Winey Burgers

The older I get the less I care about my birthday.  In fact, since I've had J I haven't even really cared if we celebrate my birthday or not.  I'd rather spend the day at home with my husband and J and just make something here instead of going out to a fancy restaurant and leaving J with someone.  That's just the way it is.

I won't say how old I turned this year but let's just say I'm getting close to being "over the hill".  When my husband asked what I wanted to do for my birthday I told him I just wanted to hang out here and either go to the park or go to the pool and then have dinner at home.  He even asked what I wanted for a cake but instead of a cake I decided I wanted a Blizzard. 

Several weeks before my actual birthday we had the July birthday celebration at my parents house and my mom had a chocolate chip cookie cake for me there so I knew I didn't need another cake on my birthday.  In years past I've really enjoyed making my own cake but since I have a summer birthday we either end up eating the whole thing or we have a ton leftover so a Blizzard was definitely the way to go.

As for dinner, I thought about having steak for dinner but in the end I just went with burgers.  There is nothing quite like a well cooked burger on the grill, especially when we are using Certified Angus Beef brand ground beef.  Usually I just throw my ground beef in a bowl with a few seasonings and maybe a touch of breadcrumbs but for my birthday I wanted something a little different.

I came across these Winey Burgers in a cooking magazine and thought they sounded easy and really flavorful.  Basically you put red wine, shallot, garlic, and brown sugar in a pan and boil it until it is reduced.   After it's pulled off the heat you mix in some butter.  This creates a sauce that goes both in the burgers and is brushed on top of them.  The acidity of the red wine kind of burns off and leaves a rich wine flavor which is awesome with the shallots and butter.

The wine sauce is mixed with the ground beef and then they are grilled.   We brushed the burgers with the sauce while cooking and then put cheese on top.  I simply added lettuce and put it on a bun and that's it!   The sauce added so much flavor to these burgers that they didn't need a whole bunch of toppings which made them awesome!  I'll definitely be making these again.

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Winey Burgers

Yield: serves 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Burgers flavored with a reduced red wine sauce, grilled and topped with cheese and lettuce.

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Ingredients

• 1 ½ c. red wine
• 1 shallot, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 T. brown sugar
• 3 T. butter
• salt and pepper
• 1 ½ lb. ground beef (I used 85/15 Certified Angus Beef)
• 1 T. Worcestershire sauce
• 3 T. breadcrumbs
• 4 slices cheese
• 4 burger buns
• lettuce leaves

Instructions

1. In a small saucepan combine the wine, shallots, garlic, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.
2. Continue boiling for 20 minutes or until the mixture has reduced to a half cup, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
4. In a medium bowl combine the ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, breadcrumbs, and half of the wine sauce. Mix well.
5. Divide the burger mixture into 4 burgers.
6. Heat a grill to medium high heat.
7. Cook the burgers for 3-4 minutes then flip them over, brush with the remaining wine sauce, and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the reach 125 degrees.
8. Place the cheese on top of the burgers and cook for an additional minute.
9. Place the burgers on a bun and top with lettuce.

Notes

Recipe from Rachael Ray magazine

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