Thanksgiving leftover burger

For the week of Thanksgiving of course there will always be leftovers. I had a few to go containers left from my big Thanksgiving day meal. I had some stuffing which is by far my favorite item on the Thanksgiving table. I also had some sweet potatoes which is my wife's favorite. This was a really good burger for us. I bought turkey patties which were stuffed with spinach and garlic to create the theme. I fired up the grill to as hot as I could get it and I seared the turkey burgers for about 8 minutes on each side. At the same time I heated up the sausage stuffing and also put two tablespoons of the sweet potatoes in a microwave safe dish and heated that up until it became very soft and spreadable. My roll of choice was an onion roll. I sliced the roll in half and spread the sweet potato on top and a little mayo on the bottom. You can see the orange on the underside of the top of the onion roll. Turkey tends to be dry so you need something to moisten the burger. This combo was delicious and made for what seemed like a complete Thanksgiving in one burger. I had turkey, onions, spinach, sweet potato, stuffing, and bread all in one bite. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I can't wait until Christmas.

Inside Out burger with chorizo and bacon.

The concept of the inside burger is basically that all of the stuff that traditionally goes on the outside or top of the burger is put in the middle. For this burger I used ground beef, chorizo, bacon, and red onion. To start I fired up the grill and oiled the grilling stone with some good quality vegetable oil. This was my first ever attempt at bacon on the grill but I have to say it was great. The grilling stone gets very hot and cooks evenly. The bacon was crispy and just as if I did it on the stove top or in the oven on a rack. At the same time I cooked the Spanish chorizo on the grill. After the bacon and the chorizo were cooked throughout I took them off the grill and placed them on a sheet of paper towel to help drain the grease. Then when they were cooled off to room temperature I hand crumbled the crisp bacon into a bowl with the ground meat. I also diced up one chorizo into small cubes and mixed that in to the bowl. Lastly I finely diced red onion to give the burger some of that crunch and flavor. Then I hand mixed the entire bowl with a touch of extra virgin olive oil until everything was blended nicely. After a good mix I formed the mixture into small patties. Then I topped each patti with a folded piece of thinly sliced swiss cheese. Then I put one patti right on top of the other and again hand formed them into a burger with the cheese in the middle. Then I pinched the edges tightly so that the burger doesn't fall apart. Again the concept was an inside out burger so the cheese was in the middle before I put it on the grill. Since it was a pretty thick burger it had to cook for a while on the grill. It took about 8 or 9 minutes on each side to get it to a perfect medium doneness. For the bun I used a portuguese roll which I halved and toasted back on the grilling stone. Then I sauced the bottom of the bun with a mixture of 3 parts ketchup, 1 part Worcestershire sauce, and 1 part Frank's Red Hot sauce. The last step was a slice of tomato and a fresh piece of lettuce and this burger was awesome. The chorizo in the burger was incredible and the the red onions added a different crunchy texture while the sauce on the bun was really good. Overall this burger was excellent. If you look at the picture of the burger cut in half you can see the chorizo, bacon, and the cheese inside the meat. Sorry about the late post but I completely forgot to do this last night. I am thinking about this week's burger all ready. It has to Thanksgiving themed of course. I am open to all suggestions.

Lamb gyro burger

This week's burger was based on a Greek gyro sandwich. My love of the gyro started with getting them at Yankee stadium or behind Yankee stadium before the games. Since I was at the stadium today to run in the first annual Damon Runyon 5k for Cancer research I decided to recreate the gyro. Traditionally a good gyro uses thin sliced lamb that is slow roasted on a spit while the fat drips down. Another great place to get a gyro which I discovered this past summer is Gyro Bob's on Route 206. It is a little place that serves gyros, burgers, and hot dogs. The lamb gyro is my favorite served by Gyro Bob himself with an order of fries. Anyway, the traditional gyro is thin sliced but I am making burgers so I formed a ground lamb patti. In a large mixing bowl I hand mixed ground lamb, crumbled feta cheese, cumin, red pepper flakes, chili powder, onion powder, garlic, salt and pepper. The cumin is the star of the seasonings. At gyro Bob's there is a definite cumin flavor to the lamb so I tried to mimic that as much as possible. I think mixing the seasonings into the burgers rather than coating the outer layer makes a huge difference. Its totally changes the flavor of the meat. Also, the crumbled feta in the burger instead of melted on top creates a more balanced burger where you can taste the lamb much better without the cheese melted on top. I am not sure of it was the lamb or the feta inside but these burgers when I put them on the grill and closed the lid really created some drippings which flamed up the grill big time. The grill got up to 600 degrees when the cover was closed. It didn't take long before I flipped them and the lamb burgers were done a perfect medium. Finally I used a whole wheat flat pita and topped with fresh diced tomato and fresh romaine lettuce. To give it some moisture and to add a final touch I topped it off with some plain Greek yogurt and a touch of honey. This burger was a hit. I have to say that Gyro Bob himself would have liked this one. The lamb was excellent and the cumin perfectly added a smoky flavor while the Greek yogurt with honey made a great sauce. It was to tough to get a good picture because I couldn't get the sandwich to fold over in positions to take a picture so I just took the picture flat. If I were getting these behind the stadium they would wrap it up in some butcher paper and it would be deliciously messy. The gyro is meant to be a messy sandwich on the go. I might have to come back to lamb again before this blog is over. Week 12 here I come. See you next week.

