Roma Barba /

If you were lucky enough to have dined at The Rose Café in Venice (the old Rose Café, not the new one that opened in 2015), I hope you were able to partake in one of their best dishes – The Lamb Burger. My hubby worked for Digital Domain for two decades, and The Rose Café was pretty much the cafeteria for the DD employees – up until 2013 when Digital Domain moved over to Playa Vista. I’ve eaten @ The Rose Cafe hundreds of times, and my favorite dish hands down was The Lamb Burger. Chicken Under Brick was pretty spectacular, but the Lamb Burger was a must!

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I tried to get the recipe from the chef, but to no avail, and I continuously badgered the servers trying to figure out what the ingredients were, and I thought I had it figured out so off to my testing kitchen to create a recipe that matched the heavenly goodness of The Rose’s recipe. I probably made about 8-10 different versions before E, my official taste tester said, “THIS IS IT, this one, this one is BETTER than The Rose’s!” Lamb_Burger_2_Fotor

Now when we’re out at other restaurants, E won’t even order the burger because he says he knows it’ll pale to mine ~ so sweet! That’s my hubby! Love him! And by the way, E named this recipe, and I love what he came up with 😉

Click for the recipe here.

Enjoy!

Roma xo

Better Than The Rose Lamb Burger
Print Recipe
I created this recipe from being a devoted fan of The Rose Cafe in Venice (the old one, not the new one that opened in 2015), where I indulged over the years at least 30x or more with this divine and juicy lamb burger! It's one of my hubby's fav's!
Servings Prep Time
3 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
8-10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
3 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
8-10 minutes
Better Than The Rose Lamb Burger
Print Recipe
I created this recipe from being a devoted fan of The Rose Cafe in Venice (the old one, not the new one that opened in 2015), where I indulged over the years at least 30x or more with this divine and juicy lamb burger! It's one of my hubby's fav's!
Servings Prep Time
3 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
8-10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
3 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
8-10 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Add oil to the pan and heat at medium heat. Add enough oil to cook both the shallot and jalapeno pepper together. Peel and dice the shallot finely. Set aside. Cut the top (stem) off the jalapeno and slice it down the middle. Use a spoon and remove ALL of the seeds. Discard the seed and then slice the jalapeno pepper into long strips, line up and then chop and dice so it mimics the size of the shallot. Put both the shallots and the diced jalapeno pepper into the pan and put a lid on it and saute for a few minutes. Lift the lid, stir and continue to do that until both the shallot and the pepper are softer, about 4-5 minutes total.
  2. Turn off the flame and then add in the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and paprika. Mix all of these together with the peppers and shallots until incorporated.
  3. Take the lamb out of your package and put in a large bowl. Pour this mix of the shallots, peppers and spices on top. Let cool a minute or two before you roll up your sleeves and dig in to hand mix the meat. You can use a large fork, but mixing with your hands is the best. Once fully mixed, I form 3 half-pound patties. You could make 4 burgers if you want smaller patties, but my family loves thick lamb burgers so I typically only make 3.
  4. Then make sure you add another tablespoon of oil to coat the bottom of the pan (there's already oil in your meat mixture since the onions and peppers absorbed the oil when they were sauteed) and turn onto a medium-high heat.
  5. Add the patties when the pan is hot. With lamb, it will taste terrible if overcooked. The middle of the burger should look medium rare for the perfect consistency. Overcooking will make them tasteless and rubbery.
  6. I put the lid on the pan for about 4 minutes before I flip the burger. I like the steam within the lid to help cook the patties. Then remove the lid and flip the burgers. Now I keep the lid off and let them cook for another 4-5 minutes. For your first time you can cut one of them open to see how they're looking, and you may need less time after you flip them depending upon whether you've got a flame, or an electric stove. Cook times may vary. Once you make them the first time, you'll have your timing down for future patties. If you're making 4 burgers, those are thinner patties, so try 4 minutes on the first side, then 3-4 minutes on the flipped side.
  7. When I'm down to the last minute of cooking, I slice the buns and pop them into my toaster on low so they're warm and a bit crispy. Add mayo or whatever condiments you like onto your burger. Assemble, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes

One of the most IMPORTANT ingredients you cannot forget to add is salt. Lamb REQUIRES a lot of salt, and I've made the mistake a few times juggling kid conversations while cooking and forgetting to add the salt and it will make the burger taste not so great. Lamb and salt go hand in hand, so if you want to omit any of the spices, that's fine, but do not omit the 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. I use Himalayan salt in all of my cooking, but you can use kosher salt or regular table salt.

