Summer Party Time! And ingenious burgers!!

I'm pushing summer along, so in order to help I'm going to post a couple of summer time recipes you can use for your Memorial Day party. If you're having one, I didn't get my invite... Just saying. But I'm going to let that slide and post these recipes anyway for you, because the burger one is especially fun.

I throw a lot of parties, and cook-outs are one of my favorites. When I started to look around for something a little out of the ordinary, not just plain burgers and dogs, this idea fell into my lap. Well, kind of out of my mailbox, nestled into this months issue of Better Homes and Gardens.  What is this ingenious idea? It's so simple in its brilliance that I wanted to take credit for it, but figured one of my readers may have a BH&G subscription, and that would look bad.

MIX-YOUR-OWN Burgers!  Genius! I hate serving plain jane burgers, but I'm always reluctant to add onion or herbs in case someone else doesn't like them. So instead, you pre-portion ground beef (or turkey, or veggie burger stuff. Dont know exactly what's in that. I'm a carnivore.) into Ziploc bags, and each guest can take one and head over to the "mix your own" station. You can put anything out that you think would go into a good burger: shredded cheese, bacon, pickles, onions, barbecue sauce, hot sauce, peppers, various fresh herbs. The possibilities are endless. You could do taco burgers!! I'm a tad excited over this. Because the BEST part is that guests just throw their choices into their snazzy little Ziploc, zip it, and mix it. Hands remain clean and burger free.  Then just hand it over to the grill master, and there you have it: customized burgers. And while the grill master is grilling up those burgers, they can also grill up this great side to go with the burgers:  Grilled Corn on the Cob, which is one of my absolute favorites. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 head(s) of garlic


• 4 teaspoon(s) extra-virgin olive oil


• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon


• 1 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter


• 1/4 cup(s) chopped cilantro


• 1/4 cup(s) chopped tarragon


• Salt


• Freshly ground black pepper


• 6 large ears of corn, in the husks

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cut off the top third of the garlic heads. Stand them cut side up on foil and drizzle with 1 teaspoon of oil. Wrap the garlic in the foil and bake for about 1 hour, until very soft. Squeeze the garlic into a bowl. Stir in the lemon zest, butter, cilantro, tarragon, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Season with salt and pepper.


2. Light a grill. Peel back the corn husks, keeping them attached. Discard the silk. Spread the herbed garlic all over the corn. Fold the husks back over the corn and tie the tops with string. Wrap the corn in foil.


3. Grill the corn over moderate heat, turning, until the kernels feel tender, 15 minutes. Remove the foil. Grill the ears over moderately high heat, turning, until the husks are nicely charred, 5 minutes, then serve.

Enjoy! Now go start planning. I'll wait for my invite in the mail....