Italian-Style Gourmet Burger
- Ready In:
- 55mins
- Ingredients:
- 32
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
-
ROASTED TOMATOES
- 3 tomatoes, quartered
- 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 10 fresh thyme sprigs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt
- fresh ground black pepper
-
THE BURGERS
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 slices prosciutto
- 3 large shallots, finely diced (about 1 cup)
- salt
- fresh ground black pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1⁄4 lbs freshly ground beef chuck (preferably prime grade)
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 large egg, beaten to blend
- 4 (3 1/2 inch) squares ciabatta, halved horizontally
- 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 4 ounces Fontina cheese, thinly sliced
- 8 romaine lettuce leaves
-
GOURMET KETCHUP
- 1⁄2 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon sherry wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh tarragon (we left it out, personal preference)
- 2 pinches crushed red pepper flakes (less if you choose, you can always add more, for that extra zing!)
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
directions
-
PREPARE THE ROASTED TOMATOES:
- Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 500°F
- Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet.
- Arrange the garlic slices on top of the tomatoes and scatter the thyme sprigs over the tomatoes.
- Drizzle with the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Roast until the tomatoes are tender and golden brown on the bottom, about 20 minutes; set aside.
-
PREPARE THE BURGERS:
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy large sauté pan over medium heat.
- Working in batches, lay the prosciutto slices in the pan and cook over medium heat until crisp and golden, about 2 minutes per side.
- Transfer the crisped prosciutto to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy small sauté pan over medium heat.
- Add the shallots.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper and sauté until tender, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in the minced garlic.
- Remove from the heat and cool completely.
- Gently mix the cooled sautéed shallots and garlic with the ground beef, parsley, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, crushed red pepper flakes (if using) 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in a large bowl until well blended.
- Mix in the egg.
- Divide the beef mixture into 4 equal mounds.
- Using a 4-inch ring mold, shape each mound into a patty (optional) can shape them by hand.
- Preheat a grill pan or prepare a barbecue for medium-high heat.
- Brush the cut sides of the ciabatta with butter.
- Grill the ciabatta, cut side down, until lightly toasted, about 2 minutes.
- Place the ciabatta on a plate and cover to keep warm.
- Grill the patties until brown on the bottom, about 3 minutes.
- Turn the patties over.
- Top the patties with the roasted tomatoes and then with the cheese.
- Continue to grill until the patties are cooked to medium-rare doneness, about 3 minutes longer.
-
MAKE THE GOURMET KETCHUP:
- Whisk the ketchup, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, chives, red pepper flakes (optional) & tarragon in a large bowl to blend.
- Gradually whisk in the oil to blend wel &.set the sauce aside.
-
TO SERVE:
- Place the lettuce over the grilled ciabatta bottoms.
- Set the patties on the lettuce.
- Spoon some gourmet ketchup over the burgers.
- Top with the crisped prosciutto.
- Cover with the ciabatta tops.
