Tiger Bacon Burgers For Dad!

In honor of Father’s Day I wanted to create a recipe that was savory, scrumptious and uber-masculine to satisfy even the most voracious Paul Bunyan in our lives, but also sneak in a few gourmet morsels to make everyone else happy, myself included. Today’s post is comprised of six mini recipes that, if followed (game plan included), will create mouth-watering burger bliss and an addictive salad that all men, who even surprise themselves by asking for seconds, will love!

Tiger Bacon Burgers  or for the ladies, call it: Maple Bacon, Basil, & Blue Cheese Burgers with Green Goddess Salad

Serves 6

1 ½ lbs. ground beef, preferably chuck

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ cup – ¾ cup bleu cheese crumbles

6 tiger* rolls, or some other kind of hard roll like Ciabatta, Kaiser etc.

8 tablespoons herbed butter, (recipe will follow)

1 lb. peppery maple bacon, (recipe is forthcoming)

1 Tablespoon oil

2 large tomatoes, sliced

2 avocados, sliced

12 large leaves of fresh basil, washed and dried thoroughly

Directions:

Place the ground beef in a large bowl along with salt, black pepper and blue cheese crumbles. Mix these ingredients together without manhandling the meat too much; it will make the meat tough.  Divide the meat into 6 equal portions (4 oz. each), then gently form them into patties about 1 inch thick with a concave divot in the middle to help avoid shrinkage and poof-age in the middle of the meat while being cooked.

Next, heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat, then place the patties in the pan and cook for 5-7 minutes on one side, flip and cook for another 5-7 minutes or until cooked through. Remove the burgers from the pan and allow them to rest for 3 minutes before building your burger. In the meantime, slice the Tiger buns in half, toast for a few minutes until lightly golden, then, while hot shmear the herbed butter on both top and bottom buns.Now you are ready to build your bodacious burger.

Herbed Butter

8 Tablespoons room temperature butter, whipped

8 sprigs of chive, finely diced

4 sprigs of parsley, finely diced

Directions:

With a hand held blender whip the butter until smooth, sprinkle in the herbs and stir.  Set aside until ready to shmear on the toasted Tiger Buns.

Peppery Maple Bacon

1lb. bacon, thick sliced if possible

4 tablespoons good maple syrup

5 good turns of freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place a baking pan covered in aluminum foil with bacon, no overlapping on the middle baking rack. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the bacon begins to brown. Remove the pan from the oven, brush the bacon slices with maple syrup and grind fresh black pepper on top. Bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the bacon is golden brown. Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and set aside until needed for the burger.

Green Goddess Salad

2-3 heads of romaine lettuce, washed and cut

1 small red onion, thinly sliced in half moon shape

½ lb. red grapes, cut in half

4- 6 honey crisp apples, ¼ inch thin

8 oz. of carmelized almond slices (recipe around the corner)

Directions:

In a large bowl layer the cut romaine lettuce with onions, grapes, apples and carmelized almonds. If you work in layers, all the ingredients are equally dispersed for everyone dishing in.  I usually do this in 3 layers and save adding the dressing until I’m just ready to serve to avoid limp, soggy lettuce.

Carmelized almonds

8 oz. of sliced almonds

½ cup sugar

¼ cup butter

Directions:

In a pan over medium heat melt the butter and sugar together stirring constantly. When the mixture is golden brown add the almonds and coat evenly, then quickly plunk the caramelized almonds on to a layer of aluminum foil to cool before you break them up something fierce.

Green Goddess Dressing*

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon mustard, (regular French’s will do)

3 green onion stalks, chopped

1 cup of oil, (I prefer grapeseed or very light olive oil)

1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

Directions:

In a blender or food processor mix together vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard and chopped green onions until smooth.  Add the cup of oil to this mixture right before you are ready to drizzle it over the salad. Add the poppy seeds to the dressing last and give one final mix up in the blender to scatter evenly.

Game Plan:

1. Wash and prep for the salad
2. Make the caramelized onions
3. Bake the bacon
4. Create the bleu cheese hamburger patties
5. Heat the cast iron pan
6. Grill the patties
7. Mix together the salad dressing
8. Drizzle over the salad
9. Build your burger with herb butter on toasted tiger buns, peppery maple bacon, 3 large basil leaves, 1 large tomato slice, and 2 slices of avocado.
10. Scarf!

*Tiger bread which could also be called Dutch Crunch is a basic white bread dough to which a rice paste is smoothed over the top of the crust before baking. While it bakes the paste dries and cracks which then creates an interesting pattern on the top, much like a tiger design.

* I wish I was the one who thought of this salad’s dressing, but I need to give credit where credit is due: I got it from my mother, who got it from her sister, who got it from her neighbor, who got it from her cousin and… that’s as far back as I know, it’s one of those, a real keeper. And so I am sharing it with you, just remember the order of credits due when you have people begging you for the recipe at your next pot luck. It’s sweet, tangy, crunchy, vinegary…all the things we and soon your man, will love about salads.