Guest Chef Annie Cobetto's Signature Sliders

My sister was home for a visit recently and she prepared a fantastic meal for my parents and I one evening. (John was working-sadly, he misses a lot of fantastic family meals these days...) This amazing slider sampler was, ironically, created by my sister, the Pescetarian. (NOTE: Pescatarians are essentially vegetarians that eat seafood. She has a toe in the vegan pool as well, eating very few animal products.)

As a pescetarian/vegan, Annie has to try really hard to work enough protein into her diet on a daily basis, therefore she consumes a LOT of veggie burgers. She was telling us that she's always looking for ways to jazz up her veggie burgers and that lead to the idea of preparing some of her creative slider creations for us. She used beef for our dinner (veggie burger for hers)- we used locally raised, organic Laura's Lean Beef.

She kindly shared her notes with me so that I could share them with you...

King Burgers with Roma Tomato Jam, Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onions

"King Burger" Seasoning:

2/3 lb ground beef

generous 1/2 teaspoon of Lawery's Seasoning Salt

1 tablespoon of A-1 steak sauce

1 tablespoon of finely chopped onions

one small clove of garlic, minced

*My dad won first place in a local beef festival cook off with this burger recipe. He stuffed the patties with saga blue cheese before grilling.

She formed two inch patties -slider style- and grilled all of the different burgers at the same time. For this variation, she topped the burgers with some of my mom's leftover Roma Tomato Jam (featured in last summer's "Home Sweet Home" post), some sliced onions that she had caramelized and finished in the pan with a splash of brandy and some chopped mushrooms, and goat cheese crumbles. All served up on a delicious whole wheat dinner roll- the perfect "slider-size" bun. LOTS of flavor happening in these.

Cuban Style Burgers

2/3 lb of ground beef 1 small clove of garlic- minced 1/2 tsp chile powder 1/2 tsp cumin 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro 3 dashes Tabasco salt and pepper

These little gems were served on mini yeast roll layered with grilled sliced ham, Monterrey Jack Cheese and Relish Mustard: Mix equal parts (2 tablespoons of each would be plenty) spicy brown mustard, yellow mustard, and sweet pickle relish -she also minced a Clausen pickle spear and mixed that in as well. These were also fantatic- I happen to be a sucker for a cuban sandwich so anything that falls into that category is going to be a winner by me.

Classic Cheese Burger with Summer Vegetables:

Last but not least, she made a mini all American cheese burger spiced up with some of our favorite summer veggies on a mini wheat roll.

Pickled Cucumber and Vidalia Onions: Soak peeled and thinly sliced cucumbers and Vidalia onions in a brine of equal parts cider vinegar and water, with a pinch of sugar.

Sliced garden fresh tomatoes dressed with a lemon dill vinaigrette (equal parts lemon juice and olive oil, a dash of dijon mustard, salt, pepper and fresh dill).

These were classically fresh and delicious. The tang of the dressed vegetables really brightened these burgers up. You could season the meat simply with salt and pepper, use your favorite grilling seasoning or the King Burger recipe above.

If you're not dizzy from the details yet, she took it one big step further in preparing a Chipolte Ketchup and Garlic Saffron Aioli to accompany our sweet potato french fries. (Store bought- in the freezer section- and excellent.)

Chipolte Ketchup:

1 cup ketchup

1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo (minced) about 1 T of the adobo sauce from the can

1/2 to 1 T balsamic vinegar

Fresh Garlic Saffron Aioli: (makes a big batch)

2 whole heads of garlic 3 egg yolks 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon saffron threads (definitely a SPLURGE, you could use less and still get the flavor) 3/4 cup canola oil 8 garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup olive oil Heat oven to 350. Wrap each head of garlic in foil and roast in oven until soft (about an hour) Unwrap, and let them cool. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks and lemon. Set aside. (She mentioned that next time she'd add some of the zest as well.)

Place 2 tablespoons of hot water in a small bowl. In a small, dry skillet over moderate heat, toast saffron for 30 seconds. Stir toasted saffron into hot water, then fold saffron water into egg mixture.

In a blender (or food processor) combine 4 tablespoons canola oil, raw garlic, roasted garlic, and salt. Blend on high speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add egg mixture and blend 1 more minute. With motor running, very slowly add olive oil and remaining canola oil in a steady stream, and continue blending until thick, about two minutes.

A DECADENT and delicious meal. It was so fun to try all of the different flavors. A slider party is a really fun way to recreate a classic "burger-hot dog grilling-cookout" when it comes to entertaining. You could ask each guest to bring their favorite toppings to share or award a prize to the most creative combination.

Thanks, Annabelle for a scrumptious meal. It was too good not to share with my Accidental Syrup friends! xo