Recipe of the Week: Beef and Andouille Burgers

So, as Sean mentioned in our last post, I have tons (more like 400-500 than 150) of recipes I've set aside to try. I get them from magazines, cookbooks, the internet, and people I know. They've started piling up to a point where I felt as though I'd never get through them all, so I've decided to not compile any more recipes and instead focus on making at least one new recipe a week. It's going well so far, so I've decided I would announce it to the world and commit myself to the project. In fact, I've made more than one new recipe for the past couple of weeks. I'll try to get pictures of the food, but it's hard with some dishes to get a good picture and still get it on the table at the right temperature. For my official "launch," I present you with a recipe from Bon Appétit's cookbook (borrowed from the library):

beef and andouille burgers with asiago cheese

(serves 6)

ingredients

4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon whole-grain Dijon mustard
8 ounces andouille sausages, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 1/2 pounds ground beef (15% fat)
2 large shallots, minced
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
6 large sesame-seed hamburger buns
6 1/3-inch-thick slices red onion
Olive oil
1 cup coarsely grated Asiago cheese**
1 7- to 7 1/2-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained

preparation

1. Finely chop sun-dried tomatoes by hand or in a small food processor. Blend in mayonnaise and mustard. Transfer to a small bowl. (The mixture can be made one day ahead; cover and chill).


2. Finely chop sausage in food processor and transfer to a large bowl. Add beef, shallots, salt, pepper, and fennel seeds. Stir with fork just until blended. Form mixture in to six 1-inch-thick patties.


3. Prepare grill for medium-high heat. Grill hamburger buns until golden, about 2 minutes. Transfer to platter. Brush onion slices on both sides with oil and sprinkle one side with salt and pepper. Grill until golden, about 7 minutes per side. Grill hamburgers to desired doneness, about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Sprinkle cheese over top of burgers.


4. Spread cut sides of hamburger buns with sun-dried-tomato mayonniase. Top bottom halves of buns with hamburgers, then red peppers. Top with onion slices. Cover with top halves of buns and serve.

responses

Sean said: "One of the best burgers I've ever had."

Sarah said: "Pretty good."

recipe critique

I omitted the roasted red peppers because they just didn't sound appealing for this recipe. I did use the asiago cheese, but we couldn't really taste it on top of all the other flavors; for this reason, I would say it's unnecessary to the recipe and adds unneeded calories. Also, I got "Cajun" style andouille sausage, which was probably the wrong choice. Although Sean loved the taste, I thought the seasoning in the sausage competed with the other seasonings in the recipe. I would probably use mild Italian sausage next time, because it's easier to find and less aggressively seasoned. Also, I found the amount of mayonniase mixture to be inadequate. The sun-dried tomatoes reduce the spreading capacity, so I would probably double that part of the recipe next time. Finally, since Sean and I were eating alone, I froze 2/3 of the prepared patty mix. I'll let you know how it goes when I use the remaining mix.