Grilled Garlic Burgers

You really can never have too much of a good thing. We'd purchased some garlicy Jalapeno Mustard at last weekends Garlic Festival, and I'd been craving burgers all week. This would most def work with fresh chopped garlic, but sometimes after a extra long day of work, you just don't feel like choppin', ya know? I keep Christopher Ranch chopped garlic (from GILROY!) in my fridge at all time, it was fun to see their big presence at the festival. Being way too tuckerd out to get too crazy in the kitchen, we used what we had on hand and made a super delicious, garlic-tastic burger.



4 Garlic Burgers~
1 lb ground beef
2-3 T minced garlic
1 T Jalapeno Garlic Mustard (or go with a spicy deli mustard)
Fresh cracked black pepper
Garlic Salt
Kosher salt
Sharp Cheddar cheese (that's what we had on hand- I would also recommend this with a pepper jack or any garlic-cheese you may run into!)
More mustard & some red onion for the bun
BUNS

Mix all of the above in a medium bowl while you heat the grill (med-high heat).
Form the mix into 4 patties and put em on the grill. We used Nate's 4 flips/no squeezin method (this makes ULTRA JUICY burgers). Grill them 5 minutes after you put them down, then flip and grill 4 minutes on the other side, flip again and grill 2 minutes, flip one more time and grill 1-2 minutes.Do not use the spatula to PRESS down on the burgers at any point while grilling, just flip em gently. Turn the heat off, add sliced cheese, put the lid on for about a minute until cheese gets a little melty.
Serve on toasted buns with some spicy mustard and thin sliced red onion, if you have some time this is a simple GARLIC AIOLI that would be brilliant, or just stir 1 T of the chopped garlic into 2 T of mayo before mixing the meat and refrigerate and use that spread on the bottom bun.

Weeknight dinner-Spicy Pita Burgers

OH YES- those ARE tater-tots in the photo...and it's not my fault, it's my offices fault for starting a conversation about delicious tater tots...right before I left work for the grocery store.

We'd been looking forward to grilling, but wanted to mix it up just a bit. So after picking up a big ole bag of tater-tots I mixed up some spices and ground beef, grilled up burgers topped with some yummy provolone and grilled onions, served in whole wheat pita (along side tots).


Spicy Pita Burgers
Serves 4
1 lb ground beef
3/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
a pinch of Kosher salt
a pinch of Dried chili flakes
A dash of hot sauce
2 toasted pitas cut in half
4 slices provolone cheese
1/2 a sweet onion sliced
Spicy brown mustard & horseradish sauce

Mix the meat and spices in a bowl, form patties. Cut the onion and place in a foil pouch (made by folding a sheet of foil around the onions) Put the foil packet on then grill and put patties on the grill for about 6-8 minutes each side, flipping once. Cut the pita's in half and lightly toast them in the toaster. Top the burgers with the provolone slices once they are finished cooking (I like to put the cheese on, turn the grill off, close the lid and let sit 1 minute). Take patties and onion packet off the grill. Slice up some pickles if you want, then put a little horseradish in the pita. Put the burger into the pita, top with the grilled onion, sliced pickles and spicy brown mustard.