Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Diminuitive Hamburger Odyssey

Last week, pondering various recipes to make for my monthly bookclub, I decided on an adorable little hamburger (trendily called "sliders" these days) inspired by a recipe in Hors D'ouevres, by Victoria Blashford-Snell and Eric Treuille, which is my favorite go-to for simple, elegant little bites. Admittedly, there is nothing at all inspired about this dish, but it fulfilled my main goals of: giving me something that was easy to execute during the busy workweek, providing something substantial enough for dinner but small enough to serve conveniently, and most importantly, something to absorb the large amounts of wine usually consumed at bookclub!

My small twist was that instead of biscuit-cutting little bun circles or making my own mini buns (as if), I used the butter-laden and sinfully delicious Sister Schubert's Yeast Rolls, which can be found in the freezer section of most grocery stores. I've found them to be quite versatile and crowd-pleasing, so I now keep a couple of packages on hand at all times.

For my burger patties, I typically like to add freshly chopped garlic and onion, but this time I was lazy and added those flavors with the powdered stuff:

1.5 lbs ground chuck
1 egg
1/4 cup panko
2 T Soy sauce
2 T Worchestershire sauce
1/2 T Garlic powder
1/2 T onion powder
1/2 T Salt
Pepper to taste

Master blogger and good friend, Dave, encouraged me to photograph the evidence. So, here we have it (my food styling and photography skills still need some work):

Seasoned goodness.


Pan-seared a test patty before broiling the remaining.


Mel's mini-burger. Deconstructed.
Opted for simplicity - mustard, ketchup, sliced dill spear.


Mel's mini-burger. Cross section.


Approved.


The burgers were a success, and I'll likely make them again - I'm thinking a bit of Roquefort and caramelized onion for a fancier accoutrement? Stay tuned....!