From Karen's Kitchen- Patty Melts

March 2, 2013
Patty Melts, Crispy Smashed Potatoes and Marinated Tomatoes

This morning I was watching The Pioneer Woman on Food TV Network. She inspired me to try her menu but I make my patty melt a little different.
My husband and son love this sandwich from this little deli in Norwalk, CT. It's called a Tanner Burger.   I decided to change it up a bit and use caramelized onions instead of coleslaw like the real Tanner burger has.   I made this for my guys tonight.  They absolutely loved this dinner.  This recipe made enough for 4 servings. We are a family of 3 so there is one left over.  My son already has dibs on it.

Ingredients
Patty's
1/2 pound of lean ground beef
1 sweet onion
sliced american cheese
sliced Italian bread
"Lite" Thousand Island dressing

Marinated tomato salad
1 Pint of grape tomatoes
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
Italian seasoning
Iceberg lettuce

Smashed potatoes
6 small Yukon Gold potatoes

To make the patty melts, turn on grill pan and grill hamburger patties.  Place them on a plate. In another pan, slice sweet onion and saute until carmelized.
To assemble the patties, take a slice of Italian bread and spread a small amount of butter on one side and place it face down on the grill pan. put a slice of cheese on the bread, a hamburger patty, onions,  a small amount of lite Thousand Island dressing, one more slice of cheese and then second slice of bread.  Butter the outside of the slice.  Grill until cheese starts to melt, then flip to the other side.

To make the smashed potatoes, boil potatoes until soft. Assemble all the potatoes onto a baking sheet. Take a potato masher and press down on the potato.  Next drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper and place in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes until crisp.

To make the marinated tomatoes, rinse a pint of tomatoes and slice in half place in a zip lock bag, add a 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar and  shake in a little Italian seasonings.  Squeeze out all the air from the bag and store in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.  To serve, chop up lettuce into medium pieces, pour tomatoes over the lettuce.


Recipe based on an old classic I learned from Friendly's