What a burger!

One of the things you'll come to know about me from reading my blog is that I absolutely love to cook. I don't like to use recipes; however, I do like to look through recipes to get ideas and then tweak them. Today I got an idea and decided to run with it. Success!

First let me preface with how I got the idea. We don't turn the television on while Little is awake (yes, we're "those" parents) but today I decided to indulge myself while I was nursing. I happened on Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals, and today was a slam dunk. She was making these amazing burgers. That caught my attention because Frank and I love to eat burgers. Not just boring old ketchup and mustard burgers but burgers with different flavors and toppings. Lately we've been eating a lot of turkey burgers. (Sidenote: Ground turkey breast is very low fat, cheaper than chicken and tastes great with the right seasonings.) So, I kept watching.

For her meat, she used a mixture of ground pork and ground veal. I chose to go the lean ground beef route instead. Lean ground beef has almost no fat, versus ground pork which is loaded with it. The key is what she/I mixed with the meat before forming the patties. First of all, add red wine. And it's important that it's a good wine. Rachael said never to use cooking wine because it tastes terrible. Luckily, I had a nice bottle of my favorite, Cabernet Sauvignon, that my sweet Leah left at my house last weekend. Next you add extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, course black pepper, fresh sage (chopped up finely of course), minced garlic (I used the jar that already has it done for you; she used a fresh garlic clove), and diced onion (very small pieces). No, I don't have any measurements. Just do what looks right. Mix it all together and let it sit for a few minutes so the meat can soak up all the goodness. Form into very large patties and then cook the patties on the stovetop in a skillet. Normally I use a special skillet that looks kind of like the top of a grill. But for these patties, I used a normal skillet so the juices would stay in the pan on the meat. This is important because the wine and olive oil sort of caramelize on the top and bottom of the meat. In the meantime, saute some baby portabella mushroom slices. She did hers in the same skillet, but I didn't have room so I threw some EVOO in a separate skillet and did it that way. When everything is ready, put on a slice of some kind of sharp cheese (I had sharp cheddar so that's what I used). I put my cheese on while my meat was still in the skillet just for about 10 seconds to get it good and hot. Then, put the meat on the bun and add a big mound of the mushrooms. This is so flavorful that you won't need anything else. No sauce! We ate ours on a toasted wheat bun, and it was delish!

I also have a white chocolate bread pudding in the oven right now, and if it tastes as good as it smells, I'll tell you all about it.

I love food!
Love to all...