A Festival of Burgers!

Or.. Paul's Big Burger Ballyhoo of 2007!

When I first read of Paul's (half of the dynamic duo of Paul & Freya's Writing at the Kitchen Table) idea, I thought it to be fabulous - I mean, really, loads of burger recipes at your fingertips? What could be better? I knew I'd be submitting but I wasn't sure which burger I would be passing along to the internets. What appeared to be an easy task, ended up being not so much. As per usual, I didn't think about my standard burger, I wanted something with a lil more pizazz, yanno? And as per usual, I hit my favorite recipe sites and quite a few more when it was all said and done. I found myself 2 burger recipes that I knew would put me in the running for the Goat Saliva that's being offered as a prize. *gurgle* *horf* *beeuuuickkkk* *kurrrdddddddd*

We tried both recipes.. one involved a fried egg! The other involved cheese.. and lots of it. After trying both we realized, ehhh? They were okay but not really our cup of tea. (Although I did love the fried egg - it's just the rest of the burger was so bland)

What we both learned from this experience is that we are pretty much burger purists. We want our burgers to be flavorful without a lot of accessories to "beef" up that flavor. We're not big on lettuce, cheese, tomato, etc. A pickle once in a while is a good thing, maybe a big slice of raw onion too.. but that's about it. And as for the hamburger bun? Unless it's a home made, fresh from the oven bun, we're not too interested. We like garlic bread instead of a traditional bun, actually. Be it thick or thin, as long as it's garlicky, a lil buttery and toasted, we are happy campers!

And so, my submission is not the big show stopping, goat saliva worth winning burger - it's just our favorite burger that we make 9 out of 10 times. I don't even know if Paul & Freya are going to be able to try out this recipe, as it includes powdered ranch dressing mix and those lil french fried onions that come in little cannisters.. can you even get those items in England? Well.. I hope so! =)

Lisa's Ranch Onion Burgers

Makes 4 burgers

Ground sirloin is just not a good choice for burgers.. it's too damn dry. If you are going to have a burger - then go for a lil fat. It's that moderation thing, right? =)

For the burger:
1.5 lbs. ground round
1 packet of ranch dressing mix (I use Hidden Valley)
1/2 - 3/4 c. French Fried Onions (I believe I use Durkee brand?)
2 TBS. Worchestershire sauce
Pinch of salt
Ground black pepper

For the garlic bread
8 slices of thick or thin sliced Italian bread
4 TBS butter
2-3 cloves garlic, put through a garlic press
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 TBS. grated Parmiagiano or Romano cheese

Heat the grill up to temperature (We usually go up to 350º - 400º and then turn down the heat when the burger are ready to go on). Meanwhile in a large bowl mix all the burger ingredients well. Sometimes when I've got extra time or am feelin' a lil saucy, I'll run all the ingredients through the grinder attachment of my Kitchenaid.
Separate the hamburger mixture into 4 baseball sized hunks and flatten each with the palm of your hand until they are about 1/2 inch thick.

When placing the burgers on the grill, you can brush on a little extra Worchestershire sauce first. Totally optional. Grill the burgers for about 4-5 minutes (guestimate?) on each side, do NOT, press down on the burger - just let it sit there and get all grill-marky delicious.

While the burgers are cooking, mix the pressed garlic in with the butter (roasted garlic paste is also wonderful instead of the raw pressed garlic), then add the parsley & cheese. Spread the garlic butter mixture on one side of each slice of bread and either place butter side down in a hot skillet until golden brown (like you are making a toasted cheese sammich), or broil them, butter side up, under the broiler until goldeny brown. Leave the other side alone, or if you wish, lightly toast that side as well.

Build your burger as you wish - we just like a lil ketchup and a pickle and/or slice of raw onion. Devour.