Stuffed beef burgers with mushroom, aged cheddar, hot peppers and bacon

Stuffed burgers are having a moment, and I decided to get in on the action. It was a relaxing evening during our February staycation, Olympic hockey was on TV and this guy-friendly fare was just what I was craving. This recipe is my own.

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Using the back of a spoon, scrape out black gills from one Portobello mushroom, then finely dice. Cook 6 strips of bacon until tender-crisp, then finely dice. Using some of the reserved bacon fat, sauté the diced mushroom over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes. Coarsely chop 1/4 cup of picked hot pepper mix. In a small mixing bowl, combine mushroom, bacon and hot peppers with 1/3 cup grated aged cheddar. 

Place 2 lbs lean ground beef in a large mixing bowl. Add 1 beaten egg, 1/4 cup rolled oats, 1T steak seasoning, 1T Worchestire and 1 tsp Dijon mustard. Using your hands, but handling the beef as little as possible, mix the ingredients.

Divide the beef mixture into 12. Shape each piece into a extra thin patty, leaving the edges slightly raised. Gently spoon 1/6 of the filling into the middle, then top with another (upside-down) patty, gently pinching the edges together to seal. The closer you can get the filling to the edge of the burger, the more flavour there will be in each bite. Repeat for 5 more burgers. 

Brush burgers with BBQ sauce, then cook in the oven, or preferably, over the BBQ. Brush again once with BBQ sauce during cooking. Serve in a traditional burger bun, or a sliced and toasted English muffin, as we did.