Bleu Cheese Stuffed Green Goddess Burgers

Pairs well with:

Merlot

Get cozy and get pouring. Our Merlot is the wine for long weekends and lengthy chats.

Ingredients

Green Goddess Sauce:
3/4 cup prepared mayonnaise
1 ripe Haas avocado
3 Tbsp. champagne vinegar
12 oil packed anchovy filets, well drained
6 green onions, washed and root ends removed
3 Tbsp. fresh tarragon
3 Tbsp. fresh flat leaf parsley
3 Tbsp. fresh chervil
3 Tbsp. fresh basil
3/4 tsp. fine sea salt
1 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Burgers:
12 oil packed anchovy filets, well drained and minced and smashed with the side of a knife
6 green onions, washed and root ends removed, minced
2 Tbsp. fresh tarragon, minced
2 Tbsp. fresh flat leaf parsley, minced
2 Tbsp. fresh chervil, minced
2 Tbsp. fresh basil, minced 3/4 tsp.
fine sea salt
3/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
6 oz. Pointe Reyes or Maytag Bleu Cheese, crumbled
1 3/4 lb. ground chuck, 80% lean, 20% fat
To Season the Tomato Slices:
3 large beef steak tomatoes, washed and sliced about 1/4" thick (you will need 12 slices) 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
To Finish the Burgers:
6 challa or brioche style hamburger size buns, split
avocado or grapeseed oil for oiling the grill, and burgers
6 uncooked burgers,
12 oz. Pointe Reyes or Maytag bleu cheese (from step #3), sliced-if you can't get it sliced just crumble it 
Green Goddess Sauce
Seasoned Tomato Slices

 

Instructions

1) Prepare your grill: FOR A GAS GRILL: If you have a grill that has more than one section, heat one section to high and one to medium. If you only have one section, heat it to medium. 2) For the Green Goddess Sauce: Place the 3/4 cup prepared mayonnaise, 1 ripe avocado (cut in half, seed and skin/peel removed), 3 Tbsp. champagne vinegar, 12 oil packed anchovy filets, 6 green onion, 3 Tbsp. fresh tarragon, 3 Tbsp. fresh flat leaf parsley, 3 Tbsp. fresh chervil, 3 Tbsp. fresh basil, 3/4 tsp. fine sea salt and 1 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper into a food processor or blender and process or blend until smooth (about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, stopping the machine and scraping down the sides once or twice), Scrape green goddess sauce into a small mixing bowl, cover and set aside (chill if not serving burgers within 1 hour). 3) For the Burgers: Place the 12 minced and smashed anchovy filets, 6 minced green onion, 2 Tbsp. minced fresh tarragon, 2 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley, 2 Tbsp. minced fresh chervil, 2 Tbsp. minced fresh basil, 3/4 tsp. fine sea salt, 1 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper and 6 oz. crumbled bleu cheese into a large wide mixing bowl. Use your hands to thoroughly combine this mixture. NOTE: You want it uniformly and thoroughly mixed so that when you add the beef, you will not have to handle it any more than necessary. When the anchovy/herb/cheese mixture is evenly combined, crumble the ground chuck over the mixture in the bowl and use your hands to toss the beef with the mixture-like a salad-crumbling the beef chunks as you mix. You want to handle the meat as little as possible while still mixing it evenly and thoroughly. When mixed thoroughly, divide into 6 burgers/patties (a slightly rounded or "heaping" 3/4 cup meat mixture per burger-if you have a little meat mixture left over, make the chef a little spicy meat ball). Form each portion into a patty that is about 4 1/2" in diameter. Place burgers onto a clean platter and cover with plastic wrap. Chill the burgers if you are not planning to grill them in the next 45 minutes to 1 hour. 4) To Season the Buns and Cook the Burgers: Line 2 large plates with a double thickness of paper towel. Place the tomato slices onto the paper towel lined plates in one layer. Use the 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt and 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper to season the tomatoes evenly. 5) To Prepare the Buns and Cook the Burgers: Make sure your grill is heated to medium high heat. Prepare the buns by creating a "divot" in the top bun: remove a little of the excess bread from the inside of each top bun leaving a shell of even thickness. Use a little avocado or grapeseed oil to lightly oil both sides of the uncooked burgers, the grill (all of the burners should be on high heat) and the cut sides of the buns. Place the burgers onto the oiled grill and cook for 3-4 minutes per side (you are aiming for about 135-140 degrees internal temperature-they will stay very juicy and moist because of the herbs and cheese-if you like your burgers more well done, cook 1-2 minutes longer per side), turning them once. Remove the burgers as they are done from the grill to a clean plate and top each hot burger with 2 oz. of the sliced or crumbled bleu cheese. Tent teh cheese topped burgers with aluminum foil to slightly melt the cheese and keep warm while you toast the buns. Place the buns, cut sides down onto the grill (around the edges), and cook for 1-2 minutes or until warm and toasted. Remove the toasted buns to 6 serving plates (one top and one bottom bun to each plate), cut sides up. 6) Finish the Burgers: Spread about 2 Tbsp. of the Green Goddess Sauce onto the cut sides of each top (spread in the "divot") and bottom bun (2 Tbsp. for the top and another 2 Tbsp. for the bottom). Blot the tomato slices dry with paper towel and place 2 slices onto each bottom bun. Place one cooked cheese topped burger onto each bottom bun. Flip the top buns onto the burgers (the cheese will be sort of nestled in the "divot") and serve (you may have extra Green Goddess Sauce -save it for another day!!) Serves 6.