Day 19: Hamburger, Avocado Salad

But for the sad remains of what were once robust snowmen, all of last week's snow has melted, and as a result Atlanta is a soggy mess. This afternoon it nearly got up to sixty degrees, and for about fifteen minutes the sky was an immaculate bright blue--enough hints to trick this displaced northerner into thinking about spring and, at the same time, grilling. So this lukewarm January night we made a very sunny meal: burgers topped with bacon, onion marmalade, and blue cheese. For a side, we had a beautiful avocado and tomato salad, dressed in a balsamic-lemon vinaigrette. Here's how it all went down...




About an hour before cooking the burgers, I started making the marmalade by sweating three thinly sliced onions, adding a 1/3 cup of sugar to the pan after about ten minutes. Once the onions looked dry, I poured in some balsamic vinegar (about 2/3 of a cup). Twenty minutes or so later the balsamic had cooked down and we had ourselves a sweet and tangy burger topping.

I'm a purist when it comes to burgers, so we simply formed our ground sirloin into patties and headed out to the grill. I tried something a little bit different this time: instead of cooking the burgers directly on the grill, I placed our cast iron skillet over the grate. The thinking here was that using a pan would keep the burgers moist should I overcook them--an understandable concern since we were grilling at 9pm, with only a dingy porch light to see by.

Meanwhile, Chelsea sliced the avocado in half, which she immediately brushed with the balsamic-lemon vinaigrette to keep it from browning. She then cubed it and the tomatoes, before putting them both back into the halves. This salad pays tribute to one we shared at the Robert Is Here fruit stand right outside the Everglades.



If you ever get a chance to visit the Everglades, you have to stop at Robert Is Here. The produce selection there is baffling, and calling it a fruit stand is a little misleading, for Robert Is Here is part zoo, part farm, part hangout. Most importantly, though, it has the best best milkshakes I've ever had (go with mango). Robert Is Here also features fantastic live music, and their house musician was deemed "the best finger-picker in Miami" by a local paper, a proclamation I certainly agree with.