Ingredients:
1 lb garlic heads
1/2 cup olive oil
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 lb ground chuck
salt & freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons roasted garlic paste
1 loaf good crusty bread, cut into 2 sections just big enough to surround the burger with a 1/2 inch border
Directions:
Roasted Garlic Paste: Preheat oven to 375F.
Remove any loose papery skins from the outside of the garlic heads; cut off the top 1/3 of the heads to open the cloves; set aside for another use; place the heads in a small baking dish, cut sides up; pour olive oil over them and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Cover the dish tightly and bake until 3/4 done, about 45 minutes; uncover and continue to bake another 15 minutes or until the cloves begin to pop out of their skins and brown; cool.
Squeeze the cloves out of their skins into a bowl; add the oil from the baking dish and mix well, forming a paste.
Store, refrigerated, up to one week.
Burgers: Mix the hamburger, salt, pepper and garlic; form 2 burgers, 3″ thick, to a size that will fit inside the bread with a 1/2″ border all the way around.
Split the 2 bread sections and pull out some of the soft center from both sides to make a nest for the burger; toast the cut sides under the broiler or on a grill.
Broil or grill burgers to desired doneness; place in bread nest and add condiments of choice.
Servings: 2
Time preparation: 15 min.
Time total: 85 min.