The Art Of The Burger

For The Saturday Early Show Chef on a Shoestring segment, chef and cookbook author Nancy Silverton prepares a three-course meal for four on a budget of $40. The menu: Celery & Herb Salad with Cheese and Pesto; Nancy's Cheeseburgers; Blackberry-Yogurt Soup with Vanilla Ice Cream and Warm Blackberry Compote.

"The Marshall Field's Cookbook" is a combination of "classic" dishes served during the long history of Marshall Field's — it was, after all, the first department store to offer a full-service restaurant. The book includes contributions from a group called the "Field's Culinary Council." This is a group of 12 chefs including Marcus Samuelson, Tom Douglas and Tyler Florence.

When loaves of soft white bread stocked bakery shelves and bagels were the biggest breakthrough in breads, Nancy Silverton brought our culinary attention to the soul-satisfying pleasures of artisan baking. She and her (then) chef-husband opened the doors to La Brea Bakery in conjunction with their restaurant Campanile in 1989 after finding no one in the Los Angeles area capable of supplying them with the flavorful crusty loaves that they had sampled in Europe.

Trained at Le Cordon Bleu, Ecole Lenotre, and some of L.A.'s most reputable kitchens, Nancy had become head pastry chef at Spago in the late '80s, but still yearned to make good bread.

La Brea Bakery and Campanile are both L.A. institutions at this point. Nancy recently sold her shares in both businesses and now does some cooking here and there at other restaurants "for fun." She has written several cookbooks and won several awards over the course of her career. Her latest contribution is to "The Marshall Field's Cookbook."

FOOD FACTS

Stracciatella cheese: This is a soft, stringy cheese with mild flavor. Soft ricotta cheese is a nice substitute; it's what was used when calculating the "Shoestring" menu.

Ground chuck: This beef contains about 15 percent fat, making it a great choice for burgers. Nancy asks her butcher to add fat to the chuck for even better burgers.

RECIPES:

Celery and Herb Salad with Cheese and Celery Leaf Pesto
Serves 4

Celery Leaf Pesto
1/8 cup pine nuts
1/2 large clove garlic
1/2 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup tender celery leaves
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 to 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Zest of 1/2 lemon

Vinaigrette
6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly cracked black pepper

Salad
1/2 cup whole fresh tarragon leaves
1/2 cup whole fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/2 cup whole tiny fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup peeled and diagonally sliced celery
1/4 cup diagonally sliced green onions
Maldon salt or sea salt
8 ounces Stracciatella cheese (or ricotta)

To prepare the pesto:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
   
2. Spread the pine nuts on a baking sheet and toast for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned.
   
3. Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
   
4. Using a mortar and pestle, pulverize the pine nuts, garlic, parsley, celery leaves, and salt into a smooth paste (or finely chop the ingredients and smash with a knife to puree). Slowly drizzle in the olive oil and add the cheese, mixing well to incorporate.
   
5. Just before serving, add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Season with salt to taste.

To prepare the vinaigrette>

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, and shallot.
   
2. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble the salad:

1. Combine the tarragon, parsley, basil, celery and green onions in a large bowl.
   
2. Season with the salt and toss well.
   
3. Add a conservative amount of the vinaigrette to the salad, just enough to moisten, and save the remaining dressing for drizzling around the plate.
   
4. Divide the greens among four plates (preferably use oversized soup plates with a wide rim), mounding them in the center.
   
5. Drizzle the extra dressing on the plate around the greens.
   
6. Make an indentation in the middle of the greens and spoon on 2 ounces of the Stracciatella cheese. Season with a little more salt.
   
7. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the celery leaf pesto onto each serving and serve the rest on the side.

Nancy's Burgers
Serves 4

Here's Nancy's idea of hamburger heaven: buffet-style, a choice of three mayos (including "the good old store-bought kind — you've got to have it"), three kinds of cheese, bacon, avocado, heirloom tomatoes, and some nice seeded buns. For the ground beef, she recommends asking your butcher for her custom blend: 2¾ pounds of whole prime chuck (10 to 15 percent fat) ground with 4 to 6 ounces of prime sirloin (13 percent fat).

