OK, so here goes yet another ground beef pattie recipe. But as most of you already know, I love ground beef. Which incidentally, is a good thing since we still have about 20 pounds of beautiful ground beef in our freezer from the quarter of a beef we purchased a few months ago.

So the other evening, after having already spent what I consider to be way too many hours in the kitchen, the subject of “what’s for dinner” entered into our conversation. (In all fairness, it was dinner time. And normally at this time of evening I would be sipping one of Mr. Cs perfect martinis, while simultaneously chopping greens and stirring a sauce.) But that wasn’t happening. Instead I was finishing the stew I would be serving guests in a couple of days. So then, what to do about dinner?

I had some fresh green beans in the refrigerator longing to be used. I had a couple extra Yukon gold potatoes I didn’t need for the stew. So into the oven they went. So that just left the entrée.

The previous evening we had eaten at the restaurant at our local golf course. I had ordered the steak and it had come with a delicious balsamic reduction sauce. So I thought, why not try reproducing that sauce and serve it over ground beef patties. So that’s what I did!

Mr. C. retrieved a package of our precious ground beef from the freezer and I nuked it until it was defrosted. Then I added a couple of ingredients, fried the patties, and threw the sauce together. It was wonderful! And oh so easy. And hardly any effort. (That’s the part I liked the most!)

So if you ever need an entrée you can throw together in just a few minutes, give this ground beef recipe and sauce a try. (And yes, I did think of entitling this recipe Hamburger Steak with a Balsamic Reduction Glaze. But the patties were just so simple to prepare, that I thought a haughty designation would be just too presumptuous.)

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1T. Montreal Steak Seasoning
• ¼ tsp. granulated garlic
• 1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 T. unsalted butter
• ¼ c. balsamic vinegar
• freshly ground black pepper (lots)

Mix the ground beef, steak seasoning, and granulated garlic together. Pour olive oil into a small frying pan. Form the ground beef mixture into 3-4 patties. Cook until medium rare or to your liking. Remove from pan. Cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.

Add the butter, balsamic vinegar, and pepper to the pan. Cook over low heat until reduced to about 2 tablespoons. Plate the ground beef patties and drizzle with the sauce.