The Blue Day Burger

Pairs well with:

Zinfandel

Bright and full-bodied, this Zinfandel wine is a curious contradiction in tastes.

Ingredients

Sparkling Cucumbers
1 cup rice wine vinegar
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons dill
2 English hothouse cucumbers, peeled and cut with a cheese slicer into paper-thin slices
1 small red onion, cut into paper thin slices
Aioli
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk, room temperature
1 cup olive oil, room temperature
Stuffed Patties
2 lbs ground chuck
2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons fresh thyme
½ cup minced red onion
6 heaping tablespoons gorgonzola
6 teaspoons coarsely crushed black peppercorns, preferably with a mortar and pestle
Oil for grill Kaiser rolls
Watercress

 

Instructions

Prepare a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill with a cover, or preheat a gas grill to medium-high. To make the sparkling cucumbers, combine rice wine vinegar, sugar, salt and dill in a medium bowl and whisk until fully mixed. Add in cucumbers and the onions. Set aside and refrigerate. To make the aioli, grind garlic and salt together in a mortar with a pestle. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs yolk until it lightens in color. Mix in garlic and salt. Add olive oil, drop by drop, constantly and slowly whisking. As mixture thickens, olive oil may be added a little faster. Set aside and refrigerate. To make the patties, combine the ground chuck, salt, thyme and onion in a large bowl. Handling the meat as little as possible to avoid compacting it, mix well. Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions. Form each portion into a cupped patty, placing a heaping tablespoons of gorgonzola into the cup. Fold over the meat and form each portion into a patty sized to fit the rolls. Spread approximately ½ teaspoon of the coarsely crushed black peppercorns over each side of each of the patties. When the grill is ready, brush the grill rack with vegetable oil. Place the patties on the rack, cover, and cook, turning once, until done to preference, 5 to 7 minutes on each side for medium. Split and lightly toast rolls on the grill To assemble the burger: place a generous amount of the aioli over the cut sides of the rolls. On each roll bottom, place watercress, patty and equal portions of the cucumbers. Add the roll tops and serve. Makes 6 burgers