Honey Pear and Blue Cheese Burger

This weekend it was my wife Ann's birthday so I had to make my burger on Friday because we were going away for the weekend. Happy birthday Annie. For her birthday dinner we went to a Tapas restaurant in Baltimore which gave me lots of inspiration for new burger ideas. Anyway, I decided to go with an ingredient that was in season right now and that is pears. Pears are in right now so they are plentiful and very fresh. I chose a Bosc pear. The Bosc pear is brown in color but very sweet and juicy. If you read any gourmet magazine or talk to a cheese enthusiast they will tell you that pear and blue cheese are a great combo. You will often see them paired together in a salad but I figured why not in a burger. So, first I halved the pears skin on and drizzled honey over the flesh side of the pears. I then placed them flesh side down on my grilling stone after it had been preheated to 500 degrees. Then I closed the lid and just let them roast in the grill for about 15 minutes. When finished the honey from the pears carmalized and created a coating that was almost a dark brown syrup on the fleshy side of the pear. I then thinly sliced off that dark pear flesh to put onto my burger. Then I started on my burger which was a beef burger from Omaha steaks. I cooked the burgers for 7 minutes before flipping them and covering with a few slices of Gorgonzola blue cheese which I sauced with Frank's Red Hot Wing sauce. One of the reasons that pear and blue cheese go together so well is because of the salty and sweet. So for me when I think of blue cheese I also think of Buffalo wings. This Frank's Red Hot if you have never had it is really good. It has a little kick but it is also tangy. I like to use it on a lot of things as a sauce to add some flavor. When the blue cheese melted it had a reddish coloring melted in that was just that extra kick that I was looking for. The last piece of the burger was the bun. For this burger I choose a whole wheat oat bun which I lightly drizzled honey onto the outside. The bun itself was outstanding and the honey just made it even more incredible. This burger was just a hit. It was salty, sweet, tangy, and when I used some more of the Hot Sauce for dipping it just made this a perfectly balanced burger. This was a definite success. 10 Burgers down and 20 to go.

No Carb Turkey Burger

After a few too many slices of pizza and garlic knots I needed a low carb healthier burger. For those of you who watch "The Biggest Loser" on NBC I have to admit I stole their idea for a healthy burger alternative. Of course I never use a recipe so I added my own mix of fresh vegetables and seasoning. The only thing I stole was the idea for a turkey burger with no bun. Instead of the bun I used a portabello mushroom cap. I diced up a red onion, cubanelle pepper, green bell pepper, and two jalapeños and mixed it in with the ground turkey and a touch of vegetable oil. Then I hand folded in the seasoning which was salt, black pepper, garlic, white pepper, and smoked sweet paprika. Then I formed the patties and set them aside in the refrigerator for a few hours. When it was time to make dinner then I preheated the grill and dusted the inside of the cap with some salt and black pepper. Then I started the portabellos on the grilling stone. I flipped the mushrooms and when they were done I immediately put them on a piece of paper towel to soak up the excess juices. Then after a few minutes I put the turkey burgers on the hot grates and let them sear in the seasoning. After the flip I topped each burger with a piece of cheddar cheese and garnished with two slices of fresh avocado. I have to admit that this burger in theory was a great idea for a light burger but a few things went wrong. First of all I have never cooked a turkey burger before so at first I undercooked it and had to return the burgers to the grill for a second try. Secondly I used too much paprika. The paprika flavors overtook the rest of the burger. Lastly, the idea of not having a bun sounds good but it is impossible to eat a burger with no bun. I had to use a fork and knife for this one. The one positive was the the flavor from the diced fresh vegetables and the crunchy texture from the seasoning and the raw veggies. I think if I had a chance to make this burger again I think I could make it a pretty good burger but this one was not quite there.