Black and Blue Sliders

Jeff and I recently visited some friends in Asheville, North Carolina.  We had a wonderful time.  We went to the Biltmore, the Grove Park Inn, and many breweries.  Every restaurant we visited had some version of this burger on the menu.  I liked it so much that it was the first dish I made upon our return.  I decided to make sliders because the taste is so bold that a little bite will do you. This tastes really good with a dark stout.

Servings:  8 burgers
Hardware:  Measuring spoons and cups, a small plate, a large plate, a pepper grinder or a mortar and pestle, a spatula, a heavy bottomed frying pan

Time: Prep-5 minutes, Cook-7 minutes

 

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ pounds ground beef (the best that you can afford)
• ¼ cup course cracked peppercorns
• Salt
• Enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan
• ¾ cup blue cheese dressing
• ½ cup crumbled blue cheese
• ½ cup French fried onions (I use Durkee)
• 8 potato dinner rolls

1. Coarsely crush the pepper and place it into the small plate.
2. Divide the ground beef into 8 equal ¾ inch patties. Sprinkle both sides with salt.  Press one side of each patty into the cracked pepper.
3. In the pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high.  Place each burger pepper side up into the pan.  Cook for 3 minutes and then flip.  Cook for 3-4 more minutes. Place one tablespoon of blue cheese onto each burger during the last minute or so of cooking.
4. To serve place the warm burgers, pepper side down, onto the split buns.  Top each burger with 1 ½ tablespoons of dressing and 2 tablespoons of French fried onions.