Burger Patties Stuffed with Tomato and Feta – Mpiftekia Gemista | Fresh Piato

Beautiful Burger Patties stuffed with Tomato and Feta served with an Arugula salad! I like to cook them until they have a dark brown color because slightly charred taste better!

The Greek Mpiftekia vs Burger patties

The Greek Mpiftekia are a little different from Burger Patties mostly because of the addition of bread in their making. The bread is usually soaked in water, milk, or wine and then drained before being used in the mixture. Instead of bread we also use toasted breadcrumbs.

The addition of bread to the mixture helps the patty develop a nice brown crust when fried while being very juicy on the inside.

As a matter of fact, if it’s a little charred on the outside it tastes better. This is my personal preference but considering the praise, I get from whoever tries my Mpiftekia (burger patties) I deducted that a lot of people share my point of view. In Greece, we usually eat them with fried potatoes and salad. Try them out stuffed with Tomato and Feta because they are absolutely delicious!

The video has subtitles in English, Greek, and more than 30 languages.

Burger Patties Stuffed with Tomato and Feta – Mpiftekia Gemista | Fresh Piato

Prep: 5m | Rest: 30m | Cook: 4m | Total: 39m | Yield: 6 patties

Ingredients:

500g Minced Beef
3 slices of Bread, stale
1 Onion, crushed and drained
150g Milk, to soak the bread
1 Egg
½ tsp Smoked Paprika
1 Tbsp Oregano
1.5 Tbsp Vinegar
2 Tbsp toasted Breadcrumbs* (optional/adjustable)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 pinches of Salt
1 pinch of Pepper
250ml Sunflower Oil, for frying

For the filling:

70g Feta, crumbled
1 Tomato, cut into tiny cubes

For the side salad:

Arugula / Rocket
Leftover cubed Tomato
Leftover crumbled Feta
Balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

Finely chop the onion or blend it in the food processor with the pulse button, then drain it off any juices it may produce.
Cut the tomato into very tiny cubes and crumble the feta with a fork.
Cut 3 slices of sourdough bread and soak them in a little milk for about 1 minute on each side. Remove their crust and drain them as best you can.
In a large bowl, put the minced beef, the drained chopped onion, the soaked and drained slices of bread, the oregano, the smoked paprika, the vinegar, 2 pinches of salt and 1 pinch of pepper, the egg, and the olive oil.
Mix very well by shaping the mixture with our hands. If all the ingredients are mixed well and you still feel the mixture to be watery, then add some toasted breadcrumbs slowly, until you get a soft and pliable mixture that shouldn’t feel wet.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and REST it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Shape the minced meat into 6 large (75-80g) and 6 small (60g) balls and then flatten them with your palm.
Take the biggest ball and make a hole in the middle without piercing it, like a nest.
Add 1/2 tsp of the tomato cubes and 1/2 tsp of the crumbled feta in the hole and then cover it with the smaller piece.
Join the two pieces into a burger patty and leave it aside until you shape all of them.
If you have a grill pan, first put them in the grill pan on very high heat (9/9) for about 1 minute on each side and then fry them with a little sunflower oil over high heat (8/9) until they take on a dark brown color. Grilling + frying makes the cooked Mpiftekia, but if you don’t have a grill pan then just shallow fry them with sunflower oil until they are browned to your liking.
Serve with fries and/or salad of your choice.
I like to accompany them with Arugula salad when it’s in season and add the leftover tomato and feta cubes on top of it with a little balsamic vinegar! And there you have it, a delicious and quick meal, enjoy!

Notes:

*I use the breadcrumbs to adjust the consistency of the minced meat so that it can easily form a ball. The mixture should be soft and fluffy but it should not feel wet when you mix it with your hands. If the mixture is wet it will be difficult to shape it and the patties will break when fried. You might need to increase or reduce the amount of toasted breadcrumbs that I list in the ingredients above depending on how much bread you initially used.
The slices of bread should be stale. Fresh bread does not make good patties because it does not incorporate smoothly with the minced beef. You are better off using breadcrumbs instead of fresh bread.
If you use a grill pan it should be smoking hot when you add the patties to grill them. If you add the patties to a cold grill pan they will stick on the surface of the pan and won’t have a nice crust.