I mean really craving a burger. Ever since Zach and I decided to cut back on our meat intake to once or twice a week, I’ve been craving one. I’m dead serious. Now that it’s the weekend. It’s time to splurge! … and splurge in the form of Mexican-style lamb burgers we did. Did I mention that I am absolutely in love with Sprout’s Markets. Yes, I am truly truly in love. The most amazing part is, we live literally in walking distance to one now. I know exactly where their meat comes from. They only sell the freshest and their prices aren’t totally out of control! Imagine that! They had some delicious looking lamb in the meat case, so we jumped right in. Literally, I basically had to fish Zach out. He’s heavy.
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We had such a beautiful week and the weekend is supposed to be much of the same, which basically has me dreaming of grilled food. Also, it’s supposed to snow on Tuesday. Yup, that’s right. Apparently there’s this huge weather system moving into our area which is going to cool things down and bring on some of our favorite snowy stuff. Bye bye beautiful 70 degree weather. Hopefully it will heat up again quickly. I am so ready for some real Spring weather. We have to soak in as much of this great weather as possible, and I can think of no better way to do this than grilling up some juicy burgers.
With that, the snow can go away until next year please. Thanks.
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We are going with a beer that’s crisp and totally satisfying for this beer pairing for two reasons. This is a Mexican-style burger with Mexican-style flavors, and it’s a burger. A burger is like taking a bite out of sunshine (well it is to me at least). We decided to go with Goose Island’s Summertime. Summertime is a German Style Kölsch. It is extremely refreshing and light, yet still full of flavor. With the Spring and Summer months approaching, there will be times where we go with a lighter, more Summer-like beer. This is especially the case when we are making Summer-like dishes. There aren’t very many Summer beers that we gravitate towards. They are usually TOO light. This one is pretty solid though, so when it hits your shelves, try it out!
If you plan on making the fried tortilla strips yourself, which I totally recommend doing, I would suggest cutting up a flour (or corn tortilla) into strips. We used flour because that’s what we had at the time. They worked fabulously, especially since our go-to is usually corn and we don’t often cook with the flour ones. Heat some vegetable or canola oil over medium high heat in a deep skillet. I would say to fill the skillet up with 1/2 – 1 inch of the oil up the side of the pan. Heat to about 350 degrees and fry up your strips until they are crispy and slightly browned. If you go too far they will for sure burn, so keep an eye on them, turning them ever so often. I find this to be the easiest method for frying strips, and we fry a lot…I mean a…lot.
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If you plan on using store-bought, that’s totally fine also. We often just crush up tortilla chips and put them on just about everything. This works fantastically.
I’m going to leave it at that today. We are painting and cleaning and doing all kinds of fun stuff today! Enjoy the weekend!
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup white vinegar, distilled
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt + more as needed
- 3 large jalapeños, sliced into rings
- 1½ cups slaw mix (red and green cabbage julienned)
- ½ cup carrots, julienned
- juice from two limes
- zest from one lime
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- pepper
- 2 chipotle peppers, chopped
- ½ cup mayo
- 1½ lbs ground lamb
- 1 egg, beaten
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 4 slices sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 avocados, cored and thinly sliced
- ¾ cup tortilla strips or chips
- 4 ciabatta rolls or 8 slices of sandwich bread, toasted
- In a saucepan over high heat, combine the water, vinegar, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil and then stir in the jalapeños. Remove from heat to let cool. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until you are ready to use.
- Meanwhile, prepare your slaw. In a large bowl, combine the slaw mix, carrots, lime juice, lime zest, cilantro, a dash of salt and pepper and your already prepared pickled jalapeños (including the pickling juice). Toss together, cover and refrigerate.
- For the mayo, combine the chipotle peppers and mayo in a blender. Blend until smooth. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.
- In another bowl, combine the ground lamb, egg, cayenne and a dash of salt. Form into 4 equal sized patties and set aside on a plate. Preheat your grill to medium to medium high and grill your burgers for about 4-5 minutes on each side for medium rare (this will range depending on how hot your grill gets and how done you want your burgers). For the last 1 minute of cooking time, add the slices of cheese to the top of your burger and allow to melt as the burgers finish cooking. Spread both sides of the bread (or bun) with the chipotle mayo and scoop a couple tablespoons of slaw on the bottom slice. Top with the burger and garnish with avocado slices and tortilla strips (or chips). Serve hot and enjoy!
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