Burger Night!

Few things bring me as much happiness as a fat, juicy cheese burger.   I mean it's just good for the SOUL.  Then toss some tots on the side and you have yourself a red, white & blue meal.

Thanks to my wonderful Mother-in-law who sent us a very nice package from Omaha Steaks we had some nice hamburger patties for me to cook up.  I just seasoned them liberally with crushed black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and sea salt.  Then in a blazing hot skillet I melted some real butter and threw the burgers down.  I cooked at high temp for about 3 mins a side to get a nice medium-rare - these were pretty thin pattys so you might want to up the time if you are forming your own FAT patties.

Now the burger is a magical vehicle for creativity, because you can really dress it up and top it with whatever you like and chances are no matter what...it's gonna taste good.  I like the classic American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and raw red onion as much as I like the more crazy burger varietals out there.  So I just simply twisted the classic a bit and took the lettuce, tomato, and onion and chopped them up and dressed in bleu cheese dressing, making a nice little salad to top my burger that I have topped with two slices of melted American cheese.  All that between two toasted buns (I like the potato buns - rich and buttery - sooo good)....let me stop here for a second...I can't stress enough the importance of a toasted bun...so, whatever you do to top the burger, you must, must at least toast the bun.  If you don't you are missing out on all that added flavor and texture.  I toasted my buns, or rather grilled them by putting them face down in the same pan I had cooked the burgers in, soaking up some of the left over juice and butter from the burgers and grilling them until golden brown.  Then toss some tots on the side and dig in!  The first bite is a doozy, so make it a big one.