Photography

Blue Apron’s Beef Patty Melts with Green & Yellow Wax Bean Salad

/ ceckman / 1 Comment

I’m back everyone! My little sister was in town for a week right after we got back from Hawaii, and I’m now finally just settling in again. One of the ways I get back into the swing of things at home is of course, cooking. But in this case, I didn’t just want comfort food, I wanted something healthy. Tim and I have been doing pretty well losing weight by just eating better and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon. But healthy comfort food isn’t always an easy thing to achieve because butter. And heavy cream. And bacon. You get the idea. When I used to search for recipes I would typically just google whatever I was hungry for an add “Martha Stewart” on to the end of it. (This still works excellently just in case you were wondering). Lately though, I find I’ve been using Blue Apron’s recipe finder when I have already cooked my weekly shipment. That’s how I found this recipe and the ingredients were fairly simple to find in the grocery store. 

I started off with the prep work, which included mincing a shallot. Anything from the onion family has long been at war with me and shallots are no exception. But fear not readers, I battle my onions with a healthy set of Onion Googles. They work best when no one is around to tell you how stupid you look, but since our kitchen is our mainstay for entertainment there is always someone around to say “Chris, what are those. You are ridiculous”. That may be, but at least I can cry on my own terms this way! 

There is also a yellow onion to slice in this recipe so my googles worked double duty, but it was worth it. 

Once I was done with hell, I tossed the shallots in with the Red Wine Vinegar and prepped the green beans. I couldn’t find yellow green beans from Whole Foods this time of year, and the beans I did find were a little peeked but no big deal. Step two was fairly simple, caramelize the onion. So in they went with some olive oil and heat to my Le Cruset 4.5 Quart Round. 

Let me take a moment to tell you about how much I love my cast-iron dutch oven. When I decided I was going to be cooking more frequently, I went out and bought a very nice Cuisinart Stainless Steel Cookware Set. I immediately loved how durable it was and for the most part not too sticky. After watching Julie and Julia for the 78th time, I decided I needed whatever the hell it was they were both cooking in, which it turns out it this weird orange pot thing that costs nearly as much as an iPad. This scared me off for a while as I wasn’t quite ready to explain to Tim why this single pot cost half the price of the entire set we had just purchased a year ago. Then I met my friend Danielle. We were supposed to be cooking Boeuf Bourguignon at the house after I made her sit through the movie with me. Which she has forever slightly ruined for me, for the record. Halfway through, she chimes in “I hate Amy Adam’s hair in this movie. She looks like John Denver.”

I hate Amy Adam’s hair in this movie. She looks like John Denver.

She’s right. Just look at this photoshop I made to prove her point. 

You’re right. I do make a better cook than graphic designer. But now that image is out there, on the internet, forever. Sorry random google image search victim, but don’t blame me, blame Danielle. Anyway, I was trying to impress my new friend, so I went out and bought this thing for this one recipe. I didn’t know it would be my other new best friend. Suffice it to say this cooking vessel has become almost the only one I use to cook in anymore. It regulates heat perfectly, it’s porcelain sticks to absolutely nothing, and it can go from grill to oven to stovetop seamlessly. I have since purchased a second for big meals (think thanksgiving), and can’t imagine cooking in anything else. That being said, it took a while for the onions to caramelize so here are a few in progress shots. If your onions are like mine and pissed that they couldn’t get at you because you had such stylish goggles so are taking a lifetime to cook, take comfort for they will be lovely soon enough. 

And finally…

Beautiful. 
The rest of the recipe is fairly simple. You boil the green beans for a bit and then submerge them in ice water…

Combine the breadcrumbs (I used a piece of the marbled rye I got for the bread from Whole Foods), Worcestershire sauce, and ground beef and form into patties…

And finally make the sandwiches a lot like you would make grilled cheese. 

Fried, plated, and delicious. 

Think meatloaf sandwich with spicy green beans here. I know I rushed the end a little bit but I have to go make turkey meatballs for dinner tonight and I really needed to get this recipe posted so I can at least say I have posted SOMETHING about cooking on my blog. Signing off for now – 

Chris

Preface

/ ceckman / 5 Comments

I’ve mentioned a little bit about what this blog will be about, but I’d like to expand on that before I dive too deep into everything.

First, a little background. My name is Christopher Eckman. I live with my partner and our two dogs. I graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2012. I was working for a tech startup for a while but found the cubicle and programming life to be ultimately lacking and just not very rewarding, so I quit.

Since then, I have been exploring everything from photography to soldering in an attempt to discover my true passion. Instead, I’ve discovered that I have a lot of passions, and that trying to narrow myself into one is probably too limiting for my creativity. That’s where this blog comes in.

At least four nights a week I cook, using services like Blue Apron for recipes. I have asked their permission to share their wonderful ideas along with my results on this blog. I have also e-mailed a few other cookbooks for permission to post some of my other favorite recipes. I love cooking, I love reading and learning everything about Julia Child, and I love to eat. I briefly studied wine this last year as well as a class on writing food critiques. I know a little of everything, but not everything about anything. I hope this blog can be a learning experience for both my readers and myself.

I’m also a writer. I was recently published in an Arts and Literary magazine called the Metrosphere. I wrote a short piece titled “Heiwa”, and I will be adding it, along with some of my other creative non-fiction to this website. I have written other creative non-fiction pieces and will hopefully be submitting more for publication in the near future.

My partner and I love to travel and have been fortunate enough to travel all over the world. I also plan to share these experiences on my blog in a less formal manner along with my amateur photography of those travels and the food I learn about.

Really, this blog will be my exploration of all aspects of my life. Maybe you’ll read it because you appreciate my modesty and great wit. Maybe you’ll read it because I asked you to, and you’re a good friend. Maybe you’ll read it just because you hate my guts (although it seems like a better idea NOT to read it if that’s the case…). Whatever reason it is, I hope you can find some of the joy that I have found.

Chris