You know you’ve got a winning recipe on your hands when a guy who never looks at catalogs, rarely cooks from a recipe, and insists he doesn’t eat red meat, goes gaga over a picture of a burger.
That’s what happened when I was away in New York for the James Beard Awards.
The latest Napa Style catalog came in our mail. My husband took one look at the cover photo (shown here), flipped through the pages to see what it was, dashed out to the supermarket to buy the ingredients, then cooked two of the fat, cheesey beauties for dinner for our son and himself.
And, he’s volunteered to make dinner for the family several times since then, duplicating the tantalizing treat each time.
Here’s the recipe for the beckoning burger. And, by the way, Napa Style is a very appealing catalog that’s described as a “multi-channel lifestyle retailer.” That means it has a vast array of food, wine, cookware, home furnishings, tableware and gifts for every occasion. It’s the brainchild of multi-talented chef Michael Chiarello, who opened his first restaurant, Tra Vigne, in the Napa Valley in 1986 and went on to create an empire of eateries before turning his attentions to Napa Style.
STUFFED MOZZARELLA AND CHILI PASTE HAMBURGERS
Serves: 4
2 pounds ground chuck
Sea salt, preferably gray sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Fresh Mozzarella
Chili Paste, chili flakes or anything hot
1 loaf good crusty bread, cut into 4 sections
Directions
Preheat the grill. In a bowl, mix the meat. Form 4 (3-ounce) patties by using a scoop. Push them down and make little indentations in the middle to hold the flavors. Place a chunk of mozzarella and drizzle some chili paste or chili flakes on top of the mozzarella. Add a good twist of black pepper. Take another 3-ounce scoop of meat, make it flat in your hand and place right on top of the other half.
Take your fingers and just seal the 2 patties up and refrigerate until you are ready to grill.
Meanwhile: Split the pieces of bread, and pull out some of the soft center to make a hole for the burger. Place the bread face down on the grill to toast.
Place the burger in the bread, and top with your favorite condiments.
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