BBQ Mushroom-Cheddar Burgers

Last night I really wanted to get some grilling in while the weather is still nice.  You never know when this Bay Area weather will change.  I'm determined to get better at grilling.  For now I have the flavorings down pretty well, but the execution isn't so hot.  I think that my impatient nature makes me a poor griller, as it makes me a terrible baker.  I have hopes that my grilling skills will be much better by the end of the summer now that I've started practicing so early in the year.

I concocted this recipe with things I knew that we had in the fridge.  As always, I sliced up some mushrooms and onions to top the burgers with.  I love having sauteed mushrooms and onions on my burgers, but don't like paying the extra dollar at restaurants to get it when I know that it's so cheap and easy to do.  Usually if Nick was around we would add salt and pepper, but I left both out this time and just used some EVOO.

BBQ Mushroom-Cheddar Burger

2lbs ground beef
5 mushrooms, minced
1/2 onion, grated
5 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup shredded cheddar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp black pepper
3 tsp kosher salt 

Directions:
Mix all ingredients thoroughly.  Form into patties and create divot in the center.  Grill over medium high heat.  Lower temperature if necessary.

This is the first time that I've tried doing roasted bell peppers.  Normally I will take the easy way out and buy the jarred stuff, but that can get pricey at $4 a jar.  My mom was going to Costco to get some supplies so I asked her pick up some bell peppers because I wanted to try roasting them for the dinner I'm having with Bonnie tomorrow night.  This was my trial run to see if I could do it without totally ruining them.  I'm impressed at how well they turned out.  I have them over the infrared burner on our grill because they weren't getting nicely charred enough over the flame.  After I got them to the charred state that I wanted, I put them in a bowl and covered it with plastic wrap.  I had seen this done many times on Foodnetwork and figured if they all do it, it must work.  Well it did!  Once the peppers cooled enough to handle, the charred skin came right off.  This is why I think this happens, but I could be totally wrong.  While the skin is getting charred the inner parts of the pepper is slowly being steamed, making it very soft and pliable.  Because the skin is hardened and moisture free, when the peppers slowly cool in the covered bowl the inner flesh pulls away from the dry membrane.  The condensation in the bowl from the heat softens the skin, which makes it easy to peel off.  It makes sense to me!

Lovely