When I want a really great, even fancy, hamburger, I order one at a restaurant. A restaurant whose cooks know how to make a great hamburger.

Turns out, I can make a delicious hamburger at home, practically restaurant-style and certainly a little bit fancy. Which is a big change from The Pilot grilling up a big batch and me freezing them to reuse for quick meals, a huge help when I’m on my own for several days.

But a while back, I wasn’t on my own, and I cooked up a new Caprese hamburger in my skillet, complete with ground chuck and thick-sliced mozzarella cheese from the local butcher. Have you had a Caprese burger? It usually involves cheese and mozzarella and pesto.

I mixed sliced almonds in with the meat, rather than make a separate pesto (’cause I’m not a big fan of pesto), and topped off the whole thing with a generous drizzle of a syrupy, sweet balsamic vinegar and a few other ingredients.

My boys cleaned up. The Pilot cleaned up. I’m saying there were no leftovers.

Here is a child,

just before he devoured his hamburger:

Homemade hamburger by Rhonda Franz for DeNigris

And here is the recipe:

Almond-Textured Caprese Hamburger at the De Nigris site.