Luscious beef cheeseburgers with tomatoes, arugula and melted cheese

Lately, I've been dressing up my burgers with tomatoes, arugula and melted cheese. Sauteed mushrooms and caramelized onions are also nice toppings. Here's my burger recipe below. I like to add a handful of arugula or spinach right into the beef mixture to top up my vegetable servings for the day. (If you are a meat-lover like me, you just don't get enough!).

Luscious beef burgers
Serves five or six

500 g minced beef
one medium onion, diced
one clove garlic, diced
1 tsp Dijon mustard
pinch of chili flakes or diced jalapeno
pinch of smoked paprika (regular will do too)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried)
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper
one egg
(optional: handful of arugula or spinach)

In a big mixing bowl, combine the garlic, onion, Dijon mustard, chili, paprika, thyme, breadcrumbs, egg, and salt and pepper, and stir it into a paste. Add the beef and stir it into the seasoning.(At this point I go in with clean hands!)

Heat a wide, high-sided frying pan until getting hot. Add a splash of olive oil and let it heat up until you see ripples in the oil.

As you wait for the pan to heat, form the meat mixture into five or six burger patties. Fry them a few minutes per side, flipping over only once. I don't time them precisely, but I watch the sides of the patties and turn them over when I see the cooking line is about a third of the way up.

When the burgers are cooked, top each with a slice of cheese, put a lid on the pan and set it aside off the heat. Leave the lid on for a minute until the cheese melts.

Serve burgers in a toasted bun with condiments and your favourite toppings.