This is weeknight dinner for Ben and me when the kids are having actual pork burgers with buns. We are a pig-centric family so we always have ground pork on hand, but you could use turkey or beef here to great effect. I love the born-in-an-Applebee’s burger combination of Swiss, mushrooms and onions. Add spinach drenched with lemon juice and you have a sauce of sorts that rounds out a nutritious, satisfying meal. The onions, charred but still with a raw character, are one of my favorite things to have around.
Naked Pork Burgers with Swiss, Charred Red Onion, Mushrooms and Lemony Spinach
Makes: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground pork
- 2 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 4 slices Swiss cheese
- 1 red onion, peeled and sliced into ½-inch rings
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 4 ounces button or cremini mushrooms, halved
- 5 ounces fresh spinach
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
In a medium bowl, combine the pork, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, black pepper, cumin and sour cream. Mix well to combine and set aside as you get everything else ready.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a 12-inch skillet until it shimmers. Add the onions in a single layer and allow them to char on one side for about 2 minutes. Flip them over and char on the opposite side. Transfer to a plate to cool and season with ½ teaspoon salt.
Form the meat mixture into 4 flat and wide burgers. In the same skillet you charred your onions in, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Once it’s nearly smoking, carefully add the pork burgers and brown on one side for about 5 minutes. Flip them over, add a slice of Swiss to the top and cook an additional 4 minutes on the opposite side. Transfer the burgers to a plate to rest while you cook the spinach.
To that same skillet, add the final tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon butter and the smashed garlic. Once the garlic starts to come alive, add the mushrooms and let them sit and sizzle over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Then, stir them around and let them brown on the other side. Season the mushrooms with the remaining ½ teaspoon salt and add the spinach and chili flakes. Let it wilt while stirring. This will take about 1 minute. Take the pan off the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
Crown your pork burgers with a pyramid of spinach and mushrooms and serve them over a mound of charred onions.
About the Chef: Vivian Howard created and stars in public television shows Somewhere South and A Chef’s Life, for which she has won Peabody, Emmy and James Beard awards. Vivian runs the restaurants Chef & the Farmer in Kinston; Benny’s Big Time in Wilmington; and Handy & Hot and Lenoir (opening spring 2021) in Charleston, S.C. She recently released her second cookbook, This Will Make It Taste Good: A New Path to Simple Cooking.
