Green Chile Cheeseburgers- Cook's Country Recipe

By SuzyHomemakerGoneBad

For our version of New Mexico’s green chile cheeseburgers—ground beef patties grilled to a crusty brown and topped with chopped fire-roasted chiles and a slice of cheese—we preferred the flavor and fat of 85 percent lean ground beef. After a few trial runs, we settled on 6-ounce patties, which could accommodate a generous chile topping.

For the topping, we used mild Anaheim chiles and spicy jalapeños for a complex chile flavor. We grilled the chiles with onions, then chopped them with fresh garlic in the food processor. For even more chile flavor, we pureed some of the chile topping into a smooth paste and mixed it into the raw ground beef. This produced burgers with a pleasurable hot punch through and through.

Ingredients

• 3 Anaheim chile peppers, stemmed, halved lengthwise, and seeded
• 3 jalapeño chiles, stemmed, halved lengthwise, and seeded
• 1 onion, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds 85 percent lean ground beef
• 4 slices deli American cheese

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from cookscountrytv.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. CHAR VEGETABLES: Grill Anaheims, jalapenos, and onion, covered, over hot fire until vegetables are lightly charred and tender, 2 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer vegetables to bowl, cover, and let cool 5 minutes. Remove skins from chiles and discard; separate onion rounds into rings.

2. PROCESS CHILE MIXTURE: Transfer chiles, onion, and garlic to food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Transfer all but ¼ cup chopped chile mixture to empty bowl and season with salt and pepper; set aside. Process remaining mixture until finely chopped, about 45 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed. You may need to add a teaspoon or two of water to the food processor to help process the chile mixture.

3. FORM BURGERS: Combine beef, pureed chile mixture, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in large bowl and knead gently until well incorporated. Shape into four ¾-inch-thick patties and press shallow divot in center of each. The divot will keep the burgers flat as they cook.

4. GRILL AND TOP: Grill burgers, covered, over hot fire until well browned on first side, 3 to 5 minutes. Flip bur-gers, top with chopped chile mixture and cheese, and continue to grill, covered, until cheese is melted and burgers are cooked to desired doneness, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve.