Feel The Kick Burger

I was born in San Antonio, Texas.While my mom was pregnant with me she always ate at a little Tex-Mex restaurant. All of my life I have loved Tex-Mex food, especially foods with jalapeno peppers. So, just like Mom could feel my kick inside of her, these burgers have a little kick in the middle, too, that you feel with each delicious bite!

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic
2 cups + 2 Tablespoons red sangria
2 Roma tomatoes
1 Vidalia onion
1 ripe avocado
4 stems fresh cilantro
1 lime
6 pickled whole jalapeno peppers
1 Tablespoon granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 + 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
20 salted tortilla chips
1-1/2 pounds raw ground beef, 80% lean
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
6 ounces cream cheese
6 pieces flatbread, 7 inches by 10 inches
1/2 cup vegetable oil for brushing on hot grill grates
12 Tablespoons green pepper jelly

Instructions:

Preheat Weber 1000LX gas grill by turning on all 3 heat sources to High.

Peel and press 2 garlic cloves, using garlic press, into a 9-inch saute pan. Save the third garlic clove for preparing the topping mixture for the burgers.

Add two cups red sangria to the saute pan; save the additional 2 Tablespoons red sangria for preparing the topping mixture.

Place the saute pan on the grill over High heat. Reduce the red sangria with pressed garlic for 30 minutes to yield approximately 1 cup of liquid. Remove saute pan from heat and set aside to cool. Turn down all 3 heat sources to Medium.

While the sangria with pressed garlic is reducing, make the topping mixture for the burgers in a medium bowl:

Peel and press 1 garlic clove (the one that you saved above) into a medium bowl.

Slice 2 Roma tomatoes in half, lengthwise, and remove seeds from the four tomato halves using a grapefruit knife or spoon; dispose of the seeds. Dice the seeded Roma tomatoes and add to pressed garlic in medium bowl.

Dice enough of the Vidalia onion to make 1/2 cup diced onion; save the rest of the Vidalia onion for another day. Add the 1/2 cup diced onion to topping mixture in medium bowl.

Peel, pit and dice one ripe avocado. Dispose of the peel and pit; add diced avocado to topping mixture in medium bowl.

Remove fresh cilantro leaves from stems and dispose of stems. Chop cilantro leaves and add to topping mixture in the medium bowl.

Slice a lime in half and squeeze the juice from both lime halves into the topping mixture in the medium bowl; dispose of squeezed limes.

Put on disposable vinyl gloves. Slice the top off 6 pickled whole jalapeno peppers. Remove seeds from the jalapeno peppers and dispose of tops and seeds. Finely chop the jalapeno peppers and set aside in a small bowl. Dispose of vinyl gloves; wash hands well.

Add the following to the topping mixture in the medium bowl:
1 Tablespoon granulated white sugar,
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin,
1/8 teaspoon salt (save the 1/4 teaspoon salt for the beef mixture),
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar,
2 Tablespoons red sangria (which you saved earlier), and 2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil.

Gently fold the topping mixture to combine the ingredients, making sure that all of the diced vegetables are coated with the liquid. Set aside the topping mixture in the medium bowl.

Put 20 salted tortilla chips in a zipper-sealed plastic bag and press with hands or a rolling pin to finely crush the chips.

Crumble the 1-1/2 pounds raw ground beef into a large bowl. Add to the beef in the large bowl the following:
the crushed chips,
1/4 teaspoon salt (you saved this above),
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper,
and reduced red sangria with pressed garlic which has been cooling.

Mix beef mixture well with clean hands. Divide the beef mixture into 6 equal portions. Press each portion into a 5-inch by 5-inch burger square and place on waxed paper. Wash hands well!

Slice the cream cheese into 6 pieces using the markings on the package as a guide to make 1-ounce pieces. Slice each 1-ounce piece in half, lengthwise, to make two strips of cream cheese.

Place two strips of cream cheese lengthwise across each burger square. These cream cheese strips should be one inch from the edge of the burger square which is nearest you. Overlap the middle ends of the cream cheese strips so that the other ends of the strips are one inch from the side edges of each burger square.

Evenly sprinkle the finely chopped pickled jajapeno peppers (saved in the small bowl above) over the cream cheese on each of the six burger squares.

Fold each burger square in half over the cream cheese strips and finely chopped pickled jalapeno peppers to make a 2-1/2 inch by 5-inch burger rectangle. Mash the edges of the burger rectangles with fingers to seal them. Wash hands well.

Stack 6 flatbread pieces, 7 inches by 10 inches, on a piece of aluminum foil. Roll up foil and flatbread pieces from one short edge to the other; fold the ends of the foil under. Heat on grill over medum heat for 3 minutes; turn the roll over and continue heating another 2 minutes.

Generously brush vegetable oil over the hot grill grates.

Grill the burger rectangles over direct Medium heat for 10 minutes. Using a broad spatula such as a pancake turner, gently lift each burger rectangle from the grill grate, roll the burger rectangle to its other side, and continue grilling over direct Medium heat for an additional 10 minutes.

Just after rolling the burger rectangles on the grill, spread 2 Tablespoons green pepper jelly evenly over the top grilled side of each burger rectangle; an iced tea spoon works well for this.

After spreading the greem pepper jelly over the grilling burger rectangles, unroll the flatbread pieces and place each piece on an individual dinner plate.

When the burger rectangles have completed cooking, turn off all 3 heat sources on the grill. Remove each burger rectangle from the grill and place one grilled burger rectangle on each flatbread piece. The grilled burger rectangles should be 3 inches from the short edge of each piece of flatbread with the green pepper jelly side facing up.

Spoon topping mixture evenly over the burger rectangles.

Fold the 3-inch edge of each flatbread piece over the grilled burger rectangle with topping mixture; continue folding over, as if rolling a burrito or wrap, until the blatbread pieces are completely folded around the grilled burger rectangles with topping mixture. You should end up with the free end of the flatbread pieces down on the dinner plate.

Slice each wrapped burger in half, at an angle; separate the halves on each dinner plate to show off all of the wonderful ingredients.

Serve hot; take a bite and feel the kick!!