Brought to you by City Market

I have a few minutes to myself this morning as J took Mr. Man on an adventure, AKA: errands!  I thought I would, for once, follow through on posting when I say I will!  And I have a feeling that once B2 makes his or her debut, there will be v. little cooking, let alone blogging!

Like I said, we went to the C'ville Farmers Market, locally referred to as the City Market - bestill my heart, it runs through December!  We bought some gorgeous heirloom tomatoes for a steal ($3.60 a pound, I paid upwards of $6/lb in Seattle!) and a heaping bouquet of basil so I decided to make these yummy Pesto Chicken Burgers!

Pesto Chicken Burgers

Adapted from Everyday Food, July/August 2012 ~ serves 4

Ingredients

1 cup fresh basil leaves
1 cup fresh spinach (I love that this is pseudo healthy pesto!)
1 clove garlic, peeled and quartered
1/4 cup walnuts
4 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for grilling
Coarse salt and pepper
1 pound ground white-meat Chicken (surprisingly hard to come by - I had to go to two stores to find it.  I did find ground turkey with "natural flavorings."  Huh?  If you are flavoring the turkey, I suspect it isn't all that natural...)
3 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced (tip: pop the mozzarella in the freezer about 30 minutes before you slice it, makes it much easier!)
4 buns (the recipe calls for focaccia and it was a huge flop for us - we tried this recipe once before and the the focaccia fully fell apart and was a huge disappointment)

Instructions

1.  In a food processor, puree basil, spinach, garlic, walnuts, oil, and 1 tablespoon water.  Season pesto with salt and pepper.  (We made this pesto last week and still have a ton and it keeps nicely!)

2.  Heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high.  Combine 1 tablespoon pesto, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper (I eyeballed the salt and pep) and chicken and form into 4 patties.  Clean and lightly oil hot grill.  (Okay, the recipe also said to brush tomatoes with oil and season with salt and pepper and grill with the patties - I do not like grilled tomatoes so we skipped this step.)  Grill patties, covered, 4 minutes.  Flip patties and top with cheese.  (At this point you add the tomatoes, flipping once until they are lightly charred.)  Grill burgers for 4 more minutes or until they are opaque throughout.

3.  Assemble burgers by spreading pesto on each side of the bun, add toms and lettuce.  I added a bit of mayo because I hate a dry burger!

Bon Appetit!

I Heart Farmers Markets

First of all, this baby is coming sooner than I thought.  We rolled right over the one month mark yesterday and I might have thrown up in my mouth a little bit.  Is that gross to say on a food blog?  Sorry for those of you who are feint of heart.  Seriously, who moves at 32 weeks pregnant with a toddler??  This unpacking thing is for the birds.  Hopefully B2 is nice and cozy in the womb and gives us at least another three weeks so we can feather the nest!

Second, we took a break from unpacking and checked out the C'ville Farmers Market - AMAZING.  And it is not just because I am used to the v. sad Little Apple Farmers Market.  This market rivals what we used to see in the DC Metro area - it was huge!  There were a plethora of vendors and a fabulous selection of fruits and veggies!  My one complaint is that there isn't a single organic stone fruit farmer.  As peaches and nectarines are on the "dirty dozen" list, I try to buy organic.  Alas, I resorted to organic California stone fruit from Whole Foods...not my first choice, obvi.

Anyfood, I made this YUMMY corn salad tonight from corn and basil we bought at the market.  I used my new "Food Network" app for the iPad - so fun!  And of course it is an Ina gem :)

Fresh Corn Salad

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook ~ serves 4-6

Instructions
5 ears of corn, shucked
1/2 cup small-diced red onion (one small onion)
3 Tbsp cider vinegar
3 Tbsp good olive oil (do you think my Kirkland Brand EVOO qualifies as "good?")
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup julienned fresh basil (I didn't use such a large amount and it was still delish)

Directions

In a large pot of biling salted water, cook the corn for 3 minutes until the starchiness is just gone.  Drain and immerse it in ice water to stop the cooking and set the color (I'm not too concerned about setting the color - but apparently Ina is...).  When the corn is cool, cut the kernels off the cop, cutting close to the cob.  (The best way I've found to cut corn off the cob is to stand it on the stem end in a bowl and cut down - avoids a serious mess.)

Toss the kernels in a large bowl with the red onions, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Just before serving, toss int eh fresh basil.  Taste for seasonings and serve cold or at room temp.

Tomorrow I will share the recipe for these yummy chicken burgers!  Owen even liked them :)