Cheddar Mushroom Patty Melts

I have a thing for mushrooms. And cheddar cheese. And beef. Do you remember a while back when Wendy's had those burgers that were topped with sauteed mushrooms and warm cheddar sauce? They were the messiest thing ever, with the cheesy sauce oozing out everywhere and you needed about 327 napkins just to get through it. They advertised them for weeks before they finally started selling them. The day they actually launched them, I think I was in line before they even opened. Do you remember? Well, this is kind of like that, only better. My son calls them beef-stuffed grilled cheese and that just about sums it up.

 
Cheddar Mushroom Patty Melts
Makes as many as you want

What I use:

• Burger patties (fresh, frozen, store bought, or homemade)
• 2 slices of bread per burger (bread, not buns - then it's not a patty melt!)
• Cheddar cheese, sliced thin off the block
• 1/4 c. mushrooms or 1/4 c. onions per burger
• Butter for sauteing mushrooms or onions, and for coating the bread slices

How I do it:

1. Cook the burgers any way you want (grill, oven, pan) - I use my cast iron double burner griddle pan.

2. While the burgers are cooking, slice up your mushrooms and/or onions. I slice the mushrooms in my egg slicer and I just do the onions in rings, then I cut them in half.

3. Toss some butter in a pan and saute your mushrooms and/or onions. You can do this in two separate pans, or one large pan keeping them on their own sides, or mix them together if you really want.

Let the mushrooms soften and just start to get some color.

Cook the onions low and slow until they are nice and carmelized.

4. Slice up some cheddar cheese.

5. Butter up some bread just like you would if you were making grilled cheese.

6. In a clean pan over medium-low heat, lay down one slice of bread butter-side down, then the cheese, then the mushrooms or onions, then the burger, then a small piece of cheese to hold everything together (or a big slice if you want extra cheese), then the top bread butter-side up.

7. Cook until the bottom of the sandwich gets golden brown, then flip the whole thing over. Don't be wishy-washy about it - do it fast or the mushrooms and onions will fly out everywhere.

8. Cook until the new bottom is golden brown, then remove the sandwich to a plate to rest for a minute.

9. Cut that baby in half and show off the beautiful layers.

Traditional patty melts use rye or sourdough bread. I used homemade wheat bread. I say use whatever bread you like or whatever bread you have on hand or whatever bread happens to be on sale at the store that day. Come on, be a rebel with me!

The family says:

• K thinks these are awesome. Grilled cheese and burgers are in his top 5 favorite foods, so he was loving the combo.
• Andrew likes his grilled cheese to be grilled cheese and his burgers to be burgers. He's not a fan of co-mingling food. Oh well, you can't please everybody all the time.
• I love these. Cheddar. Mushrooms. Buttery toasty bread. Beefy burgers. Hello? What's not to love??