Do you have any good memories of those childhood cafeteria days?
You remember those cafeteria style pizza burgers you had as a kid? Well, these are not those. These are the adult version of those pizza burgers, but stuffed, perfectly seared, and topped with some really nice ingredients. Now sure, I have tinkered with stuffed burgers in the past, and one of my all-time favorites is the bacon and blue cheese dressing burger, but as noted this is one that was taken from the old-school, and made to make your family and friends reminisce on those childhood days. These are a must make for your summertime barbecue. Simple to make, and loaded with flavor.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb lean ground beef
- 1/2 lb ground chuck
- salt
- pepper
- Fresh basil leaves
- 1/2 cup of Marinara sauce, or pizza sauce, your call
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp butter
- Great hamburger buns, toasted
- Mozzarella cheese slices
- Red onion, sliced (optional)
- Green Bell pepper, sliced (optional)
Begin by adding your beef into bowl. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, then gently combine the two beefs into one mixture. Form into large, thin patties. Lay one patty down onto a plate, and top, in the center, cut up slices of mozzarella cheese, and a basil leaf. Place the other thin patty on top, and seal the edges. Sprinkle the top with a bit of salt, and fresh cracked pepper. Keep in mind, you can form the patties however large you want, but I do a bit larger patties, as they shrink a bit.
Heat your grill to a high heat. While this is heating, warm your sauce to a low heat. Slice your hamburger buns, and to the bottom, spread a bit of butter on them as we will place these on the grill, towards the end, to lightly toast them.
Once your grill is ready, add the burger. Not don’t get antsy here. Be patient and let the patty cook for about 5 minutes. Don’t push on it and squeeze out the juices, or anything like that. Let it go, and build a nice sear. About five minutes into the grilling, rotate 90 degrees on the same side, and continue to cook an additional 2 minutes. Flip, and do the same for the other side.
Now if you are like me, I like my burger cooked to medium, to medium-well. Simply Recipes has a good post on how to go about testing for doneness. I typically go off of this and I am rather successful at it. You should never take a knife and cut into the meat as you will loose all of that precious time due to the juices running out of the meat.
So cook for another four to 6 minutes, rotating 90 degrees as well. When you are about ready to remove from the grill, place a slice of mozzarella cheese on top of the burger, cover and let the cheese melt. This is about the same time, I added the buttered buns on indirect heat, to let them toast. Be careful here as you don’t want your grill to burn your buns, only toast them.
Get your bottom bun plated, and add the the burger. Add the warmed marinara sauce on top of the burger, and add your red onion and fresh bell pepper. Top with the top bun, and dig in. You will tell by the explosion of flavor, and the nice extra cheesy surprise and hint of basil that takes this burger to the next level.