Pocket Slider Burgers

For Christmas our friends Rob and Wendy gave us a fun little kitchen gadget that makes perfect patties for slider burgers and we finally had the chance to use them. We’ve wanted to try it out for a while now, but felt that we didn’t want to add just another burger, so we got creative. These pocket sliders made a perfect appetizer for a Sharks watching party we were going to later that evening. This month we’re getting ready to plant our “Victory Garden” in the back yard. We planned on this last year and failed due to lack of dirt, and a bent thumb on Eric's end. We looked back on why we never finished our planters and the obvious answer was "hammers hurt". Eric needs to get better at aiming that thing. When Eric first described the garden area as our victory garden, Charisse asked "its not a vegetable garden? How do you grow victories?" Okay, so maybe we added that last part for dramatic effect but here in the US and in England a backyard garden holds more meaning than just a fun hobby. Beginning in 1917, American and British citizens were encouraged to grow small portable foods like vegetables and . While victory gardens made a terrific marketing tool, the effect on the home-front was fairly pronounced in a number of ways. Most of the time when someone thinks of a victory garden one conjures images of 1940's war propaganda. In reality both world wars depended on individual households doing everything they could to reduce their draw on existing resources. A garden in the front lawn meant more than just more food on the plate and happier people, there was more food for G.I.s fighting overseas even with a reduced labor pool as so many of the laborers normally involved in agriculture were enlisted. At this point, Charisse began rolling her eyes and summed up Eric's whole lecture with a comment along the lines of "so everyone had more food and was happy". 

Pocket Slider Burgers

What You Will Need

1 lb hamburger meat
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp pepper
a couple dashes of worcestershire sauce
block of white stilton with apricots
1 onion (sliced thin)
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbs olive oil

Pizza Dough

3 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbs yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
pinch of salt

To make dough, dissolve yeast in warm water. Once dissolved, knead into flour mixture, add a pinch of salt and continue to knead until worked into a dough. Let sit.

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, egg and breadcrumbs. Mix well and form into small patties, about the size of a golf ball.

In a skillet heat the olive oil and caramelize the onions and sugar. Set aside.

In a large skillet cook the burgers, flipping once until desired wellness.

Preheat the oven to 425*

To assemble sliders, tear off a small amount of dough, about the size of a golf ball and roll out flat, about 1/4 of an inch. Place a slice of cheese, some caramelized onions, and 1 patty. Pull the edges of the dough around and seal. Place on baking sheet, brush with an egg wash, sprinkle a bit of course salt on top and bake for about 15-20 minutes until the dough is nice and golden brown. Serve hot.