Spicy Poblano Burgers with Chipotle Cream and Pickled Red Onions

Well, after an overly long hiatus, I'm back.  Life is good, thanks for asking.  I mean, how bad could it be, considering that I was finally able to make a crazy hamburger recipe without my good friend and former housemate lamenting "why would you ever put something in a burger besides salt and pepper?!"  Because it's awesome, that's why.

Show me potato salad!

Tonight's post liberates and modifies a burger recipe from Cooking Light, wherein ground beef is augmented with spices and a roasted chile pepper.  To top it off, it calls for a chipotle cream, as well as pickled red onions.  For those of you who haven't had either of these things, a) I weep for you, and b) you need to try them.  Chipotle peppers, being jalapenos that have been smoked and either dried or preserved in a spicy sauce called adobo, are more than just the namesake of your favorite mission-style burrito.  They are also a small piece of heaven, and make for an incredible flavored mayonnaise that's very easy to whip up at home.  And pickled red onions are a garnish traditionally served in Latin cuisine, with a slight bit of tang and a crisp, refreshing bite.  The idea of throwing these things on a burger sounded too good to pass up, and I assure you, the combination is fairly impressive when you're done.

The chipotle - a smoked / dried jalapeno.  And you thought it was some kind of crazy mystery pepper!

Pickled red onions.  I use my own recipe, which is easy and fast, and requires about 4 things you have around the kitchen.

The recipe calls for roasted poblanos in the burger meat.  This is a simple process that can go horribly if you don't follow the directions.  Let's walk through the process quickly:

1. Take your peppers and char them over an open flame.  Do not bake them, don't put them in a pan and sear them.  Char them, over a gas burner, on a grill, or in a broiler.  Turn them regularly, to make sure they are well blackened.
2. Take the still hot peppers and put them in a bag.  You're trying to get the skin off, which you don't want to eat.  To do this, you want the steam coming from the peppers to work its way throughout the membrane keeping the skin attached, so that even the non-charred bits give up their fight and let go.  Translation: place in a sealed plastic zip-top bag, and let the peppers sit for 15 minutes.
3. Peel the skin off.  Try to get as much as possible removed, or the final product will both look and feel weird.

The mostly charred peppers.  I used cubanelle, because I'm lazy and couldn't find poblanos.  About the same heat level and flavor in a pinch.

The peppers, after steaming in a ziploc bag.

Look, the skin comes right off in sheets!

If you're lucky, you can get most of the skin off in one pull.

The finished product, peeled, seeds removed, and sliced open.

We all thought the burgers were great, although I would have cooked them slightly more rare on a better grill.  Regardless, the tart chipotle cream, the slightly sweet, slightly sour pickled onions, and the savory burger come together in what I thought was a well-rehearsed symphony of flavors.  Make sure you are sitting when you eat the hamburger, and please, remember to eat responsibly.

The recipe calls for making a few subassemblies, which need to be prepared in a certain order to get the flavors and consistency correct.  I will outline the recipe in the order in which you must complete everything for maximum awesomeness.  Besides changing the order of the recipe, I replaced white bread and milk with panko crumbs, which gives the burger just a bit more body and a less mushy meatloaf-y texture.

Spicy Poblano Burgers with Pickled Red Onions and Chipotle Cream

Adapted from Cooking Light, July 2010

• 2 poblano chiles
• 1 oz panko crumbs
• 3 tbsp minced fresh cilantro, divided
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 1 pound ground sirloin (I used 90/10 chuck)

• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1 tbsp minced shallots
• 1 tsp fresh lime juice
• 1 (7-oz) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (you will just need 1 chile)
• 4 (1.5-oz) hamburger buns, toasted

• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp dried oregano

First, get the pickled onions pickling.  You can do this a day ahead, but a few hours is better than nothing. Most importantly, slice your onions thinly and uniformly.  For this, I use a mandoline, also referred to in my kitchen as 'the finger slicer'.  This medieval torture instrument is valuable not only for injuring yourself, but also for making precisely sliced foods.  Observe:

The mandoline - observe nature's cruelest mistake

I recommend using the finger guard, unless you have excellent medical insurance

These perfectly sliced onions were created in about 10 seconds total.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, add vinegar, sugar, red pepper flakes and salt, heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add onions and dried oregano. When mixture is cool pour into a quart container. You may need to add a bit of water just to cover. (If you have time, keep at room temperature for about 6 hours, then place in the refrigerator).

Next, prepare the chipotle cream.  Combine the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons cilantro, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper in a medium bowl. Stir in sour cream, shallots, and juice. Remove 1 chipotle pepper and 2 teaspoons adobo sauce from can; reserve remaining chipotle peppers and adobo sauce for another use. Chop chile. Stir chopped chipotle and 2 teaspoons adobo sauce into sour cream mixture.  Set aside and allow flavors to combine.

Now you can get the poblano peppers roasted.   Preheat broiler, or use a gas / charcoal grill.  Either grill, turning frequently, or place poblano chiles on a foil-lined baking sheet, and broil for 8 minutes or until blackened, turning after 6 minutes. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 15 minutes. Peel chiles, and discard the seeds and membranes. Finely chop.

Now, prepare your spices.  Naturally, you use whole spices, right?  What's that, you don't?  Well, throw out your spices, because they are undoubtedly bland and gross.  Instead, go to a latin market and pick up fresh coriander (the seeds of the cilantro plant) and cumin (the seeds of some other plant), and grind up fresh as needed.  I specifically purchased a coffee mill that I use just for latin spices, which would produce some of the worst coffee ever at this point, but which does an excellent job at making fresh ground spice.

Grind your spices fresh for the best flavor

Combine panko, poblano chile, 1 1/2 tablespoons cilantro, cumin, coriander, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and beef, tossing gently to combine. Divide mixture into 4 equal portions, gently shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty.  Make sure to shape the burgers thin and wide, so that they won't contract into a sphere when cooked.  A trick I learned on Food TV - press a small indentation in the center of each patty, which helps prevent this 'burger bulge' and results in a completely flat burger after cooking.  Cover and chill until ready to grill.   Also, if you're going to the trouble of making this recipe, shell out for decent buns.  A burger that takes this long to make deserves to be on bread without preservatives, that doesn't cost 25 cents, has some flavor, and won't turn to complete paste if looked at incorrectly.  Like a good CEO, burger buns should have some integrity.

Place patties on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 3 minutes or until grill marks appear. Carefully flip patties; grill an additional 3 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.  Don't be that person that squishes the burger with your spatula - yes, it sounds great, but all you're doing is wringing the flavor and moisture out of the burger, along with potentially cross-contaminating your cooked burger implement with raw beef bits.

I try to make the burgers wide, so they don't shrivel up into small burger balls that are gross when you get them to a bun.

Place 1 patty on bottom half of each bun; top each serving with 3 tablespoons chipotle cream and 1 tablespoon Pickled Red Onions.  Serve with whatever sides you like, and enjoy your hard work - you earned it.

Chipotle pickled red onion roasted pepper burger