Meatloaf Burgers

We had a bunch of ground meat leftover from the meatloaf.  (NB - I'll not post the recipe because it just wasn't that good.)  What to do with it???  The great debate ensued.  We're home at 7:00 tonight.  When do you get back from Columbus tomorrrow?  What'll spoil?  How much time will the various dishes take?  Decisions, decisions.  You probably go through the same thing.  I make out a menu every Sunday yet invariably, there's a wrench in the works.  The wrench this week was about a pound of leftover ground meat.  That stuff just doesn't stay good very long.  So the original plans for a ham steak with bourbon sauce were tossed and replaced by burgers.  Not just any burgers but burgers with ground beef, turkey and sausage.  Seasoned with the leftover bread crumbs from the meatloaf last night and the leftover dipping sauce from the tempura Monday and some barbecue sauce.  I put everything together then did a sample.  We couldnt' think of anything we'd do differently so I put the patties together.  Connie heated up the grill and I put them on.  Then, nothing.  Little, teeny, tiny flames.  Enough to roast maybe a mini marshmallow.  Or, maybe I'm giving them too much credit.  At that rate, we'd be eating dinner at 6 am two days hence.  The propane was out.  Time to whip out the grill pan.  Now, the grill has a major advantage - the heat envelopes the meat so bacon wrapped around the side cooks.  And, it cooks much more quickly.  But, the grill pan did work so we did have dinner.  The rosemary foccacia was a bit, umm, crisp.  And, the Greek Mac and Cheese sat in the oven for long enough to develop a relatively crispy crust.  But, it all tasted great.

What did we think?  I gave this a five.  Connie initially gave it a four because he gave the Greek Mac and Cheese a five.   And, he doesn't like to give out two fives in one meal.  Actually, for him to give out two fives in one week is rare.  Maybe in a month.  Then, after he'd eaten a few more bites, he says, "You know, maybe you're right.  This is a five."  He commented on the fact that he'd seen me put them together and cook them and he couldn't believe how moist they were.   So from a very sturdy and pretty dry meatloaf that neither of us cared for too much came some fantastic burgers that we'll repeat again and again. 

Meatloaf Burgers

Ingredients:
1 lb ground meat, beef, turkey and sausage mixed
3/4 c soft bread crumbs
1 T soy sauce (we used leftover tempura dipping sauce)
1/2 c barbecue sauce
5 green onions, diced
salt and pepper
4 slices bacon
1/2 c barbecue sauce

Mix the ground meat, bread crumbs,

soy sauce, barbecue sauce and green onions. 

Shape into patties.  Wrap the bacon around and secure with a toothpick. 

Top each patty with barbecue sauce. 

Grill sauce side down.  Top the bare sides with barbecue sauce.  Then, turn the patties and put more barbecue sauce on the already grilled side. 

Turn them once more.  You're trying to get the barbecue sauce to pretty much caramelize on the patties.  You may need to cook the patties on their side in order to get the bacon to cook through.