-2            lemons
1               package haloumi cheese
1               garlic clove, minced
1/4            tsp sea salt
1/4            tsp sugar

                 indoor electric grill

Procedure
  1. Cut 4 very thin slices from a lemon.  Then juice the lemon(s) until you have 2 Tbs of juice.
  2.  Combine garlic, salt, sugar and lemon juice and whisk until sugar and salt are dissolved.  Add 1/4 cup olive oil and whisk until well combined.
  3. Slice the haloumi cheese so you have one or two slices per burger.
  4. Toss the haloumi slices and lemon slices in the lemon-garlic sauce. 
  5. Heat grill to high and grill haloumi and lemon slices until you see the grill marks.  Flip and repeat. 
  6. Lightly brush both sides of bread with olive oil and grill until you see the grill marks.
  7. In a saute pan, cook boca burgers over medium in olive oil under browned.  Flip and repeat.
  8. Assemble sandwiches, drizzling extra lemon-garlic sauce on the bread and boca burgers.  
  9. A word of warning:  We thought the lemon peels were too bitter, so after taking our first bite, we trimmed the peels before eating the rest of the sandwiches. 

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12 comments:

  1. Wow, ketchup in a donut? Sounds....interesting. Can't help there, really, sorry! I've seen the donut shops use those "injector" things to put jelly in the filled donuts, my only guess would be that you could do the ketchup the same way?

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  2. You know, I love all of these ingredients and I've never put them together. Haloumi on a veggie burger sounds so good!

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  3. The boca burger sounds great with haloumi! Wow, a sufganiyot with ketchup! I think in a process of frying it may leak out but what if you put his favorite veggie mixed with ketchup in a thick paste, that might work. Happy Hanukkah for tomorrow night! My daughter's getting very excited!

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  4. I've never heard of "haloumi"--what does it taste like? I guess I am trying to figure out a good vegan cheese sub. I love the idea of the ketchup filling--but I would have to try to see whether I really "liked" it vs. giving up jelly! The recipe sounds delicious!

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  5. I don't know tat this will help much, but Pierre Hermé of macaron fame produced a ketchup variety a while back. Lebovitz blogged it here... http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2009/02/ketchup_cookies.html

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  6. How great to celebrate Hannukah! Ketchup filled donuts, now that I've got to see ;)

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  7. I've been wanting to try haloumi, but haven't ever quite gotten around to it. This looks like a good starter recipe...

    Happy (almost) Hannukah!

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  8. What a great meal for a busy day! I love ketchup too! I wish I had thought of ketchup filled doughnuts! Let us know how it works out. I like Natasha's idea of maybe mixing the ketchup with his favorite veggie.

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  9. Wow, really interesting post. Hope you have a great celebration and look forward to hearing how the ketchup doughnut turns out.

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  10. Looks great! I'd like to pack this for lunch tomorrow please :)

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  11. omg I LOVE grilled haloumi, this is great!!

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  12. I love all of these ingredients and I've never put them together. Haloumi on a veggie burger sounds so good!

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