Make this delicious Roast Pork with House Rub entree for Saturday dinner; turn leftovers into Sunday picnic sandwiches!
We’re very excited that the Fourth of July is on an actual weekend this year. (Honestly, it’s kind of a bummer when it lands on a Wednesday, right?) This weekend we’re making Chef Rob Bleifer’s Roast Pork recipe for our Saturday evening entree and pairing it with our Lloyd Cellars Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir. Then for our Sunday Fourth of July celebration, we’re going to chop up the leftover pork and toss it with barbecue sauce to make pork sandwiches. This strategy allows for less time in the kitchen and more time to celebrate with friends and family…and to sip more Pinot Noir! Follow the former Food Network Executive Chef’s adventures on Instagram: @chef_robear
Chef Robert Bleifer goes for a classic, pairing pork with our Lloyd Cellars Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir. What makes this recipe so satisfying is the rub and the technique to bring it to the table.
The Pastafarians were the first to connect String Theory and single-bowl noodle dishes through abstract thought. We arrived at this saucy mind space after a couple of glasses of Lloyd Cellars Pinot Noir. Image courtesy of venganza.org.
As the world of science continues to pursue a unifying theory to explain physics, known as String Theory, the culinary world solved the one-bowl meal conundrum centuries ago. In 2005, a team of archaeologists reported finding an earthenware bowl that contained 4000-year-old noodles at the Lajia archaeological site in China. So from Asian noodles to Italian spaghetti (there’s a Marco Polo relativity joke somewhere here), these unleavened dough strings have been the cookery connectors in serving up endless deliciousness in single-bowl servings.
Our good friend Chef Robert Bleifer, former Executive Chef at Food Network and father, knows the advantages of serving up healthy, one-bowl meals to the family. Here, he shares his Spaghetti & Turkey Meatballs recipe. But, of course, he’s ‘adulted’ the meal by pairing our Lloyd Cellars Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir with this tasty and easy recipe. Dish up this combo to friends and family and let your minds wander off to places yet unexplored!
Make sure to follow Chef Bleifer’s culinary adventures on Instagram: @chef_robear
You'll want to gobble down Chef Robert Bleifer's turkey meatball and spaghetti recipe – each bite followed by a sip from a goblet full of our robust Lloyd Cellars Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir!
1/4cupfresh breadcrumbsplace 1 large slice of bread in a spice grinder or mini-chopper
1/4cupfreshly grated parmeggiano
1teaspoondried Italian herbsbasil, marjoram, oregano, thyme
1clovegarlicminced
1egg yolk
2teaspoonskosher salt
2tablespoonsextra-virgin olive oil
1/2cupdry red wine
1cupchicken stock
4cupsmarinara sauce
1poundspaghetti
Fresh grated parm and basil for servingoptional
Instructions
In a medium-large bowl, mix together: turkey, breadcrumbs, parm, herbs, garlic, egg yolk, and salt. Mix thoroughly and form into balls slightly smaller than ping-pong balls. You should have close to 20.
Place a large saute pan medium-high heat, add the oil, and brown the meatball on all sides (adjusting the heat as necessary to keep from burning.)
When fully browned, deglaze with red wine, scrape up any stuck browned bits and let reduce until just a tablespoon remains. Transfer to a medium saucepan with the stock and marinara. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook covered for 45 minutes. If the sauce has gotten too thick, add water to bring back to the consistency of the jarred sauce.
Bring a large pot of water to boil and add 3 tablespoons of kosher salt. Add pasta and cook al dente, according to packaged directions.
Drain pasta, immediately toss with sauce and serve immediately.
Serve with extra grated parm and fresh basil if desired.
Keyword Chef Robert Bleifer, Lloyd Cellars, Pinot Noir, Recipe, Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist, short story writer, poet, teacher, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century.
Our Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir is a Classic Pairing with Roast Chicken and a Good Read
June 16th is National Bloomsday, commemorating the life and legend of Irish writer James Joyce. The significance of June 16 is taken from his 1922 novel, “Ulysses,” which takes place on June 16, 1904, and follows a day in the life of the story’s protagonist Leopold Bloom. (Coincidently, “Ulysses” was published just after the end of the Spanish Flu Pandemic.)
Throughout Ulysses, food plays an important role in revealing the characters’ personalities. Food and its consumption receive a complex and subtle significance reflecting social class, temperament, and offers opportunities for interaction.
