July 1-2 Caprese Burgers and Fingerling Poutine

June 1     Caprese Burgers and fingerling poutine
June 2     Lailey Winery for a barrel burning and bbq and Lolita's Lust for supper

June 1 was Canada Day and it was also Shack's first day off in forever and despite having big plans for all of the exiting things we were going to do that day, he was absolutely exhausted. After a fun morning spin to Kensington market for breakfast pork tacos he spent the remainder of the day relaxing and catching up on some well needed rest. Luckily, Little Shack and I both knew he was going to be knackered so we had already planned dinner, ignoring all of his talk of driving here and there and lakes and beaches and road trips.



The Kid wanted strawberry rhubarb something or other so I made him a crumble and we took out the three burgers that we had frozen after the last time we bbq'd a few weeks ago. There was enough almond pesto left to make our version of a Caprese burger instead making a caprese salad to serve along side of them and it was looking like a nice, quiet little bbq. Some sheep milk cheese curds were just dying to be turned into poutine, as were some little fingerling potatoes. Although we are usually happiest when we have a gaggle of people around, we were just happy to have Shack home during waking hours for the first time in almost two weeks.

In the end we had to run out to find a store that was open to get more meat and buns because we ended up feeding the whole building as well as my mother in law. It was the perfect Canada Day, surrounded by kids and chaos and good friends, lots of laughter and squealing and great food, just the way we like it.

Caprese Burgers
burgers
almond pesto
sliced tomato
sliced buffalo mozzarella
buns

We used burgers that Shack had made last month that are just 1/3 ground pork, 2/3 ground beef and some salt.  You can use whatever burgers you have on hand.

Grill the burgers and put on the bottom of the bun. Top with a couple of slices of tomato, a slice of buffalo mozzarella and a good sized dollop of almond pesto. Top with the other half of the bun and eat.

Fingerling Poutine

about 1 1/4 lb of fingerling potatoes
glug of olive oil
pinch of kosher salt
about ten sprigs of fresh thyme
2 tbls butter
2 tbls flour
4 cups of chicken stock
dash of soy sauce
cheese curds (we used sheep milk curds but as long as they are curds you are good)

To make the sauce, melt 2 tbls butter in a pot and stir in the 2 tbls of flour. Cook the roux for a few minutes before adding in the chicken stock. Stir really well to make sure there are no lumps and simmer the sauce until it's reduced by half. When it's done, add a splash of soy sauce (just a splash) and set aside, keeping it warm in a covered pot on low.

Toss the fingerling potatoes with the olive oil, salt and fresh thyme (rub the leaves off the thyme and discard the stems).
Meanwhile,  heat the oven to 425F. Toss the potatoes in the olive oil, salt and thyme. Spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes, shaking the pan a few times to prevent burning.

For each serving put some hot potatoes in the bottom of a shallow bowl. Scatter a handful of curds over top and then ladle over some hot chicken sauce.