Caprese Burgers with Pesto Mayonnaise

It's Summertime and you know what that means...grilling!  And farm fresh veggies!  Hooray!

With the first red tomatoes of the season rolling in from my CSA farm share I decided to make a very simple burger that would highlight the super fresh flavors.  And when I say "I" made this meal I really mean that I sent my husband outside in the heat to go grill up these burgers :D.  Yet another reason grilling makes the menu...it's group participation from the hubby!

The original recipe called for sliders but we had a pack of leftover pre-made patties so ours were regular sized burgers.  Personally I think it works out better because the size of the tomato and mozzarella is a better match, anyway.  This was a great quick meal that will have you spending virtually no time to make and you can use any extra topper ingredients to make a fast Caprese Salad on the side.  For the salad, just layer the mozzarella, tomatoes, basil then drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vineagar.  Season with fresh cracked pepper and sea salt and you're good to go!

Caprese Burgers with Pesto Mayonnaise

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh mozzarella, sliced
• 1 tomato, sliced
• Fresh basil leaves
• Burger buns
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (As usual I used Fat Free Greek Yogurt instead)
• 1/4 cup pesto

Directions

1. Mix salt and pepper into beef (or if using pre-formed patties, season each side of the patty).  Place on a hot grill and cook through, flipping once.  Near the end of the grilling time, add cheese.  Cover grill and cook for a few minutes until the cheese is melted.
2. Meanwhile, mix together the mayonnaise and pesto in a small bowl.  Set aside.
3. Place burger onto bottom half of bun.  Top with tomato and basil.  Spread pesto mayonnaise on top half of bun.  Serve.

Source: I was Born to Cook 

SRC: Brat Burgers with Drunken Onions

It's time for another Secret Recipe Club (SRC) reveal!  I can't tell you how excited I am to be a part of this club.  It has provided wonderful exposure to some new blogs for me to follow and, I'm sure I've gained a few readers myself (Hello out there!  Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think!).  Reveal day is especially delightful because you never know what someone will have chosen to make!  I love secrets :).

This month I received Debra's blog at Eliot's Eats.  I was impressed by the wide variety of recipes that I found on her blog and love how many of them were family and/or original recipes.  That's refreshing because honestly I feel like sometimes the food blog world is a bit incestuous with popular recipes making their rounds on the blogs that I follow.

I chose this particular recipe because it was one of her originals and the Summer grilling season is in full force.  Plus, I absolutely love the flavor of brats and drunken anything.  Oddly enough I don't really drink alcohol but add it to foods and I'm all about it!  This recipe did not disappoint.  It was wonderfully flavored and not unlike something you'd get at a fancy pants burger joint.  Something as simple as toasting the buns makes homemade burgers a little more special.  Since this recipe makes a lot, I'm also excited to have 4 more burgers in the freezer for when I need a quick meal in the future.

As usual a special thank you to April of the blog Angel's Homestead, our new SRC ring leader and Angela of the blog Big Bear's Wife, our Group C Hostess!

One Year Ago: Banana Sour Cream Pancakes
Three Years Ago: Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce

Brat Burgers with Drunken Onions

Ingredients

• 5 T. olive oil, divided
• 2 large red onion, cut in half and sliced thin (I used 1 red and 1 sweet yellow)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bottle Dunkel (Munich style) beer, or other dark German beer
• 1 T. red wine vinegar
• 2 t. Tabasco sauce
• 1 t. celery seed
• 1 t. mustard seed
• 1 1/2 t. fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 t. grey sea salt
• 1 lb. fresh Bratwurst
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 6 Kaiser rolls, split
• 1/4 c. whole grain mustard

Directions

1. Heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a medium sauce pan. Cook onions and garlic for 3 minutes. Add beer, vinegar, Tobasco, celery seed, mustard seed, pepper, and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce to medium and simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the brat burgers.  Take brats out of casings and mix with ground beef, bell pepper, and 1 Tablespoon of “Dunkelized” onion sauce. Form into six patties and season with salt and pepper.  (Hint: Use your fingers to make a dent in the center of the pattie to keep it flat after cooking!)
3. With preheated grill set at 350 degrees, place patties on grill and grill for about 5 minutes on each side.
4. Brush rolls with remaining olive oil and toast them the last minute of grilling burgers.
5. To assemble, place about 2 teaspoons of mustard on bottom-half of Kaiser roll. Add burger and top with cooked onions. Top with top-half of roll. Serve.

Source: Eliot's Eats

Thai Peanut Turkey Burgers

Don't put away your grills quite yet.  If you make one more recipe this "season" (or if you're hardcore and grill year-round), this is it.  It has a unique, Thai flavor that you don't really expect from a burger.  And it works.  It was perfect served with oven baked sweet potato chips, which I'll share with you next week :).


Thai Peanut Turkey Burgers
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Ingredients

For the burgers:

• 8oz ground turkey (I used chicken because that's what I had on hand)
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 1 large scallion, minced
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp chili garlic sauce
• 2 tbsp natural peanut butter
• freshly ground salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

For the sauce:

• 2 tbsp light mayonnaise (I used unflavored Greek yogurt)
• handful of cilantro, finely minced
• 1-2 tsp chili garlic sauce

For serving:

• hamburger buns of your choice
• mixed greens

Directions

1. Combine burger ingredients a mixing bowl and combine thoroughly. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Form the turkey mixture into two patties. Cook for about 7-10 minutes per side, until cooked through. 
2. Serve on buns with cilantro-chili mayo and greens.

Source: Slightly adapted from A Good Appetite as seen on Cara's Cravings

Nutritional Info, Burgers Only (does not include hamburger bun or cilantro-chili mayo)
Servings Per Recipe: 2
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 276.1
Total Fat: 16.7 g
Cholesterol: 80.0 mg
Sodium: 212.1 mg
Total Carbs: 7.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.1 g
Protein: 26.1 g

Ultimate Sriracha Burger

I'm still on my spicy kick...I've said it once before and I'll say it again, Sriracha hot sauce is the shizz!  It's like the Frank's Red Hot of the Asian world...but...a million times more delicious.  Spicy, tangy, and sweet....it's perfect on pretty much everything.

I can't say I'm surprised that a burger features this delicious sauce.  It made it onto my list of dinner real fast and as suspected, it was...well, the shizz!  Go make it immediately...especially considering I *know * you don't want to turn on the oven in this record breaking mid-summer heat.  But heat in your mouth is a different story...that's an any-time delight!

Fair warning, it's not for the faint of heart....and it's so delicious I neglected to take a picture.

One Year Ago: Homemade Refrigerator Pickles

Ultimate Sriracha Burger
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Yields: 4 burgers plus extra sauce...would be great on fries!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs. ground grass-fed chuck
• 2 TBS. soy sauce
• 5 TBS. Sriracha, divided
• 2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 4 slices thick cut bacon
• 1 large sweet onion
• 3/4 cup blue cheese dressing
• 4 brioche buns
• 4 thick slices Swiss cheese
• 1 tomato, sliced
• several handfuls of arugula (omitted...didn't have any on hand)

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, soy sauce, 2 1/2 TBS. of the Sriracha, and the pepper. Be careful not to overmix. Form the mixture into 4 patties, and set aside, covered, in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat grill to medium high heat. In a medium frying pan over medium-low heat, cook the bacon. While the bacon is cooking, peel and quarter the onions. Cut each section into 1/4-inch slices. Once the bacon is cooked through and slightly crispy, remove the slices from the pan, cut each in half crosswise, and drain onto paper towels, reserving the remaining bacon fat in the pan. Cook the sliced onions in the bacon fat over medium-low heat until they caramelize, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Grill the burgers, turning once, 4 to 4 1/2 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer registers 130° to 135°F for medium-rare.
4. While the burgers are cooking, combine the blue cheese dressing with the remaining 2 1/2 TBS. Sriracha in a small bowl. Lightly toast the buns on the grill during the last minute of cooking time.
5. Assemble the ultimate burger! Spread the blue cheese mixture on both halves of each hamburger bun. Stack a burger patty, slice of swiss cheese, bacon, caramelized onions, slice of tomato, and a small handful of arugula between each hamburger bun. Open jaw W.I.D.E. and devour!

Source: The Sriracha Cookbook as modified by and seen on Oiishi Food