Roasted Hatch Chile Pepper Burgers

I think I may have mentioned before how bad it is that I discovered the fact that whole foods is about a mile away from where I work. On one of the post-work trips for produce, I discovered that it was nearing the end of the season for Hatch peppers.

As far as I can tell, Hatch peppers are grown pretty exclusively in New Mexico and are harvested in late August. The pods are long and slender and are a lighter yellow-green as compared to the dark green of a jalapeno. The heat level can vary wildly between varieties, from mild to extremely hot. I was sort of hoping that the ones I bought would fall more in the middle of the scale, but they turned out to be on the milder side.

Halved chiles being prepared for the broiler.

To start my burgers, first the chiles had to be roasted. Not being in possession of a fancy rotating gas powered roaster myself, I turned to the broiler to get the job done. I've used this method on bell peppers before and it has yielded consistently good results. Aside from the lovely roasted flavor this process brings, roasting chars the outside skin of the pepper making it much easier to remove prior to use. The skin on most chiles, at least the ones I have personally used, is very thin and almost waxy and unpleasant to eat. I peel any chiles I roast. A handy trick for the peeling is to let the chiles steam for 5 to 10 minutes in a paper bag or in a bowl covered with plastic wrap. The steam further loosens the skin.

Roasted chiles, before peeling.

After steaming it is often possible to peel the skin off in one or two large pieces, but often there are parts around the outer edge that are more stubborn. After peeling, I chopped the chiles into about 1/2 inch cubes and mixed them into the ground beef along with chopped onion.

It's at this point that I get to talk about one of my very favorite kitchen toys ever. The burger press.

Burger press and pre-cut parchment paper squares.

Shortly after we got married my wife and I went on a restrained but still somewhat extended shopping trip with some gift cards and other money we received from the wedding. This is definitely in the top 5 of my favorite post-wedding gifts.

The press is adjustable, for one, which means you can make anywhere from 1/4 pound burgers all the way up to 1 pound monstrosities. The parchment squares are especially useful if you plan to make a quantity of burgers and then freeze them for later, though I do also enjoy them just for the ease of handling and transferring the patties between whatever tray you're staging them on and the grill.

One square of parchment goes down on the bottom of the press, then the meat goes on top of the paper, and another paper goes on top of the meat. It's a little parchment paper burger sandwich.

All neat and orderly. Plus it keeps your press and tray clean!

Since we're not currently in a position to use an outdoor grill, due to the joys of second floor apartment living, I once again utilized the services of the panini grill to cook the burgers. Honestly it doesn't do a bad job. I still prefer a propane or charcoal grill, though.

Mmm, chiles.

While those were sizzling away, I simply sliced some more white onion and tomato, and pulled off a few leaves of this tiny head of butter lettuce I found in the produce dept. at target. I'm pretty fond of these tiny heads of lettuce especially for things like sandwiches and burgers.

Any opportunity to show off my knife.

At this point, tragedy struck. I was looking around for the hamburger buns and was shocked to find that they were entirely absent. Luckily I had purchased some small square ciabatta rolls for sandwich making a few days earlier. Crisis averted. Plus they were really good!

The finished product.

Thank you all for reading! Other than the minor snag with the hamburger buns this recipe was a total success. Perhaps in the future I will try again with a slightly hotter pepper. See you next week!