Lloyd Cellars is all about the role food plays in our lives, and over the past year-and-a-half, the impact it’s had on the hospitality world and especially restaurants. We’re celebrating the resilience of restaurateurs, chefs, servers, and front- and back-of-house folk with our ‘Back to Fine Dining’ campaign to inspire people to get out and support!
We’re also sharing recipes from our friend Chef Robert Bleifer to inspire families to once again gather around the table with friends to break bread and toast to better times. We thought Chef’s Herb-Roasted Chicken recipe was a good fit for the day, though we’re sure Joyce would have requested the bird’s livers fried.
Enjoy and remember to follow Chef Bleifer on Instagram at @chef_robear!
Chef Bleifer is all about the spatchcock technique – the chicken cooks more evenly as it's on a level surface, so the breast and thigh meat are done at the same time. It's all about balance, just like our Lloyd Cellars Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir, a blend from the Rio Vista and La Viña vineyards.
If you choose, you can marinate the chicken at room temperature for 2 hours before cooking, or just go straight into the oven.
Spatchcock the chicken, aka remove the backbone, so that the chicken can lay flat for cooking.
The easiest way to remove the backbone is to cut along each side of the backbone with kitchen shears, starting next to the tail and working your way down towards the neck.
Once the backbone is removed, either press hard on the middle of the breast to help flatten the chicken or make a slight cut on the underside by the keel bone to make this easier.
Once the chicken is spatchcocked, gently slide your fingers under the skin and place half of the chopped herbs and garlic under the skin.
Rub the chicken all over with olive oil.
Season liberally with salt and pepper and season the underside with the remaining chopped herbs and garlic.
Heat oven to 400.
Place the chicken on a large sheet pan or shallow roasting pan and place in oven with the legs towards the back of the oven. Roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes, rotating the chicken after 45 minutes. An instant-read thermometer should register 160 in the breast and 180 in the thighs.
If you had marinated the chicken at room temperature, cooking time should be somewhat shorter. Begin checking the internal temperature after 60 minutes.
When the chicken is cooked, remove from the oven and place on a carving board and let cool for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
Serve with rice or potatoes and your favorite seasonal vegetable.
Curry Up and Try This Delicious Food and Wine Pairing
As we transition from spring to summertime, outdoor dining and picnics can become a weekly event. Creating simple all-in-one dishes that hold up well to time and travel is a winning strategy. Chef Robert Bleifer’s Curried Chicken Salad is the perfect East-meets-West dish that can be served on bread, in a lettuce wrap, or over a fresh green salad. We hope you enjoy and remember to follow Chef Bleifer on Instagram at @chef_robear!
Tip: keep your curry on the milder side when pairing with wines.
2 ½cupschopped cooked chickenleftover or rotisserie
1small applechopped into ¼ inch pieces
1/4cupchopped toasted walnuts
1small stalk celerychopped into ¼ inch pieces (optional)
Salt & pepper to tastemy chicken was very well seasoned, and I didn’t need to add additional salt
Bread and baby romaine for serving
Instructions
Add oil to a small saute pan, stir in curry powder and place over low heat. Stir often for about 3 minutes, or until the curry mixture gets fragrant and just starts to bubble. Pour the curry into a medium bowl and add mayo. Stir in remaining ingredients and season with salt andpepper to taste. Serve with bread and greens.
Chef Rob Bleifer teases his Lloyd Cellars ‘Back to Fine Dining’ six-part recipe series with his Savory Biscotti
As part of our June 2021 celebration of getting ‘Back to fine dining’ (yes!), we’re excited to announce our partnership with Chef Robert Bleifer, who most recently served as Executive Chef & Vice President of Culinary Production for Food Network for 24-years. Chef Rob has created six recipe pairings to share with our Members and fans, which we’ll dole out in a six-part blog series now through June!
Chef Rob was responsible for everything from managing the kitchen of 18 Food Stylists and Recipe Developers to coordinating with Production teams, Chefs/Hosts, Guest Chefs, and much more. He was also an on-air presence, judging numerous Food Network Challenges, catering the three Food Network Wedding specials, and many other “cameo” appearances.
We invite you to follow Chef Rob on Instagram @chef_robear! He’s got a lot of new projects in works and you’re going to want to be the first to know!
FYI, sister winery Prescription Vineyards is also celebrating ‘Back to Fine Dining’ by being the exclusive wine sponsor for Tampa Bay Restaurant Week this June 17 through 27. Click here to learn more…
We’re going to jump-start Chef Rob’s series with something we’ve never seen before, a Savory Biscotti recipe to pair with our Lloyd Cellars Carneros Chardonnay. This certainly redefines the idea of ‘breakfast for dinner.’
