I am always searching for a mouth-watering burger. I love going to burger joints and trying out new burgers with rich and unusual flavors. My husband likes his burgers traditional with ketchup, mustard, tomatoes, lettuce, and pickles. My son and I like novel blends of spices, sauces, and toppings like mushrooms or tomato corn salsa.

A few months back I entered a contest sponsored by the winemaker Sutter Home to create a burger to pair with one of their wines. If you are not familiar with Sutter Home, check them out here. To get inspired I tried out four of their wines. I didn’t necessarily like all of them, but found two that I liked: their Red blend and their Rosé. They are all very affordable.

The Rosé was my favorite so I set about creating a burger to complement its relative sweetness. I settled on today’s recipe, which uses spices including crab boil, Cajun seasoning, and hot sauce. As you can probably tell these are New Orleans’ style flavors, hence the name for my burger. If you’ve heard of the fast food restaurant Popeyes, my sauce might remind you just a bit of their sauce for their famous chicken sandwich. The combination of New Orleans’ style flavors makes for a unique burger, and one that goes great with Sutter Home’s delicious Rosé.

For my final presentation I used a tomato, corn, and arugula salad to top my burger. Boy, is it good! I hope that you try it too! It’s not too much effort.

Ingredients

Cajun mayo

• 1 cup mayo
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 2 tsp Cajun seasoning
• 1/2 tsp regular paprika
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp hot sauce
• 1/4 tsp sugar

Burger

• 2 lbs ground grass fed Angus beef
• 3 slices or 1/2 cup chopped apple wood bacon
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tbs Dijon mustard
• 2 tbs crab boil (finely ground in a spice grinder)
• 1 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp each dried basil, thyme, and oregano
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 pieces of sliced Havarti cheese

Salad

• 2 cups baby arugula
• 1 cup roasted frozen corn thawed, washed and drained well
• 1 cup seeded Roma tomatoes, medium diced
• 1 tbs fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black ground pepper

Assembly

• 6 extra large brioche buns
• Butter 2 tbs
• Cajun mayo
• Burger patty
• Salad

Instructions

Cajun mayo

Whisk all the ingredients for the mayo in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Burger

Mix all ingredients together gently in a large bowl until thoroughly combined.

Form into 6 patties. Transfer the patties to a parchment lined sheet pan.

Make the patties a bit larger than the bun to be used. Burger patties tends to shrink once they are cooked.

Heat an indoor electric grill to about 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Brush the grill grate lightly with oil or cooking spray. Cook the burger to your preference. It takes somewhere between 5 to 8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the patty. Place cheese on top of the patty during the last minute of cooking.

Tomato corn Salad

Toss all salad ingredients gently in a medium sized bowl.

Assembly

Melt butter in a large saucepan and toast buns face down until golden and crisp.

Spread a generous layer of mayo on each bun. Follow up with burger and a generous amount of salad on top of the burger. Avoid getting too much juice from the salad. Cover the salad with the top bun. Enjoy this burger with glass of chilled Sutter Home Rose wine!

Serves 6

Did you make this dish? I’d love to know how it turns out! Feel free to like this post and comment or use the hashtag #globaldinein on Instagram