Meat Grinding Goodness

As I walked into The Fresh Market, I went directly to the meat section. I was on a mission. A mission to grind beef. As I asked the nice man for the best choice of beef, he told me to try rump roast for a leaner meat. As he pointed out that the already-ground rump roast was the same price, I looked at him as if he came from a different planet. I explained him that my goal was to grind my own meat so I could use my new kitchen toy. He didn’t seem to get why I cared so much but he nicely gave me my chunk of beef. I left with a big smile on my face. Yes, I get that happy about meat. And grinding. 🙂

Although I wanted to make burgers, Jeff and I both didn’t care to eat buns. So I decided to make the patties only, just like my mom used to make when we were growing up. Well, possibly made with different ingredients but the idea was the same.

To make two patties, I used :

• 1/2 lb of ground beef (rump roast, in this case)
• 1 egg
• 1 fresh sprig of rosemary
• 1 green onion, finely chopped
• Sea salt

As a side, I made my favorite: baked sweet potato fries! I could eat them all day. Every day. Yum.

The final touch was a last minute addition. As I was cooking some mushrooms and onions to put on top of the patty (as you would in a burger), I decided to turn it into a gravy. Unfortunately, I was so excited that I didn’t measure anything. In a small pot, I threw water, beef bouillon, basil and corn starch. When it started thickening up, I added the cooked mushrooms and onions. It took a total of 10 minutes or so to make and went really well with the patty and french fries.Once again, I think this easy dinner proves that meals don’t have to be fancy or difficult to prepare to be delicious. Simplicity at its best. And without even planning on it, this even turned out to be a Paleo-friendly meal (well, except for the corn starch in the gravy but it could easily be substituted by arrowroot powder)! Although we kinda gave up on the Paleo diet, parts of it definitely still stuck with us.