Before I even made them, I was so excited about them. But after I made them, the excitement grew times a million. Now that I finally get to tell you all about them I am just ecstatic.
I do realize that I sound a little crazy right now. I know these are only burgers, BUT they are really not just any burger.
I am deeming these the official burger of summer because they offer some of summer’s greatest treasures. Plus a little browned butter and bacon…
Sorry, I couldn’t resist adding those two. They just scream, “put me with some lobster”.
Anyway, let’s talk about how to build this incredible burger. First, you start with the patty. To keep things a little cheaper I used a combo of lobster and shrimp. I think I used more lobster than shrimp, but use what you budget allows. To the seafood, you add some Panko, lemon, a pinch of cayenne and what I like to call the magic ingredient, Gruyère cheese. I swear it makes the patties just melt in you mouth. So good. The only down side to these patties is that I don’t really think you should attempt to cook them on the grill. I actually tried that first and while I was able to get them to stay together, they stuck to the grill a little. It is just a lot easier if you fry them in a skillet. If you have a cast iron skillet, I would put that on the grill and cook them that way if you don’t want to heat up your stove top.
After the patties comes the Browned Butter Lemon Aioli. Here is the thing, I normally despise any kind of aioli because mayo really grosses me out, but lately it’s been working for me, and it ESPECIALLY works for these burgers. Like you cannot skip it. Not only does it have browned butter, but it has sweet thai chili sauce making it a little spicy and a little sweet. It may seem odd, but sometimes those odd combos really work and this is definitely one of those times. I promise the aioli is worth making.
And now one of my favorite toppings, the salsa. It is basically summer all packed into a delicious salsa. The base is sweet grilled corn and sweet peaches mixed together with fresh summer basil, some jalapeño, a little lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Perfection
And then of course there’s the bacon and avocado. Can’t skip those either.
Oh and we can’t forget the buns. You NEED good buns. I made brioche buns with a sprinkle of sea salt on top and they were perfect. I recommend either brioche, potato or pretzel buns, but I really love the brioche buns!
And maybe a side of crispy baked fries too, because what’s a burger without a side of fries?
Oh, and an ice-cold glass of watermelon lemonade…or maybe a cold beer. Ahh gotta love summer!
