As seen on The Great American Recipe S3, EP7.
Burgers in sauce is a very long time family dish…so familial, that I had three different recipe cards for it, even one from my childhood baby sitter. Small burgers are floured and fried, then simmered in a sweetly spiced tomato sauce, which is finally thickened with ginger snap cookies. I fondly recall this dish from my childhood for weekend dinners, always served with mashed potatoes and a green vegetable. This dish has some German nods to both Frikadellen (German Hamburgers) and Saurbraten sauce.
Ingredients
For the Burgers…
2 pounds ground beef, 90/10 lean
4 tablespoons Quick-cooking Oatmeal
4 tablespoons Milk
2 teaspoons Dried Minced Shallot or Onion
Salt and pepper
1 cup All purpose flour
2-4 tablespoons Neutral oil, vegetable or olive oil is fine
For the Sauce…
48 ounces Tomato Passata, such as Delallo or Cento
1/2 cup Chili sauce, such as Heinz
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Chili powder
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon Ground Cloves
1/4 teaspoon Red pepper flakes
1/14 cup Crushed Ginger Snap Cookies
For the Mashed Potatoes…
3 pounds Yukon, Gold, potatoes, peeled and chopped into one to 2 inch chunks.
6 tablespoons Butter, cut into 5-6 chunks
3-4 tablespoons Half-and-half or milk
3-4 tablespoons Sour cream
1/2 -1 teaspoon Salt and
1/4 teaspoon pepper
For serving and garnish…
2-3 tablespoons Chopped Flat-leaf Parsley
Instructions
If making burgers along with mashed potatoes, begin with the potatoes. Roughly peel (leaving a small bit of skins) and cut potatoes into 1 inch dice, adding the potatoes to a 5-7 quart stock pot filled with cold water. Once all potatoes are added, drain water and replace with fresh cold water, covering potatoes by about an inch. Place pot on the stove over high heat, partially covered. Once to boil, add one tablespoon salt. Boil for 15-20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
Meanwhile, place a cast iron flat top grill pan over medium heat, while you start on the burger mix.
For the burgers… begin by heating the milk in a microwave safe liquid measure, then add the oatmeal and minced onion to the hot milk. Let stand for 1 minute.
Place ground beef in a larger mixing bowl, then add oatmeal mixture, and use a fork to mix through. Form burger into small 2 ounce patties, and transfer to a half sheet pan to rest. Salt and pepper both sides the burgers, then dredge burgers in a shallow bowl of flour.
Add 1-2 tablespoons of neutral oil to the preheated grill pan, followed by the burgers. Fry each side until nicely browned.
Meanwhile, in a 5-7 quart Dutch oven, over medium high heat, combine all ingredients for the sauce, except the ginger snap cookies. Heat until simmering, then continue on a medium low simmer. Once burgers are browned on both sides add them to the simmering sauce. Careful to stir gently and submerge, without breaking up the burgers. Simmer all of the burger in the sauce for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, add the ginger snap cookies to the sauce, and stir to combine, cooking 5 minutes longer.
By this time potatoes should be done. Check potatoes with fork for doneness. Drain off water, then mash lightly with a potato masher. Add cubed butter, half & half, sour cream, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. There should be light chunks and flecks of potato skin in the mash. Cover and set aside for later.
For final assembly, serve each portion a large dollop of mashed potatoes, two of the burger, and sauce over top. Add parsley overtop. Enjoy!
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