One Kiss with a Rock Star Foie Gras Burgers & Truffle Fries

Normally I put my disclosures at the bottom of the post, but the book I'm featuring today is a special case. This isn't a review. It's cover copy and a recipe and a heads up that One Kiss with a Rock Star by Shari Slade and Amber Lin went on sale yesterday. Having been a beta reader for the manuscript, I can't be anything like objective about it. But this blog is just me and I didn't want its release to pass uncelebrated. I thought the book was sexy, serious, sweet and funny. In a completely biased and wholly unprofessional way, I hope you'll consider reading it!

Also, I made a really slammin' burger based on a scene from the book.

Cover Copy

Half-Life bassist Krist Mellas is caught in a PR nightmare after his dirty sex video blew up online. His agent has the solution: a fake engagement with sultry pop princess Madeline Fox. Krist can’t think of anything worse than a charade with the bubblegum bombshell…except losing the band.

Madeline knows better than anyone what it means to live a lie in the spotlight. She’s determined to help Krist without ever letting him find out what it costs her—or about her girlhood crush on him. But after a smoking hot back alley encounter with him leaves her breathless, she can’t deny she wants the snarling bad-boy rocker.

In a world of glitter and diamonds where the kisses are fake but the climaxes are real, their facades start to crack. And the publicity storm may shatter them both.

WARNING: This book contains a scorching threesome, a dirty talking pop princess, and a surly rocker who hits all the right notes.

Near the end of One Kiss with a Rock Star, Krist winds up alone in a fancy restaurant wanting a burger and fries and a beer. The snotty waiter informs him that they have foie gras stuffed prime rib burgers with caviar, truffle fries and a list of microbrews to select from. The scene perfectly encapsulates how ill-fitting Krist's life has become and how yearning for more doesn't always mean, well, MORE. Plus it gives him a beer to cry into.

Here's the thing though. I may wish I were a rock star (or secretly believe myself to be one while singing at the top of my lungs at stoplights), but I'm really not. Nor do I have a rock star's budget. I rather expect few of my readers do either. After all, we're constantly buying books! So instead of stuffing these burgers full of foie gras and caviar, I topped them with just about an ounce of foie gras for each burger. And then I added some onions cooked until they carmelized with a little bit of smoked maple syrup and flambéed with bourbon. The sweetness of the onions pairs perfectly with the rich foie gras and earthy truffle fries.

This recipe is insanely decadent in a way I just love, with expensive ingredients turned into comfort food: my favorite kind of ridiculous indulgence. Like the smoked Gouda and bacon macaroni and cheese I make occasionally. That, incidentally, would go great with this. However, in the book it's truffle french fries so that's what I've done here. I used truffle oil here rather than actual truffles,which is pretty common in restaurants. Truffled mashed potatoes, for example, rarely have actual truffles in them.

As for the onions, I suppose you don't have to flambé them, but it's fun. Plus, don't rock stars love pyrotechnics? If you've never done it before, it isn't hard. You will want your long match and a fire extinguisher or baking soda handy though when you're ready to pour in the alcohol. I've never had a mishap, but any time you're working with open flame, it pays to be careful, ya know?

Other that that, this recipe is pretty easy, for all that's it's also pretty decadent. The only other tricky part is right at the end where the fries have to come out of the oil, the buns have to get toasted, the foie gras is searing and the burgers need flipping. I could have used a sous chef. It all worked out. But it's something to keep in mind if you have another handy kitchen helper around.

Or even two handy kitchen helpers.

Burgers with Foie Gras & Smoked Maple Syrup Bourbon Carmelized Onions and Truffle Fries
Makes: 4 servings
Time: 1 hour

Smoked Maple Syrup Bourbon Carmelized Onions
3 medium onions, sliced
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon maple syrup (smoked maple syrup if you can find it)
1/4 cup bourbon

Truffle Fries
1/2 gallon canola or vegetable oil
4 medium Russet potatoes, sliced into thin strips.
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon truffle oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Burgers
1 1/2 to 2 pounds 80/20 ground beef, formed into patties
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
4 hamburger buns (I used brioche rolls)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Foie Gras
4 ounces foie gras, deveined and cut into four equal portions
1 tablespoon potato starch or Wondra flour

1. Heat olive oil and butter over medium-low heat until butter melts. Add onions, sugar and salt and cook slowly until onions begin to carmelize, about 15 minutes.

2. Raise heat to medium-high. Add maple syrup and cook until boiling, about 30 seconds. Pour in bourbon, heat for 10-15 seconds, then light with a long match. Shake pan until alcohol burns off and flames are extinguished. Remove onions to a bowl and set aside.

3. To prepare fries, heat the oil to 250 degrees F. When it's hot, fry the potatoes in batches, 4-5 minutes per batch until tender. They won't brown at this stage, but you do want them cooked through. Remove to a plate or tray prepared with paper towels to drain.

4. Raise the heat to 375 degrees F. Working in batches again, fry potatoes until golden, 2-3 minutes per batch. When all potatoes are browned, remove to plate or tray prepared with paper towels and add salt, shaking to coat. Sprinkle with truffle oil and again shake to coat. Start with a 1/4 teaspoon. You can always add more and it's a very distinct flavor so you don't want to add too much.

5. To prepare burgers, heat your grill or a skillet to medium-high heat. Add your burger patties, cooking 3-4 minutes each side depending on desired doneness.

