Eat Together, Make Life Delicious...

I love mini burgers: they are easy to prepare, can be designer made, and most recently, are an affordable meal. With 5 mouths to feed and the mounting concern of keeping family meal on budget, mini burgers provide lots of opportunity for great value and flavor.

For starters, mini burger pattys can be made with just about anything: beef, chicken, buffalo, tuna, or shrimp. Whatever is available and most affordable based on where you live. And if you mix it up and serve a few different types, every burger is unique, making dinner just that much more exciting.

Next, it's really important to focus on small details. What do I mean? To dress up the patty I like to toast regular inexpensive bread in a waffle iron. The indentations add some finesse.

Also, instead of using store-bought ketchup, what about just dressing it up with a dash or sauteed onions or a bbq sauce.

The real trick is to take something ordinary and make it extraordinary.

And once you have this concept down pat, it will become routine in your kitchen and allow you to make every meal that much more full of potential.

Mini Burgers with Waffled White Bread
Makes 4 Servings

3 pieces sliced white bread, crusts removed
9 ounces ground beef, or ground meat or seafood of your choice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons chopped parsley, plus 12 sprigs, for garnish
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 thin slices Cheddar cheese, about 2 inches square

Preheat an electric nonstick waffle iron to medium. Place a slice of trimmed bread in the center of the hot iron and press down hard to toast and perforate the bread for 1 minute, or until the waffle design has browned itself onto the bread. When toasted, cut each slice into square pieces about 1 inch by 1 inch. You should have enough bread for 12 mini-burgers.

In a medium bowl, combine the beef, salt, and chopped parsley, and mix well with your hands. Remove a heaping tablespoon of the mixture—a little less than 1 ounce—and roll it into a ball. Flatten it slightly into a patty no thicker than 1 inch. Repeat until you have made 12 mini-burgers.

Warm a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Slick the skillet with the olive oil. (Alternatively, if you’re using a grill, cook the mini-burgers on a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil perforated several times with a fork to allow the juices to drip away.) Cook the beef burgers (see below for other meats and doneness), no longer than 1 minute per side for medium-rare, topping with the optional cheese as soon as you flip. Serve each burger between 2 slices of waffled bread, with a sprig of parsley on top.

Cooking Times:
Beef: 1 minute per side for medium-rare
Chicken and Turkey: 2 minutes per side, or until opaque inside
Buffalo: 1 minute per side for medium-rare
Salmon and Shrimp: 1½ minutes per side, or until just opaque inside

Labels: Comfort Food, mini burgers, potential, small bites