Real Pizza Burgers
Real Pizza Burgers
My husband and I have ordered pizza burgers in restaurants and have usually been at least mildly disappointed so we decided it was time to invent our own. The first thing we changed was the meat patty. I used mild sweet Italian sausage instead! Yep, no burger.
I started building our new pizza burger from the bottom up using real pizza ingredients and then topped them with the thin grilled sausage patty, tomato and fresh greens. I would normally use spinach or arugula but we didn't have any in The Glass Pantry today so I went out to the garden and was inspired by the beautiful nasturtium growing there.
Have you ever tried nasturtium leaves or flowers? They are sweet and spicy like arugula without the bitterness. They seemed like a perfect match for the sweet mild sausage and spicy pepperoni in our pizza burgers.
First I fry the thin sausage patties until they are no longer pink. While they are sizzling away I make up a quick pizza sauce. I use a small can of tomato sauce and heat it over low heat with some granulated garlic, onion powder, basil, pepper and a touch of red chili flakes and dried oregano. When the sausage patties are done just set them aside until you are ready to finish the pizza burgers.
Next I start preheating the broiler on the oven and then start topping the little pizza's. I've used jalapeno cheese kaiser rolls here. We both think these are by far the best bun for our pizza burgers. Before adding the sauce and toppings I butter the bottom bun.
Tip: If you lightly butter the bread for your sandwiches (any sandwich) The fats will act as a barrier to keep the bread from becoming soggy. Science for the win! And it adds some flavor too. It's just like brushing a pizza crust with oil before adding the sauce and toppings. Please don't use oil here because the bread is too porous and it will just soak into the bread and make it soggy.
After I butter the buns, I layer on some pizza sauce, a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese, a few slices of pepperoni, some slivers of red onion, sliced olives, rings of green bell pepper and more mozzarella cheese.
Now give it a quick minute or two under the hot broiler. I used a medium setting on my oven broiler.
This goes really fast once everything is prepped doesn't it?
Butter the tops of the buns while you are broiling the pizza bottoms so you can add them to the pan when you add the sweet Italian sausage patties and top them with more mozzarella.
Place them back under the broiler for a minute or two and they are ready for their finishing touches.
A Real Pizza Burger
I like to top mine with tomato and some greens, Occasionally I add some mayo. Bacon is nice too! My husband likes to add more cheese. How can that be wrong?
I really liked the addition of nasturtium to this pizza burger, It was pretty as well as a great compliment to the taste profile.
Cheers!
~Melisa
Real Pizza Burgers
Ingredients
For the pizza sauce
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
salt to taste
pinch of sugar if needed
For the Pizza Burger
1 pound mild sweet Italian bulk sausage
1 small package pepperoni slices
1 package of 6 jalapeno cheese kaiser rolls
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 small can sliced olives
1 green bell pepper sliced into thin rings
1\2 cup thinly sliced red onion
some fresh slices of tomato
fresh spinach, arugula, nasturtium leaves or other greens of your choice
Butter to lightly butter the buns
Method
Stir together the ingredients for the pizza sauce and heat over medium heat until warmed through.
Make 6 very thin patties of sweet Italian sausage and fry over medium heat until no longer pink.
Cut in half the kaiser rolls and butter the cut sides.
Start preheating a broiler to a medium setting and have the rack positioned near the top.
Build the pizza burgers on a sheet pan starting on the bottom bun of the roll in this order:
Sauce first, then a little mozzarella cheese, 3-5 slices of pepperoni, a few slices of red onion, 1 or 2 rings of green bell pepper, a sprinkle of sliced black olives then more shredded mozzarella cheese.
Broil these mini pizzas for 1-2 minutes until the cheese has melted then add the sausage patties and more these, add the tops to the pan as shown above and then broil once more about 2 minutes until the cheese begins to brown and bubble.
Remove the sheet pan from the oven and top burgers as desired with tomato slices, red onion slices, leafy greens or any other topping you would like. I'm thinking bacon.
