Shopping day grill-out

Sunday is my favorite day. Husband and I head to Moscow each week on this day and shop at our two favorite grocery markets--Win-Co Foods and the Moscow Co-op. I can't afford to purchase groceries exclusively at the Co-op, so the Win-Co trip is intended to keep me within our tight budget. I don't mind spending money on food, however, since above all, food is the most important part of my day.

Since I plan my meal menu out on Sunday mornings, I get to indulge in food all day long. Summer affords greater leisure on this particular day also since I can put off cleaning until the evening (no classes to prepare for the week, only tutoring schedules and materials) and focus my attention fully on food.

The other great part about summer? The grilling. Husband makes an awesome burger, and since he's begun working on the patty recipe, I've been keeping track of the changing ingredients. I'm convinced the latest incarnation is his best. I mentioned previously our obsession with ground buffalo, so feel free to sub it out if it's the most expensive meat in your market. It's truly worth it though, and if you use ground beef, keep in mind you'll have to increase the amount of wet ingredients


Ian's Perfect Burger Recipe (makes 4 burgers)
1 lb. ground buffalo
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
4 cloves garlic
1 egg
4 or 5 dashes Worcestershire
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs, or as desired (we use the awesome Co-op Daily Wheat bread)
2 tbl. fresh chopped Italian parsley
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Combine the buffalo, onion, garlic, egg, parsley, pepper and Worcestshire first. Add fresh breadcrumbs until the mixture binds together easily to form patties. Form four uniform patties. Make a thumbprint in the middle of each patty to ensure they cook evenly on the grill. Finally....er, grill them.


Grilled Asparagus
1/2 lb. fresh asparagus, bottoms trimmed
2 tbl. extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Fresh grated Romano cheese

Directions
After trimming asparagus, arrange them on a grill insert designed to cook veggies further away from direct heat source. You may also use foil but you won't get that terrific grilled look to the finished product.

Before placing on grill, brush asparagus with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Grill for up to three minutes, or until they are crisp but tender. Remove from heat.

Place asparagus on a serving tray and sprinkle with the juice of 1/2 lemon, black pepper and grated Romano cheese. Note: you could use parmesan, but I never use parmesan because I prefer the sharper taste of Romano.