Monday, October 22, 2007

Inside Out Cheeseburgers

Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (2 to 3 ounces)
2 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter
4 hamburger buns, split and toasted
Lettuce, onion slices and condiments, for serving

In a small bowl, using a fork, mash together the blue cheese and cream cheese until smooth. Stir in the parsley. Divide the mixture into 4 disks about 1 1/2 inches across. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

In a large bowl, season the beef with salt and pepper and mix well. Form into 4 equally sized patties about 3/4 inch thick.

Form a deep cavity in the center of each beef patty. Place a cheese disk in each cavity and pull the meat together to completely cover the cheese.

In a large skillet, heat the oil and butter over medium-high heat. Add the burgers and cook, about 4 minutes on each side for medium. Serve on the buns with the lettuce, onion and condiments.

Tips and Tricks
Blue cheese wasn't on sale this week, so I used cream cheese and shredded monterey jack cheese. In place of parsley, I used Tastefully Simple Spinach and Herb Dip Mix, but you could use whichever spice you like. I also skipped making the cheese mixture into disks and just refrigerated the mixture as is. I used slightly less than a pound of meat to make three burgers, and instead of making a cavity in the beef patty, I placed the cheese mixture in the middle, then folded the patty in half and reshaped it. The burgers also took closer to 20 minutes to cook through, but the prep was a lot less than the 30 minutes the original recipe called for. The burgers can also be made ahead of time and refrigerated until dinner time.
Make It Healthier
Serve on whole wheat rolls, top with leafy green lettuce. Use lean ground beef.
How Kids Can Help
Mix cheese. Older kids can shape patties, but supervise to make sure they wash up well.

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