This week’s Dinner & a Movie is pure comfort on a pretzel bun: a cheesy burger topped with a quick cheese sauce and served with baked red onion and potato slices. The film, by contrast, revisits a Gulf catastrophe that Alabamians remember all too well.
In the kitchen: Cheesy Pretzel Burger
You will need ground beef, a pretzel bun, a potato, a red onion, flour, milk, shredded cheese of your choice, ground mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Toss sliced potato and red onion with olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake at 450 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Form a patty and cook it four to five minutes per side, then set it aside to rest.
- For the sauce, cook a little flour in olive oil until light brown, whisk in milk, then melt in about two ounces of shredded cheese and keep it warm.
- Slice the pretzel bun and toast it face-down in the pan drippings.
- Spread ground mustard on the bottom bun, then layer the baked onion, the burger and the cheese sauce. Serve with the potato slices.
The pretzel bun and warm cheese sauce turn a weeknight burger into something a little special.
At the movies: ‘Deepwater Horizon’
For Gulf Coast viewers, “Deepwater Horizon” hits home rather than close to it. Director Peter Berg dramatizes the 2010 disaster aboard the offshore rig, focusing on the crew as corporate pressure to skip safety checks sets the stage for catastrophe. Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O’Brien and Kate Hudson all turn in strong performances.
Berg lays the story out plainly, showing what happened, why it happened and who bore responsibility, and the film is worth seeing even as a dramatization “based on” true events.
Our verdict: two thumbs up. Assemble the pretzel burgers, and settle in for a story that still resonates along this coast.
Make it your own
The pretzel bun is the star here, lending a chewy, faintly sweet contrast to the savory patty and warm cheese sauce, but a good brioche or potato roll will serve if pretzel buns are hard to find. The quick cheese sauce welcomes experimentation: a sharp cheddar makes it bold, while a milder Monterey Jack keeps it smooth and kid-friendly. A pinch of smoked paprika or a spoonful of grainy mustard stirred into the sauce adds depth. Baking the onion and potato slices together on one sheet keeps cleanup simple and lets you get everything to the table at once. For a lighter take, the same build works with a turkey or veggie patty. Because the components hold well, this is an easy meal to scale up for a casual gathering, and it pairs naturally with a cold drink and good company on a Gulf Coast evening when the weather finally turns cool.
Rounded out with the baked potato slices and a crisp side salad, it is a hearty, satisfying plate for an easy night in, and a fitting one given the Gulf Coast story that follows on the screen.