Beef Bourguignon Burgers

I'm going to start this by saying I have never had Beef Bourguignon before. I truly know very little about it, just that it's a delicious sounds red wine and beef dish that I always see on French menus but have yet to try. About a week ago when we were driving home from the cottage the boy and I decided to do burgers for our Sunday night dinner, because it was a nice night for grilling and burgers are easy. Traditionally in our house, the boy makes burgers, not because I can't but because it's his thing. Well it's my turn now.

As I was walking around the grocery store I remembered that I had some mushrooms from our most recent Mama Earth delivery, abottle of red wine and a whole wack of fresh herbs from my new herb garden. The boy and I bought some and then his mom bought me some, I have alot of duplicates but I love fresh herbs and have very little faith in my gardening abilities so it's good for me to have extra! I remembered a few years ago seeing Rachel Ray make a burger version of Beef Bourguignon of it on her show 30-Minute Meals and from what I could tell I had all the necessary ingredients at my finger tips.

I chose not to even glance at Ms. Ray's recipe as I wanted to build this one on my own. I just looked at some Beef Bourguignon recipes and formulated my burger from there. While I know there is no cheese in Beef Bourguignon, I can't have a burger without cheese. Keeping with the French theme I decided to stuff the burgers with brie. The boy and I are on a stuffed burger kick, ever since he made the most amazing blue cheese stuffed burgers ever. I promise to post them some day, they are that good.

Beef Bourguignon Burgers
makes 3 large burgers or 5 smaller

BURGERS
1 1/4 lb lean ground beef
2 cloves garlic - minced
1/2 small onion - chopped
1 Tbsp fresh thyme - chopped
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary - chopped
1 Tbsp Montreal Steak Spice or other grill spice
2 Tbsp red wine
1/2 wedge or more brie - rind removed and cut into 1/2" cubes
3 whole wheat buns
baby spinach

TOPPING
1 lb crimini mushroom or baby bellas - sliced
2 Tbsp unsalted butter - separated
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup red wine
salt & pepper

1. In a large bowl mix together meat, garlic, onions, herbs and steak spice. Once incorporated work in the red wine.
2. Form meat into 6 pancake thin patties. Place 4-5 cubes of brie in the center of three of the patties. Cover with the remaining 3 patties and seal the edges. Place finished burgers in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. Heat olive oil and 1 Tbsp butter in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Once heated and butter is melted add in mushroom. Let cook for 2-3 minutes over medium heat then remove from heat and add in red wine. Return to heat and cook down until wine reduces by half. Salt & pepper to taste. At this point you can remove from heat until burgers come off the grill.
4. Preheat grill to medium low. Grill burgers 8-10 minutes per side for medium. Using the corner of the spatula, poke hole in top just before pulling from grill to let any steam that has accumulate with the cheese melting to escape. While grilling the burgers, lightly toast the buns.
5. To dress place a small handful of baby spinach leaves on the bottom bun, place the burger on the spinach. Then top burger with the mushroom and wine sauce and place the other half of the bun on top. Enjoy!


These burgers were bursting with flavor, from the fresh herbs and red wine and mushrooms. They were really quite easy to put together and so worth it with the richness of the flavors. The boy loved them! And being the burger connoisseur in our house, that means alot. Even though the burgers are stuffed you still get some of the delicious brie oozing out. You could melt the cheese on top but then there goes the surprise of having it stuffed. Either way you should make these burgers soon. Enjoy!