Yes, Yes, Yes. That is all. I have been dreaming up this burger for a while. I love Feta. I love ground beef. I love red onion (new development, thank you changing taste buds). This one hit the mark. My husband said this bun needed to go, it was taking away from the taste and flavor of the burger, so I ate mine with grilled Portabello caps
This burger is super simple, just like it should be. But it has great pops of flavor from the red onion, creaminess from the sheep's feta, subtle hints of the herbs and the grass fed beef brought it all home. 10/10 recommend!
Let's Make It.
I use my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer to mix meatballs and burger meat. Sounds weird, but I really don't like to mix it by hand. This is much easier.
I started by getting 1 lb of grass fed beef into the bowl and adding in my seasonings. Salt, pepper, red chili pepper flakes, dried oregano and paprika. Do a quick mix to get the seasonings well-distributed and then add in the rest of the ingredients.
I used raw red onion, but you could easily throw these into a pan with some olive oil to cook them down a bit. I wanted a little bite from the raw onion, but to create a more subtle onion flavor, definitely cook them for 5 ish minutes until they become translucent, then add to the meat.
I added in my diced fresh herbs, fresh dill, oregano and thyme, as well as the garlic and gave it another quick mix. Next, add in the feta cheese. I used sheep feta because I love the brininess of it. I also love the creaminess of it, but regular feta is just fine too. Mix until just combined. We don't want the feta to breakup so much that there are no longer chunks in the meat. That's half the fun of each bite. A big old chunk of feta cheese.
I have a patty presser so I made a few larger pattys as well as some smaller, kids sized ones. Its important to get the meat tightly together, especially with the larger chunks of feta and red onion so that way the burgers stay together and char nicely on the grill.
Now it's time to move them to a preheated grill! On medium-high heat, ensure your grill grates are clean and get your burgers going.
I actually used my Traeager for this, since I wanted a little hickory smoke infusion, but a regular grill is just fine too. To get the portabello mushroom caps cooked, I drizzled with a bit of olive oil after cleaning well and removing the stem, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and cooked until tender.
While my burgers and mushrooms cooked, I got our burger toppings prepped so everyone could make their own. With 3 little kids in the house, that option of choice is a big deal. Highly recommend :). We did a bit more red onion for my husband and always a little salt and pepper on our tomato slices. Don't skip that step.
With the burgers done, time to plate. We served ours with grilled asparagus and they were definitely a big hit. They also made for a great lunch the next day with some rice and roasted vegetables.
