Mushroom Swiss Burger

This week's burger had to wait until Sunday because of a wedding that my wife and I attended on Friday. Well the rehearsal dinner was om Friday and the wedding on Saturday. It was a busy weekend for me and I didn't really have time to come up with an idea for a burger. Instead I went with this classic burger that is served almost anywhere there are burgers on the menu. I decided to use baby sliced portabellas for my mushrooms. It was nice enough to use the grill outside so I began by coating the mushrooms in a light vegetable oil and then adding in some butter. I dumped the whole thing on my Italian grilling stone and the flavor from the butter and the mushrooms on the hot cooking stone immediately smelled great. I just wanted to give the mushrooms time to really become soft and tender before I threw the burger on the grill. After a few minutes and a quick flip of the mushrooms I added the burger onto the hot racks of the grill. The sizzle happened right away and it provides a great sound of a quality burger in the works. I closed the grill and let it sit untouched for about 6 minutes. Then I opened the grill and slid the spatula underneath the burger to test if it was ready to be flipped. It was and I quickly flipped and turned the burger at approximately 45 degrees to get great grill marks. I know the cheese will cover the grill marks but I still want my burger to look good at all of the stages. After the flip I then put the mushrooms on top of the burger and covered the mushrooms and the burger with the swiss cheese. I then toasted the buns slightly on the grilling stone which still had the melted butter from the mushrooms that were cooking there not too long ago. I think the butter on the rolls really made a difference as they were being toasted. As soon as the cheese was fully melted over the mushrooms I then took the buns off the grilling stone and plated the burger. I then covered the top of the bun with a a dash of chipotle mustard and a good portion of ketchup. Served with a whole dill pickle and this burger was a delicious Sunday dinner. It was buttery, crispy, creamy, and just plain good. Although this was not my most imaginative burger it was one of the best. I am looking forward to next week already.

Buffalo burger with mexican flavors

I went into this week thinking I was going to do a different type of meat for my burger. I wanted to get lamb but couldn't find any at my local grocery store. I did, however, find some nice buffalo meat. If you have never had buffalo before it really is very good. It has a great flavor similar to beef but somehow different. Also, it is a healthier alternative because it is leaner and has less fat than traditional beef. I formed the ground buffalo into patties and covered them lightly with some oil so that the seasoning would stick. I then coated the burger in a spice rub of chili powder, ground yellow mustard, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Then I set the grill on high and got the temperature way up so that the spice rub would really sear into the burger. On top of the burger I decided to go with two sauces. One was a little spicy and tangy and the other was cooling and creamy. I covered the burger with pureed jalapeños for the spiciness. Next I zested a lime and added the juice from a half of a lime into some sour cream. This added the traditional lime Mexican flavor which cooled down the spiciness of the jalapeños. Lastly, I used a toasted Portuguese roll cut in half as my bread of choice. When I took my first bite of this sandwich two things stood out. First the flavor of the buffalo meat stood out as being so different and very tasty. I will definitely feature another burger with buffalo meat before this blog is done. The second thing I noticed was the lime sour cream. It was deliciously cooling after biting into the hot peppers and the chili seasoning. Another week and another successful burger. I would definitely repeat this one again.

Meatless Burger

This one is late because I went to the Bruce Springsteen concert on Friday night. The concert was incredibly good despite none of the rumors that were swirling around the parking lot actually happened. I heard everything from Bon Jovi appearing to Bruce playng until 1:00 a.m. So, therefore, I had to delay this week's burger until Sunday. The burger I made was not really a burger but a portabello mushroom cap. I lightly brushed the mushrooms with some vegetable oil and liberally seasoned with salt and pepper before I put them on the grill. Then I sliced some red onion into thick pieces and put them on my Italian grilling stone. I decided to use some sauteed onions and some fresh raw onion. Basically, I couldn't decide because I love using my grilling stone. It gives the onions a smokey flavor with a soft texture that is incredible. However, I also wanted some form of crunchiness in the sandwich since everything else was a soft texture. The raw onion gave it that crunch. After grilling the portabello for about 6 minutes I flipped it and covered the open end with swiss cheese and left it to melt. On the suggestion of my wife Annie I used a soft onion roll as the bread. It turned out to be a great suggestion because the onion bread was fabulous and really made for a great sandwich. Whenever I have onion bread it reminds of the rolls at Peter Luger's Steakhouse in Brooklyn. The last step was a slice of vine ripened tomato and the sandwich was complete. Another week and another success. Still looking for suggestions and still looking forward to next week.

Pesto Burger with spinach and feta.

Basically, I wanted to find a way to get some veggies into my burger. Perhaps one of these weeks I will do an actual veggie burger or perhaps not. This burger was as green as I could make it with a basil pesto sauce slathered on the toasted bun and topped with spinach sauteed with onions and feta cheese. I started by melting some butter in a sautee pan and letting the diced white onion and garlic become translucent together. Then I topped the onins with the chopped spinach leaves. At the very end I added about a half a cup of crumbled feta cheese. I could have just eaten the spinach by itself without the burger. It was incredibly moist from the onions and had the right flavor from the garlic and the feta melted in added a creamy texture to it. The pesto sauce was just a blended mix of basil leaves, pine nuts, olive oil, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. When the burger was put together it really blended well as a meal with different textures and different flavors. I could taste all of the components of the burger individually and nothing was overpowering. Maybe it wasn't the healthiest way to do it but I reached my veggie quota for the day.