I have found a new love.

Have you had a Patty Melt lately?  Have you made one lately?  If not, it’s well past time.
As a result of my vow to never again eat a bad sandwich, and because a couple feet of snow outside prevent me from being fully committed to grilling myself a burger, this is perfection.
And, you need rye bread.  And if you think you don’t like it, just try it.  A couple people here thought they didn’t like it either, but winter burgers won them over in, oh, one bite or so.

I made these two ways this time.  The best way is with mushrooms and onions, but I have some here who don’t like mushrooms so I made some with just onions.  For eight sandwiches, I used two pounds of ground beef–1/4 lb. per sandwich.
Easy to adjust the amount based on how many you’re serving.

Begin by preparing your ingredients.   Wash a container  or two of baby Bella mushrooms (or your favorite variety) and slice   Also slice one large onion into thin slices.

Then, make 1/4 lb. patties from your ground beef.  I like square-ish shapes to fit best on the sandwiches.  Also, in case you didn’t know this, the less you mess with the patties, the better.  You want the edges to be smoothed out (so they don’t fall apart when they hit the pan), but too much mushing and pushing makes for less tender burgers.  Oh, and nice and thin because otherwise they’ll shrink right up and not fill up the sandwich.
So, shape them up pretty, season them with salt and pepper,  and set them aside.

Butter one side each of marbled rye bread.  Place the buttered sides together and lay a piece of provolone cheese on each.

Now, begin to heat up your pan with 2 T. butter.  I have two pans, one with just onions to accommodate my non-shroomy boys.
When the pan is good and hot (medium-high heat), add in the onions and mushrooms, salt and pepper them (about 1/8 tsp. each) and let them sauté for several minutes until they are golden and softened.

Patty Melt Grocery List:
(8 sandwiches)

16 slices marbled rye bread

2 lbs. lean ground beef

8 slices provolone cheese

4-8 T. butter

1-2 containers baby Bella mushrooms

1 large onion

2 c. beef broth

salt and pepper