Boca Burger with Grilled Haloumi and Lemon

Please check-out Jamie Dougherty's excellent write-up for The Examiner on easy homemade foodie gifts under $15.  It includes our recipe for Sage Salt, plus many other excellent ideas for the holidays.  

We're getting ready for the first night of Hanukkah tomorrow, which means making sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts) with the boys for our family celebration.  Our younger son wants to fill his sufganiyot with ketchup, his favorite condiment.  If anyone has any suggestions for how to make that work, they would be most welcome.

We are in one of our busiest seasons at both the restaurant and the flower shop, which means long tiring days at work.  Add in all of our holiday preparations, and it's been a week for quick and easy dinners.  Boca burgers are one of our favorites for those nights because everything is on hand without running to the store.  Last night, we added grilled haloumi, lemons, and a lemon-garlic sauce for some fantastic "burgers".

Boca Burger with Grilled Haloumi and Lemon
serves 2


Ingredients

                 sourdough bread, sliced thickly
                 boca burgers (we use the "original")
                 defrosted, salt and pepper sprinkled on
                 both sides
                 olive oil
1-2            lemons
1               package haloumi cheese
1               garlic clove, minced
1/4            tsp sea salt
1/4            tsp sugar

                 indoor electric grill

Procedure

1. Cut 4 very thin slices from a lemon.  Then juice the lemon(s) until you have 2 Tbs of juice.
2.  Combine garlic, salt, sugar and lemon juice and whisk until sugar and salt are dissolved.  Add 1/4 cup olive oil and whisk until well combined.
   
3. Slice the haloumi cheese so you have one or two slices per burger.
4. Toss the haloumi slices and lemon slices in the lemon-garlic sauce. 
5. Heat grill to high and grill haloumi and lemon slices until you see the grill marks.  Flip and repeat. 
6. Lightly brush both sides of bread with olive oil and grill until you see the grill marks.
7. In a saute pan, cook boca burgers over medium in olive oil under browned.  Flip and repeat.
8. Assemble sandwiches, drizzling extra lemon-garlic sauce on the bread and boca burgers.  
9. A word of warning:  We thought the lemon peels were too bitter, so after taking our first bite, we trimmed the peels before eating the rest of the sandwiches.