Mushroom Zin Burger

Ingredients

Ground Beef, organic, 90% lean – 2 lbs.
Mushrooms, Pieces & Stems – 4 oz.
Bread Crumbs, dried – 1/4 cup
Sutter Home Zinfandel – 1/4 cup
Sea Salt, coarse crystals – 2 tsp
Pepper, black, fresh ground – 2 tsp
Onions, white – 2 medium size
Sutter Home Zinfandel – 1/4 cup
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 2 tbs
Ciabatta Buns with Asiago Cheese – 6
Butter – 1/2 stick

Instructions

Preheat grill to 400 deg. On a 13" x 9" cookie sheet evenly sprinkle 1-1/2 tsp Sea Salt and 1-1/2 tsp ground pepper. In a 3 to 5 quart mixing bowl place hamburger, drained mushrooms, bread crumbs and wine and combine by hand until ingreients are incorporated and evenly distributed through the mixture. Be careful to keep the mixing to a minimum. Divide the mixture into 6 evenly sized burgers of approximately 1/3 lb. each. Burgers should then be shaped to be no less than 3/4 inches thick. Place the burgers on the cookie that was prepared with salt and pepper, then sprinkle the top of the burgers with the remaining 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. While the burgers are resting prepare the carmelized onion topping. In a frying pan on medium high heat, coat the bottom with 2 tbs Extra Virging Olive Oil. Spread sliced onions throughout the bottom of the pan and cook until lightly carmelized. Stir frequently and when the carmelizing is comple, pour 1/4 cup of Sutter Home Zinfandel over the onions and reduce heat to keep mixture warm while burgers are being prepared. Preheat broiler oven for toasting buns. Prepare buns by slicing through the center and spreading butter over the cut faces of the buns. Set the buns aside until the burgers are removed from the grill. Grill the burgers until done as you like. When burgers have been removed from the grill, cover to keep warm and toast the buns, which should only take a couple of minutes. Prepare finished burgers with ciabatta buns and onions spreading the carmelized onions on top of the meat and the cheesy, top side of the buns placed over the onions.