The ULTIMATE Smash Burger (and SO much more!)

It was a busy weekend in my kitchen! We hosted a group of friends on Friday and then had more friends join for lunch on Saturday. This presented me with several exciting challenges:

1. Modify some of the dishes to make them KETO friendly

2. Prepare a meal for a moderate crowd that would not only be satisfying, but could also be prepared in a short window of time due to working during the day

3. Include vegetarian options

I will go ahead and spoil the ending (sorry) by telling you that I accomplished all three challenges! How did I accomplish them? Read on and prepare for the possibility of drooling here and there.

In no particular order, I will start with my new Ultimate Smashed Burger, which is easier than calling them "smashed burgers with tomato and bacon goat cheese fondue, crispy bacon, pickled red onions, and butter garlic poached shrimp" since that does not exactly flow off the tongue. But yes, all of that goodness is on these burgers!

I started with one and a half pounds of 80/20 ground beef which I seasoned with steak seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. I spread the meat up the sides of the mixing bowl before adding the seasoning so that it would cover more of the meat surface. Then I mixed/formed the meat into eight portions and rolled into balls.

I put the meat on a preheated griddle and used a heavy ramekin to smash them into thin patties. This also allowed them to cook faster - several minutes per side and they were done.

I built the burgers starting with lettuce...

...then a beef patty...

...sliced red tomato...

...and then the liquid gold...

(This is not your every day cheese sauce - it is Tomato Bacon Goat Cheese Fondue and it is really easy! I cooked several slices of bacon until crispy and then removed and chopped, leaving the grease in the skillet. I poured the grease over a pint of cherry tomatoes <yellow and red> on a sheet pan, added a few smashed garlic cloves, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper. I roasted at 300 degrees for about forty-five minutes, or until the tomatoes were wilted and popping. I then transferred everything on the pan into a blender with four ounces of goat cheese and blended until smooth. I poured it through a sieve and you can see for yourself how it turned out!)

...homemade pickled red onions...

...the reserved crumbled bacon...

(Drooling yet?)

...and as if the burgers were not good enough already, I added butter poached garlic shrimp, because why not? I melted about a stick of butter with a two tablespoons of minced garlic over medium-low heat, seasoned the shrimp with salt and pepper, and then cooked them in the butter. They only take a few minutes.

Challenge #1 above was met because without the bun, this is extremely KETO friendly!

For a another KETO treat, I started out by making mini Parmesan cups. I put a few tablespoons of grated Parmesan on a silicone mat-lined sheet pan and baked until bubbly (several minutes). Then, working quickly, I used the bottom of a mini muffin pan to mold into the cups. Once cooled, this is what I had!

I filled them with the same mixture that I put on my favorite Bruschetta - tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. I could not come up with a good name for this other than "Tomato Filled Parmesan Cups" but that was boring, so I am calling it BrusKETO! I like it!

(Oh, and did I mention DELICIOUS?)

Want to feed a crowd with ease? Simple! How about a Grilled Cheese Bar? All I had to do was lay out the ingredients seen below! A variety of bread, cheeses, and toppings such as bacon, ham, tomato, basil, marinara sauce, and everyone assembles their own sandwiches before bringing them to me at the griddle. Total crowd pleaser and all I had to do, was cook the bacon in advance! So even after working a full day, I was able to pull this together in minutes!

Challenge #2 above was met and I although I only had around ten people over this time, I have had grilled cheese bars in the past for as many as forty people! It's perfect.

Challenge #3 above was met because there are many vegetarian options here!

Normally I serve my grilled cheese bar with a pot of hot tomato soup, but as it was over ninety degrees outside, I opted for homemade Gazpacho instead. A cold soup just made more sense, and it also happened to fit all three challenges above!

My recipe is SO easy as it is all done in the food processor! I used four bell peppers (one yellow, one orange, and two red), two small red onions, two hothouse cucumbers, eight plum tomatoes, four cloves of garlic, and two stalks of celery. I blitzed each veggie separately until they were finely chopped, and I combined in a bowl with tomato juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, a few dashes of hot sauce, a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. I made this the night before because the longer it sits, the better it tastes.

Last but not least, I threw together a quick but satisfying side dish - Tot-Chos. I cooked four trays of potato tots according to the package directions. I topped one tray with ground beef (cooked with onions, garlic, cumin, chili powder, salsa, and Mexican cheese), shredded cheese, diced tomatoes with chiles, black olives, black beans, diced onions, and then I topped with the second tray of tots and repeated all of the ingredients. By doing this, I had layers instead of having the toppings only on top! Then back into the oven until all of the cheese was melted and gooey! (I repeated the identical steps with the third and fourth trays of tots, MINUS the ground beef in order to have a vegetarian option as well.)

Layer one....

...layer two!

When they came out of the oven, I topped with fresh sliced jalapeños, lime crema (sour cream with lime juice and lime zest, salt, and pepper), and fresh cilantro. Another crowd pleaser!

Cooking for a CROWD that includes KETO and VEGETARIAN does not have to be stressful or difficult! Hopefully this inspires you as well!