Four Christmas parties in 4 days…now that’s what I call festivizing (yes, I just made it up — it sounds a bit like “Festivus,” though I assure you this is purely accidental. I may have been channeling Frank Costanza unknowingly for a brief moment there.)
meat eaters didn't complain
Anyway, it’s mid-December and we’re into the season full throttle. And like most parties on Pender, 3 out 4 of last weekend’s parties were potlucks, with a large vegetarian contingent in attendance. To make things easy on myself I decided to make the same thing for all 3 parties — veggie sliders on potato rolls with caramelized onions, homemade tomato ketchup and roasted jalapeno mayo.
Some of you may already be thinking that rather than easy, these sliders sound a bit involved. Yes…hmmm…well, let’s just say that a quadruple recipe of my veggie burgers take some time to prep. It’s an all day project that kept me chopping, slicing, boiling, sweating, sauteing and food processing. After that, one of my smaller sized ring moulds and I spent a little too much time together. Five dozen mini-patties later, I was ready to start on the condiments.
these will never get old
Carmelized onions — easy. 6 medium onions, julienned, then sauteed with a pinch of salt over med-low heat in my largest cast iron pan. 45 minutes later, they were deep, deep brown.
Homemade ketchup – tomato concentrate, a bit of salt, and sugar to taste.
Roasted jalapeno mayo – Roast 2 jalapenos in the toaster oven/oven until charred. Sweat the pepper in a paper bag until cool enough to handle. Remove the skin and stem. Wash seeds off of the flesh under a gentle tap — dry the peppers, then process with approx 1.5 cups mayonnaise and the juice of 1/2 lime. (The plan was to make the mayo from scratch, but I got real and cut myself some slack.)
I used thinly sliced cucumber and cilantro leaves as a base and for a fresh crisp contrast to the rest of the burger.
I made traditional mini-burgers for the first night, but Howard and I decided on our walk home under the stars that there had been too much bread. After that, I switched to open face, which also makes a more visually dramatic presentation — the red and green made it very Christmas-appropriate.
I’ve used this veggie burger recipe for years, but after eating them for 3 out of the past 4 nights, I’ve decided the recipe needs a bit of a tweak, and I’d like to try a gluten free version. Find my gluten-free veggie burger recipe here.
even with a thick coat, he's comin' back in
Oh and that second potluck? (Our December bookclub meeting.) The snow started to fall just as I got everything assembled with about 90 minutes to go. The snow fell quickly, and on our little island, snow removal can take awhile — so the hostess made the call, and we’re postponed until the 28th. And this time I’m keeping things easy – mashed potatoes…
