Labor Day Food

 We celebrated Labor Day last night because everyone is busy doing other things on the actual day.  Plus The Chef had the day off and we just don't get to see enough of him.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016596-hamburgers-tavern-style

This is the link for the excellent buns I made for our hamburgers.

I always spread my buns with garlic butter and toast them.

I broil them just until the edges turn brown.

For the burgers, I use a ground chuck and add a few tablespoons of duck fat to it.  Loosely toss it to combine the fat.  Form the burgers, again loosely, so they hold together but are not tightly packed otherwise you will have a tough hamburger.  Sprinkle the outside with salt, pepper and granulated garlic.

 Burgers continue to cook when you remove them from the heat so always take them off the grill or out of the pan earlier than you might think.  These were big burgers (about 8 0z. each) and took about 10 minutes....5 minutes per side.  I topped them with pimento cheese.

 Perfect burgers.

With Special Sauce, lettuce, fresh tomatoes and red onion; you just can't find a better burger.

   Special Sauce recipe:

• ½ cup mayonnaise (preferably Hellmann's)
• ⅓ cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons sweet relish
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped cornichons
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon hot sauce
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

 I made a casserole of Tennessee Onions as a side.

• 2-3 Vidalia onions or any sweet onion 
• ½ stick unsalted butter
• Garlic salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 1 Cup sharp cheddar cheese the better quality, the better taste
• 1 Cup mozzarella Cheese
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese
• Fresh oregano or other herbs for garnish
•  
• Slice the onions about 1/4 inch thick.  Separate them into rings and place them in your dish. Top with butter pieces and sprinkle with seasonings and cheeses.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes.  It should look like the above pic when finished.

 I picked a lot of my shashito peppers and coated them lightly with duck fat.  You can use olive oil instead.  Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Blister them in a cast iron skillet over high heat.

I set the food up in the garden room so we could eat outside in scorching heat. The puppies needed to  run around and play. I made the last of the macaroni salad for this summer and some corn off the cob. The burgers were so big that no one ate much of anything else.

 And since I am getting the first Honey Crisp apples of the season, I made another caramel apple pie.

 This time, when I doubled the caramel sauce, I added the correct amount of butter and the pie was perfect.

Much nicer than the one I made last week.  This too was served with vanilla ice cream.