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Cheeseburger

one and a half slices cheeseburger grill grilling
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

The Cheeseburger Post

one and a half slices cheeseburger grill grilling

Disclaimer: This post belongs in the Opinion section of the New York Times. It is pure opinion. Strong ones. Coming at ya fast. Are you ready for the OneandahalfSlices rules regarding Cheeseburgers?

  1. Fresh beef patty required. Not frozen. Hard stop.
  2. cheese: swiss or hard cheddar. no brie. 
  3. toppings: lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles.
  4. pickles: dill, crunchy, homemade. 
  5. fancy toppings: don’t.
  6. (unless): avocado, grilled portobello mushroom slice, or grilled peach slice. maybe. if it’s a leap year.
  7. sauce: none. no mayo. no ketchup. no aioli. 
  8. bun: brioche or fluffy sesame. must not disintegrate. 
  9. basically: don’t fuck with it too much. 
More Summer Vibes
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Veggie

Borek

one and a half slices borek cigara boragi recipe
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Sigara Böreği

- Turkish Street Food -

one and a half slices borek cigara boragi recipe

Borek [boh-rek] (plural Böreği) is a delicious Turkish/Eastern European street food that I added to the OneandahalfSlices repertoire in college when a Turkish friend took the time to teach me a little of his home cuisine. I would go as far as to call borek the Balkan empanada – pervasive with a distinct variation on the theme in every country. It can be baked, fried, filled with cheese, filled with greens, filled with meat, but usually involves Phyllo dough (unless you are me and are too lazy to deal with Phyllo dough).

The most common type of borek is probably Su Böreği (literally translated to water borek) which is baked in large sheets, filled with cheese or cheese and spinach, and cut into pieces (think Spanakopita if you like Greek food). This particular borek is called Sigara because it is rolled into tubes like a cigarette. It makes a great brunch, lunch, or light dinner option (as pictured here) and has its origins in Ottoman cuisine.

Ottoman cuisine has rich Central Asian, Balkan, Persian, and Arab influences owing mostly to its central location – both land and sea – to the spice trade and geography at the confluence of Asia, old Europe, and the Middle East. Ottoman cuisine boasts stews (this is where I learned to make tagine though I tend to use a more North African flavor profile), breads, yogurt-based sauces, grape leaves, and kebabs. Pair with a good Cajik sauce (coming soon), some very fresh vegetables, and an Öküzgözü if you are so bold.

what you need

1 block of feta cheese

1 bunch of curly parsley

1 package of Nasoya eggroll wraps (you can get these at most grocery stores in the produce section believe it or not)

1/2 cup plain, 0% fat Greek yogurt

1 egg

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Black pepper to taste 

Dash of paprika

A neutral oil (like Safflower or Sunflower) for frying

Serve with: thinly sliced avocado, cucumber, tomato, and red onion topped with olive oil, dill, parsley, and/or finely chopped toasted pistachios, and cajik or haydari sauce, if desired. 

how to make it

Chop parsley and feta separately and then mix until combined. In another small bowl, beat the egg with the yogurt, lemon juice, black pepper, and paprika.   

Lay out one eggroll wrap on a clean surface (they should be very easy to work with – no flour dusting required). Place a small spoonful of the egg mixture in the middle of the wrap on the diagonal, careful not to add too much (you do not want it spilling out into the pan and causing oil spatters). Add two spoonfulls of the parsley mixture to the top of the yogurt mixture. 

Starting with the bottom corner, fold the wrap up and over the mixture and tuck in each side. With a free finger, wipe some of the yogurt mixture on the top corner to seal with wrap. Roll the borek upwards to create a moderately tight wrap. 

