Jen's Sliders

So, I was inspired to make sliders for supper this evening. I figured, because they are such cute, little burgers, our girls would be all over them (they did enjoy them - both girls actually ate part of them!!).  But I also wanted to do something more on the gourmet side so that they'd be appealing to my husband and myself.  I decided on beef sliders with aged rum caramelized onions, maple bacon BBQ sauce and smoked cheddar.  They. were. amazing!! SUCH an awesome blend of flavours!

For the caramelized onions, I choose to do aged rum because I wanted something different then the run-of-the-mill caramelized onions and my hubby wouldn't let me use the beer that we have that's only available in the U.S. so I couldn't do beer caramelized onions. :)  I googled for recipes for these onions but didn't find one that appealed to me. The only thing the recipes I found had in common that intrigued me was adding thyme and cider vinegar at the end so I adopted that idea for my recipe.

Take a look at these beautiful onions! Even the girls liked them!

Ok, so I know you all want to know how I made these, but I'm not going to tell you! I'll take the secret to my grave!!! Just kidding. Here it is:

Aged Rum Caramelized Onions

1 Tbsp          Olive Oil

2 Tbsp          Butter

2                   Large Onions, thinly sliced

                     Salt & Pepper to taste

2 tsp             Light Brown Sugar

2 tsp             Dark Brown Sugar

2-3 Tbsp       Aged Rum (I use Cruzan)

¼ tsp           Dried Thyme (or 1 tsp fresh Thyme)

2 tsp            Aged Rum

¼  tsp          Cider Vinegar

Melt butter and oil in medium skillet over high heat. You want to see some good foam. As the foam recedes, add the sliced onions, salt, pepper & sugars. Stir on high for about 5 minutes until onions start to look translucent. Reduce heat to low/simmer and cook for about 20 – 30 minutes, stirring frequently until you get a nice dark brown colour. Onions will form a gooey mass and this is what you want. J Take off heat. Stir in thyme, vinegar and rum. Taste for salt & pepper, adding more if necessary. Serve immediately or store in fridge, warming up in skillet or microwave when ready to serve.

Now for the burgers/sliders. (You could, of course, easily do this for regular burgers.)  Use your favourite burger recipe or try a new one. For these I found one that Chef Gordon Ramsay apparently used for a restaurant on Kitchen Nightmares. The recipe can be found here.

So, you take your bun bottom, slather a huge dollop of caramelized onions on it (it's ok if it's coming off the sides, it doesn't have to be as tidy looking as in the photo. :) ) Next comes the burger, top that with smoked cheddar (we used Margaret River Smoked Cheddar ... all the way from Australia) and then put a small dollop of maple bacon BBQ sauce (we used PC Brand) on the top bun, spread it around and put the bun top on your stack. That's it! Enjoy!  On a side note, I had out just plain medium cheddar for the girls in case they didn't like the smoked cheddar (the oldest didn't, the youngest loved it). DH tried the regular cheddar on one of his sliders and said that smoked cheddar is a much better flavour for this blend. Also, I tried it without the sauce and it wasn't near as enjoyable. The blend of the flavours from the sauce, the cheese and the onions is just utterly amazing!

Isn't that the cutest, most delicious looking burger ever?!