Roasted Salsa Confetti Burger with Avocado Lime Cream

Pairs well with:

Merlot

Get cozy and get pouring. Our Merlot is the wine for long weekends and lengthy chats.

Ingredients

Roasted Salsa:
2 ears of corn, unshucked
5 Roma or Plum tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 large jalapeño
2 slices of a large sweet onion, half inch thick
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Avocado Lime Cream:
1/2 a ripe avocado, pit and peel removed
1/2 cup cream fresca or sour cream
zest of 1/2 a lime
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Patties:
2 pounds ground chuck
reserved roasted corn
1/2 cup Roasted Salsa
1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Vegetable oil for brushing the grill grates
6 Kaiser rolls, split

 

Instructions

Preheat a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill with a lid, or a gas grill to medium-high.

Remove the loose, outer layer of husk from the corn. Partially peel back the inner layers to expose silk. Remove silk and fold inner layers of husk back over corn. Soak the corn in cold water for 15 minutes.

To prepare the salsa, lightly oil the grill grates with vegetable oil. Place the soaked unshucked corn, tomatoes, unpeeled garlic, jalapeño and onion slices directly on the grill grates. (If your grates are spaced such that the garlic will fall through, place the cloves on a small piece of oiled foil with holes poked in it.) Cover grill and roast vegetables; 8 minutes per side for onions, 4 minutes on each of the 4 sides of the remaining vegetables. Move corn off the grill to cool. Place remaining vegetables in a medium bowl and slide into paper or zip top plastic bag and seal. Let rest 15 minutes. Pull skin off tomatoes, garlic and jalapeño, coarsely chop and return to the bowl along with the retained accumulated juices. For a milder salsa, discard the seeds and ribs from the jalapeño. Coarsely chop onions and add to the bowl. Add the chopped cilantro, apple cider vinegar and salt. Shuck corn and cut kernels off both ears. Add half the corn to the bowl with the salsa vegetables and reserve the rest. Stir salsa, cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

To prepare the Avocado Lime Cream, mash the avocado with a fork in a small bowl. Add the cream fresca, lime zest, lime juice, salt and pepper. Mix, cover with plastic wrap and keep chilled until ready to serve.

To make the patties, in a large bowl combine the ground chuck, reserved roasted corn, 1/2 c Roasted Salsa, black beans, cocoa powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Mix ingredients gently, handling as little as possible. Shape into 6 equal sized patties to fit the buns.

Brush grill grates with vegetable oil. Place the patties on the grates, cover grill and cook turning once until done to your preference. Medium is recommended at 5-7 minutes per side. Move the burgers to a plate to rest. Place the buns on the outer edges of the grill for a minute or two to lightly toast.

To assemble burgers, place 1-2 tablespoons of Roasted Salsa on each bun bottom and top with a burger. Spread 1-2 tablespoon of Avocado Lime Cream on each bun lid and place on top of burger and serve.

Makes 6 burgers.