- Serve the remaining gourmet ketchup alongside.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>Hello all, thank you for visiting My Page but forgive me for it is a work in progress! :) As I am sure you have noticed I changed my Chef Name to Manami which means love & beauty. ;) Just thought I should get with the program - my geisha & my icon! :) Don't fret, I won't change it again! <br /><br />I am 70 years young and I live in a nursing home, which is out of this world, I am treated like a princess and the world is my oyster! I have a private room and during the season I do taxes for most of the staff, as well as my personal clients that have been following me since I left the business world about 25 years ago. I was rear-ended by a van and it turned my whole world upside down. Why dwell on that? <br /><br />I am an American Jew (from NYC) who moved to Havana, Cuba when I was 2 1/2 years old, lived there until a few days after Castro took over and vamoosed it out of that country as fast as my legs would carry me! I was on a forced hiatus from the UofM, due to illness. <br /><br />From there my sister, mother and I went to NYC to work and my father went to Haiti in Port-Au-Prince, where he and my uncle had purchased some tiny cocoa plantations & a chocolate factory - for the choccolate liquer - to make baking chocolate (the real bitter stuff). We joined my father about 2 months later where I spent 2 of the most carefree & wonderful years of my life! It is the stuff that movies are made of! (A la Grace Kelly - even my clothes were like hers)> </p>
<p>I then continued my studies in upstate NY and hated it because it was too, too cold!:( Went back to NYC to work and see what I wanted to do with my life - I was all of 20 years old and had to drop out of school because of illness and then because of the weather! Yuck - so I got a job in a Textile Buying Office as a receptionist and soon I found myself buying trimmings! Loved it and was very happy with the work I was doing. <br /><br />However, I got an offer from two young guys who had a factory in Cleveland, Ohio, where they made Maternity Clothes and they wanted me to be in charge of the shipping dept, keep inventory and in my spare time - help with the designing!! I couldn't pass it up - the offer sounded so great and the salary was twice what I was making in the NYC. So I went to Cleveland, got married, had both my children and got a divorce 15 years later. <br /><br />Then my children and I moved to South Florida and have been here since 1978, I can't count that far back :) <br /><br />Learned how to do taxes with H&R Block and worked simultaneously as a Supervisor in 2 offices for them for 15 years. Then after the accident everything went spiralling downwards until I could no longer walk alone even with a walker - so the next step was a wheelchair. Stayed at home with a lot of help (nurses, PT therapists) fixed the bathroom so I could bathe myself and fixed the kitchen so I could help warm-up meals (was taught how to cook in rehab) and so forth and so on. <br /><br />However, the fire department had other plans for me, I called them too often to pick me up off the floor - how embarassing! So they gave me a choice - either a home or they would have to call HRS! :( (very sad) <br /><br />It was there, in my home where I was robbed! <img title=Cry src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-cry.gif border=0 alt=Cry /> All my cookbooks (all my Julia Childs Cookbooks, my Settlement Cookbook which had been my mothers - published in 1939 - with all her notes) my mother's cookbooks from Cuba & Haiti, all my handwritten recipes. They also took all my Delft collection, some antiques that I had in the kitchen like my rolling pin, a beautiful old & used wooden bowl, a charcoal-iron that was brought north when my parents left Haiti, it was hand-painted & was gorgeous, as well as all the other things that are too numerous to mention! <br /><br />That proved to be the last straw & from there it was an ALF,<img title=Yell src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-yell.gif border=0 alt=Yell /> which was horrible, and then on to another home where the administrator of that home became the administrator here and voila, here I am. <img title=Smile src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif border=0 alt=Smile /></p>
<p>I have a beautiful large private room with a private bath, furnished to my liking: eclectic! <img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /> My room is large enough to house my office and all the other odds and ends with which I like to surround myself.<br /><br />During tax season, mostly, my room is always full (of course I love it that way)! I have a blanket my daughter bought for me in New Mexico and that is on my bed. You guessed it - that is where everbody sits or on my great grandfather's arm chair which is in great shape. <img title=Smile src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif border=0 alt=Smile /> Update 01/11/2008 that time is here again :) Have started doing taxes already and not just regular taxes but corporations, partnerships and 1040X - ammended returns! Whoopee! I love the feeling I get when this time comes around and I get into gear!!! I love it! :) <br /><br />The head chef, the kitchen supervisor & the dietician enjoy the recipes from Zaar; the ones that I post, as well as, the others. We are in the process of changing the menu right now - so we have been doing a lot of figuring. The administrator is so cute because every once in a while she asks for a recipe and then she gives me a pack of paper so I can print them. <img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /><br /><br />I am president of the resident council and most of the family members come to me to take care of their grievances - this way I do my part - and the staff can take care of the larger problems! It has been working for 10 years - why change if it ain't broke?<img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /></p>
<p>Well, it's time to say hasta luego folks. <img title=Laughing src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-laughing.gif border=0 alt=Laughing /><br /><br /></p>