BBQ Bacon Slides with Shoe String Onions

Um I just found my new favorite EVERYTHING!!  This entire meal was insane :-)  So yeah - best burger I've ever made FOR SURE....and in my top 10 I've actually eaten EVER!  and I made this with Stuffed Bleu Cheese Baked Potato - might not be Wildfire delicious, but it was close!!  SOOOO yummy!!  I can't wait to eat it for leftovers tomorrow.  For real - BEST dinner EVER!! 

BBQ Bacon Sliders with Blue Cheese

Serves 8 - Our Best Bites

Ingredients:

11/2 lbs high-quality 85/15 ground Angus
1/2 C BBQ sauce (or your favorite bottled BBQ sauce)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Crispy Shoe String Onions (see recipe below)

8-10 small white dinner rolls, or Hawaiian sweet rolls, sliced in half and toasted if desired
8-10 crisp lettuce leaves
8-10 slices bacon, cooked crisp

Garlicky Blue Cheese Spread
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. Kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, pressed or finely minced
1/4 c. crumbled blue cheese (not a blue cheese fan? Leave it out!)

Spread: mayonnaise, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and garlic. Mix well and stir in crumbled blue cheese. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Burgers: Heat a grill pan on the stove top, or an outdoor grill to medium-high heat. Combine beef, 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce, salt and pepper. Divide and shape mixture into 8-10 3/4″-thick patties (keep the size of your buns in mind as wells the fact that the burgers will shrink quite a bit while cooking when shaping the patties). Grill for 2-3 minutes and then flip. Brush the top side of each burger with remaining sauce. Continue grilling for another 2 minutes and flip burgers again, brushing the other side with additional sauce. Continue to cook and baste until the internal temperature of the burgers reach 160-165 degrees.

To assemble: Lightly spread the bottom half of each bun with Garlicky Blue Cheese Spread and top with a lettuce leaf. Break each bacon piece in half and place on top of lettuce leaves. Place burger on top and drizzle with additional barbecue sauce if desired. Top with a small handful of Crispy Shoestring Onions. Spread remaining Garlicky Blue Cheese Spread on top halves of buns.

Crispy Shoestring Onions

Ingredients:
6 oz onion slices (1 large onion)
1 egg
1 Tbs milk
3/4 C flour
1 tsp salt / pepper

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp paprika
vegetable oil for frying

Whisk egg and milk together and put into a bowl.  Slice onion and put that in another bowl.  Heat 2 inches of oil to 350 degrees. Make sure to use a pot with sides (as opposed to a skillet style pan) so the oil doesn’t boil over when you add the onions). Working with a handful of onions at a time, dip in egg mixture and let excess drip off. Then dredge in flour and lightly toss to coat. Place onions in hot oil and cook until golden brown. Remove and place on folded paper towels to absorb oil. Repeat process until all onions are fried.

Yield: About 4 C of shoestring onions. Note that this is a lot! If you’re not going to use extra for snacking, you may want to half the recipe.