It's pizza! It's a burger! It's a Pizzaiola burger!

Mmmmm. Burgers and pizza. Are there more perfect foods? Well, the answer to that usually depends on my mood, but tonight, there was nothing better than a burger that tasted like pizza.

We discovered this recipe on Get Your Grill On. If you like to grill, this is a fantastic blog.

Ingredients

• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion
• Salt and pepper
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 pound ground beef (preferably organic, grass fed beef)
• 1/4 cup pepperoni or salami (about 5 slices salami)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 2 slices of bread, or 2 small hamburger rolls
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 slices Provolone or other mild cheese

Directions

Despite all of those ingredients, this is a rather simple recipe. Thinly slice the onions (a mandolin works well here) and throw them in a pan with a glug or two of the olive oil over medium heat. Cook the onions for a few minutes, covered, until they are softened. Remove the cover and cook for another few minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the onions are cooking, chop the salami or pepperoni. Mix the ground beef, chopped salami, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Form into burgers (ours were smaller, almost like sliders).

When the onions have cooked down and softened, add the tomato paste and saute until the paste gives off a sweet aroma. Add the wine and cook until the wine has nearly dissolved.

Meanwhile, heat up the grill and cook the burgers.

When the burgers are almost done, melt some butter and minced garlic in a pan. Brush the bread or rolls with the melted garlic butter and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Turn on the broiler and broil the cheese covered buns for just a minute or so. When the burgers are done, broil the bun, burger, and Provolone cheese all together just until the cheese melts.

Yum! This was fantastic. The burgers were spicy and rich, the onions were sweet, and the buns were toasted garlic goodness. Our only problem was that our burgers were a little too big to be sliders and a little too small to be a burger. Next time we'll alter the size a bit.