Happy home cheffing!
Chef Bleifer Savory Biscotti
Sure, you love biscotti with your coffee in the morning, but now it's wine-thirty and you're still craving pastry. Chef Robert Bleifer comes to the rescue with his Savory Biscotti to pair with our Lloyd Cellars Carneros Chardonnay!
Jim Reichardt and daughter Jennifer of Sonoma County Poultry. Click the FeedPeopleDuck.com logo above to see a list of featured restaurants! (photo: radiomisfits.com)
In the fifth and final installment of our Blumer Recipe Series, we champion small ranchers like our friends at Liberty Duck
Throughout the United States, there are local ranchers and farmers whose specialty is raising ethically produced foods. Many of these folks had created such a demand for their quality products that they only had enough to sell exclusively to restaurants. Then the pandemic hit, and again the word for 2020 pivot became a necessity with these producers having to open up direct-to-consumer channels immediately. Not an easy task.
A great example of this is the San Francisco Bay Area’s Sonoma County Poultry, producers of Liberty Duck, some of the finest duck raised in the nation. Sonoma County Poultry was founded in 1992 by Jim Reichardt, a fourth-generation duck farmer, in response to chefs’ demands for a larger, meatier, more flavorful duck. Their Liberty Ducks are a strain of Pekin Duck that was developed in Denmark and is suited to a slower, less stressful style of rearing. Of note, the Reichardt family has been raising ducks since the early 1900s in the Bay Area.
Currently, in addition to supplying the finer Bay Area Restaurants with their fresh duck needs, Sonoma County Poultry ships Liberty Ducks directly to restaurants and individuals across the United States. In the western United States, shipping is accomplished economically by using Golden State Overnight. Further east, they use UPS Next Day Air Saver or Two Day Air service (source: libertyducks.com).
We have been extreme fans of Liberty Duck for decades, and can certainly remember the days when we could only taste it at our favorite Bay Area restaurants – direct ordering was about impossible. In celebration of Gastronaut and Author Bob Blumer’s new cookbook, Flavorbomb, he has paired his Pan-seared Liberty Duck Breast recipe below with our Lloyd Cellars 2017 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that Jim Reichardt’s daughter, Jennifer Reichardt, has become an integral partner in Sonoma County Poultry over the years. She is also an accomplished winemaker and launched her own label in 2016, Raft Wines. She produces classic varietals such as Syrah, Grenache, and Sangiovese, yet more rare varieties for Califonia such as Primitivo and Grenache Blanc!
Duck has the texture of a fine cut of steak, but a flavor that is deeper and far more distinctive. That’s why it’s a perennial favorite of French chefs. Cooking a whole duck can be an unwieldy experience because of the thick layer of fat that insulates it. Fortunately for those of us whose kitchens don’t come equipped with six-burner stoves and an army of sous chefs, duck breasts deliver all the flavor without the fuss. ~ Pair with Lloyd Cellars 2017 Sta. Rita Hills Pinto Noir
4tablespoonsblack currant jamideally unsweetened, black cherry, or similar preserve
2tablespoonsCrème de Cassis
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F and set out a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil
Use a paper towel to pat dry duck. Using a sharp knife, score four ¼-inch-deep cuts across the duck skin at a 45-degree angle. Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper over the meat side of each duck breast.
Heat a heavy pan over high heat. When pan is hot, add duck breasts to the dry pan, skin side down, and cook for approximately 5 minutes, or until skin is brown and crispy. Flip and cook for 2 more minutes.
Remove pan from heat, reserve the drippings in pan, and transfer duck breasts, skin side up, to cookie sheet. Bake on the top rack of the oven for about 7 minutes for medium rare, or to your desired degree of doneness.
While duck is roasting, carefully discard all but two tablespoons of duck drippings from the pan. Return pan to medium heat and add shallot. Stir occasionally for 3 minutes, or until shallot begins to turn golden. Remove from heat, Add vinegar to the pan and stir with a wooden spoon to loosen up the browned bits left by the duck. Add jam, Cassis, and remaining teaspoon of black pepper. Return to heat and stir occasionally for 3 minutes. Reserve.
Remove duck from the oven, cover with aluminum foil, and let rest, for 5 minutes. Slice each breast at a 45-degree angle into ¼-inch-thick strips (properly cooked duck should resemble medium-rare steak). Arrange in a fanlike pattern on a warmed plate and spoon cassis compote overtop. Serve immediately.
