Open Faced BLT Burgers

Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Serves 4

1 1/2	pounds ground chuck
4	bacon slices
1/4	cup sun-dried tomatoes (oil-packed), julienned, drained
1	teaspoon garlic, minced
1	teaspoon hot sauce
1	teaspoon cider vinegar
1/4	cup mayonnaise
	coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1	tablespoon olive oil, for brushing
2	English muffins, split
1/2	head Romaine lettuce, leaves separated

Heat the grill to medium high.

[1] In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium-heat until crisp, about 7 minutes. Drain on paper towels, and then finely chop.

[2] In a mini food processor or blender, pulse the sun-dried tomatoes with the garlic, hot sauce, and vinegar until finely chopped. Add the mayonnaise and puree until smooth. Add the bacon, season with salt and pepper, and pulse just until combined.

[3] Form the meat into equal size patties, about 1 inch thick and brush lightly with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Grill the burgers for 10-12 minutes, turning once. Make sure the meat is thoroughly cooked and no longer pink in the center. Brush the cut sides of the muffins with olive oil and grill until lightly browned, about 1 minute.

[4] Spread some of the mayonnaise on the cut sides of the muffins and top with lettuce. Add the burgers and then top with a small dollop of the mayonnaise and serve.

These burgers were super delicious. Everyone LOVED the sun dried tomato-bacon-mayo that is spread on the English muffin. Unfortunately we ran out of propane for the grill, so I fried these up on the stovetop (less healthy, but very flavorful!). This recipe doesn't say to add anything to the meat, but it doesn't stay together well if you don't, so I added about half a cup of parmesan cheese and one torn up slice of wheat bread and a healthy sprinkling of parsley. I did not brush the burgers or the muffins with olive oil... seemed like there was enough oil between pan-frying the burgers and the mayo mixture. I like the fact that they are open faced - I used my big leaves of romaine lettuce as the top bun. Made it a little lighter that way!
Also, I did not use hot sauce. I don't like it. I got no complaints of the sun dried tomato mayo being without flavor, so I don't think it mattered. In fact, everyone raved about the mayo - it was delicious! I actually used more than 1/4 cup of mayo - I added about 2 heaping tablespoons more mayo - it just seemed to need it. Lastly, I WOULD NOT use the blender again for this. I would just finely chop up the sun dried tomatoes myself and whisk it all together. The blender was absolutely useless and just something extra to clean.

per serving: 563 calories; 33 grams protein; 39 grams total fat; 2 grams fiber; 10 grams saturated fat; 19 grams carbohydrates; 113 mgs cholesterol; 670 mgs sodium

**I forgot to take pictures again, so that one up top is the closest thing I could find on Google -LOL