Burger Day – Lamb/Beef, Chorizo/Beef, and Lamb/Beef Bruschetta Burgers
January 14, 2012 by: Alex
Chefs Alex and Brian decided to get the families together and have some grub. First, a stop to the local butcher. (Turns out Kroger’s would have sufficed in this case, they actually had what we wanted. Ah well). I did get to visit my first “Super Mercado”. Great prices on all foods, with a freakin WALL of dried peppers! Jalapenos for $1.29 a lb? heck YEAH! We picked up some Chorizo Sausage (another burger entry), a fresh Roma tomato and a coconut. Yeah, I know. You just can’t say no to your kids, right?
So, on to the burger. What you’ll need:
- 1 Lb ground lamb
- 1 Lb lean beef (we used 80% lean)
- small red onion
- small ball of fresh mozzarella
- Romaine lettuce, washed and dried
- Large seeded burger buns, like BK!
- Parsley
- 1 egg
- Salt and pepper to taste
- pinch of garlic salt
- 1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
In a mixing bowl, add the meat, parsley, salt, pepper, garlic and bread crumbs. Mix well by hand. You can opt here for a burger press, I form my own. We made 1/3 Lb burgers for this taste test, they turned out GREAT.
We had to fry these bad boys in a pan due to sub freezing temps and how hard it would be to keep lean meat on a grill together. So, preheat a skillet to about a 4. I made some thick burgers, slow cooking is the way to go. Spray the pan with a little Pam or some other type of non stick cooking spray. Cook to a medium to medium well.
To melt the mozzarella, you can slice the mozz and pop it on the burger – then put a small amount of water in the pan (Careful!) and put a lid on it. Or, you can remove the burger from the pan, put it on a plate and microwave it for 20 seconds. (optional toasted buns here)
Put the burger on the plate, add sliced red onion and sprinkle with parsley. Add lettuce and serve! It turned out to be a great Greek-type burger! We didn’t want to ruin it with kecthup or mustard and couldn’t really think of a condiment to put on this without taking away from the lamb flavor.
While out shopping for odd meats at the local butcher shop (Ostrich anyone?) Chef Brian introduces me to the Super Mercado store. A small Hispanic grocery store (in the Zandale Shopping Center for you locals) with some decent prices and hard to find spices and dried peppers. Picked up a 10 oz Chorizo sausage package, 2 fresh Roma tomatoes, a coconut and 2 large jalapenos for $3.91. Rock on!
This started out sounding really good. What we didn’t know is that Chorizo Sausage is really greasy and hard to incorporate into a burger, but if you take your time – this was the tastiest one we made (spice wise).
What you’ll need:
- 10 oz Chorizo Sausage
- 1 Lb lean beef (we used 80% lean)
- small fresh jalapeno
- Roma tomato
- cheddar cheese
- Romaine lettuce, washed and dried
- Large seeded burger buns, like BK!
- 1 egg – if you don’t use an egg, this bad boy will be much harder to flip and cook!
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
In a mixing bowl, add the meats, salt, pepper and bread crumbs. Mix well by hand. You can opt here for a burger press, I form my own. These burgers were really messy – make the burgers thick and plan to flip them once. It will crumble! Definitely not a burger to grill.
We had to fry these bad boys in a pan due to sub freezing temps and how hard it would be to keep lean meat on a grill together. So, preheat a skillet to about a 4. I made some thick burgers, slow cooking is the way to go. Spray the pan with a little Pam or some other type of non stick cooking spray. Cook to a medium to medium well.
Add the cheese a couple minutes before it’s done. Remove from the pan, add jalapenos, tomatoes and top with lettuce. We didn’t add any condiments to this one either, we wanted to taste the burger for what it was. It was AWESOME. Very spicy – the wives didn’t like it too much because we forgot to take out the jalapenos for them. Ooooops!
Side note: We would probably add more ground beef to this due to the problems cooking this burger. It was WELL worth the mess.
This is an addition to the first entry for the lamb and beef burger. My youngest son wanted a tomato burger. I’m thinking, why not mix it with fresh mozzarella and some balsamic?
So, on to the burger. What you’ll need:
- 1 Lb ground lamb
- 1 Lb lean beef (we used 80% lean)
- small ball of fresh mozzarella
- Romaine lettuce, washed and dried
- Large seeded burger buns, like BK!
- Parsley
- Roma Tomato
- Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 egg
- Salt and pepper to taste
- pinch of garlic salt
- 1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
In a small mixing bowl, cut half the tomato into really thin slices. Cut the mozzarella into thin slices as well, mix with a couple tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar in the bowl, set aside for alter.
In a mixing bowl, add the meat, parsley, salt, pepper, garlic and bread crumbs. Mix well by hand. You can opt here for a burger press, I form my own. We made 1/3 Lb burgers for this taste test, they turned out GREAT.
We had to fry these bad boys in a pan due to sub freezing temps and how hard it would be to keep lean meat on a grill together. So, preheat a skillet to about a 4. I made some thick burgers, slow cooking is the way to go. Spray the pan with a little Pam or some other type of non stick cooking spray. Cook to a medium to medium well.
Take the mozzarella from the bowl and place it on the burger and melt it. (keep the tomatoes cold). Remove from heat and place it on the bun. Now add the tomatoes, sprinkle with parsley and add the lettuce. Serve it up!
Comments from our peanut gallery included “needed more balsamic” flavor. You can always add a little bit to the bun or drizzle some of it on the top when you assemble the sandwich.