Notes
Advance WorkDuck and sauce can be prepared an hour in advance. In this case, duck should be slightly undercooked and left uncut. Reheat in a 425°F oven for 3 – 4 minutes just before slicing and serving. Sauce should be rewarmed just before serving.LiquidityLloyd Cellars 2017 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir
Keyword Bob Blumer, Liberty Duck, Lloyd Cellars, Pinot Noir
We’ve certainly been having a lot much fun partnering with Gastronaut and Author Bob Blumer on his new cookbook, Flavorbomb! A few years back, we also teamed up for one of Blumer’s Surreal Dinners in the Napa Valley. On the menu were Blumer’s deceptive and delicious Lamb Cupcakes (recipe in Blumer’s previous cookbook, Glutton for Pleasure).
Considering Blumer was pairing his dishes with wines made by Rob Lloyd, a pescatarian, he pivoted. Our favorite Gastronaut came down to earth and made Rob a variation, Mushroom Cupcakes with Sweet Potato Icing, to pair with the Pinot Noir. As a call back to this tasty memory, Blumer has formalized the recipe as the fourth post in our five-part recipe series.
The artistry of Blumer’s dishes blew me away at that Surreal Dinner – and then I took a bite of his mushroom cupcake. I’ve been a fan ever since!
½poundAssorted mushroomsthe more exotic the better, stemmed and cleaned of any dirt, then sliced
1/4Red bell pepperdiced finely
4Sprigs fresh thymestems discarded
1ozBrandy or cognacoptional
¼cupPanko or bread crumbs
1Eggbeaten
1Lemon for zesting
2ouncesGoat’s cheeselog form, crumbled
Salt and pepperTo Taste
Vegetable oil spray
4Cupcake liners
1Muffin tin
Instructions
In a preheated 400F° oven, bake sweet potatoes for 1 hour. Reserve
In a sauté pan over medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons butter and olive oil. When butter is bubbling, add garlic, green onions, mushrooms, bell pepper and thyme. Sauté for 10 minutes, or until mushrooms are well browned.
Add Cognac to pan, let sit for five seconds and then light a match to it. Flame should burn out after approximately 10 seconds. (Note: keep your distance. If you have a gas stove, be aware that spattering particles will likely cause the alcohol to ignite prematurely as soon as it is poured in the pan. And if you have big hair, keep it under wraps! If flame continues to burn, put it out by placing a lid on the pan).
Transfer contents to a bowl and let cool.
Add panko, egg, zest of the lemon, goat cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly with a fork.
TO FINISH & SERVE
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Line a muffin tin with 4 foil or paper liners. Generously spray interior of liners with spray oil. Spoon mushroom mixture into liners. Gently press mixture down and flatten level with the top of the tin.
Just before putting mushroom cupcakes in the oven, spoon sweet potatoes out of their skin, transfer to a mixing bowl, cover with aluminum foil and place it over a pot of boiling water for 5 – 10 minutes. When potatoes are steaming hot, add 2 tablespoons butter and a pinch of salt. Blend thoroughly with a fork.
Bake cupcakes for 8 minutes, or until cakes are fully set, yet still moist. Remove cakes from tin immediately so that they do not continue to cook.
Use a piping bag with a star tip, or a table knife to ice the cupcakes with the sweet potato icing.
Notes
Uncommon GoodsVegetable oil spray; cupcake liners; muffin tin (not uncommon, but crucial); piping bag with a star tip (ideal, but not necessary)Advance WorkThe mushroom mixture can be prepared earlier in the day, to the point that the cakes are ready to be baked. Bake and ice just before serving; Sweet potatoes can be made earlier in the day then reheated over a double boiler just before serving.LiquidityLloyd Cellars Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir
Our recent 91 Point score from Wine Enthusiast for our 2017 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir truly warms our hearts during these chilly days. So it feels appropriate to celebrate the news with a heart-warming recipe from gastronaut and author Bob Blumer – the third installment of our blog series, as we raise a toast to his new cookbook, Flavorbomb!
Pinot Noir is a classic holiday meal pairing as it’s so versatile the many holiday dishes that can land on one table. We also have a lot of nostalgic memories of sipping our Pinot Noir with family and friends during the holidays. This is why we thought a classic recipe like Blumer’s Cream of Nostalgia Soup with Bacon & Grilled Cheese was the perfect pairing to celebrate with.
