Rachel Ray Sirloin Burgers with garlic-black pepper-parmesan sauce & roasted tomatoes with basil & balsamic drizzle

This is Rachel Ray's Recipe from her Look & Cook cook book. I love this cook book and if you have seen it or own it, you know why. The way I put recipes on this blog is how I best process them, with both pictures AND words. This cook book is A LOT of pictures but also straight forward explanations. I have put her ingredient list and recipe below. I have made it this way and it tastes delicious. But last night I again improvised. I noted the change in ingredients with an underline and I will note the appropriate changes in my step by step. It was still delicious and if I can say I actually think the brioche buns were a revelation!

Serves 4

You need:
3 vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced about 1/4inch thick
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), plus more for drizzling
Salt and pepper, plus 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
2 pounds coarse-ground sirloin (2.5 pounds made 6 burgers)
3 Tablespoons butter
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated (I used my frozen garlic cubes from Trader Joe's)
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk  (I only had 1% milk :)
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (I had a shredded 6 cheese italian blend which included Parmigiano-Reggiano, mozzarella and some yummy others)
Balsamic drizzle, store-bought, or reduce 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar with 3 Tablespoons brown sugar over medium heat until thick and syrupy, a couple minutes
7 to 8 red romaine lettuce, shredded ( I used regular romaine because that's what I had)
4 Kaiser rolls, toasted ( I used Brioche buns from Trader Joe's OH MY GOODNESS!)
1/2 cup basil leaves, 8-10 thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 325ºF.

Place a cooling rack over a baking sheet. Arrange tomatoes on the rack then drizzle with a touch of EVOO and season the tomato slices with salt and pepper. Roast tomatoes 45 minutes

When the tomatoes are about ready, place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons. While the pan is heating up combine the sirloin with some salt and pepper and form into 4 patties, thicker at edges and thinner in the center for even cooking and to insure you end up with a flat burger as the burger bulges up during cooking. Cook patties 10 minutes for medium-rare patties turning once. Cook 12 minutes for pink centers and 14 minutes for well-done. 

While the patties are cooking, place a small pot over medium-high heat with the butter. Add the garlic to the melted butter and cook for about 1 minute. Add the flour to the pan and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk the milk into the butter-flour mixture and bring up to a bubble. Simmer until the sauce has thickened, about 2 minutes. Season with salt, lots of pepper (about 1 teaspoon) and stir in the cheese.

Prepare balsamic drizzle in small pot if not using store-bought.

To assemble, place some lettuce on the bun bottom and top with a burger patty, pour Parmigiano sauce over top, set a roasted tomatoes in sauce, scatter basil over burgers and garnish balsamic drizzle, set tops in place. 

Now this is how I made our dinner last night. I served these burgers with a stand-by in our house Roasted Yukon Gold Potato Wedges

      

I rinse my potatoes cut them in wedges, drizzle them with olive oil in a bowl and salt & pepper to taste.

 Then I put them on a foil lined pan (saves on clean up, not for any other reason) Roast them at 375-400 degrees depending on your oven. Until they are golden, then test them, by tasting of course to make sure they are all the way done. If they are too brown and not done yet put them on a lower rack and/or cover them with foil until they are done. 

I just sprinkle freshly ground sea salt and course black pepper onto the ground sirloin and form into patties. I have tried several times to do this how Rachel Ray says to do this, by make a dent in the center and pinching the edges in. Her theory was that it makes for a flatter burger because they bulge up during cooking. Maybe that is the case when cooking them on the stove? We always grill ours so I have ended up every time with burger patties that look a little more like meatballs and don't reach the edge of our buns. Last night I made them like you see below. They turned out better. Joe heated up our grill and grilled them on medium until they were done. He likes his medium rare (145 degrees) and I like mine medium (150 degrees), Keegan likes his medium well (155 degrees) so he has to be aware of what he is doing. The other kids go back and forth flirting with vegetarianism when it comes to burgers :) Last night they had flame grilled grilled cheese on Brioche Buns with potato wedges and the yummiest crunchiest grapes! And just a note, yes Joe cooked on Father's day, because it is one of his favorite things to do :)And because I am horrible at it.

 

For the tomatoes I did use vine ripened and I did slice them thick, but I think I could have gone thicker

I actually searched everywhere for my  balsamic vinegar, gave up poured some balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing on the tomatoes because I was desperate, then found this... see below...

Seriously staring me right in the face! Yikes!

You'll need the balsamic for later :)

For the garlic-black pepper- Parmesan sauce you need. 3 Tbsp of butter, 2 garlic cloves finely chopped or frozen :) I think I even crushed it one time. 2 Tbsp. flour. About a teaspoon of black pepper. 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of cheese.

 Melt the butter, add the garlic cook for 1 minute

Add the flour mix together, cook for a minute.

Add the milk and black pepper. Bring to a bubble.

Add the cheese. Simmer until the sauce is thickened about 2 minutes. I then removed it from heat until I was ready to serve, and then reheated it for a minute just to make it "melty" again.

For the reduction I just poured my 1/2 cup of balsamic into a pot and added my 3 Tbsp. brown sugar. Stirred it up and let it heat over medium heat until it got thick and syrupy. A couple minutes maybe.

These are the amazing buns! My friend posted about brioche on facebook and my mom and I got obsessed. She picked these up for me at T.J's and I may go buy them out today. I usually use Kaiser Rolls which are a go to in our house over hamburger buns any time, but Holy Smokes! These brioche buns could take me so many places! I have recipes dancing in my head as we speak! 

Here are my potato wedges. They are kind of making my mouth water, just to look at them.

Here are the burger patties. Now I usually use ground turkey for everything! But I did go get sirloin for this recipe the very first time I made it and have craved the ground beef sirloin ever since. I am all for the health benefits of ground turkey all the rest of the time, but you just can't beat a nice beef burger!

Joe grilled the buns on the BBQ and again I must say the brioche didn't get that hard toast consistency they were still light and fluffy inside and buttery smooth on top, but the perfect amount of toastiness! If that is a word :)

Rachel Ray layers her lettuce and then puts chopped basil on a different layer, but I chopped my lettuce and basil and mixed it together. That's just me though.

You'll notice I didn't roast the tomatoes on a cooling rack. It was one less thing to clean and though a little mushy they still tasted great. In fact Joe who HATES tomatoes even likes these on this burger. If they were too firm and "real tomato like" he wouldn't like them. 

I put the garlic-parm sauce on one side of the bun, the tomatoes on the other.

Then I put the lettuce/basil mixture on one side, the patty on the other.

Sorry this picture kind of stinks, but I drizzle on the balsamic, too taste. Joe less, me more :)

Stack and get ready to be blown away! The flavor combo's are to die for! Thank you Rachel Ray!