Summer seems to have finally arrived in Vancouver. We’ve had some sporadic good weather up until this heatwave though, and I’ve managed to experiment with my “perfect” burger recipe (in quotes as nothing is perfect of course!). I love spicy food so I wanted to try making a jalapeno beef burger after trying one at a local BBQ place.
1 cup pickled jalapenos, diced
1lb (480g) lean ground beef (not extra lean, you want lean as it’s more juicy)
Between 1/4 and 1/2 a medium onion, diced
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
Yield: 4 burgers
Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl by hand. Form into four 1/4lb patties, with a bit of a depression in the middle (make it by pushing your fist into the burger; you do this so the patty doesnt’ swell up while cooking). Cook for 5 minutes per side on a medium-hot grill (around 400-450 degrees) over direct heat. If you want cheese, add the slice to the burger about a minute before cooking is done, and toast the buns at the same time if your grill has a toasting rack.
The jalapenos don’t add too much heat, just a little spicy kick and some flavour. I tried variations of this recipe using an egg, but didn’t find any use for it really; it doesn’t seem to add anything except calories. The mixture above should hold together just fine on the grill. You can freeze any leftover patties, raw – I keep them for up to a month in the freezer then take them out, defrost overnight in the fridge and cook them up, just as good as fresh!
Sometimes we do some yam “fries” in the oven with the burgers. Again with the quotation marks as they’re not fried but baked. The recipe is pretty simple:
2 yams, cut into long chips
1 tbsp olive oil (extra virgin if you have it)
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
Mix the yam fries in a bowl with the olive oil and spices. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and place the fries on 2 baking sheets. Cook for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and turn, then cook for another 10-15 minutes. Serve sprinked with sea salt and a garlic-mayo dip or aioli.
They’re usually not too crispy when cooked like this which is a bit of a shame, but they’re still really good.
