Pecan & Parmesan Encrusted Hamburger Steaks topped with Warm Marinara
Over the last few weeks, I have been playing a cooking game with myself. As dinnertime approaches, I begin taking inventory of my fridge, freezer, pantry & garden. Then I ask myself “What can I make in 1.5 hours without buying any additional ingredients and without making my kiddos gag and cry?” — It’s a really fun game, you should try it some time.
Here are the ingredients I came up with:
Every once in a while, I create a recipe winner. This was one of the winners! ((YAY)) It is almost like the TV show ‘Chopped’. I even feel pressure as I am pulling the meal together, just like the contestants on the show…Well, my pressure comes from hearing questions like “Are we eating that?”, “What’s in that?”, “Do I have to eat that?” & “What’s that stinky smell?”. I guess it’s not quite the same.
For this meal, here is the list of mystery ingredients in my ‘chopped basket’:
- 8 fresh, pre-made hamburger patties
- 3/4 c Santa Fe pecans*
- 3/4 c hand-shredded parmesan
- 3/4 c panko
- 2/3 a of jar of my favorite marinara
- 1 egg
I also cleared out some leftovers & served them as sides…
- leftover green beans from KFC
- 1 leftover oven-roasted sweet potato
- 2 c leftover ((instant)) mashed potatoes — a story for another time, trust me – it’s a good story
*I have to pause for a minute & tell you about Santa Fe pecans. Santa Fe pecans come from my mom & dad’s land located off of Santa Fe Ave. We have 7 huge trees and every few years, they produce a bounty of nuts. They are sweet, large and absolutely perfect. By far, the best nut I have ever tasted. Because of this, I have an infinite supply of pecans. It is great! I think I love using them in savory recipes even more than sweet treats.
In order to get the infinite supply, they must be gathered, shelled & cleaned. The gathering part is my favorite of the process. One year, we all gathered on SF ((Santa Fe)) and had a pecan-picking contest to see who could accumulate the most pecans in one afternoon. After four hours of crouched waddling as I gathered while dragging my 5-gallon bucket beside me – I won! My grand total was a whopping 1,119 pecans. (Everyone else gave up several hours before and began playing – but my competitive side took over & I was obsessed, not to mention SO sore the next day!)
Back to this meal, I used a combination of finely chopped pecans, hand-grated parm & panko as a crust for each hamburger patty. I only had one egg, so rather than dipping each patty into the egg, I used a basting brush & brushed the egg onto each patty before pressing in into the pecan coating.
The basting brush technique worked marvelously! After coating all sides of 8 patties, I had about half of the egg left! The coating adhered perfectly too. I will be using this trick from now on.
Halfway through baking, I flipped each burger over – the crunchy crust remained intact and was beautiful. These aroma floating out of the oven was heavenly! During the final minutes of cooking, I warmed my favorite jarred marinara & shaved 8 thin slices of parm. I removed the patties from the oven, topped each with a shaving of parm & 1-2 T of marinara and put them back in the oven until the parm is melted.
Yummy, easy & tear-free, my favorite kind of dinner. Bonus: this is a very inexpensive meal to make! This one needs to go on repeat status.
- 8-1/3 lb pre-formed hamburger patties
- 3/4 c grated parmesan (I grate by hand)
- 3/4 c panko
- 3/4 c finely chopped raw pecans
- 1/2 t steakhouse seasoning (I love McCormick's Montreal steak seasoning)
- 1 egg
- 3/4 c marinara
- 8 thin slices of parmesan
- Preheat oven to 400°. Spray 2 9"x13" baking dishes with non-stick coating. Whisk cracked egg in a small bowl. In a medium mixing bowl, combine hamburger coating.
- Using a basting brush, coat all sides of this first patty in egg. Firmly press both sides of the patty into the crust mixture & place into the baking dish. Repeat until all patties are coated.
- Baked patties in the oven for 25 minutes, flipping each patty halfway through the baking time. When2-3 minutes remains in baking time, remove patties from the oven. Top each patty with 1-2T of marinara sauce and one slice of parmesan. I didn't want the crisp pecan coating to me covered totally by the marinara - so I placed 1 T in the center of each patty. ((No soggy crust for me))
- Return the patties to the oven, allow the parmesan to melt.
- Once cheese has melted - remove patties from oven & serve.