Lunch with Doug

Today I decided to make a slaw with healthy colorful ingredients. I wanted it to be beautiful too, cause you know people eat with their eyes. Early in my culinary career I decided it had to look delicious as well as be delicious. I was fortunate to have excellent training at the Culinary Institute of America and one of my Garde Manger chefs used to say it all the time, "People eat with their eyes". Funny thing is I have a visual art background from college so the chef food stylist bit has been a great career fit. Forgive my meanderings. So I wanted to make a slaw. It had to be beautiful and healthy and delicious. I call it a rainbow slaw and I made a well-seasoned burger to go with it. Not bad for a Wednesday lunch - rather inexpensive, quick to prepare, and healthy too! I used grass fed beef and organic vegetables. I use a microplane to grate ginger, which is an excellent tool to grate garlic, ginger, and zest citrus. I sliced the scallions peppers and used a Cuisinart with the grating attachment to grate the remaining vegetables.

Rainbow Slaw



Ingredients

2 scallions sliced thin on the bias
1/2 orange pepper sliced thin
1/2 yellow pepper sliced thin
1/2 green pepper sliced thin
10 colorful radishes trimmed and washed
2 carrots, peeled and trimmed
1 large broccoli stalk trimmed and quartered lengthwise
1 Tbs. agave nectar (I like to use this because it replaces sugar and has a low glycemic index).
3 Tbs. brown rice vinegar
1 tsp. finely grated fresh ginger

Method

In an attractive medium sized serving bowl, combine the cut vegetables. Grate the remaining vegetables and add to the bowl. Lastly add the dressing ingredients and toss together. Serve immediately or refrigerate to serve later the same day.
Serves 4

For the Well Seasoned Burger






Ingredients

1 lb. grass fed beef
1/2 Tbs. fresh picked thyme leaves, or 1/2 tsp. dried
1/2 onion finely diced
1-2 cloves garlic grated on a microplane or minced
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. finely ground black pepper
1 cup favorite cheese, grated (I used mozzarella)

Method

In a medium sized bowl combine all of the ingredients except the cheese. Mix together to combine ingredients. Shape into 4 burgers. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Lift pan off the burner then spray hot pan with olive oil cooking spray. Then place pan back on the heat and sear the burgers. Lower heat slightly. When burgers are well browned about 7-10 minutes, turn the burgers over. When the juices begin to run on the top after about 5-7 minutes, check the temperature with an instant read thermometer. When the temperature is about 125 degrees (medium rare) place 1/4 cup of the grated cheese on top of each burger and cover the pan. When the cheese has melted plate the burgers and let rest for 5 minutes. Serve with the slaw.

Recipes and photos by Karen Pickus
Recipes and photos courtesy Karen Pickus 2010