A Working Mom’s Quick Gourmet Burger

Ingredients

Burger –
½ cup Sutter Home Sauvignon Blanc
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 tablespoon grated dark chocolate 100% cocoa
1 tablespoon Grey Poupon Country Dijon Mustard
½ cup medium crushed Snyders Sourdough Nubs
½ teaspoon garlic salt
2 tablespoon Diced Onions
¼ cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon ketchup
Sauce- adds that extra little —
1 tablespoon extra virgin Colovita Olive Oil
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups sliced mushrooms – used white pre-sliced mushrooms
3 tablespoons diced onions
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
1/3 cup Sauvignon Blanc
2/3 cup heavy cream
Buns – bakery buns or any kind will do – you can brush will olive oil and slightly grill if you have time

Instructions

You can make this as time consuming as you want. There is no time in this house so it will take about 10 minutes or less to make the burgers. Add wine to a glass bowl. Pour small amount, directly from the bottle, in a separate glass to taste test – use as needed through the cooking process to ensure taste quality continues. Add ground beef to bowl with wine. Grate the chocolate bar to a similar size as flake coconut and measure 1 tablespoon. Add to wine and beef. Add mustard. Place about 10 small sourdough nubs in a plastic bag and seal. Then roll a rolling pin over the pretzels. Bounce rolling pin on the pretzels if they fail to break while rolling. If you don’t have a rolling pin, then use a vegetable can. This is a great stress reliever. Then measure ½ cup of the medium crushed pretzels (smaller than the head of a pencil eraser) into the bowl. You don’t want all powder here. If you have powder, start over as you probably need more stress relief anyway. Then add garlic salt, and diced onions from the jar. Chop about ¼ bunch of the tops of fresh cilantro somewhat fine and then measure and add ¼ cup to the mixture above. Because ketchup is a recognized food group at this house, add 1 tablespoon ketchup and then mix. You may mix with a bread hook but we have found that clean hands work best to thoroughly mix this combination. Kneading can also be of use to ensure even distribution. Form into patties to suit your preference. Six patties works for this amount of meat. Place on grill and cook to preference. The sauce is optional although we use it frequently. Add the olive oil, butter, pre-sliced mushrooms (we use white button but shitake work well also), diced onions (from the jar), garlic salt, and cook at medium heat or whatever your grill cooks at until the mushrooms turn color. Then add the wine and heavy cream. You want to let this cook at a simmer to thicken it up. The goal is to have a mixture a bit thinner than cream of mushroom soup right out of the can. If you are a good multi-taker you can cook the burger and the sauce at the same time on the same grill. Don’t worry if you are not multi-tasking because if the burger cools, the hot sauce will warm it again. Then, if you have time, brush the grill with oil and slightly brown the buns from the package by slightly brushing with olive oil. If you use bakery buns you probably won’t want to brown them. Place burger on bun, about 2 tablespoons sauce and serve. Garnishes are to your preference but they are not needed. Then again, kids will add ketchup or mayonnaise to everything…….