Every other day at Le Cordon Bleu we have a “lecture day,” these days are usually filled with learning about sanitation, watching slaughter house videos, watching our chef instructor fabricate some meat or watching power point presentations for the subject at hand. However, today’s lecture day was very different. This morning chef rolled into class and told us to break ourselves up into teams of 2-4. I sit next to two gals and so we teamed up right away. Chef then brought out a few blank sheets of paper and 10 pounds of ground beef.

“Y’all have about 10 minutes to come up with a signature burger recipe, then come up and write down the ingredients you need, I’ll go grab ’em for ya and y’all can start cookin’ I’m tired of hearing myself talk so I thought a burger day would be more fun. Ready, have at it!”

The wheels in my head immediately started turning and I asked the girls what they thought about doing a chick burger, and with mischievous looks on their faces we started pulling together our list.

What you’ll need: garlic, mayo, avocado, lime, cayenne, shallot, balsamic vinegar, tomato, oil, arugula, parmesan, ground beef and a ciabatta roll.

Recipe: I apologize that I didn’t take pictures of step by step, so I’ll give you the best details I can.

First, mince up your garlic and scape it like a paste. Add this garlic paste to your mayo and reserve for later.

Then, mash up the avocado- add a touch of lime juice, S&P, and a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper and reserve for later.

We made parmesan crisps for our burgers. Grate up a handful or so of parmesan cheese.  Onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper spread a thin layer of cheese into a circle. Be sure it’s a thin layer, but that all of the cheese touches so it stays together as a crisp. Bake in a low heated oven, about 200 degrees, just for a few minutes until the cheese looks lightly golden. Reserve on the sheet pan to let them set.

For the meat: Finely mince the shallot and fold into the ground beef along with a touch of balsamic vinegar and S&P. We are going to grill these for about 4-6 minutes on each side.

While the burgers grill, slice up the tomato rub them lightly with oil (we used canola) and S&P. Add those to the grill just for a minute or two on each side and then reserve. At this time you can also wilt your arugula in a saute pan as well as toast your ciabatta rolls.

To assemble: Trim down your toasted ciabatta to just fit the size of the patties, we also pulled out some of the middle of the bread to allow the flavors of the condiments to shine. On the bottom slice of bread, spread the garlic mayo mixture. Then top that with the arugula. Top the arugula with the hamburger patty. Top the hamburger patty with the grilled tomato. Top the grilled tomato with the parmesan crisp. On the top bread slice, spread the avocado mixture.

Ta da!

 

After we were done plating up we all brought our finished burgers to the front of the room.

 

Each group went around and explained their dishes. We had a BBQ burger, a Chipotle Mayo/ Peach preserves burger, we had a Brunch burger that had asparagus and a quail egg incorporated, we had a Classic Bacon and Cheese burger, and also our Chick burger.

 

Then we sliced them all up and got to tasting! Everyone made such good burgers and the Chick burger received high praises, especially from some of the boys.

I’ll definitely be making this Chick Burger again.