Italian Style Burgers

These are a tribute to my sister, Angela, who came up with this concept whilst living in Venice. They are amazing! Give it a try for something different to your usual burger repertoire.

Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the patties:

½ cup of finely diced red onion

500g of beef mince

1 egg

2 tablespoons of dried porcini mushrooms soaked in water to re-hydrate then drained

½ cup of parmigianno cheese

1 cup of bread crumbs

¼ cup of fresh parsley chopped

Salt and pepper

***

1 loaf of ciabatta style bread (to be cut into four serves)

2 red onion

Butter

Olive Oil

Balsamic vinegar

1 cup of good quality store bought mayonnaise

½ cup of good quality basil pesto - can be store bought

Cos lettuce leaves

Handful of semi dried tomatoes

Method

To make the patties:

1. Gently sweat off the red onion until translucent

2. Combine all of the patty ingredients with the onions together by hand in a bowl

3. Form into 4 patties

4. Fry the patties in a little olive oil until cooked through

Constructing the burger:

1. Lightly toast the inside of the bread under a grill

2. Slice the 2 red onions and saute in some butter and olive oil for 15 minutes. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar (1 tablespoon) at the end of the cooking process

3. Mix together the mayonnaise and pesto in a small bowl to create a delicious pesto mayonnaise

4. Spread some pesto mayonnaise to both pieces of bread

5. Roughly slice up the lettuce and lightly dress with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil

6. Place the patties on the bread, layer with the dressed lettuce, semi dried tomatoes and caramelised onion

7. Serve with a side of baked potatoes dressed in oil herbs

8. Take a big bite… OMG!