Grilling: The Stuffed Burger – Part 1

One week start to finish we built our deck, then the rain came.  It rained, and rained all last week, but never fear we grilled in the rain on our new deck a couple of times anyway.  Wanted to share one of our favorite grill recipes with you, stuffed burgers.  Warning… you need an appetite for these suckers!  They come in at a 1/2 pound each stuffed with cheese and topped with cheese.  Also we have some interesting activity going on around the farm, please scroll a little farther down the page to meet Henny… our broody chicken and the experiment we are trying with her!

Stuffed Hamburgers {Part 1, in part 2 I share how to make the awesome buns!}

Ingredients Needed: (Serves 2, so just adjust to your crowd size)

• 1 Pound of Ground Beef – we like to use grassfed from Creswick farms – check out them!  (Creswick Farms)
• Salt and Pepper to taste – we use about a scant tsp of each
• 1 Jalapeno finely chopped – optional but adds great flavor
• 1 Small Onion finely chopped – optional but adds great flavor
• 1 Small Clove of Crushed Garlic – optional but adds great flavor – I think we forgot the garlic this time around & they were still great!
• Slices of Cheese – what ever flavor sounds best to you, we have used cheddar, pepper jack, and mozzarella before.
• 2 Hearty Buns that will hold the burger and toppings, we stumbled upon the perfect recipe which I will share in part 2 of this post later this week.

Directions:

In a large bowl combine above ingredients, less the cheese, and mix.  Dig right in there with your hands, really feel like you are creating your burgers.  See picture below.

Then divide into 4 parts, and shape two of the four parts into patties.  We like to shape them on wax paper so they do not stick as much since you have to get them somewhat thin.  Once shaped into a large flat patty (about 5 inches in diameter) top with a slab or two of cheese.  Speaking from experience, use slices of cheese rather than shredded.  See picture below, shows better than I can explain about how much cheese to add, an average amount is perfect.

Next create two more patties with your remaining parts, that are just as large at the first.  Then put over top of the cheese and seal the burger sides together with a fork.  See photo below.

Then heat up your grill and cook to your desired “doneness”.  While cooking on the grill the cheese will melt inside.  For the last minute or so of grilling top the burgers with more cheese and melt on.  They kind of cook up like a flying saucer, a bit rounder in the middle but they are wonderful.  The cheese in the center keeps the meat moist and the ingredients incorporated in the meat add wonderful flavor.  Here is a picture of the final product coming off the grill, decorate and eat as you like!   Later this week the buns, as pictured below, so easy to make and have enough substance to hold up to a hamburger like this!!!

Now switching gears for a moment…

  Meet Henny – our broody chicken.  Interesting fact, did you know chickens can count to 13?  A chicken will lay 2 eggs every 3 days on average.  Once she lays 13 eggs she goes broody and starts to nest on them until they hatch into chicks.  Of course you need a rooster to ensure the eggs are fertilized (which we have).  If you take the eggs out of the nesting box before they get to 13 they will keep laying.  Which is what you normally do if you want farm fresh eggs.

Thus Henny here has decided it is time to hunker down on her eggs, and get up to 13 laid.   Essentially she never leaves her box but to get food because she is working on getting 13 eggs in her box.  Sometimes when she hops out to get food another chicken might hop up into the nesting box lay an egg, then Henny takes her stop back, so she is getting a bit of help…  Currently she has about 6 or 7 eggs under there from what we can tell.  We have decided to let her brood and hatch these eggs once she gets up to 13.  Will keep you posted on her and if we get any chicks, sometimes chickens can give up brooding and just abandon the eggs (they are chickens after all, thus not the brightest)… we have never done this before, so we shall see what happens.

Please let me know if you have any comments or questions!  Enjoy ~ Megan