Cherry-burgers Jubilee

Pairs well with:

Merlot

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

Ingredients

2 tsps salted butter.
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced.
2 cloves garlic diced finely.
1/2 tsp ground chipotle pepper.
1 pound montmorency cherries, pitted
1 tsp. lime juice
1 cup Sutter Home Merlot
1 large soft salted beef bouillion cube 
1 large soft beef bouillion cube
1 cup Sutter Home Merlot
1 cup dried montmorency cherries, chopped
2 pounds ground chuck
2 tsps salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
(1/4 cup vegetable oil to brush grill with)
6 ounces baby spinach leaves, washed and dried and slightly shredded.
6 Light rolls such as snowflake rolls or Portugese rolls, split.

 

Instructions

Cherry sauce: Place butter in medium saucepan, and turn on heat. Add onion, garlic and ground pepper, and saute until onions are transparent and just beginning to brown. Add cherries, lime juice, Merlot and bouillion cube, mix well and reduce over lowest heat until mixture is glossy, and slightly thick. Remove from heat and take mixture to grill, where it will be used as a grilling sauce and as a condiment on the finished sandwiches. Burgers: In a large bowl, allow beef bouillion cube to dissolve in the Merlot. When the cube is dissolved into the wine, add the chopped dried cherries, ground chuck salt and black pepper. Mix well, allow to rest 15 minutes, then shape into 6 equal sized patties. Brush grill wit vegetable oil. Sear both sides of burgers in middle of grill and then finish cooking just off of center of heat. Brush on cherry sauce as a grilling glaze and allow to carbonize. Test center of a burger- it should be grey brown with just a hint of pink. Place a thin layer of spinach leaves on the bottom half of the split snowflake or portugese rolls, and place one burger on each roll. Top burger lavishly with spinach, cherry sauce, and the other half of the bun.