Garlic Mayonnaise
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
4 large cloves garlic, grated or minced (about 1 heaping teaspoon)

Chipotle Mayonnaise
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon puréed canned chipotle chiles in adobo
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro leaves
3 large cloves garlic, grated or minced
Salt

8 strips applewood-smoked bacon
2 ripe avocados
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large ripe heirloom, Brandywine, Russian, or Beefsteak tomato, sliced ¼-inch thick
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
3 ounces blue cheese (optional)
3 ounces cheddar cheese (optional)
3 ounces Gruyère cheese
2 pounds ground beef
3 teaspoons kosher salt
4 large sesame or poppy seed hamburger buns
Extra virgin olive oil
4 (5-inch-wide) iceberg lettuce leaf halves
Heinz Ketchup
Best Foods Mayonnaise
Dijon mustard, smooth and coarse-grained
Tuscan pepperoncini (such as Mezzetta brand)
Dill pickles, sliced lengthwise into quarters or eighths

To prepare the garlic mayonnaise, whisk together the mayonnaise, oil, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Stir in the salt and half of the garlic. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more garlic, salt, and lemon juice as needed.

To prepare the chipotle mayonnaise, whisk together the mayonnaise, oil, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Add the chiles, cilantro, half of the garlic, and salt to taste and stir to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more garlic, salt, and lemon juice as needed

Place a skillet over medium heat and fry the bacon for about 8 minutes, until just short of crispiness, to avoid shattering when eating. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

Cut the avocados into quarters and place in a serving dish. Sprinkle lightly with the lemon juice and toss. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Arrange the tomato slices on a plate and season lightly with salt and pepper. Arrange the onion slices on a plate and season lightly with sea salt and pepper.

Slice the Gruyère with a cheese plane onto a serving plate.

Making the burgers:

1. Preheat a gas grill to high, prepare a fire in a charcoal grill, or place a seasoned cast-iron skillet over high heat.
   
2. Being careful not to overwork the meat, shape the ground beef into 4 patties, about 2 inches thick and 4 inches in diameter.
   
3. Sprinkle both sides of the patties with about 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and 4 to 6 grindings of black pepper.
   
4. Place the burgers on the grill rack or in the skillet. Sear them until they can be turned without sticking, then turn them. (For rare, cook about 4 minutes, then flip and cook another 4 minutes (for medium-rare, 5 minutes on each side; for medium, 6 minutes.)
   
5. As the burgers are cooking, brush the cut sides of the buns with oil. Place the buns, cut side down, on the grill rack or in the pan, for 1 to 2 minutes, to toast. Just before the burgers are done cooking, sprinkle with a little good-quality sea salt, then top with one of the cheeses and let it melt.
   
6. To serve, have guests place lettuce, onion, tomato, bacon, and avocado on the bottom half of their toasted bun. Place the burger on top, then the top of the bun. Serve the burgers with the Chipotle mayonnaise, regular mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, pepperoncini, and pickles.

For the Soup
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons strained whole milk Greek yogurt
2 ounces frozen blackberries (about 1/2 cup)
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 scant teaspoon honey

For the Compote
4 ounces frozen blackberries (about 1 cup)
3/4 teaspoon sugar

8 scoops premium vanilla ice cream

Method:

To make the soup, combine the yogurt, blackberries, sugar, and honey together in a blender and puree until the mixture is smooth.

To make the compote, gently stir the blackberries and sugar together in a medium bowl and cook them in the microwave until the berries are heated through, about 1½ minutes. (Alternatively, combine berries and sugar in a small oven-proof dish and place it in a 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes.)

Ladle the soup into four large soup or dessert plates, dividing it evenly. Place 2 scoops of ice cream nestled side-by-side and spoon the blackberry compote over the ice cream.