Spicy Scallion and Brie Burgers

I love a good burger. This is nothing new if you've read my blog recently. Someone on my cooking board recently asked for burger recommendations and these Spicy Scallion and Brie Burgers were mentioned. I immediately put them on the menu for the following week. I love anything with Brie in it.


I left out the jalapeno in the scallion paste. It was still spicy from the cayenne and I figured that was enough heat for me. The Brie melted nicely and added a really nice flavor to the meat.

Spicy Scallion and Brie Burgers
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 ounces Brie, rind removed, cheese cut into 4 slices
1/4 cup Spicy Scallion Paste (recipe below)
Vegetable oil, for brushing
1/4 cup mayonnaise
4 hamburger buns, split
Tomato slices and lettuce, for serving

Light a grill. Season the ground beef with salt and pepper and form into eight 4-inch patties that are slightly thicker in the center. Top 4 of the patties with a slice of Brie and a scant tablespoon of the scallion paste. Top with the 4 remaining patties, pinching the edges to seal.

Brush the burgers with oil and grill over high heat, turning once or twice, about 8 minutes for medium-rare meat.

Meanwhile, mix the mayonnaise with the remaining scallion paste. Grill the buns until toasted. Spread the mayonnaise on the bottoms of the buns and top with the burgers, tomatoes and lettuce. Close the burgers and serve.

Spicy Scallion Paste
4 scallions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 fresh hot chile, seeded and minced
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a small bowl, combine the scallions with the garlic, chile, lemon zest and cayenne, mashing slightly with the back of a spoon. Stir in the olive oil and salt. The paste can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.

I served the burgers with oven fries:


I used a new recipe from Cook's Country and did a much better job getting them evenly brown. I'm still working on cutting the fries evenly.

Crispy Oven Fries
Cook's Country

4 russet potatoes (6 to 8 oz. each), peeled and cut into 1/2" slices
6 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 450 degrees.

Place potatoes in a bowl, wrap tightly with plastic, and microwave until translucent around edges, 3 to 5 mins, shaking bowl half-way through to redistribute potatoes.

Transfer potatoes to cooling rack and thoroughly blot dry with paper towels. Coat rimmed baking sheet with 5 tablespoons of oil. Transfer to oven and heat until just smoking, 5 to 7 mins. Meanwhile, whisk remaining oil,cornstarch and salt in large bowl. Add potatoes and toss to coat.

Arrange in single layer on hot baking sheet and bake till deep, golden brown and crisp, 25 to 35 mins, flipping potatoes half-way through cooking time. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate and blot with additional paper towels.

Ultimate Sriracha Burgers and Oven Fries

I love burgers. I could eat one a week and be perfectly happy. Besides being delicious, they're so versatile. You can switch up the meat from beef to chicken or something more exotic, the topping choices are endless and they're fun to eat. Come on, who doesn't like eating with their hands?

I've never cooked with Sriracha before, but I had a small bottle in the pantry for a recipe I still haven't gotten around to making, so when the Ultimate Sriracha Burger was raved about on my cooking board I thought I'd give it a shot.


Since I've never cooked with Sriracha (and therefore had no clue how mild or spicy it was), I should have listened to my gut and reduced the amount of Sriracha in the blue cheese sauce. I just can't handle spice the way I could before having Baby Girl. Otherwise, this was a perfect burger. You can never go wrong with bacon, and the caramelized onions added a nice sweetness. There was a good kick from the Sriracha, which I would have enjoyed more if the blue cheese had been able to come through, and I love peppery arugula and sliced tomato. The Swiss didn't melt enough, but that was my error.

Ultimate Sriracha Burger
Oishii

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
2 TBS. soy sauce
5 TBS. Sriracha, divided
2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 slices thick cut bacon
1 large sweet onion
3/4 cup blue cheese dressing
4 brioche buns
4 thick slices Swiss cheese
1 tomato, sliced
several handfuls of arugula

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, soy sauce, 2 1/2 TBS. of the Sriracha, and the pepper. Be careful not to overmix. Form the mixture into 4 patties, and set aside, on a parchment-lined plate, covered, in the refrigerator.

Preheat a charcoal or gas grill to medium high heat. In a medium frying pan over medium-low heat, cook the bacon, turning as necessary. While the bacon is cooking, peel and quarter the onions. Cut each section into 1/4-inch slices. Once the bacon is cooked through and slightly crispy, remove the slices from the pan, cut each in half crosswise, and drain onto paper towels, reserving the remaining bacon fat in the pan. Cook the sliced onions in the bacon fat over medium-low heat until they caramelize, 20 to 25 minutes.

Grill the burgers, turning once, 4 to 41/2 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer registers 130° to 135°F for medium-rare.

While the burgers are cooking, combine the blue cheese dressing with the remaining 2 1/2 TBS. Sriracha in a small bowl.

Lightly toast the buns on the grill during the last minute of cooking time. Spread the blue cheese mixture on both halves of each hamburger bun. Stack a burger patty, slice of Swiss cheese, bacon, caramelized onions, slice of tomato, and a small handful of arugula between each hamburger bun.

I served the burgers with oven fries. I've been searching for a good oven fry recipe for a long time and these were delicious (if not as evenly brown as I would have liked).


SP practically inhaled his burger and fought me over the last few fries. He's a very good sport when it comes to my cooking, especially when I'm trying a new recipe, but he definitely has his favorites and has no qualms about offering constructive criticism. The only issue he had was wishing I'd done a better job melting the cheese and keeping the caramelized onions warm.

Fish Filets, Fries and Corn

Warning - The only thing homemade in this post is the tartar sauce.

I have to admit, even if some of my readers are disappointed, that since having Baby Girl my food standards have gone way, way down. Whereas before I frowned upon convenience foods like boxed potatoes, powdered sauces, soup from a can, heck, even frozen veggies, these days I've actually cooked (and enjoyed) Hamburger Helper. I just don't have the same kind of time to cook that I once did and while I hope that as Baby Girl gets older I can return to my from-scratch ways, I'm shocked to say we're doing just fine with some of the prepackaged items. Like these fish filets that I served recently:


They were Gorton's and all I had to do was bake them, along with the fries, and dinner was served. I added frozen corn since that's SP's favorite veggie and homemade tartar sauce (just mix mayo and relish together).