Gettin' All Atkins On Ya

Last Sunday The Bride and I planned to have our red meat on Friday night.  I got home from school, sat on the couch, and bade the world good-bye for a bit.  When The Bride got home around 7:30, I figured I would throw the recipe for Bacon-Mushroom Beef Rolls on page 96 together.  I was wrong.  I really should have read the recipe more thoroughly when I got home.  This was going to be a two to three hour experience.  Such is life.  :)

As you can see from the picture, this had a massive amount of ingredients.  I decided that if I was going to do this, I would do this right.  A few weeks ago I was in IKEA and picked up several prep bowls for a buck a bowl.  This has been another great move on my behalf. 

I have become a fan of a term the French use called mise en place.  The basic meaning is "everything in its place."  I did all of my prep work before moving forward, which made the cooking process all the easier.  This way I was not measuring or cutting while cooking.  In short, it made it fun.  Some people read books, watch TV, or exercise to decompress from a stressful day or week.  I prep food.

The burger making process was simple from this point forward.  The directions were to form the rolls and then refrigerate them for at least an hour.

From here I had to make the sauce, but first the prep and mise en place!

With the sauce complete, I fired up The Forge and set on the rolls once the coals were ready.  After eight minutes, The Bride and I had dinner!

The "burgers" were delicious!  I would use this mixture for regular burgers any day you want and twice on Sunday.  Weber did it again with this concoction.  The sauce was just okay by itself.  It basically tasted like red wine-based ketchup.  Although I cooked it longer than recommended, the tomato sauce and tomato paste still had that raw taste that made it a little unpleasant.  I was apprehensive about using it, but the sauce really complemented the beef roll.  When The Bride asked for seconds, she requested more sauce than what I had previously given her.  Finally, I liked the lettuce wrap aspect of the recipe.  It's a fun way to cut carbs, and the lettuce provided a nice texture change from the beef roll.  All in all, I like this recipe a lot, and when I use it again I will allocate more time.  Eating at 10:00 at night doesn't bother me, but I realize that this would make some people upset.