Maria's Favorite Summer Recipes
The Perfect Burger
What you’ll need:Salt
Pepper
Grass-Fed ground beef (or meat of your choosing)
It’s time to bust out the grill! Making the perfect burger is much simpler than you think. Well, I had the blessing of the great Wolfgang Puck personally teaching me!!! The key he taught me is in the seasoning– use lots of salt and pepper to really bring out the flavor. And, be sure to only flip it once as this preserves the moisture (Wolfgang also taught me this trick!!).Then, cook it to your desired temperature and serve with your favorite burger toppings! Kev and I love potato buns for our burgers but recently I even pan grilled Dave’s whole grain bread with olive oil and it was DELICIOUS!!! Side note-my favorite thing is to also pan grill some jalapeños, add thousand island dressing with ketchup and voila -heaven!
Summer Ceviche
What you’ll need:
8 oz of tilapia
½ cup of lemon juice
4 tomatoes
½ white onion
2 persian cucumbers
½ bunch of cilantro
1 or 2 jalapenos (depending on the desired level of spice)
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
This ceviche recipe is the perfect fresh dish for the summer! My second mom Violeta taught me her recipe and its the BEST! Start by thinly slicing (not chopping) the fish and then squeeze half a lemon over it. Then, put it in the fridge for about an hour to let the lemon juice marinade. Next, chop up your tomatoes, onion, cucumbers, jalapenos, and cilantro. After the hour is up, drain the lemon juice from the fish and cut it into small pieces. Finally, combine all of the ingredients, add a dash of salt, pepper, and oregano and viola! A delicious summer ceviche!
Black Bean Mango Salad
What you’ll need:
1 can of black beans
½ red onion
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 mango
Italian dressing
For this one, start by rinsing your black beans in a strainer. Next, chop up your veggies–red onion, green pepper, and red pepper. Then, cut up your mango into small pieces, and put half to the side. Then, combine everything into one bowl.
Now, take some Italian dressing and the half chopped up mango you put to the side and place it in the blender. This is going to be the dressing. Once blended, pour into the bowl, mix it up, and enjoy!
I hope you give these recipes a try! If you do, be sure to take a pic and tag us on Instagram @bettertogetherwithmaria so we can see how they turned out!
Also, don’t forget to check out my summer cocktails blog to complete your cookout!