GREEN CHILE CHEESEBURGERS

COOK'S COUNTRY GREEN CHILE CHEESEBURGERS
3 Anaheim chiles, halved lengthwise and seeded
3 jalape駉s, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 medium onion, sliced in three 1/2" thick rounds *
6 toothpicks
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 pounds ground chuck
4 slices American cheese

Earlier in the day, grill the chiles and onion on your outdoor grill (see my comments below) over high heat until charred and tender, about 4 minutes per side. Turn off your grill. Put the chiles and onion in a large bowl; cover and let them cool at least 5 minutes. Peel the chiles and roughly chop them as well as the onions. Put the chiles, onion and garlic in a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Remove to a small bowl. Put 1/4 cup of the mixture in a small food processor and puree, if possible, or process as finely as you can (see my comments below).

Add the pureed chiles to the ground beef in a large bowl; add the 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Season the remaining chiles with a little salt and pepper. Mix the ground beef and chile mixture with your hands and shape in four 3/4" thick patties. Press an indentation in the center of each patty to keep them from puffing up while cooking. Keep refrigerated until just before you're ready to grill them.

Preheat your grill. Meanwhile, warm the reserved chile mixture in the microwave so that it's not cold. Grill the burgers over a high flame 3-5 minutes on the first side. Flip them and top them with the chopped chile mixture and 1 slice of cheese per patty. Grill until the cheese is melted and the burgers are done, 3-5 minutes.

Makes 4 servings

* To keep the onions from falling apart on the grill, I inserted 2 toothpicks into the sides of each slice. The toothpicks will burn but that won't matter. Just remember to remove them before chopping them.

Per Serving: 530 Calories; 34g Fat; 44g Protein; 10g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 8g Net Carbs

I got this recipe from the Cook's Country TV show. The only thing that I changed from the original recipe was to use 2 pounds of ground beef instead of 1 1/2 pounds. As is pretty typical, when making a recipe from either Cook's Country or America's Test Kitchen, they make it look really quick and easy on the show but it never turns out that way. On the show they did the whole process of grilling the chiles and grilling the burgers all in one session. I tried that and it was a big mistake. I should have grilled and chopped the chiles earlier in the day and reheated them later just before grilling the burgers. What happened is that it took much longer to prepare the chiles than I thought it would and I ran into a couple of snags (including losing half of one jalape駉s in the bottom of the grill).

It took much longer to peel the chiles than I thought it would and in the meantime my gas grill was still turned on in order to grill the burgers. The recipe said to remove the chile mixture from the food processor. Then you were to return 1/4 cup of the mixture to the food processor and puree it. This was impossible to do. There was such a small amount that it was just flung onto the sides of the processor and never made contact with the blades. I ended up putting it in my mini food processor and that helped some but it still didn't end up pureed. Then, by the time I got done messing with the chiles and shaping the burger patties, I discovered that my grill had run out of gas. I had to wait until my husband could run out and get a tank refill before I could grill the burgers. I was hoping to do the grilling around lunch time before it started to rain but I didn't get to eat until about 4:00. But hey, at least it didn't rain.

In the end, I think next time I would just roast the chiles and onions under the broiler like I usually do. I don't think they tasted much different having been grilled over a flame. Although these burgers did taste good (what's not to like about a flame-grilled burger?), they weren't anything special and not worth all the bother. The chiles had no heat at all and very little flavor. I might as well have made plain cheeseburgers. I suggest cooking them only 3-4 minutes per side. I did mine almost 5 minutes per side and they were a little too well done for me, but then I like my burgers rare. They also could use a little more salt in the meat mixture. I would use a full teaspoon next time. I smothered mine in some Cilantro Pepita Sauce which I just happened to have on hand. That really helped boost the flavor and it went perfectly with the green chiles. Click the photos to see close-ups. Below is how the burger looked on the inside:

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