ITALIAN BURGERS

Tonight, we were all in the mood for something on the grill and wanted to take advantage of such amazing weather we were having today. I took out a burger recipe that I used a while back and tweaked it up a bit to try to bring out some more flavors. Here’s how they came out.

Ingredients
~ 1 pound ground beef
~ 1/4 tsp garlic powder
~ 1 tbsp olive oil
~ 1 tsp salt
~ 1 tsp pepper
~ 3/4 tsp basil leaves

Process
First, take a potato masher (or something that has some surface area) and press out the meat. This way, the seasoning will reach the majority of the meat and when you fold it back together, the spices will have a much more even distribution. Add in the garlic powder, salt, pepper, basil leaves, and olive oil. Start to mix all of it around and make one burger patty. If you feel that the meat is a little too moist, or that it’s kind of falling apart when you’re making the patty, sprinkle in some breadcrumbs to help absorb the excess moisture.

Once you’ve pounded out the patties, put them right onto the grill and cook them on each side for about 4 minutes or so. If you’d like, put a slice of mozzarella cheese while they are still on the grill, and then serve on hamburger buns once the cheese has melted. We also added some lettuce, tomatoes, and a pan-cooked portobello mushroom onto the burger to finish it off. The meat was really flavorful and juicy, and there was plenty of flavor in the burger as a whole to round it off. This burger does have a little more spices than a traditional burger does, but if you’re in the mood to be adventurous, give this a shot.

Categories: Recipes

Tagged as: italian burgers, recipes, summertime