Monday night marked our first grilled meal of the year! My husband was quite excited to pull the cover off and fire up the grill. With the unseasonable warm weather we’ve been having, it felt just like summer!
A local grocery store chain sells gourmet burger patties during the summer months. These consist of a relatively lean ground beef combine with various mix-ins. Standard burgers include ones with Italian spices, pepper, mushrooms and cheese? the list goes on. My husband and I planned to serve these for a birthday celebration last summer, but my jaw dropped when I saw the price. I figured that they couldn’t be too hard to make.
Since I hadn’t had much luck forming burgers by hand (mine crumbled too easily), I scoured local stores in search of a burger press. After striking out there, I sprung for a pricey one from Amazon, and still came out ahead. That thing paid for itself in one weekend! If you?re looking for a burger press, I am really happy with this one. I haven?t had any of the problems that other viewers refer to. I like that the press is non-stick (lined with silicone) and can be easily disassembled and thrown in the dishwasher for easy cleaning.
Mixing vegetables, spices and cheese into burgers add a fun kick to this summer staple. I use ground turkey and ground beef interchangeably, although this time I used 93% lean ground turkey. I typically just eyeball the mix-in ingredients, but I measured this time so that I could provide details here. In the past I have used garlic powder, but I found that the freshly minced garlic made quite a difference. I served these burgers topped with sharp cheddar cheese and sauteed mushrooms.
Making these burgers also gave me the opportunity to use my newest kitchen gadget: a digital food scale. While it?s not a necessity (I made burgers for a year without one), it does make it easier to divide the meat into uniform portions.
Since burger making is rather messy, I frequently make a large batch using two packages or meat and then freeze the extras. When freezing the burgers, I separate them with slices of wax paper, wrap in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag
Gourmet Burgers
1 package (1.25-1.33 lbs) ground turkey – I used 93% lean
1/2 cup finely chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tbsp bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Mix well to combine.
3. Divide into 5-6 equal portions and shape into burger patties.
4. Grill or freeze.
Did you use a mold for the patties? They’re perfect! And I love your idea of using the digital scale, I’ll have to remember to do that next time too!
I’ve found that using a mold make the patties easier to work with. Whenever I made them by hand, they’d crumble on the grill and I’d lose parts between the grates. This was the only one I could find when I needed it, but a cheaper one would also do the trick.