Southwestern Chipotle Burger

Pairs well with:

Merlot

Get cozy and get pouring. Our Merlot is the wine for long weekends and lengthy chats.

I happened upon the BBB contest while surfing the web . We are avid wine drinkers and we grill at least once a week.The challenge of taking our favorite Southwest chicken recipes and creating a beef burger on the grill was exciting to me. We had a great summer inviting neighbors over, grilling at relatives houses and hosting burger tasting gatherings. I listened to my “burger taster’s” suggestions and learned a few things along the way. Here is my Southwestern Chipotle burger recipe, enjoy.

Ingredients:

Chipotle Sauce
1 large ripe Hass avocado
1/8 cup seeded and chopped Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce.
1 teaspoon Tabasco Chipotle sauce.
¼ cup sour cream.

Southwestern Burgers
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons coriander
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons Tabasco Chipotle sauce
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons of chopped garlic
¼ cup of chilled Sutter Home White Merlot
2 pounds ground Chuck (keep chilled until ready to assemble)
Large stainless steel bowl and large stainless steel spoon chilled in refrigerator until ready to use for burger assembly.

Grilled Onion
1 tablespoon Colavita olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 large or 2 medium white onion’s
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

Grilled Bacon
12 slices of thick cut hickory smoked bacon.

1 ½ cups Nature Sweet Cherub tomatoes sliced.
6 large leaves romaine lettuce.
6 King’s Hawaiian sandwich rolls
1/3 cup Colavita olive oil
12 slices pepper jack cheese
Kitchen Aid hand blender / chopper.
Plastic wrap
Paper towel
6 fold and close top sandwich bags.
Reynolds Wrap heavy duty aluminum foil

Instructions:

ChipotleSauce Prep time 15 minutes
Peel and slice the Hass avocado, slice about 3 Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce down the center and scrape out the seeds. Place chipotle peppers and avocado in the Kitchen Aid chopper. Chop until well blended (about 1 minute) scrap into a glass bowl add the Tabasco Chipotle sauce and sour cream. Use the blender attachment from your Kitchen Aid hand blender/ chopper. Blend well (about 1 minute), cover with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated until ready to use. This Chipotle sauce can be made the night before.

SouthwesternBurgers Prep time 20 minutes
In a small glass bowl combine all spices, seasonings and Sutter Home White Merlot wine and mix well. Remove stainless steel bowl, large serving spoon and ground chuck from the refrigerator. Put ground Chuck in the large chilled bowl; add spice mixture and mix well with cold spoon. Using the spoon, divide the ground chuck into six equal portions. Place one ground chuck portion in each of the fold and close top sandwich bags. Press down on the sandwich bag to flatten the ground Chuck ball into a ¼” thick burger. (I like to use a salad plate to flatten the meat) Leave burgers in the sandwich bags and store in the refrigerator until ready to grill.

Grilled Onion Prep time 15 minutes
Tear off a piece of Reynolds Wrap heavy duty foil approximately 30 inches long. Put Colavita olive oil and chopped garlic on the foil. Peel outer skin off onions and slice into about ¼” inch thick slices. Put onion slices on the foil, add freshly ground black pepper. Fold foil to make a pouch; be sure all edges are folded over. Gently shake pouch to distribute the ingredients, set aside until ready to grill.

Grilled Bacon Prep time 10 minutes
Tear off 2 pieces of Reynolds Wrap each about 12inches long. Place one on top of the other and fold up the outside edges about 1/8 of an inch. Cut each piece of bacon in half and put on foil. If all of the pieces do not fit, you may need to wait until the bacon cooks down to add all pieces. Set bacon aside until ready to grill.

Preheat grill & final prep Prep time 15 minutes
Preheat the gas grill to 475 degrees. While the grill is preheating finish the rest of the prep work. Slicing the Nature Sweet Cherub tomatoes, rinse off the romaine lettuce and wrap in paper towel to get rid of the excess water. Brush each of the King’s Hawaiian club buns with the Colavita olive oil.

Grilling Allow 25 minutes
Place the foil with the bacon on one side of the grill. Allow bacon to cook for 5 minutes before adding the burgers to the grill.
Place the burgers on the grill; after all burgers are on the grill turn your bacon over, poke a few holes in the foil to drain the grease. You may need to adjust the burner under the bacon if it is appears to be cooking too fast.
Cook your burgers for 5-8 minutes on each side, only turn your burgers once. After flipping your burgers, put the foil pouch of onions and the buns oiled side down on the top shelf of the grill.
Remove bacon from the grill (if you like it crispy, leave on until your liking). Blot bacon with paper towel to absorb some of the grease, fold foil over to keep the bacon warm.
Take burgers off the grill and top each with two pieces of pepper jack cheese. Cover burgers with Reynolds Wrap and let rest while buns are finished toasting.
Once burgers are removed you can move the buns down to the lower grill to finish toasting. Once toasted remove buns and onion pouch from the grill.

Assembling your Southwestern Chipotle burger
Bottom bun, lettuce, chipotle sauce, tomatoes, onions, burger cheese side up, bacon, spread top bun with more of the chipotle sauce and place on top.