I was craving a nice healthy custom made burger last night. In my opinion, these are the best kinds of burgers because you can add whatever the hell you feel like adding to a mound of ground beef (or pork or chicken). Unfortunately, when it came time to dress my burger I realized I didn’t have bread, let alone burger buns. I felt instantly crushed and I was already mentally preparing myself to eat a bun-less patty when I saw a bag of pita bread on the counter. Could I make this work? Yeah!
Recipe for 4 burger patties
1 tbsp oil or butter
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped mushrooms
1/2 small zucchini, shredded
1/2 pound lean ground beef
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 or 3 chopped pickled jalapeño peppers
1 egg
¼ cup rolled oats
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp ground pepper
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Large pita bread cut into 4 sections
In a pan or skillet sauté the onion in oil over medium heat. Remove the onions, set aside, and put the mushrooms in the pan to cook until they release their water. Put the onions back in the pan along with the zucchini until it’s just tender. Remove from heat and set aside. In a medium size bowl, mix the ground beef, garlic, jalapeño peppers, egg, rolled oats, paprika, ground pepper, Worcestershire sauce and the sautéed onions, mushrooms and zucchini. Shape into four patties and fry over medium heat for about 5-6 minutes on each side. Place in a quarter piece of pita bread and dress however you like.