6. To prepare buns, brush each cut side with melted butter. In a pan or under the broiler, toast until golden, about 1 minute.

7. To prepare foie gras, heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Dredge each piece in potato starch or Wondra flour. Add to skillet, cooking about 30 seconds each side until just seared. Don't leave it much longer than that or it will completely melt.

8. To serve, add one burger pattie to a bun, top with one foie gras slice and a tablespoon or two of the prepared onions. Serve with the truffle fries.

Disclosure: I received One Kiss With a Rock Star from the authors and I was a beta reader for the manuscript (in case you somehow missed that up top).

Bourbon Caramel Pecan Cinnamon Buns

Here at Cooking Up Romance, I post a romance novel review with a matching recipe on Mondays and then Thursdays usually mean a brief essay on some topic tangential to my interest in romance like how to find great writers on Twitter and why romance gets so little literary credit. This week though, my brush with romance was actually a recipe rather than some profound philosophical discourse (ha!).

I was testing out a recipe for chocolate ice cream with a bourbon caramel swirl and it left me with a lot more caramel than I had an immediate use for. Enter Shari Slade, Queen of Temptation. She suggested pouring the caramel in the bottom of a pan of cinnamon rolls, which as a solution to my caramel problem seemed like a super one.

Do you know Shari? She just released a wildly delicious book with Amber Lin called Three Nights with a Rock Star , which is basically the romance equivalent of Bourbon Caramel Pecan Cinnamon Rolls: sweet, decadent and totally addictive. I thought it was great, but if you want a full review, you can see mine here at Goodreads. Seriously, go buy the book.

So...these cinnamon rolls. I knew they'd be good, but I really didn't know that they'd be this good. The bourbon in the caramel is subtle, acting like a secret ingredient for awesome. Seriously, I sent most of the batch to work with my husband and I got an actual marriage proposal. Delivered by my husband. By the time they were gone, people were offering to drive seven hours to snag some. So they're pretty delicious.

I started with this recipe for cranberry orange rolls from Smitten Kitchen for the dough. I kind of winged it when it came to quantities of brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans and caramel to use since I never intended to post the recipe. So I had to make them again in order to double-check quantities and rise times. Twenty-four cinnamon rolls in two days. Whoopee! Now that's what I call wild.

You'll probably need a glass of milk or cup of coffee to go with these. Or, you know, you could just go with bourbon. I suspect I can guess what Shari would say about that.


Bourbon Caramel Pecan Cinnamon Buns
adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Food & Wine
Makes: 12 buns
Total Time: 5-6 hours (1 hour hands on time), can be refrigerated overnight for morning baking

Dough
4 large egg yolks
1 large whole egg
1/4 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons butter, melted, plus additional to grease pan
3/4 cup buttermilk (I used powdered buttermilk: 3 tablespoons added to 3/4 cup of 2% milk)
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting counter
1 packet instant dry yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse or kosher salt
1 teaspoon oil for bowl

Topping
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup bourbon (or whiskey, or rye)

Filling
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans, 4 tablespoons reserved

1) To start the dough, in the bottom of the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the yolks, whole egg, sugar, melted butter and buttermilk.

2) Add 2 cups of the flour along with the yeast and salt; stir until evenly moistened. Switch to the dough hook and add the remaining 1 3/4 cups flour and let the dough hook knead the mixture on low speed for 5 to 7 minutes. The dough should be soft and moist, but not overly sticky.

3) Scrape the dough into a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature until doubled, which will take between 2 and 2 1/2 hours.

4) While the dough rises, make the caramel. In a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan, bring the sugar, water and corn syrup to a boil over high heat. Cook until the sugar is dissolved. Continue cooking, without stirring, until it turns golden, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream. It will boil up like crazy. Let cool for 1 minute, then stir in the bourbon. Bring the mixture to a boil over moderate heat and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Let the caramel sauce cool.

5) To prepare the filling, in a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans, reserving 4 tablespoons pecans.

6) To assemble the buns, butter two 9-inch cake pans and line with parchment paper, then butter the paper as well.

7) Turn the risen dough out onto a floured work surface and roll it into a rectangle that is 18 inches wide (the side nearest to you) and 12 or so inches long. Spread the dough with the softened butter using a knife or spatula. Sprinkle it with the brown sugar mixture.

8) Roll the dough into a tight, 18-inch long spiral. Using a sharp serrated knife, very, very gently saw the log into 1 1/2 inch sections; you should get 12. Don't press down with the knife or you'll squish the spirals.

9) Pour 1/2 cup of caramel in each cake pan and scatter with 2 of the reserved tablespoons of pecans in each pan. This is my rule with making stuff that has nuts in it: for allergy purposes, when I can, I always put some on top so people know what they're getting.

10) Arrange the buns in your cake pans. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours on the counter or refrigerate overnight (up to 16 hours).

11) To bake the buns, if they've been refrigerated, take your buns out of the fridge 30 minutes before you'd like to bake them, to allow them to warm up slightly. Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Bake your buns until they're puffed and golden (the internal temperature should read 190 degrees), 20-25 minutes.

12) Transfer pan to a cooling rack and let cool 5 minutes. Invert the pans onto the cooling rack. If any of the caramel gets trapped in bunless corners, just scrape it up while it's warm and spread it back on the inverted buns. Allow to cool for 5 more minutes. Serve warm.