Bison Burgers with Pinot Noir Onions & Goat Cheese
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If you’ve read my blog long enough, you know that one of my favorite types of cheese is goat cheese. What you probably didn’t know is that my favorite wine varietal is pinot noir. So, it would only make sense to combine the two in order to make something doubly awesome, right? Right.
Pinot noir and goat cheese pair beautifully together, and I often indulge in the combination. After going to a friend’s and having burgers with cabernet onions & cheddar, I thought about how it would only make sense to combine my favorite wine and one of my favorite cheeses (can anyone pick a favorite, really?) into a burger, too.
I used bison as the basis of the burger because it’s flavorful but still healthy and lean. Buffalo are always grass-fed, which is nice, since Americans these days are walking tortilla chips, thanks to all the corn byproducts in…err, everything. If you want to know a little more about bison, check out Jenn’s post here. I seasoned the bison pretty simply for a couple reasons: to actually taste bison, and so the onions and goat cheese didn’t have to compete with other strong flavors.
I love caramelized onions. Loooooove them. As you know, my palate has changed quite a bit over the years, and one of the things I’ve grown to love are onions. I’m still not a big fan of them raw (a little too pungent for me), but they turn into something completely different when caramelized or roasted. One of the coolest things about cooking to me is how properties of ingredients can shift so much. If you’ve ever whipped a solitary egg white into an entire bowl of meringue, you know what I mean.
The hardest (and by that, I mean, most time-consuming) part of this recipe is caramelizing the onions, and you can do that the day before if you want. Otherwise, this comes together so easily and is a nice alternative to your traditional cheeseburger.
Bison Burgers with Pinot Noir Onions and Goat Cheese
Serves 4
1 large vidalia onion, sliced
1 sprig thyme
1 Tbsp. olive oil, plus additional for cooking burgers
2/3 cup pinot noir
1 lb. ground bison
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
salt and pepper
1 small (4 oz) log of goat cheese
4 split hamburger buns
In a heavy bottomed skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and the thyme. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook with a pinch of salt until the onions are soft golden brown, about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pluck out the thyme sprig (if you used the whole thing…I do that because I’m lazy) and then increase the heat to medium-high. Add the wine and cook until it’s almost completely absorbed, about 5-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, lightly mix together the bison, Worcestershire, parsley, garlic and salt and pepper. Form into 4 patties (I like to salt and pepper them on each side, again) and cook them however you like–grill, broil, pan fry (I used my cast iron skillet), about 2 minutes per side for medium rare.
Broil or toast the buns with the goat cheese on them. Serve the burgers on the toasted buns with the onions.
Elly, I think our other fave, smoked Gouda would work here too! Bison is lean but Ohhh so flavourful.
Those onions look great.
Those onions look delightful. I often do that with mushrooms instead… SO GOOD!
Those onions look scrumptious!
This has been bookmarked and WILL be made! My SO loves goat cheese, and a good burger. PS. I feel the same exact way about onions.
This has been bookmarked and WILL be made! My SO loves goat cheese, and a good burger. PS. I feel the same exact way about onions.
Love the flavors incorporated into this burger! Looks fantastic!
A great combination definitely! I love caramelized onion too!
I’ve never had Bison before but your pictures wants me to grab it from the screen.
I’ve never had Bison before but your pictures wants me to grab it from the screen.
In any restaurant this burger will be on the Gourmet Burger page!!! Everything about this post wants me to cook and be creative…it really got my creative juices flowing!!! I’ll have to opt for any game meat or maybe ostrich.
Ps. I love red onions raw, but all others are to caramelized!!!
mmm…what time is lunch?
WOW! What an INSANELY fabulous burger!!! Can you be my personal chef?? YUM!
I love buffalo burgers! I wish I could find the meat for a fair price around here.
Goat cheese on a burger? DE-vine!
Wow, those onions look amazing. They look great on the burger, but they’d be a tasty addition to just about anything.
I love caramelizing onions for a burger. Add the goat cheese to the short list of “condiments” and you are good to go. No ketchup here — caramelized onions and goat cheese are the way to go! You’ve definitely got some amazing flavors working together here.
This looks fabulous! Ground bison is all I buy anymore if I’m needing a ground meat.
Goat cheese and caramelized onions sound really good. They would go well in a burger.
these burgers look absolutely fab! pinot noir is my fave wine, and i ADORE goat cheese. what a great combo!
Oh yum, the pinot onions and goat cheese sounds so good!!!
Oh yum, the pinot onions and goat cheese sounds so good!!!
I made the onions last week, and they put our turkey burgers over the edge. We loved it so much that I’ll be making it again this week! Goat cheese and Pinot Noir are two of my favorite things, so this one was a no brainer for me.
I made the onions last week, and they put our turkey burgers over the edge. We loved it so much that I’ll be making it again this week! Goat cheese and Pinot Noir are two of my favorite things, so this one was a no brainer for me.
Thanks again for posting this great recipe! I love it when I made it!
Thanks again for posting this great recipe! I love it when I made it!
I’m thinking of making a combo bison/duck burger (from scratch, of course). The duck fat would make up for the lean bison. Yes, caramelised onions (or even pinot noir onions) would be in there . . . I’m thinking a combo of goat cheese and very old cheddar, with a homemade spicy ketchup.
I’m trying to envision the taste in my mind, and all I can come up with is sheer bliss . . .
I am gathering innovative recipes, photos and chef features for our annual food issue, which comes out in July, as the national celebrates (or so we hope they do) National Bison month. Would I have permission to use your Bison Tacos with Avocado and Radish recipe? If you have other bison recipes, please send those, as well. Also, would love to have the high rez photo of this dish, as this is a glossy, four-color magazine. Finally, a photo and blurb of you would be great. My deadline to have everything is May 1, but I need a commitment prior to that, so I know where I’m at.
We don’t pay for submissions, but it is great exposure to our 1000 National Bison Association members and to their customers. We also send you courtesy copies. Can you let me know whether or not you’d like to participate?
Marilyn Bay Wentz
Editor, Bison World
marilyn.wentz@tds.net
303-292-2833, ext. 301
Ooops, hit the sent button inadvertently. Sorry. I wanted to use several bison recipes from popular blogs, including yours for the burger with goat cheese and pinot carmelized onions.
Marilyn Wentz