Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Singing the Blues



One of the many male vs. female myths that has been debunked during my almost-eight-years of marriage is that the lady of the house isn’t the only one who gets a craving for certain food-type indulgences.

Take, The Husband. I suppose if we were cooking up his Last Meal on Earth, it would most certainly involve: Caesar salad (Boring, I know, but don’t give up on my hubs yet. It gets more interesting.); foie gras, escargot, scallions, shark, roasted pork, margarita pizza, key lime pie, crème brulee, pineapple, chocolate chip cookies, non pareils, a really top-notch bottle of wine and limoncello. He also grooves on blue cheese. Every summer he declares that he wants a big, bad blue cheese burger. So the summer of 2011, the Jersey Girl decided to make his dreams come true.

A blue cheese burger is quite simple to make. Yes, you so can get one at home rather than solely at a dark and smoky pub. Well, I guess they’re not really smoky anymore. The Husband wanted blue cheese stuffed in the middle of it all. So I did that, and then topped the burgers with some blue cheese sauciness. Because I’m from Jersey, and our motto here is, “More is More.”

I cooked the burgers on a grill pan due to the fact that our for-reals grill is swimming with the fishes.

If you do cook these on your outdoorsy grill, I would totally cut down the time to 6-7 minutes per side.

Blue Cheese Stuffed and Topped Burgers
Makes four

1 pound ground sirloin
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ small onion, minced
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Blue cheese crumbles, about 1 Tbsp per burger
Olive oil

In a medium-large bowl, combine sirloin with garlic, onion, Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper. Gently mix with your hands. Once combined, form four patties with the sirloin mixture. Set aside on a platter. Place about 1 Tbsp blue cheese crumbles in the center of each patty. Gently rework patty to cover the cheese.

When ready to cook, brush each side of each burger with a drizzle of olive oil.

Cook on a grill pan over medium-high heat for 7 to 8 minutes per side.

Serve on a roll with Blue Cheese Sauce (see below) and your favorite toppings such as lettuce, tomato and red onion.

Blue Cheese Sauce
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tsp. fresh chives
½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
½ cup blue cheese crumbles
Salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix with a hand-mixer until well combined.