Battery Park Burger

Growing up in New York City gave me the experience of eating food from around the globe. I learned to appreciate good cooking and fresh ingredients. My mother taught me at a very early age how to prepare dishes from many different cuisines. I recall helping prepare dishes from ratatouille to escargots de Bourguignon as early as five or six years old. I still enjoy cooking whenever possible. The various flavors and styles of these dishes have inspired me to be a creative and experimental cook.

Developed in my Manhattan apartment, grilled on the fire escape and enjoyed by friends and family, the Battery Park Burger combines the burger lover’s favorite flavors–mushrooms, bacon and onions in a heady bourbon compote along with a kick of spiced Boursin. I figure if it can make it there, it can make it anywhere!

Ingredients:

Cheese spread

8 oz. Boursin cheese
3/4 t sweet smoked paprika
3/4 t ground cayenne pepper

Mushroom topping:

10 oz. white button mushrooms
12 oz. Vidalia onions
6 oz. bacon (preferably smoked applewood)
1T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
1 t honey (Wild Oak or your favorite kind)
1 T Aromont Demi-glace French Beef Stock
2 T ketchup
1 t Worcestershire sauce
3 T bourbon

Burger patties:

2 lbs., 4 oz. ground sirloin, 80 % lean
1 1/2 t Adobo
1 t salt
1/8 t freshly ground black pepper

6 seeded sandwich rolls, halved.
6 leaves of Boston or Bibb lettuce.

Instructions:

Prepare a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill with a cover, or preheat a gas grill to medium-hot.

Mix Boursin with sweet smoked paprika and ground cayenne pepper. Keep chilled.

Chop mushrooms and onions into thin slices. Set aside. Finely chop bacon. Sauté bacon in sauté pan set on grill top until it starts to release fat. Add olive oil, mushrooms and onions and sauté until mushrooms begin to brown and onions are soft. Add pepper, honey, demi-glace, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and bourbon and simmer gently until syrupy and aromatic. Set aside.

Gently mix ground sirloin with Adobo seasoning, salt and pepper. Grill burgers to medium rare, about 4 minutes per side. Lightly grill rolls around edge of grill top and set aside. Place each burger on bottom roll and divide topping evenly on each. Top each with a leaf of lettuce. Spread Boursin cheese mixture on top rolls, place on burgers and serve. (6 servings)