One of my Favorite Flavor Combos Transformed into an Epic Burger Creation

Thanks to HBO, we seem to have fallen into a bit of a Sunday ritual.   It started like this: “Do you and Courtney want to come over and watch Game of Thrones on Sunday night?  You can cook for us!”  Mom framed it like such a bargain that I enthusiastically agreed before I even had time to remember the kicker: I don’t even particularly like Game of Thrones.  Now we head over there every Sunday, Courtney paces while I cook dinner and at 8:55  everyone sprints to the couch.  Courtney and my mom cheer in unison if the TV-MA rating list for the episode is long (Crude Language!  Graphic Violence!!!!!!  SEXUAL CONTENT!).  They’re kind of cute, it’s not that bad of  a deal I suppose.

Well, this particular Sunday we were celebrating my brother’s birthday, so I opened it up to him for menu requests.  In typical male fashion, his favorite happened to be the most recent thing I made for him: the herbed turkey burgers with blueberry-onion compote.  I couldn’t make the same thing twice,  so in typical Jo fashion, I asked for input and then only sort of took it.   But I couldn’t let him down, so I set about coming up with an even better  turkey burger.  After browsing my typical sources to no avail, I decided to fall back on one of my favorite flavor combinations: goat cheese, fig, rosemary and prosciutto.  It’s good on pizza, it had to be good on a burger!

Goat Cheese Stuffed Turkey Burgers Wrapped in Prosciutto with Apples & Fig Preserves atop Homemade Wheat Buns

In my opinion, this burger blew the previous burger out of the water.  In fact, I would venture to say that this burger might be one of the best things I’ve ever created in a kitchen.  I used the same base recipe as last time for the herbed turkey burgers and dutch crunch rolls, but this time I put the goat cheese on the inside.  The sweet fig jam with the salty prosciutto was just as good on a burger as it is on pizza, and  the crunchy apples were a nice touch.

Let me tell you, homemade buns are a total game changer.   For me, a store bought bun is just a filler that I generally choose to go without.  But not these.  These buns totally make the burger.  I made them whole wheat this time, and actually loved them even more, but I’ll warn you I’m a whole-grain kinda girl.

Once you have mixed the herbed turkey burgers (according to the link above) and separated them into patties, indent each using your thumb.

Fill each generously with goat cheese.

Gently work the meat to cover the cheese.   Wrap each patty with a strip of prosciutto (except for mom’s!)

These take a long time to cook… they are thick burgers, and because they are filled with cheese you can’t flatten them too much.  You also have to be careful not to burn the prosciutto.  The cooking time, on a skillet, was about the same 15-20 minutes it took for the buns to cook, possibly a bit longer.  Of course it will be faster if you have a George Foreman or similar type aparatus.

Remove the buns from the oven and allow to cool just long enough to slice them.  Add a heaping tablespoon of fig spread to each bun, splitting it between the top and the bottom.  I used a whole jar for five.  This fig spread is fabulous.  I’ve put it on pizza, toast, and now burgers!  You can find it at Whole Foods, often by the cheese, and some Safeway locations have even started to carry it.

Put the burger on the bun and top with the apples.  Serve these huge burgers and plan to give folks plenty of time to digest before cake!

Johanna