Pimento Cheese Burger
Today I’m participating in my second virtual baby shower of the week. Today’s baby shower is for Erin from Erin’s Food Files, which is being hosted by Jessica from The Novice Chef. Erin is also due in a few weeks and since she lives Nashville, the theme for the shower is Southern food.
I’ll be the first to admit, I know very little about Southern food. I had no idea where to start. Erin was the first one to introduce me to cheesecake cakes (it all started with Lincoln’s Cake, which I also made. Since then she’s made a peanut butter-chocolate, and Oreo version and I’ve made a carrot cake and Neapolitan version), so I was originally thinking I’d do a cheesecake cake…
Then Erin posted these Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs last week. For whatever reason, I just could not get them out of my head. You all know I grew up in the Midwest and live in Boston. I’ve never had pimento cheese. I’m not even sure if I’ve ever seen it. Thanks to Google, I found out that pimento cheese is a mixture of mayo, cheddar cheese, sometimes cream cheese, and pimentos.
As I kept trying to force myself to come up with a Southern dessert to make for the shower, my curiosity kept bringing me back to the idea of pimento cheese. There was another detail that stuck out from Erin’s post last week. She mentioned pimento goat cheese. Everything fell in to place the other night when Hubby requested turkey burgers for dinner. We regularly put goat cheese and spinach on our turkey burgers, so at that moment this Pimento Cheese Burger idea was born!
I have no idea how authentic this pimento goat cheese is, but I do know it’s delicious. The tangy goat cheese pairs beautifully with the sweetness of the pimentos. I decided to add a couple thin slices of a tart green apple to cut the salty creaminess from the cheese mixture. This burger was a home run and I’ll definitely be making some more of the pimento goat cheese in the future. I really enjoyed snacking on extra apple slices dipped in the cheese mixture. It would make a perfect appetizer!
Congrats to Erin on the upcoming bundle of joy! To see the other items made for Erin’s virtual shower, be sure to check out the roundup on The Novice Chef.
Pimento Cheese Burger
Pimento goat cheese adds a great deal of flavor to these turkey burgers
Yield: 5 Burgers
Ingredients:
For the Pimento Goat Cheese
2 oz goat cheese, at room temp
2 oz chopped pimentos (drained if using canned pimentos)
2 oz colby jack cheese, shredded (~1/2 cup)
For the Turkey Burgers
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 half large red onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
For Serving
5 Hamburger buns
spinach leaves (optional)
1 Granny Smith apple, thiny sliced
Directions:
For the Pimento Goat Cheese
In the bowl of a food processor or stand mixer, combine all ingredients. Mix on medium until well combined. Set aside or make ahead of time and store in the fridge.
For the Turkey Burgers
Combine the onion, ground turkey, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl.
Combine thoroughly without over handling.
Shape into 5 patties.
Heat up grill pan or grill. Add oil to lubricate grill pan/grill.
Cook until juices run clear.
For Serving
Toast buns on the grill or under the broiler.
If using a grill, spoon ~1.5 to 2 Tbsp of the Pimento Goat Cheese onto each burger during the last few minutes of cooking so the cheese melts.
If cooking indoors, spoon ~1.5 to 2 Tbsp of the Pimento Goat Cheese onto each burger and place grill pan under broiler for 2-3 minutes until cheese melts.
Place a few spinach leaves on the bottom bun then top with turkey burger with melted cheese. Add 2-3 thin slices of apple and the top bun.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I’m like you and totally try out recipes based on photos! I think goat cheese and fruit are always a perfect combo. The goat cheesecake sounds intriguing!
Looks and sounds amazing! I’m totally with you about photos of food – they are typically what tempt me to make a recipe.
This cake looks DELICIOUS!
I’d never heard of using goat cheese in a cheesecake, but I’m intrigued.
I, too, much prefer pictures. Sometimes you just don’t put the ingredients together in your head the right way and it comes out looking totally different than you expected. I also flip through the book faster and I tend to not find recipes unless there are pics!
i think trying something new without any idea what it should look like it rough. i love pictures but most cookbooks dont seem to have enough. i think thats why i love this blog so much, you take TONS! 🙂
i am very intrigued by this recipe. but i dont eat blueberries or peaches. is it good by itself? or is the fruit greatly needed??
Beeb – It’s similar to any other cheesecake. It was good on it’s own, but the fruit really enhanced the flavor. Are there other fruits you like that you could top it with? Strawberries and blueberries would be great!
Oh yum! I totally want to try this. I love goat cheese (and fruit) and bet this would make an amazing cake!
I like photos too, but sometimes I get a little too into them. Like the other night when I forgot to add raisins to my cinnamon raisin bread because they weren’t in the photo 🙂
Sues
I definitely prefer recipes with pictures but if a description is really good (or intriguing) or if an author points it out as a favorite… or lastly if it’s a source I trust, I go for it. With that said, I’m glad you made it and posted pictures. This cake looks (and sounds) absolutely fantastic!!!
This looks really good. I agree that sometimes I eat with my eyes. I love photos, but not the ones that look almost fake since they are so perfect. That’s why I love food blogs – usually it is just the food as it will be served.
I cook from a lot of different sources, and will try recipes that are appealing without any pics either. Sometimes it is more difficult when I am completely unfamiliar with the dish, though.
Photos! I love yours…the “cake” looks so pretty with it’s white lip and fruit piled high.
~ingrid
Sounds wonderful. I can see how it would be more of a “cheesecake” than a “cheese cake” because there’s such a small amount of flour. As we move into fall, I bet it would be delicious with a topping of figs sauteed with honey… mmm… honey figs and goat cheese!
LOVE goat cheese cheesecake 🙂 peaches and blueberries seem like another good topper (i recently made one with figs and raspberries!)
i really have to bake that cake for my boyfriend who has a milk intolerance. thank you for posting this many recipes with goat cheese 🙂
best wishes, jay, my blog: artandloveandme.blogspot.com