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Nicolette Barba /

One of our favorite purse/bag designers is Michael Kors. We love his simplistic style, with great quality products. We tend to shy away from brands that scream their name on their products. We both own the Jet Set Travel bag, and we love it! My mom owns it in the camel color (Kors calls it Luggage), and I own it in the black.

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They’re perfect work bags! I have a 13″ Macbook with a case that fits in the middle laptop compartment. My mom’s Macbook Air also fits with plenty of space. It’s got 4 great pockets on the inside, 2 on either side, that can fit things from your phone to a few lipsticks. The laptop compartment also has a pocket attached to it that I like to slide my iPad, or small notebook into.

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It’s also a great bag to travel with because of all of the pockets. In addition to the four inner pockets, there’s one zippered pocket on the inside for important things, or whatever you’d normally put into your purse zippered pocket.

Buy here: Michael Kors Jet Set Travel

Happy Shopping!

XOXO

Nic

Nicolette Barba /

My mom and I took a trip to LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art) in Los Angeles. They have this famous area, what you see below, of a ton of beautifully crafted lampposts! We had such a great time and got some fun shots of this simple red Tee Shirt Dress from Target!

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I can’t explain how much I adore simple pieces of clothing. I love simple tees, basic tanks and dresses etc. because they go with everything, and you never really have to think about what matches. You can throw on any pair of jeans/pants of your choice with a simple tee and your good to go!

In this case I grabbed a super simple tee-shirt dress by Mossimo, my favorite pair of wedges and my black hat!

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If you’re looking for something to do in West Hollywood, LACMA is really an awesome place to go! Not only is the museum itself gorgeous, the outside is fun to take pictures in front of!

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What I’m wearing: Mossimo Tee Shirt Dress and Basic Nude Wedges (Cathy Jean, where I bought these, is no longer in business )

Accessories: Black Fedora, Apple Watch, Assortment of gold accessories from Forever 21

 

Quick & Easy Apple Tart
Print Recipe
This is an extremely quick and easy dessert to serve to your guests which takes about 10 minutes of prep, but 10 stars of accolades! You won't be disappointed!
Servings Prep Time
6-8 people 10 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
6-8 people 10 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Quick & Easy Apple Tart
Print Recipe
This is an extremely quick and easy dessert to serve to your guests which takes about 10 minutes of prep, but 10 stars of accolades! You won't be disappointed!
Servings Prep Time
6-8 people 10 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
6-8 people 10 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Open the puff pastry box and lay both pieces as they're folded on a baking sheet. Do not try to open the pieces until they've been defrosting for a few hours. If I have guests over for dinner at 6pm, I put it on the baking sheet around 2pm. I don't open the sheets until closer to 6pm. If you try to open them when they're frozen, they're likely to tear along the fold.
  2. Core and slice your apples thinly. The thinner, the better, but if you like them thicker, that's okay too! Put them in a bowl.
  3. Squeeze the lemon over the apples and add the salt. Mix well. Then add the 3/4 cup of brown sugar and mix well. Set aside until you're ready to prepare for the oven.
  4. Open the puff pastry and what I did for this recipe is to cut one of the pieces exactly in 1/2. Do the same with the other sheet. In fact, if you're only serving 3-4 people, then one sheet of this puff pastry (cut into 2 pieces) is sufficient and cut down the apples to 3-4. Put the other sheet in the box (don't defrost it) and use another time.
  5. Use a spoon and take 1-2 tablespoons and put the applesauce down the middle of the puff pastry - roughly 2" wide. Basically, you're making a base for the apple slices to sit on. I use the applesauce to make the apple filling a bit more juicy. Leave a 1" border around the apples/applesauce so that puff pastry filling has room to expand and get golden and flaky.
  6. Once you've added the applesauce, lay your apple slices, as I have in my picture. There's really no wrong way to do this. Overlap them in rows or at angles, or whatever flair you want to add.
  7. Follow the directions on your box for the pastry and pop in the oven for about 15 minutes, till the edges are puffed and golden brown. Remove to cool for a few minutes before serving.
  8. While cooling, I love to use a few tablespoons of powdered sugar, add to my sifter, and sift over the tart to give it the final french pastry look! Voila! Slice to your desired size and I typically add a small scoop of vanilla ice cream to the side and serve with coffee. To. Die. For. Enjoy!
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