Saucy Porteenie Swiss Kiss Burger

I wanted to embrace the juiciness of a Juicy Lucy burger, but didn’t want the cheese to be the star of the burger.Using fresh thyme and garlic from my garden, the Porteenie mushroom wine sauce brings the burger together, no need for other condiments! The creamy baby swiss oozes out of the center of the burger, creating a wonderful mix of flavors.

Ingredients:

Patties

One sesame seed hamburger bun

½ cup milk

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon Worchestershire Sauce

2 cloves fresh garlic, pressed through garlic press

¼ cup grated white onion

2 pounds fresh ground beef chuck (Angus preferred)

4.8 ounces Baby Swiss Cheese (Delico preferred),

cut into (6) .8 ounce wedges

9 slices hickory-smoked bacon, cut in half

Porteenie Wine Sauce

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

8 ounces Porteenie Mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

½ cup Sutter Home Zinfandel

1 cup vegetable stock

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced

½ teaspoon coarse sea salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

3 tablespoons butter, sliced

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, for grill rack

6 sesame seed hamburger buns

Instructions:

Directions:

Preheat a gas grill to high heat. Place one 10″ and one 12″ cast iron skillet on grill to preheat for ten minutes.

To make the patties, slice top and bottom off of one hamburger bun and place into medium bowl. Pour milk over bread. Add salt, pepper, worchestershire sauce, garlic and onion; combine with a fork to break up bread to form a smooth paste. Add beef to paste. Handling the meat as little as possible to avoid compacting it, gently combine paste and meat, mix well. Using scale, measure (12) 3 ounce meatballs and place on saran wrap. Press wedge of cheese in center of one meatball and encase cheese with meat. Place second meatball on top of patty, and form into final round patty. Continue making remaining 5 patties, cover and refrigerate for half hour.

To make the sauce, heat oil in 10″ skillet for one minute, add mushrooms and cook for ten minutes, over high heat, stirring occasionally.

While mushrooms are cooking, cook half of the bacon slices in the 12″ skillet. Cook eight minutes until crispy, drain and place between paper towels. Cook remaining bacon. While 2nd batch is cooking, stir garlic into mushrooms. Cook for 30 seconds and add wine and vegetable stock. Stir with wooden spoon to extract mushroom bits from the bottom of the pan. Drain bacon and remove 12″ skillet from grill. Add thyme, salt and pepper to sauce. Adjust grill heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Add butter to sauce and stir until melted.

Using paper towel, wipe grill grate with vegetable oil. Place patties on hot-oiled grill rack, close and cook each side for 10 minutes, a total of 20 minutes. Do not push down on the patty because this will release the juices. Remove burgers and tent with foil. Place buns cut side down on grill and toast for 5 minutes.

To assemble the burgers: top each bun bottom with a patty and three strips of the bacon Spoon mushroom wine sauce over top and cover with bun.