Santa Fe Burgers

 If you could use a little zip and zing in your life, I have the gift of Santa Fe Burgers for you.

She is spicy and zesty. She is sauce-y and sweet. She doesn’t care about long walks on the beach or sunsets. She wants to party and sit by the grill with an electric ice tea. She is the Sante Fe burger. You will love her.

Santa Fe Burgers

Makes 4 burgers.

• 1 recipe Hamburger Buns
• 20 ounces ground chicken, turkey, or beef
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, drained & minced (or 2 teaspoons chipotle powder)
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter or garlic butter
• 4 slices pepper jack cheese
• 3 bell peppers (1 red, 1 yellow, and 1 orange), sliced into rings
• 4 romaine lettuce leaves
• One recipe Green Chili Sauce

Remove excess sauce from adobe peppers and mince. Add the egg, adobe peppers, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, & pepper to ground meat. Using hands, mix ingredients together until evenly incorporated. Be sure not to overman or the burgers will become rubbery.  A large bowl and latex gloves are very handy for messy jobs like this one.

Drizzle a frying pan with olive oil and preheat over medium or medium-high heat. Shape the meat into 4 five-ounce burgers that are about 3/4-inch thick. When the pan is hot, add the burgers.

Cook 3-4 minutes on each side or, more importantly, until the middle of each burger reaches 165°F. If using ground beef, cook to 160°F.

Add the jack cheese to the top of each burger for the last minute or two of the cooking time. Top the pan with a lid to help the cheese melt.

While waiting for burgers to cook, spread a little butter on both sides of each of the hamburger buns, place them on a baking sheet butter side up, and toast under the oven broiler until they are light golden brown. It’s smart to keep the oven door a little bit open so that these are not forgotten and burned – not that I have ever done that or anything. When the hamburger buns are finished toasting, spread some Green Chile Sauce on each one.

If you are using ground beef, drain any excess grease from the burgers. Place them on the buns and top with the lettuce, bell peppers, and top bun.

Green Chili Lime Sauce

20 ounces ground chicken or turkey

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 – 3.3 or 4-ounce can mild green chilis
• 1-2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Zest of fresh lime
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
• Dash sea salt
• Dash coarse ground pepper

For a cool, refreshing sauce to balance out the heat of the chipotle peppers, we make mild green chili sauce.  Stir mild green chiles, minced garlic, cumin, lime juice into sour cream. Add salt and pepper to your liking.

You don’t meet a girl like this every day.