Barely cover the bottom of a pan with oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the borek, careful not to overcrowd them, and cook them for approximately three minutes on each of three sides. Prepare the plates as the böreği cook transferring them to a paper towel to cool slightly. Serve warm.
More Ottoman-style Cuisine
one and a half slices coconut harissa meatballs local recipe

Coconut Harissa Meatballs

This struck me as the strangest recipe and just the thing OneandahalfSlices needed after what shall henceforth be known as The Great Fridge Hiatus. In the midst of back-and-forth work travel to Florida and other exotic locales (Dayton, Ohio???), my freezer door was mysteriously left – ahem – ajar. Chicken and meat juices filled the freezer drawer and I stared in sadness as $300 worth of condiments, to include at least seven types of miso paste, expired in front of my eyes. Fixing the fridge, restocking the freezer, replacing the condiments, and getting my cooking mojo back took a good two weeks. So here we are…with coconut harissa meatballs – by far one of the stranger things I’ve tasted. I made this dish over the mashed white beans as originally instructed but I’m curious to try it over egg noodles and mashed gold potatoes. If you’re feeling experimental, I’d definitely give this one a try. 

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March 12, 2022 No Comments
creamy coconut sweet potato soup recipe oneandahalfslices

Creamy Sweet Potato Stew

Coming out of Vegan October, we were a little tired of lentils and were looking for something to do with copious amounts of sweet potatoes. Hence this little gem was discovered. Creamy with coconut milk, almost like curry. Spiced with flavors of the same. Hearty with sweet potato and flourished with kale. Yes, there are still a few lentils, but they are hardly the stars of the show. This soup is light enough for any season and feels perfectly at home here at the end of October. 🧡

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November 7, 2021 1 Comment

Moroccan Tagine

I have been SO excited to release this post!!! Why? Because this is your new weeknight dinner. It will impress your family, fill your stomach, warm your heart, and make your house smell like North African spices. I started making tagine years ago when I first moved to DC and came across a tagine in World Market. I was instantly and aesthetically intrigued, and purchased the thing on the spot not having a clue what I would do with it. Well… figured that one out. A tagine is the OG slow cooker.  And whatever you put inside – lamb, chicken, chickpeas, rabbit, potatoes – you will taste the spicy exoticism. If you don’t have a tagine, no worries. You can make it in a Dutch oven, stovetop or, yes, in a slow cooker. And before you think this is just chicken slow roasted in tomato sauce… keep reading…

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September 21, 2024 4 Comments
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Veggie

Grilled Cheese

OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Grilled Cheese

Hold up… before you read any further, you’re also going to want this (Roasted Tomato Soup recipe). 

🍅🍅🍅

Now that you have both tabs open, let’s proceed.

I once had a friend make me a baked brie, bacon, apple, and honey grilled cheese on sourdough. It was delightful (and delivered alongside Sudafed as I was deathly ill at the time). But I’ll be honest… grilled cheese does not need to be fancy. It needs to be cheesy, melty, crunchy, and ideally use a cheese that is a step up from the traditional American slices (Singles on Wonderbread only acceptable in golf pro shops).  The recipe below is the Piemaker’s and his alone, for he has perfected, aside from pie, the art of the grilled cheese.

It is masterful. It is simple. It is exactly what you need it to be. The Classic Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

what you need

Bread. In my opinion, challah bread is unmatched when it comes to grilled cheese, but you can really use just about anything. Challah bread is a sweeter, egg-based brioche bread. Slice it normal width – too thick and the bead won’t crisp properly. 🍞

Cheese. We’ve tried lots of cheeses. I like good, imported cheese, but it frequently isn’t soft enough to melt properly. Jarlsberg will give you a swiss-flavor. A gouda-type will definitely be soft enough to melt. My pick is Kerrygold Blarney Castle – Smooth and Milk Gouda-style cheese that you can pick up in most deli sections. 🧀

Butter. Salted butter works best. 🧈

how to make it

Heat oven to 350. Make sandwiches with just bread and cheese. Place on wire oven rack so both sides of sandwich are exposed and baked for ~5 minutes until the cheese begins to melt.

Remove sandwiches from oven and butter both sides generously. Crisp up the sandwiches in a pan on the stove over medium heat, ~2-3 minutes per side until desired golden-brown color is reached. 

