Wendy's Burgers

Do you remember when you were a kid and you woke up on Christmas morning and you knew you'd find something wonderful under the tree?  That's how I felt when I opened my email from Angela at the Secret Recipe Club and found I'd been assigned Wendy's blog. The Weekend Gourmet.  I've never been a regular reader of Wendy's but have enjoyed her blog when I've checked it out.  Now, I do believe I'll be a regular reader.  She's got a lovely style and is one of those folks I'd just love to meet.  Choosing was tough.  I narrowed the choices down to four recipes.  I was thinking I'd do an appetizer for the Super Bowl.  Something that could be split in half since Connie would be rooting for his Patriots in the living room and I'd be rooting for Eli in the family room.  Then, I got the flu.  Cooking wasn't happening.  Fine, I'd choose something else.  The next set of choices was narrowed down to three.  Decisions, decisions.  Ok, I'd make the hamburger.


What did we think?  The burger was fabulous.  Moist, flavorful.  I loved the little kick from the cajun seasoning.  The onions?  A bit too sweet for our taste.  I'd cut the maple syrup way down and increase the white wine.  We tend not to like sweet things so I wasn't surprised at our reaction.  So, here's the deal:  If you like sweet things, make the recipe as written.  If you're more of a savory foodie, decrease the  maple syrup to 1-2 T and increase the white wine commensurately. I made a couple of tweaks along the way.  Instead of using ground steak seasoning, I used Andria's Steak Sauce.  It has less salt and really moistens the burgers.  And, for the onions I cut the butter to one tablespoon from two.  Just cutting out 100 calories!  Now, the really good news?  Connie plays bridge one evening a week.  This recipe makes three burgers.  One burger is in the freezer awaiting his next bridge evening.  It's mine.  All mine :-)

A couple of housekeeping notes here... The Secret Recipe Club is a group of bloggers who are assigned a blog on a monthly basis.  We're to visit that blog and choose a recipe to make.  Then, on our assigned Monday we blog about it.  Now, I've gotten REALLY lucky on my assignments.  I've met some wonderful bloggers and tried some incredible recipes.  My mouth is watering thinking about a few of them.  And, the best news?  Every Monday a group of bloggers has their reveal date.  You can go to Secret Recipe Club and check out the blogs.  It's typically the best collection of recipes I see. 

Last, but not least, THANK YOU Wendy!!  I can't wait to try your most recent post - potato pancakes with cheddar.  And, I'm still going to make that clafouti and hopefully the lemon blueberry rolls.  And, about a dozen other things that had me drooling.  I'm so glad I can finally become a follower!!!  Yes, I know you had a different name for these burgers but I thought anything this good deserved your name :-)

Wendy's Wonderful Burgers

Ingredients:

for the burgers:
1 lb ground sirloin
2 T grainy Dijon mustard
4 slices cooked, crumbled bacon
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 T flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 t Cajun or Creole seasoning
1 T steak sauce (I use Andria's)
salt and pepper (I didn't use salt because of the steak sauce)

for the onions:
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
2 T - 1/2 c maple syrup (the real stuff!!!)
1/2 c - 2/3 c white wine
2 T Worcestershire sauce

for serving:
3 kaiser rolls or onion buns
3 slices of cheese of your choice (I used a mix of cheddar and gruyere, grated)

Directions:

Make the patties.  Gently combine all of the patty ingredients and form into three patties.

You can grill them or use a grill pan or saute pan.  They'll take about 10 minutes to cook so start them when you've added the liquids to the onions.  When you flip them to cook the second side, add the cheese so it's nice and melty when you serve the burgers.

Make the onions.  Saute the onions in the butter and olive oil for about 15 minutes. 

You'll want them nice and browned. 

Add the maple syrup, white wine and Worcestershire sauce. 

Cook for 8-10 minutes.  The mixture will caramelize and you'll have a lovely glaze in the pan.

 

Assemble the burgers.  Toast the rolls or buns.  Top each with a burger and 1/3 of the onion mixture.  Enjoy!