Pineapple Teriyaki Burgers

Dinner last night really turned out well. So good, in fact, that I want to make it again tonight. We've been watching the SFGiants a lot lately and one of there commercials is for this pineapple teriyaki burger from Carl Jr.'s.

The commercial is kind of on (slightly over) the edge of too much sexiness for me, but the girl is cute and the burger does look appealing. (I don't think I've eaten anything from Carl's in probably 25 years and still don't have a good impression of that chain, but then I rarely eat fast food.)

Commerical is here is you care to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB2MDYzx5OY

Anyway, I was really hungry for something like that so I looked around for a recipe and actually had some trouble finding something that looked appealing because I wasn't interested in using a store-bought teriyaki sauce. I finally found one recipe that looked good and it was good.

Original recipe is here: http://foodiewife-kitchen.blogspot.com/2009/05/grilled-chicken-teriyaki-burgers-with.html

My adaptation:

Sauce
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoon sushi vinegar
1 small garlic clove, crushed
2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated (I omitted this because I was out of ginger)

Makes 1/2 cup. Reserve 1/4 cup for burger and use remaining 1/4 cup for basting burger and pineapple slices.

Burger
20 ounces ground lean turkey breast (ground chicken would also be terrific)
1/4 cup of reserved sauce
1 cup fresh bread crumbs, toasted lightly to crisp up (panko would be a great substitute, but I was out of those too)
handful of fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
5 scallions, white and green, thinly sliced

Mix all ingredients together and form into 4 patties.

Pineapple
1 fresh pineapple, cut into rings

I used a Vin-Vac pineapple slicer--costs about $10 and works great.

http://www.amazon.com/Vacu-Vin-4882250-Pineapple-Slicer/dp/B0000DE4FZ/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1248534279&sr=1-6

Cheese & Buns
4 slices Havarti cheese
4 hamburger buns with sesame seeds

Grill burgers and pineapple rings on BBQ, basting with remaining sauce until burgers are done and pineapple rings are nicely charred. Put cheese on burgers as soon as you flip them so the cheese gets completely melted.

Load burgers on buns and top with a grilled pineapple slice.