Serve with Roasted Tomato Soup!
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Veggie

Peach Caprese

OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Peach Caprese Salad

This is a continuation of my summer eats ‘glorified snack dinners’ (see Watermelon Feta Salad). For when the summer months take hold, the cicadas ring true, and the humidity is as thick and sticky as fresh Florida honey against a sunset sky, you need something super fresh! During these months, my CSA tends to have all-you-can-take tomatoes, which the Piemaker and I willingly turn into tomato-soup-and-grilled-cheese-movie-marathons (see Roasted Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese recipes. All you need for this recipe is one of those tomatoes and a handful of garden basil. I fancy it up a bit here with a sweet nectarine and some unnecessary accoutrement, but it does not disappoint as an appetizer, snack, or full summertime dinner plate.   

what you need

1 fresh peach or nectarine

1 heirloom tomato

a handful of basil leaves

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 round of fresh mozzarella cheese

salt, pepper, lemon zest 

how to make it

Slice peach and tomato into thick slices. Peel mozzarella and layer over the top of the tomatoes and peaches. Drizzle with olive oil and top with a sprinkle of salt black pepper, and lemon zest. Top each mound delicately with a piece of basil and serve. 

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Veggie

Watermelon Feta Salad

OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Watermelon Feta Salad

Sometimes when the summer turns hot and the appetite begins to naturally wane, the fresh and light, zesty and fruitful begin to take precedence over the hearty. My solution to that is a collection of fruit-forward glorified snack meals that inventively leverage my latest CSA harvest and don’t fill me up to the point of sluggish (Like Peach Caprese Salad). Summertime is the time for watermelon – the hydrating, vibrant, impossibly sweet fruit that gave me my childhood moniker ‘Watermelonie.’ A favorite springtime flavor combination is strawberry-basil or strawberry-mint. Turns out that this also works well with watermelon. So if you’ve got one to spare this summer, try this as a salad or a snack. It’s got 3-4 total ingredients and won’t disappoint in the flavor category.  

🍉🍉🍉

what you need

As much watermelon as you want

As much fresh basil as you want

Some feta cheese

Maybe a little lemon zest, but only if you’re feeling fancy

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Broccoli Soup

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Broccoli Soup with Cheesy Croutons

Since I was a kid, I’ve loved Panera’s broccoli cheddar soup in a bread bowl. The problem with broccoli soups (or mushroom soups, or potato soups, for that matter) is that they are cream-based and can really tear up the stomach. This is a lighter but still very hearty take on broccoli cheddar soup, with a hint of extra cheese and crunch added in a floating cheesy crouton, like the sourdough hat on French Onion soup. If you’re skeptical that a bowl of broccoli soup can suffice for a full meal, give this one a try.  

what you need

3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons salted butter

2 heads of broccoli, florets cut into smaller pieces and stems diced 

1 yellow onion

1 medium russet potato

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tablespoon paprika

8 oz cheddar cheese

1/2 cup 0% Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

4 slices of thick, white bread (like pan au levain)

1 vegetable bullion cube (makes ~2 cups vegetable broth)

how to make it

Note: Most everything is going to be blended so there is no need to dice the vegetables finely. 

Chop the onions and garlic cloves. Melt the butter in a pan and sauté the onion and garlic until translucent, about ~2 minutes on medium-high heat. Season with red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. 

Peel the potato and chop into chunks. Peel the broccoli stems and cut into similar sized chunks. Set the florets aside. Add broccoli and potatoes to the onion and garlic, along with 5 cups of water, the vegetable bullion cube, and another pinch of salt. Boil on high heat until the stalks become tender (~30 minutes). 

Add half the florets to the pot and cook until bright green, ~5 minutes. Transfer 100% of the solid contents and as much of the cooking water as needed to a blender and blend until smooth. Return the blended mixture to the pot, add the remaining broccoli florets, and reduce heat to medium.

Grate the cheddar cheese and add 3/4 of it to the pot, stir, and reduce heat to low-medium. Slice the bread and top with olive oil and the remaining cheese. Place in broiler for ~1 minute or until toasted golden brown. 

Stir 1/2 cup of yogurt into the soup, stirring to mix completely. Ladle soup into bowls, top with black pepper and a cheesy crouton, and serve. Alternatively, you could get really fancy and serve this in a bread bowl! 

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