Bloody Mary Burgers

By Paul Briand

This week's recipe comes courtesy of my son David. I went to bed not knowing what this week's featured recipe would be, then woke up to an email from David that guided me to the Bloody Mary Burgers.

He actually wrote to suggest I start posting some of my recipes on Tastespotting.com. It's a great suggestion and I will post some future recipes there. But my problem this week was that all my creative energies had been devoted in other areas outside the kitchen, so I had no recipes to create, so I went to Tastespotting instead in search of a fun recipe and happened upon this burger recipe that is accompanied by a Cucumber and Avocado Salsa.

I was amused by the Bloody Mary Burger name, derived from some of the ingredients found in a Bloody Mary cocktail -- Tabasco, Worcestershire, horseradish, celery. No tomato juice, but there is ketchup. No vodka, but I suppose a creative chef out there could find a way to make it work.

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon Tabasco
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons horseradish
1/2 small yellow onion, minced
1 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 cup bread crumbs

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients together in large bowl;
2. Make four patties and grill until desired doneness.

Serve and top with Cucumber and Avocado Salsa as follows:

Ingredients
1 cucumber, sliced in half, seeds scooped out and large dice
1 diced ripe avocado
2 scallions sliced
Dressing:
Zest and juice of a lime
Splash of red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
Handful of chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Whisk dressing ingredients together and stir in to the cucumber, avocado and scallion mixture;
2. Allow to chill in refrigerator to let everything marry and serve on the burgers.