I love Rachel Ray's recipes
- salt and pepper
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 pound broccoli rabe
- 1 1/2 pounds ground pork chicken or turkey
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed half a palmful
- 1 small chili pepper seeded and finely chopped or 1 teaspoon chili flakes or italian
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic grated or pasted
- 2 to 3 tablespoon onion finely grated with juice
- 1 tablespoon paprika a scant palmful
- 1/3 cup grated pecorino romano a rounded handful
- 8 slices hand-cut white bread no more than 1/2-inch thick
- 1/2 cup finely chopped giardiniera (hot pickled vegetables)
- 8 deli slices provolone cheese
- 2 to 3 tablespoons finely grated onion with juice
- Carbohydrate 53.582845015464 g
- Cholesterol 26.19734375 mg
- Fat 16.6850074250624 g
- Fiber 9.44964881234493 g
- Protein 14.2566331791992 g
- Saturated Fat 6.76743946307543 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (358g)
- Sodium 694.66837052757 mg
- Sugar 44.133196203119 g
- Trans Fat 3.78697193696495 g
- Calories 405 calories
Step-by-step
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and salt it.
- Blanch the broccoli rabe for 5 minutes, drain and cool.
- Finely chop and reserve.
- Place ground meat in a bowl and season with salt, pepper, fennel, chili, garlic, onion and juice, paprika, Romano, chopped rabe and a healthy drizzle of EVOO, twice around the bowl.
- Mix and form 4 large, thin patties about a half-inch thick.
- Heat a griddle or cast-iron pan over medium-high heat.
- Cook patties 3-4 minutes on each side.
- Remove to plate.
- Reduce heat to medium.
- Wipe pan clean.
- Brush bread on one side with melted butter.
- Build patty melts: a slice of bread with buttered side facing out, some relish, 1 slice of cheese, patty, another slice of cheese and bread with the buttered side facing up.
- Grill patty melts until deeply golden on both sides and cheese has melted.
- Cut patty melts corner to corner and serve.
Home cooks often make the mistake of crowding the griddle when preparing griddled sandwiches, trapping steam and rendering the bread soggy instead of shattering-crisp. Achieving the proper exterior crunch requires direct contact with cast iron heated to medium-high heat, plus adequate space between each sandwich for moisture to escape. Fat from the provolone cheese and pork patty renders into the bread while the exterior browns in melted butter, creating a layered texture that withstands the juicy filling.
Accompaniments and Flavor Balancing
The robust bitterness of broccoli rabe and the pungency of hot pickled giardiniera demand acidic, palate-cleansing sides. A crisp fennel and celery salad tossed in a sharp lemon vinaigrette cuts through the high fat content of the melted cheese and ground meat patties. Alternatively, serve these sandwiches with oil-cured black olives and pepperoncini to match the Italian flavor profile established by the fennel seed and grated pecorino romano inside the meat mixture.- If the bread toasts too quickly before the provolone melts completely, cover the cast-iron pan with a lid for 60 seconds to trap ambient heat.
- Slice the bread to a maximum thickness of one-half inch; thicker slices prevent the internal heat from melting the cheese layers effectively.
- Grind the onion finely and squeeze out excess moisture using a paper towel so the raw liquid does not break the protein bond in the meat patties.
