The Cumin Nature Burger -- #recipe from To Err is Cumin by @LeslieBudewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  I'm super excited about the launch next month of To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop mystery! A reader suggested that title, and it was absolutely perfect. Both she and I were aware that it's the name of a burger served in the animated TV show, Bob's Burgers. I found a recipe, but immediately thought we could improve on it.

Then Pepper, my Spice Shop owner, and young Talia walked into a pub for dinner and prying conversation, and Pepper spotted this burger on the menu -- made just the way we like it! 

To Err is Cumin will be out July 16, in pb, ebook, and audio. Pre-order it now, and make this burger to whet your appetite for a spicy mystery!

PS: I finally figured out how to embed a PDF of the recipe so you can print it easily. Scroll down to the 💕 for the link. 

The Cumin Nature Burger

You don’t need to be a spice spy or stick your nose into murder to enjoy a tasty burger! Some people prefer an all-beef burger; at home, Pepper likes to lighten hers up by adding bread crumbs and Parmesan. Your choice! Jalapenos are the mildest of the “hot” peppers, though the heat level can vary. Dice yours finely and test it, then adjust the other seasonings to your palate. If you’re among the 15 percent who can’t eat cilantro, leave it out or substitute parsley. 

For the burgers:

1 pound ground sirloin or lean ground beef

1/4 cup panko-style breadcrumbs (optional)

1/4/ cup grated Parmesan (optional) 

2 jalapeños, seeded and diced 

2 tablespoons ground cumin (if you start from seed, either raw or toasted is fine)

½ teaspoon kosher salt

4 strips peppered bacon (optional)

For the guacamole:

2 ripe avocados

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon lime juice 

1-2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, chopped 

½ teaspoon kosher salt

Arugula, rinsed

Cilantro leaves (optional garnish)

Buns (optional)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay the bacon strips on the sheet and bake 20-25 minutes, turning the strips halfway through. (Cooking time will depend on the thickness of your bacon and preferred doneness; you’ll want these strips fairly crispy.)

In a large bowl, mix beef, bread crumbs, Parmesan, jalapeno, cumin, and salt. Shape into four patties. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mash the avocado with a fork. Stir in the mayonnaise, lime juice, cilantro, and salt. Adjust seasonings to taste. 

Grill or bake burgers. Toast the buns if you’d like.

To serve, lay a bed of arugula on each plate. Top with burger, one strip of bacon broken in half, and a dollop of guacamole. If you’re using a bun, put a few arugula leaves on the bottom half, then top. Garnish the plate with cilantro leaves, if you’d like. 

Serves 4. 

How do you enjoy your summer burgers? 

💕 Click here for a free printable PDF! 

TO ERR IS CUMIN: A Spice Shop Mystery (Seventh St. Books, coming July 16, 2024 in paper, ebook, and audio)

From the cover: 

One person’s treasure is another’s trash. . .

Pepper Reece, owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, wants nothing more than to live a quiet life for a change, running her shop and working with customers eager to spice up their cooking. But when she finds an envelope stuffed with cash in a ratty old wingback left on the curb, she sets out to track down the owner.

Pepper soon concludes that the chair and its stash may belong to young Talia Cook, new in town and nowhere to be seen. Boz Bosworth, an unemployed chef Pepper’s tangled with in the past, shows up looking for the young woman, but Pepper refuses to help him search. When Boz is found floating in the Ship Canal, only a few blocks from Talia’s apartment, free furniture no longer seems like such a bargain.

On the hunt for Talia, Pepper discovers a web of connections threatening to ensnare her best customer. The more she probes, the harder it gets to tell who’s part of an unsavory scheme of corruption—and who might be the next victim.

Between her quest for an elusive herb, helping her parents remodel their new house, and setting up the Spice Shop’s first cooking class, Pepper’s got a full plate. Dogged by a sense of obligation to find the rightful owner of the hidden treasure, she keeps on showing up and asking questions.

One mistake, and she could find herself cashing out. . .

Available at Amazon  * Barnes & Noble  * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * And your local booksellers!

And coming in September:

Take a step back in time with All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection of historical short mysteries, featuring the Agatha-Award winning "All God's Sparrows" and other stories imagining the life of real-life historical figure Mary Fields, born into slavery in 1832, during the last thirty years of her life, in Montana. Coming September 17, 2024 from Beyond the Page Publishing; available for preorder now wherever you buy books. 

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest book is Between a Wok and a Dead Place, the 7th Spice Shop mystery.  Watch for To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop Mystery, in July 2024 and All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, in September 2024. 

A past president of Sisters in Crime and national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

Swing by Leslie's website and join the mailing list for her seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.