Grandma Ferraro’s Sunday Sauce Burger

Ingredients

20 oz. High quality Marinara Sauce
1 ½ pounds ground chuck (20-23% fat)
¼ pound spicy Italian Sausage, casing removed
¼ pound pepperoni (in stick form) casing removed, diced
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup Italian style breadcrumbs
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
¼ cup Sutter Home Zinfandel
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Canola oil for brushing grill rack
12 oz mozzarella cheese, sliced
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
6 fresh bakery rolls, preferably sesame seed Kaiser, split

Instructions

1. Prepare a medium hot fire in the grill. 2. Add the Marinara sauce to a heat proof pot and place on grill. Simmer the sauce until thickened (about 20 minutes). Cover and set aside until you are ready to use. 3. In a large bowl combine the ground chuck, Italian sausage, pepperoni, garlic, parsley, eggs, breadcrumbs, Romano cheese, Sutter Home Zinfandel, salt and pepper. Form into six equal patties. 4. Brush the grill rack with vegetable oil. Place the patties on the grill rack. Cook about five to six minutes and turn the patties over. Cook about five to six more minutes for medium (the Italian Sausage lengthens the cooking time a little bit). Top each burger with Mozzarella cheese with about 2 more minutes of cooking remaining. 5. As the burgers finish cooking, spread equal amounts of butter on the tops and bottoms of the rolls. Place the rolls, cut side down, on the outer edges of the grill rack to toast lightly. Remove rolls to a platter when finished toasting and remove each patty directly onto the bottom of each roll. 6. Immediately top burgers with the marinara sauce. Top with roll and enjoy. Makes 6 burgers