Serve your guests these knockout burgers—favorites of our Stable Café chefs—with two refreshing wine sangrias (one white, the other red) at your next cookout. Try this full cookout menu created just for your next backyard gathering, including warm potato salad, tomato and buffalo mozzarella platter, and homemade orange-infused vanilla ice cream.
Fill four wine glasses 2/3 full with ice and top each with 1 oz. of sparkling wine.
Garnish each glass with one lime and orange wedge. (This recipe, minus the sparkling wine, can be mixed ahead of time and stored for up to 7 days in the refrigerator.)
Note: to make a simple syrup, mix 1 1/2 cups sugar with 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
Chill.
A Tomato and Buffalo Mozzarella Platter
Serves six
Ingredients:
3 each Vine-Ripe tomatoes, sliced 1/4” thick
1 lb. Fresh Buffalo mozzarella, sliced 1/4” thick
1 each English cucumber, sliced 1/4” thick
4 fresh Basil leaves, sliced thin
1 oz. Aged balsamic vinegar
1 oz. Olive oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
Method:
Shingle tomatoes, cucumbers and mozzarella on a serving tray, alternating as you go.
Drizzle with oil and balsamic vinegar.
Add salt and pepper and garnish with basil.
Serve immediately after adding Vinegar.
The Stable Café Hamburger
At the Stable Café, the hamburger is the cornerstone of our luncheon menu. As part of the “farm to table” philosophy of Biltmore as a working estate, we use our own estate-raised Angus beef for our 8 oz hamburgers. As such, we feel that our burgers are of the highest quality. When purchasing ground beef, fat content is an important consideration. In this fat-conscious age, it’s tempting to pick the leanest ground beef, but this can often result in a dry hamburger. We prefer an 80/20 ratio of fat to lean. Luckily, this is the ratio found in most grocery stores. Below, we present a few of our award-winning combinations to create burgers that suit your guests.
The Café Burger:
2 crisp bacon slices
Blue cheese crumbles
Caramelized onions
Method:
To caramelize onions, sauté sliced onions in a non-stick pan over high heat until they begin to brown. Turn the heat down to medium, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are a deep golden brown. Season to taste with a little sugar, salt and pepper.
Top each hamburger with all above ingredients. Broil for 10–20 seconds to melt the cheese.
The Barbeque Burger:
Barbeque sauce
Cheddar cheese
Thin and spicy onion rings
Method:
For the crispy onion rings, thinly slice a yellow onion in rings. Break all the rings apart, and soak them in 1 cup of buttermilk.
Drain the rings, and toss in a mixture of 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 2 1/2 tsp salt and a pinch or two of cayenne pepper.
Gently shake off the excess flour mixture and deep fry for 2 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or until golden brown. You can also pan fry the onions in 1/2 inch of oil over medium heat.
Top each hamburger with all above ingredients. Broil for 10–20 seconds to melt the cheese.
The Mushroom Swiss Burger:
Swiss cheese
Sautéed mushrooms
Method:
You should choose a variety of mushrooms for the sauté. Some mushrooms, for example buttons and criminis, have similar taste and texture profiles. Others, such as shiitake or porcini, taste dramatically different from the common button mushroom.
Sauté 3 cups of sliced mushrooms with 1 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are soft. Add 1 1/2 tsp. salt, 3/4 tsp. granulated garlic, and 3/4 tsp. dried thyme. Finish with 1/4 cup white wine and cook until completely absorbed.
Top each hamburger with all above ingredients. Broil for 10–20 seconds to melt the cheese.
Warm Potato Salad
Serves ten
Ingredients:
1/2 gallon Water
1 pint Cider vinegar
2 cups Brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup Salt
2 1/2 lbs. Red potatoes, unpeeled and cut in 1” cubes
1/2 lb. Bacon, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups Celery, sliced
1 cup Red onion, small diced
2 tbsp. Olive oil
Method:
In a 2-gallon saucepot, bring the water to a boil with the cider vinegar, brown sugar and salt.
Add the red potatoes and boil for 25 minutes or until just tender.
Meanwhile sauté the bacon over medium heat until just brown, reserving the drippings.
Strain the potatoes and toss with the bacon and bacon drippings, celery, red onion and olive oil.
Serve immediately.
Orange Infused Vanilla Ice Cream
Serves six to eight
Ingredients:
5 cups Heavy cream
2 cups Half and Half
1 Vanilla Bean
1 cup Sugar
12 Egg yolks
Orange Zest from 1 orange
Method:
You will need an ice cream maker for this recipe.
Heat together heavy cream, half and half, vanilla bean and sugar. Bring just to a simmer.
Temper in the egg yolks by slowly whisking them in a little at a time. Be sure liquid is not too hot, as you will curdle the eggs.
Cook mixture until it begins to thicken, then whisk in the orange zest until it is smooth.
Add the mixture to an ice cream maker. Freeze any leftovers in the desired container.
