Buddy Burger with a Grilled Sweet Potato Salad, Spiced Maple Mayo, and Pecan Crusted Bacon

For the past few months Ive been making this grilled sweet potato salad that everyone has been enjoying. Last week my Dad mentioned how amazing it would be topped on sort of meat. So with a few additions of other sweet and spiced elements, this burger came to life.

Ingredients:

Grilled Sweet Potato Salad

3 small sweet potatoes, sliced(1/4in thickness)
2 tablespoon canola oil(for grilling the potatoes)
1/2 purple onion
3 tablespoons oregano leaves,chopped
4 ounces gorgonzola cheese crumbles
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black

Pecan Crusted Bacon

12 slices Thick Cut Bacon
¼ cup honey
1 ½ cup pecans

Patties

2 ¼ pounds Ground Chuck
¼ cup sweet white wine
2 tablespoons stone ground mustard
½ cup crushed pineapple(strained)
2 teaspoons kosher salt

Spiced Maple Mayonnaise

½ cup Mayonnaise
¼ cup maple syrup
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

6 Hawaiian Sweet Sandwich Rolls
Vegetable oil

Instructions:

Set a propane grill to high. Brush grill with some canola oil to prevent sticking.

For the sweet potatoes, in a bowl combine sweet potatoes and 2 tablespoons of oil and toss. Grill sweet potatoes on a grill rack until there is a slight char on each side. About 1-2 minutes per side. Remove and transfer back to bowl. Grill the purple onion with the skins on for 2 minutes per side. Remove the onion from grill, remove skins, and chop the onion. Add in oregano and gorgonzola cheese. In a separate small bowl combine the red wine vinegar, olive oil, sugar, salt and pepper. Whisk well and pour over sweet potato mixture. Toss the salad well and set aside.

For the bacon, be sure to coat the grill again with oil. Place bacon slices in a 45 degree angle on a grill rack(so bacon doesn’t fall through), being sure to flip the bacon every 3-5 minutes. Cook bacon for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. While bacon is cooking, use a fire proof sauté pan and toast the pecans for about 1-2 minutes or until the pecans become toasted. Remove from heat and cool. Once the pecans and sauté pan are cooled enough, place pecans in a plastic bag and using the back of the sauté pan, chop the pecans finely. Using a pastry brush, brush each strip of bacon with honey and coat each strip with toasted pecans. The honey allows the pecans to coat the bacon nicely.

For the patties, in a bowl combine all of the ingredients well. Form into six patties and
Grill patties for 4-5 minutes for medium doneness. Remove patties from grill and cover, keeping the patties warm.

For the Mayonnaise, in a bowl combine all of the ingredients and set aside.

Using a pastry brush, brush canola oil on the Hawaiian rolls and slightly toast the buns for about 1-2 minutes.

Spread about 2 tablespoons of the spice maple mayonnaise on the botton bun. Top with the pattie, then place two strips of the pecan crusted bacon on top, and top with sweet potato salad, using about 4-5 slices of sweet potatoes per burger. Seal the burger with the toasted top of the bun. Enjoy!