I borrowed from Jamie Oliver’s parmesan burgers recipe and because we were also doing Pizza Monkeybread I went with the usual italian seasoning suspects. Kim and I started throwing out a bunch of italian flavored names (Don Giovanni, Mamma Mia) but I wanted something more North American. Kim said Jersey Shore (our not guilty pleasure) and I knew we had it. A few days ago I’d been searching down all the live youtube video’s of Jersey Girl I could. It’s one of my favorite songs written by Tom Waits and arguably made most famous by Bruce Springsteen. In honor of that song, The Shore and coastal diners everywhere I give you:
1 lb ground beef
6-8 slices of crispy crumbled smoked bacon
1 large red onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp basil, oregano, thyme
1 large egg
1/2 Cup parmesan cheese
1/2 Cup chopped cremini mushrooms
I fried the onions, garlic and mushrooms on low heat in a fry pan with a TBS of olive oil for 10 minutes until softened. I let this mixture and the bacon cool before mixing it with the ground beef.
I mixed all the ingredients by hand in a large bowl. After forming them into small balls I flattened them into 15 2cm thick patties carefully making the center thinner than the outside. I let them firm up in the fridge for about 45 mins.
To cook them I put a fry pan on high heat and let it get nice and hot then turned down to medium and cooked for 3-4 minutes a side.
Kim spread some nice mayo onto some thin mini burger buns and done!