Cream of Nostalgia Soup with Bacon & Grilled Cheese
Gastronaut Bob Blumer
Few things in life that can compete with the nostalgia of cream of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. But if anything can, it’s this deeply satisfying, modern-day version. Add a grilled cheese sandwich with a complex, aromatic cheese and an extra crispy crust, and you will be flooded with memories of your youth—as channeled through the sophisticated tastes of your adult life. Cream of nostalgia soup with bacon~ Pair with Lloyd Cellars 2017 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir
1Bouquet garnis with 6 sprigs fresh thymeor 2 teaspoons dried thyme and 2 bay leaves, broken.
2teaspoonsHarissa
Salt and pepper
¼ – ½cupHeavy creamoptional
Instructions
Preheat toaster oven or oven to 400°F.
Slice the pointy top off garlic to expose each of the cloves. Set on a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap in the foil. Roast until cloves are lightly browned and tender, about 50 minutes. Reserve.
In a large pot, cook bacon until crispy. Remove bacon and all but roughly 1 tablespoon bacon fat. Reserve bacon.
To the pot, over medium-high heat, add butter, onion, fennel and carrot. Cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until vegetables start to brown. Add flour and stir constantly for 1 minute, allowing the flour to brown slightly (this thickens the soup in the same way that a roux is used to thicken gumbo). Add tomatoes along with all the juices, stock, 10 strips of bacon, and bouquet garnis.Simmer for 30 minutes. Let soup cool, remove bouquet garnis and squeeze out remaining juices back into the pot. Squeeze roasted garlic cloves directly into the pot and add harissa.Purée soup in a blender until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. The soup is plenty rich and creamy as is, but if you really want to go for the gusto, finish with cream or drizzle a bit over top before serving.Serve in warmed soup bowls. Crumble remaining bacon over top.For the grilled cheese sandwich (per sandwich)2 slices sourdough loaf2 slices cave-aged Gruyere cheese, or any Gruyere, or emmental2 tablespoons mayonnaiseMake a cheese sandwich, then spread the outside of each side with mayonnaise. Grill in a panini makeror a frying pan until well-browned and crispy.
Don’t let Barbie tempt you, this blog feature is about Bob Blumer’s lobster recipe, not shrimp!
If you haven’t heard the rumorswirling around the Napa Valley, winemaker Rob Lloyd is a pescetarian. This may have been why Rob selected our next recipe ‘Grilled Lobster Tails with Citrus-Infused Butter’ by Gastronaut and ‘Flavorbomb‘ cookbook author Bob Blumer in Part II of our five-part Holiday Series. Read Part I…
Blumer has long been known for his surreal recipes that look like, say, a flower pot, yet turns out to be a to-die-for salad. Humor has also been a signature of Blumer’s culinary artistry. On one occasion, a couple of years back, Blumer served up his famous ‘Shrimp on the Barbie’ recipe at a Napa Valley dinner to appease Rob’s pescetarianism ways. The guests were quite amused and then sated by the pure deliciousness of the dish!
For our Holiday Series, we’re taking the crustacean-theme up a couple of notches with Blumer’s grilled lobster recipe. As Blumer says, “Nothing says decadence like grilled lobster tails basted with a cilantro-chili-citrus butter.”
Of course, we’re pairing the dish with the equally decadent Lloyd Cellars 2019 Carneros Chardonnay! Order your Chardonnay now…
Grilled Lobster Tails with Citrus-Infused Butter
Gastronaut Bob Blumer
Paired with Lloyd Cellars 2019 Carneros Chardonnay
Using a heavy sharp knife, cut the lobster tails in half. Place your knife on the end where the flesh is exposed and cut down through to the tail. Alternatively, you can butterfly the tail by cutting through the top shell and the flesh, but not through the bottom shell.
Brush all of the exposed flesh with oil and season with salt and pepper. Reserve.
In a small pan, over medium heat, melt butter. When it starts to bubble, add garlic, cilantro, jalapeno, citrus zest and juice. Stir for 1 minute, then remove from heat and reserve.
Preheat grill to medium/medium-high direct heat, or heat a heavy skillet to medium-high.
If you have halved the tails, place cut side down on grill or pan and cook for 4 minutes. Flip, and baste generously with butter. Cook for 2 more minutes, or until tails are cooked throughout.
If you have butterflied the tails, place cut side down on grill or pan and cook for 4 minutes. Flip, and baste generously with butter. Cook for 4 more minutes, or until tails are cooked throughout.
