America's Test Kitchen "Dish It Your Way" Challenge: Burgers!

Over the course of the summer, I’ll be participating in the America’s Test Kitchen “Dish It Your Way” Blogger Challenge.  The “Dish It Your Way” asks blogger to recreate an American classic dish throughout the summer, share the recipe, and tell a story.  This week: Burgers.

Each year when we return to Chicago, we have a few mandatory stops, and a local bar – restaurant tops our list.  It’s a small place that boasts the best burgers, a ghost, and has peanuts on the table that are shucked right onto the floor.  To Christophe, it is folkloric, and I often try to schedule our stop on a Monday so we can watch Monday Night Football in the bar just to put the icing on the cake for him.  This place is Americana at its best and encompasses all that I want when I go out for a burger and a beer.

The first time I took Christophe there, he ordered a buffalo burger; not buffalo as in the hot sauce he now loves, but as in buffalo meat.  He was hooked on his first bite and hasn’t strayed from his order since.  I thought hard about our evenings there for this round of America’s Test Kitchen “Dish It Your Way” challenge.  With the bar raised so high, there is no way I can compete by creating simply a ground beef burger, so I’ve decided to take a completely different route.  Many of the ingredients in my burger are typically French and might not be even available in the United States (Can regionally controlled unpasteurized goat’s milk cheese be imported in the United States anymore?), but that’s what make this Galette d’ Epinards au Rocamadour.  It can also be pronounced Spinach Burgers with Goat Cheese.

Save us a place in the bar this winter.  We like the table by the chimney under the mounted boar’s head where we have an unobstructed view of the football game and a basket full of peanuts.

Spinach Burgers with Goat Cheese

The burger:

1 8 ounce packet of frozen chopped spinach

1 cup bread crumbs

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

¼ cup grated emmental cheese

3 beaten eggs

½ cup, plus 2 tablespoons of softened unsalted butter

2 tablespoons of Herbs de Provence

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

The toppings:

1 portion Rocamadour cheese (This is an unpasteurized, whole milk goat cheese with a creamy rich texture and a pungent odor.  The semi soft Mothais-sur-feuille can be substitute, but dry, crumbly goat cheeses should be avoided since they will not melt well.)

A few slices of Toulouges sweet onions

Batavia salad

Cook spinach and drain well.  Once cooled, combine all ingredients and form into 6-8 burger-sized patties.  Freeze overnight.

To cook, place the frozen patties in a non-stick pan over medium heat.  Cook undisturbed for 5-6 minutes allowing bottoms to brown.  Turn patties over, cover, and cook 5-6 more minutes on low heat.  When interior temperature reaches 160 F, place one portion (35 grams) of Rocamadour cheese on the burger.  Cook for 1-2 minutes more, allowing the cheese to melt.  Top with Toulouges sweet onions, and a few leaves of Batavia salad.

Serve with fries.