the girl who ate mini-burgers.

grilled sirloin beef mini-burgers seasoned with kosher salt and black pepper, served on homemade brioche buns with melted fresh mozzarella and a green pesto made with arugula (rocket), mint, roasted garlic, parmesan, walnuts and lots of olive oil. pheeee-yuw, that's a long description. i was inspired by roboppy's sliders, which you can read about on her tasty blog. there isn't a bouchon bakery nor its equivalent anywhere in a 1200 mile radius from me, so i was left to my own devices. the brioche recipe of choice: peter reinhart's "middle class" recipe (you can read about my earlier brioche adventures); this time, i baked the dough as rolls with the aid of well-buttered dessert rings to create a more dome-shaped bun. the arugula pesto recipe came courtesy of elise, the only modification was doubling the amount of raw garlic to one clove, and the addition of a handful of mint, mainly because it was there. although i added a healthy dose to the burgers, there will be plenty enough left to use in other dishes. like pasta. amazing, that.

i didn't quite make the burgers as small as the bouchon ones seem to be, and they definitely weren't sliders as there was a fair amount of chewing involved. however, the buttery, sweet brioche was a good foil to the juicy, slightly salty beef and the pungent, peppery pesto. if i had to do it over again, i think i would look for a more flavourful cheese, perhaps something a little sweet and nutty like agnes dipesto jarlsberg or even comté. otherwise, a pretty good bet is that i'll make these again.