Serve immediately with remaining butter.
Notes
Fresh and frozen lobster tails can be sourced year-round at Kolikof.com
If you live for wildly addictive, life-affirming tastesensations that knock you off your feet, yet can’t figure out how to make them at home, you have just found your kindred cookbook spirit. Welcome to Flavorbomb, by Bob Blumer, and published by Penguin Random House Canada.
Rob Lloyd, Lamar Engel of Wine Militia, and Greg Moore of Lloyd Cellars and wife Jennifer Moore dive into Blumer’s Swingin’ Salmon Burger at Hollywood Hills brunch!
Rob and Bonnie Lloyd have been fans of Blumer’s mind-bending creativity and ‘flavor bomb’ dishes for many years. Luckily, Blumer is a fan of Lloyd Cellars’ wines. For the 2020 holidays, the trio has decided to team up to pair a couple of Blumer’s Flavorbomb recipes, along with a selection of other past cookbook recipes that love Lloyd Cellars wine!
The Lloyd’s met Blumer through their years as wine co-hosts for MUSEXPO: The United Nations of Music & Media in Los Angeles. Each year, Blumer hosts a private brunch at his home in the Hollywood Hills for the conference’s winery partners. It was at one of these brunches that Blumer ‘tested’ the following Swingin’ Salmon Burger recipe on the Lloyd’s and friends, so we thought it appropriate to start the Flavorbomb narrative with this delicious pescatarian burger.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing some amazing holiday gifting ideas, including one with Blumer’s new book, as well as five recipes in a series of stories as part of the launch of our new News & Recipes blog. We now share Blumer’s Swingin’ Salmon Burger recipe, which pairs beautifully with both our Carneros Chardonnay and Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir!
This juicy salmon burger goes both ways. It swims upstream and down—and it pairs equally as well with our big luscious Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir or our complex Carneros Chardonnay.Pair with Lloyd Cellars 2019 Carneros Chardonnay or/and 2017 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir
1lbFresh salmon filletAvoid previously frozen salmon if possible
1Poblano chili or jalapeño chili
1/4tspSalt
1/4tspFreshly ground black pepper
1Egg
3Green onions, finelysliced
2Cloves of garlic, minced
1/2Red bell pepper, trimmed and diced
2tbspSourcream or mayonnaise
1tbspDijonmustard
1/4cupParsley, roughly stemmed
1/4cupBreadcrumbs or Panko
4Airy burger buns (ideally brioche)
4tbspHomemade aioli or store-bought mayonnaise
1Zest of lemon + 1 tablespoon lemon juice
2tbspDill, chopped finely
1Ripe avocado
3tbspOlive oil, divided
Instructions
Using a sharp knife,remove skin from salmon. Remove any pin bones from the salmon, then roughly cutsalmon into ½-inch cubes. Reserve.
Blacken poblano over a gas burner or BBQ. Put it in a bagfor 5 minutes, then peel off and the discard skin along with the seeds andstem. Reserve.
To a food processor, addegg, green onion, garlic, poblano, bell pepper, sour cream, Dijon, cilantro,breadcrumbs, lemon zest + juice, salt ad pepper. Pulse four or five times. Addsalmon and pulse another 4 or 5 times or until coarsely chopped and blendedwith the other ingredients—but well before the point that it turns to mush. Ifyou don't have a food processor, chop salmon into tiny pieces, then blend withall the aforementioned ingredients in a bowl. Form salmon mixture into 4patties. Reserve.
In a small bowl, blend aioli or mayo with dill. Reserve.
In a medium bowl, use afork to mash avocado. Add a pinch of salt and lemon juice. Blend and reserve.
Ifbuns are too thick or too dense, pull a little bread from the center of the tophalf, or slice a bit off from one or both of the cut sides. While patties are cooking, brush buns with oil andtoast, cut side down, in a pan or on a grill until cut side is lightly browned.
To a sauté pan overmedium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon oil. When pan is smoking hot, add patties andcook, loosely covered, for about 4 minutes per side, or until the outsides arecrusty and the centers are just cooked (i.e. opague).
Notes
To serve Schmear bottom bun with aioli, and top bun with avocadoAdvance work Aioli can be made up to a day in advance. Patties can be made up to a day in advance. Plan-overs Patties freeze well and will last in airtight wrapping for up to 6 months.
Keyword Bob Blumer, burger, Chardonnay, Lloyd Cellars, Pinot Noir, salomon
