Recipe: Veal Burgers

For 4th of July this year, since I currently live in Italy, I decided to be a little non-traditional for my "barbeque".  There are a couple of reasons for this: the main one being that since Italy does not celebrate 4th of July it seemed silly to try to replicate a traditional American 4th of July when I was missing some key ingredients. Mainly fireworks! Without fireworks, the 4th seems like a normal barbecue.
Also in Italy I can't find some of the traditional ingredients at the supermarket.  I would have loved to have corn on the cob, but here in Rome (at least by my house) there is no corn to be seen.  There's also no barbecue sauce either.
So I decided to veer even further and decided that traditional burgers weren't necessary. However, I did want some kind of burger to venerate the day, even though I was celebrating on my own.  I had originally wanted to make turkey burgers (again, but my Spinach Turkey Burgers are to die for...) but while running around the supermarket, I couldn't find ground turkey.  I did, however, find ground veal. So I decided to be somewhere between Italian and American about my 4th of July. I did something the Italians would never do, I decided to make burgers with my ground veal and in the end they were delicious and extremely simple to make.  I even topped them with asiago cheese which really added to the amazing taste. From there I kept it simple and served with a side salad and some hot dogs (just for tradition's sake).

Veal Burgers 
Ingredients
1/2 kilo ground veal (about a pound)
1 egg
1/2 large shallot (or a whole small one)
1/4-1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tbs Paprika
Asiago cheese (or any cheese of your preference)

Dice your onions into small pieces.  I didn't cut mine super finely because I wanted more crunch in my burger. I love the contrast of textures, so remember the thicker you cut your

I love that you can see some of the onion!

onion, the more crunch you will have in your burger.
In a large bowl, mix the ground veal, egg, bread crumbs, onion and paprika with your hands. Blend well because you want a little onion in each bite.  If you aren't thorough you run the risk of getting a large mouthful of onion in one bite, and none in the next!
When well blended, form into patties. I always make my burgers on the larger (i.e. thicker) side because they shrink slightly as they cook. This time I slightly exaggerated, and it became difficult to cook the burgers through because the veal doesn't shrink as drastically as beef burgers do.
I decided to try and get grill marks on my burgers and used an indoor grill pan for the attempt.  For the record, I don't love indoor grill pans because they get quite messy and don't grill things as evenly as an outdoor barbeque thanks to hotspots from the flame below.  That being said, for the 4th of July I needed to at least attempt to get those chargrilled marks so I slightly oiled my grill for easier cleanup and got started.
I didn't get grill marks but I did get delicious

burgers. I cooked the burgers over a medium flame and kept an eye on them as they grilled. Since I made my burger so thick I had to flip them twice to ensure they cooked all the way through without burning.  If you are making a normal sized burger you should only need a couple of minutes on each side, just until they've gotten golden on each side.  Mine took longer than that.  -.-
When they were just about done, I decided to add asiago cheese on top to melt, but you can add any cheese of your choosing. Since I was already going for the non traditional asiago was a great twist but traditional cheddar would've worked just as well.
Then I had my burger on a sesame seed bun that I grilled for a minute on the grill pan.  I ate my burger with fresh tomato, lettuce, mustard and some mayo.  It really hit the spot and was delicious. And I have leftovers, so I ate one of Saturday night and will probably have another for lunch or dinner today!

It was quite the mouthful and scrumptious