Burgers with Gorgonzola and Port-Glazed Onions

I just can't leave well enough alone when it comes to food.  If something can be made more complicated, I'll do it.  This burger is one of those things.  Burgers are delicious as is, so do they really need to be dressed up?  No, but it's a fun and tasty thing to do anyway. 

The idea for this burger started with the June issue of Food & Wine's cover recipe.  But it seemed to need something else texturally along with the melted cheese and chewy beef, and maybe some sweetness to balance the salty cheese as well, so I pulled some elements from Josie's fig-glazed burger with red onion jam.  The resulting burger has a lot of strong flavors, but they all work together and make a weeknight burger seem a lot fancier than it is.

Burgers with Gorgonzola and Port-Glazed Onions

What's in them:

1 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, halved and sliced into half-rounds
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt, divided
1/2 c port
1 lb ground beef
1/2 tsp ground pepper
3-4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1/4 c fig jam
1/2 c crumbled gorgonzola cheese (or bleu cheese or Stilton)
4 hamburger buns

How to make them:

Heat a pan over medium high heat, and add oil when pan is hot.  Once oil is hot as well, add onions and 1/2 tsp salt, stirring to coat the onions.  Reduce heat to medium-low, and let onions cook until soft and brown, about 15 minutes.  Turn heat back up until the onions are sizzling, then pour in the port, stirring and scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pan.  Reduce heat to low, and simmer until port thickly coats the onions.  Set aside, keeping the onions warm.

Mix beef, remaining salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce lightly, being careful to not overwork the beef.  Form four patties, then grill to desired doneness.  When burgers are almost done, brush each with fig jam, then top with gorgonzola. 

Serve on buns, topped with the port-glazed onions.