Comforting Cottage Pie Pub Burger

Pairs well with:

Merlot

Get cozy and get pouring. Our Merlot is the wine for long weekends and lengthy chats.

Ingredients

1 whole head Garlic, left unpeeled (4 cloves for mashed potato, remainder for meat patties)
6 slices Yellow Onion
2 large Portobello Mushroom Caps
2 tablespoons Colavita Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, for brushing vegetables
1 pound Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled and diced
2-1/2 teaspoons Salt (1 teaspoon for cooking potatoes, 1-1/2 teaspoons for meat patties)
3 tablespoons Butter (2 tablespoons for mashed potato, 1 tablespoon for greasing a sheet pan)
1-1/2 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated
1 cup packaged frozen Mixed Vegetables (i.e. carrots, peas, corn and green beans)
5 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce (4 tablespoons for meat patties, 1 tablespoon for gravy)
1 large glass Sutter Home Merlot (2 tablespoons for meat patties, 4 tablespoons for gravy, remainder for the cook)
2 tablespoons Chili Powder
1/2 cup fresh chopped Flat-Leaf Parsley, with 1 tablespoon reserved for assembly
2 pounds Ground Chuck
6 Potato Bread Rolls, split
1 10.5 oz. can prepared Beef Gravy
Vegetable Oil, for brushing the grill rack

 

Instructions

Prepare a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill with a cover, or preheat a gas grill to medium-high. When the grill is ready, brush garlic head, onion slices and mushroom caps with olive oil and grill until just tender, about 10-15 minutes. Set aside. TO MAKE THE MASHED POTATO PATTIES, put potatoes and 1 teaspoon salt into boiling water in a heavy fire-proof lidded saucepan on top of the grill. Cover and cook until soft, about 15 minutes. Remove to a mixing bowl with a slotted spoon (leaving the covered pan on the grill for water to reboil.) Add 4 peeled, mashed garlic cloves and 2 tablespoons butter to potatoes, and mash until smooth. Form into six equal patties and place on a buttered sheet pan. Sprinkle each patty with grated cheese. Cover with foil and set aside, keeping warm on the top rack of the grill. TO MAKE THE MEAT PATTIES, put the mixed vegetables into the boiling water, cover and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and remove to a large mixing bowl. Add remaining peeled and mashed garlic cloves, 4 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce, 2 tablespoons Merlot, 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, chili powder and parsley. Stir well to blend. Setting aside 3 tablespoons of the Merlot, sip and enjoy the remaining wine while completing the recipe. Add the ground chuck to the vegetable mixture. Handling the meat as little as possible to avoid compacting it, mix well. Divide the mixture into six equal portions and form into patties to fit the potato bread rolls. TO MAKE THE MUSHROOM-MERLOT GRAVY, chop the mushroom caps into small pieces and put into the empty saucepan with 4 tablespoons Merlot and 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce. Stir, cover and place on the top rack of the grill to allow the liquid to infuse the mushroom pieces, about 15 minutes. Stir the can of gravy into the mushroom-merlot mixture, cover and replace saucepan on the top rack to heat up, not allowing the gravy to boil. Stir occasionally. Brush the grill rack with vegetable oil. Place the meat patties on the rack, close grill and cook, turning once, until done to preference, about 5-7 minutes on each side for medium. During the last few minutes of cooking reheat the onion slices on the grill edges and place the rolls, cut side down, on the outer edges of the rack to toast lightly. When the meat patties are done, remove from the grill and stack to keep warm. To assemble the burgers, spread a generous amount of hot gravy and mushrooms over the cut sides of the rolls, both tops and bottoms. On each roll bottom, place a slice of onion then a meat patty and a little more gravy. Top with a mashed potato patty and a sprinkling of the reserved chopped parsley. Add the roll top and serve. Makes 6 burgers