Hamburger Salad with sauteed mushrooms and onions
This salad is perfect for those of you out there who follow the Paleo lifestyle… The great thing about this recipe is by simply adding a few hamburger buns and a handful of fries my kiddos are happy. Any night I only have to make 1 meal is a good night.
Prep for this meal really depends on what you like in your salad…but to make mine a little special, I like to top my burgers with sauteed onions and mushrooms. I usually saute the onions and mushrooms in the same pan I cooked the burgers in. I’ll add a clove or two of garlic to it as well…Yummy!
2 lbs lean ground beef ( I usually make 5 oz or 6 oz burger patties)
4 slices bacon – cooked crisp, drained and crumbled
1 head of sliced lettuce (iceberg or romaine works well)
1 onion (sliced, diced, chopped…totally up to you)
1 tomato – sliced
1 carrot shredded
1 tablespoon mayonnaise ¼ cup cheddar cheese – (or 1 once)
My ranch spice mix
How to Prepare:
Make your hamburger patties and set aside to allow them to come to room temperature. ( make sure to wash your hands well to avoid any cross contamination)
I usually just drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the salad but my wife likes a dressing so this is when I mix that together for her. I take about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of mayo and add about a teaspoon or two of one of my homemade ranch spice mix to it and whisk it up and place it in the fridge.
Next we’re going to get to chopping…
I like my lettuce finely shredded but ripped, cut, chopped…it’s just lettuce so cut it up and place a good handful on a plate.
Next I slice up my onion, tomato and mushrooms…and finally peel and grate my carrot.
Let’s get to cooking this up…
I usually cook my bacon in the oven, if you haven’t tried cooking your bacon in the oven, you’ve got to give it a try…if you’re like me and love your bacon crispy it could very well be a game changer for you!
So I lay out my bacon on a cookie sheet and sprinkle some freshly cracked pepper but not the salt (bacon has more then enough salt). I then place the pan in a cold oven and set the oven to 400 degrees. I have a convection oven and usually by the time the oven comes to temperature the bacon is done, which is usually about 10-12 minutes. Once the bacon is cooked to my desired done-ness, I remove the bacon and place in a few sheets of paper towel and pour about a tablespoon of the bacon grease into my pan which I’ll use to cook up my patties…
If the kids are home and I’m making fries for them…I would add the fries to a baking sheet right after I put the bacon into the oven. As soon as the bacon comes out I adjust the temperature to 450 for the fries and as soon as the new temperature ir reached I pop the fries in and set the timer for 11 minutes.
Next, we’re going to add the patties to the preheated frying pan I added the bacon grease to. I usually crank the heat to high and sear the burger patties for about a minute or two per side to seal in those juices and then I’ll either pop the frying pan right into the oven to finish or drop the heat on the stove to med to finish cooking. Whichever method you choose is totally up to you…just make sure you cook until the internal temp is 165 cause the powers that be say eating raw hamburger can kill ya or get ya sick…I have an electronic meat thermometer close by and use it all the time.
When the eleven minute timer goes off I flip the fries around and place back in the oven for approximately another 11 minutes. This is what works for me for fries…If this is the first time you cook fries follow the directions on the bag. This time works for creating the perfect crispy fries my kids love but might be too crispy for you and your family, so follow the instructions on the bag until you’ve cooked fries a few times and figured out the best timing for you and your kiddos…unless you like um crispy…them by all means follow my times just keep in mind I am cooking in a convection oven, so times may be different if you’re using a conventional oven.
At this point the timer on your fries is probably close and your burgers have reached temperature and have been resting for a few minutes so it’s time to begin putting this all together…If you’re making conventional burgers with buns you’ll have a few other choices…toasted, grilled or straight outta da bag!
I have a bagel toasting feature on my toaster so when my kiddos want them toasted, I drop them in the slots of the toaster facing each other and hit the bagel button. It toasts the buns on the inside but not the outside.
Works like a charm!
If you’re looking for maximum flavor and are a bit of a thrill seeker and aren’t afraid of the heart attack you could fry up that burger bun in the pan drippings from the hamburgers…A bit of common sense is needed here…you’re not deep frying your buns, so if there’s a lot of liquid left in the pan you may have to pour some if not most of it out. Like I said…you just want enough to coat the pan not deep fry the buns.
Most times I try and steer clear of bread due to an autoimmune thing I got going on…so this hamburger salad is perfect when I’m craving a good ole burger…I simply fill a plate by grabbing a huge handful of lettuce, sprinkling some shredded carrot, top it with 2 or 3 tomatoes, add my burgers and finally top it with the mushrooms and onions.