Monday, November 15, 2010

Thanksgiving Dinner Burger


Ever since I announced the Thanksgiving Dinner Burger Challenge I've been dreaming up all kinds of burger combinations. Ideas were running through my head constantly and then I saw them.....Baked Creamed Pearl Onions, and I knew I had to incorporate them.

My obsession with the creamed pearl onions wouldn't go away so I decided to model my burger after a recipe for sausage stuffing. Using the creamed pearl onions as a topping, I wanted to incorporate all the other elements of the stuffing into the burger. To the ground turkey I added sausage, grated apple, celery and fresh sage. Now for the fun part... the bread. I opted for King Arthur's Stuffing Buns, a sage-scented yeast bun reminiscent of stuffing. To add color and freshness to the burger I decided to top them with a little fresh spinach.

My Thanksgiving Dinner (Sausage Stuffing Inspired) Burgers
Makes 12 mini burgers or 4 regular burgers
1 recipe King Arthur Stuffing Buns, recipe found HERE (Note: Stuffing bun recipe makes 16 mini buns or 8 regular sized hamburger buns)
1 recipe Baked Creamed Pearl Onions, recipe found directly below
About 2 handfuls of spinach

For the burgers:
1 pound ground turkey
1/4 pound sausage
1/2 stalk celery, grated
1/2 red gala apple, grated
4 sage leaves, chopped
1 egg
About 1/2 - 3/4 cup panko or breadcrumbs (enough to bind the mixture)

Prepare stuffing buns, set aside. Prepare baked creamed pearl onions, set aside.

Mix burger ingredients together. Form mixture into 12 mini patties or 4 normal sized burgers. For mini burgers, cook about 3-4 minutes each side.

Place burgers on stuffing bun. Top with spinach and a spoonful (or two) of baked creamed pearl onions.

Baked Creamed Pearl Onions
Original Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup pearl onions, peeled (mine were from the produce dept/could use frozen)
sprinkle with dash of salt and pepper
1 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup crushed buttery round crackers
1/2 cup heavy cream, or enough to cover just the tops of the crackers
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place onions in small ramekin or small casserole dish. Season with salt and pepper. Pour melted butter over onions and sprinkle crushed crackers on top. Pour cream over crackers. Bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, or until bubbly and crackers are golden.

Notes/Results: The turkey burgers themselves were amazing. They were extremely juicy and flavorful from the addition of sausage, grated apple, and grated celery. A very good blend of flavors. The baked creamed pearl onions oozed with cream and looked beautiful pouring down over the burgers. The only issue with these burgers were the stuffing buns. No one liked them. I was a little surprised to find that they were dry (maybe my fault), but also that they lacked flavor and weren't really reminiscent of stuffing in anyway. We ended up eating them on different buns altogether. All in all, the burgers and toppings were a hit, just not the bun.

I had so much fun putting the different elements of this Thanksgiving Dinner Burger together. I'm still toying around with ideas for another Thanksgiving Dinner Burger coming up.

If you'd like to participate in the Thanksgiving Dinner Burger Challenge, please see my original post HERE.

A big thanks to Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies and also to Teresa of A Blog About Food for their contributions, please see each of their links below for further inspiration:
Natashya's Thanksgiving Dinner Burger

Teresa's Favorite Turkey Burger

20 comments:

  1. Kim, this sounds remarkable. I'll really have to give this a try. The combinations sound amazing. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh I can see how these would taste just like Thanksgiving! I like the sausage inspiration for the turkey burger. A lot of wonderful flavors together. Sorry the buns didn't work out. Sure sounded like a good idea!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Drooling over these! What an amazing combination of flavors. I bet I'd love those onions on their own AND on a burger! Brilliant idea, Kim! I'll steer clear of the stuffing buns. Thanks for the tip.

    ReplyDelete
  4. These sound incredible! I love every component - how you incorporated those flavors into your burger and the creamed onions over top. This is a hard one to beat!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love this post! These burgers look and sound absolutely amazing! When I first saw the recipe I thought I've gotta try those buns. After reading the whole post I'm glad I didn't bother making them. Thanks for all the great info you put into your posts!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. What an awesome recipe, drooling over here

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great post Kim! Wonderful pictures too!
    Cheers~

    ReplyDelete
  8. My family prefers turkey burgers so I can't wait to make these for them.(I'll skip the stuffing buns!)
    Mimi

    ReplyDelete
  9. flavorfest burgers! i love the pearl onions, i would never think to put them on a burger, but i bet it was awesome. sorry about the buns, but they sure are pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  10. creamed pearl onions?! YES PLEASE!!! Those look awesome~

    ReplyDelete
  11. They sound amazing! I would rather eat this for Thanksgiving but the Mr. would never have it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kim, what a fantastic idea! My favourite side dish for the holidays has always been creamed onions, ever since I was a little girl. Too bad about the bun, they sounded good! I would be participating in this if I wasn't off on holidays next week. I'll be away for 8 days so I've been busy trying to write up posts for when I get back (as it will take me a while to get back into the swing of things) and there just wasn't time. Your next challenge for sure!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Mmm I want. Especially those buns. Stuffing is already an addiction of mine but this takes it to a whole other level. Amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  14. You are so much fun to visit. I am amazed the stuffing buns were not to your liking - because they do sound flavorful. I love the sausage in the turkey (and would do turkey sausage). This is eye-openong for turkey month. Now if I can do the creamed onions without the cream .... I know. It just wouldn't be the same.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Very unique burger, and I love those pearl onions on top too!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Cant win them all i guess. You know what might be a cool topping? Some kind of cranberry sauce :), especially if you are having problems with it being dry.
    *kisses* HH

    ReplyDelete
  17. I could so go for one of those burgers right now! You are always so creative--I love it! I can't wait to see what other Thanksgiving burgers you have up your sleeve :-)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Oh yum! The baked pearl onions would have just put those burgers over the top! I am sure I could eat that whole platter.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love it! And too funny because I went with a turkey-sausage stuffing and side dish theme on mine which I will get posted today hopefully. Great minds! ;-)

    Those creamy onions on top of yours are just amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  20. When I first saw the picture I was thinking these were topped with mac n cheese (which would have been spectacular too). But the creamy pearl onions are wild too. I love these little sliders, Kim!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment! At the moment I am having a huge problem with spam so I've had to add comment moderation and close off comments to anonymous users. I apologize for the trouble and hope to return my comments to normal shortly.