A Fancy Taste of Summer: Burgers with Caramelized Onions & Mushrooms, and Rosemary Fries

 

Allright everyone, the weather is getting NICE. And when the weather gets nice, that means it's time to break out the grill and start making burgers. Or, if you're in New York City and don't have any way to grill without giving yourself carbon monoxide poisoning, you can break out the grill pan.

Now while there's certainly a lot to be said for the plain old Ron Swanson burger (btw, if you get the reference, let us know in the comments and win our enduring love and respect!), if you can't cook over charcoal, you might feel the need to fancy things up.

That's what this post is for. We'll show you how to cook up some perfectly caramelized onions and mushrooms, create a nice, spicy sauce, and give you the recipe for some brilliant rosemary fries to go along with the burgers. Read on!

Making the Dish
What You'll Need

1/4 lb burger meat per burger, preferably 85% or 90% lean
1 bun per buger
1/4 cup olive oil
3 - 4 sprigs rosemary
2 russet potatoes
1/2 onion, sliced
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp, sherry vinegar

Salt, pepper to taste

1 tbsp mayonnaise

1 tbsp mustard

1 tsp sriracha 

1/2 tsp red wine vinegar

First things first, you'll want to start with the caramelized mushrooms and onions because they will take the longest. In a medium saucepan, melt a tablespoon of the butter and drizzle in about a tablespoon of the olive oil. Then throw in your sliced onions. Let them start to cook down on medium heat. Low and slow sort of thing. First they'll get soft and slighty translucent. After about 10 minutes or so, they'll start to turn a little golden.

At this point, add in your mushrooms and let them start to cook down as well. Soon, they'll start to exude their liquid. When that liquid evaporates, add in the sherry vinegar and toss it around with the onions and mushrooms. Continue to cook while that sherry vinegar evaporates. At this point you can turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for another 10 minutes or so, until everything else is done. Make sure you don't go too far and let it burn. 

While the onions and mushrooms are simmering away, you can start on your rosemary fries. Heat your oven to a nice hot  475 degrees and take out a large non-stick skillet. Add in the olive oil and heat it up, tossing in two sprigs of rosemary. After a few seconds, it'll start to sizzle a bit. Let this keep going but be careful not to burn it. What we're trying to do here is infuse the rosemary flavor into the olive oil. 

Wash the potatoes and cut them into wedges. Season them with salt and pepper. Then, carefully place them into the hot olive oil, 4 or 5 at a time so as not to crowd the pan. Let them get nice and crispy on one side, then turn them over and let them get nice and crispy on the other side. Once totally crisp, remove them from the olive oil, let the excess oil drip off, and place them in a baking pan. Continue until all the potatoes have been crisped. 

Chop up the remaining rosemary into a small dice and scatter over the fries in the pan. You can also liberally sprinkle salt over them as well. Then, pop them into the oven for about 15 - 20 minutes, until the fries are nice and baked through, golden brown, and awesome. 

To make our magical sauce, it's simply a matter of stirring the mayo, mustard, sriracha, and red wine vinegar together until it emulsifies. Taste, and adjust the ingredients as you'd like. If it's too spicy, add more mayo. If it's not mustardy enough, add more mustard. You get the idea. 

Cook the burgers however is best for your situation. If you have a grill, we envy you, and will be joining your ranks soon! If not, use the indoor pan like we recommended in our indoor grilling instructions episode. 

Finish off the caramelized onions and mushrooms by removing from heat and adding in half a tablespoon of butter, and swirling around. This will give it a nice creamy consistency. 

Then, put it all together by spreading some sauce on your buns, placing the burgers on top, and topping with a ladle of the caramelized onions and mushrooms. Serve with the rosemary fries on the side, and enjoy the fruits of your labor and the wonderful summer-ish weather!

Got a favorite burger recipe? Let us know in the comments!

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