Pork, Chorizo and Green Chile Cheeseburgers

We haven't been home for a Pink Mountain Friday night * (see note)  for a number of weeks and quite honestly I've been feeling guilty about it. I mean I'd hate to get to the point that I take a Friday night date night for granted so instead we teamed up and cooked dinner at home last night.

I mixed up ground pork and Mexican style pork chorizo with chopped roasted Hatch green chiles from our freezer, garlic, a few panko crumbs and salsa verde and formed the mixture into patties. Refrigerated for half a hour or so, they held their shape beautifully on the grill as Big Guy did the cookin.

Topped with slices of gooey Velveeta and some Pepper Jack Cheese, a little mayo and a bunch of other green stuff like more roasted chiles, dabs of guacamole, shredded lettuce and pickled jalapeno's all piled up onto a grilled bun, we were definitely on the right road to flavor town. 

* Note - for those of you who are puzzled by the terminology, Pink Mountain Friday's are our Tucson tradition to be defined as "when the mountains are pink, it's time to drink".)

Pork, Chorizo and Green Chile Burgers (an original from JBug’s )

1 pound ground pork

1/2 pound Mexican style pork chorizo

4 ounces roasted green chiles, peeled, seeded and chopped (canned is fine)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/3 cup panko crumbs

1/3 cup salsa verde

Course ground black pepper

Salt as needed

4 hamburger buns, buttered and grilled

4 whole peeled and seeded green chiles

4 slices Velveeta

4 slices Pepper jack cheese

Guacamole, mayonnaise, pickled jalapenos, shredded lettuce

Combine pork, chorizo, green chiles, garlic, panko and salsa verde. Season well with pepper but go lightly on the salt because the chorizo is usually quite salty. Form into patties and refrigerate for a minimum half hour. Grill on a hot oiled grill until patties reach an internal temperature of 145. Add cheese slices and cover during last few minutes of cooking to melt the cheese. Serve on grilled buns topped with mayo, guacamole, jalapenos and shredded lettuce.

Makes 4 servings. 

A year ago - Roast Chicken with Apples and Rosemary

Two year's ago - Nasi Goreng

Comments

[Lea]

I'ld say that Green goes perfectly with Pink! And this proves that perfectly! YUM! And a nice way to get those green veggies into the one you love!

[June]

Ha,ha,ha. I'll have to serve him green chiles more often...I doubt I'll hear any complaints.

[Shaun]

These sound and look gorgeous, I can only get Spanish chorizo, is there much difference to the Mexican one? Also what is velveeta, is it a cheese? I cant get pepperjack either but I can get a wonderful Mexican style cheddar studded with pepper and chilli.

[June]

Shaun - the spices are quite different and most of the Spanish chorizo is dried like a salami, at least what I can find here. This Mexican chorizo is uncured and has a lot more red chiles in it as well as cinnamon and sometimes cloves as well. You could always just up the amount of green chiles and use all ground pork or use a spicy sausage of another kind (hot Italian maybe). Velveeta is a processed cheese like cheese slices only it comes in a brick and pepper jack is a softer melting cheese with jalapeno's in it. The Mexican cheddar would be super. My goodness, British cheese is absolutely incredible so anything you use will be fabulous.

[Shaun]

Ah I see, I can get an uncooked link of little chorizo sausages, full of spanish paprika and chilli. We have wonderful sausages here but not the Italian ones, I can get wild boar and garlic from my local supermarket..lol, but our chorizo is hot enough, also the cheddar I mentioned is really spiced with jalepeno and red chilli so with the two should work out, and who can have a burger without Kraft cheese slices?

[June]

The chorizo sounds wonderful and yes you do have incredible sausage over there, along with the cheeses and your dairy products are amazing - creams and butter...lucky you! Your substitutions sound perfect.

[Shaun]

Had these tonight, oh my word....this is on the menu once a week, the chorizo I got were little fat links uncooked and married with the pork mince we get in my county studded with sage and pepper made awesome burgers, I was going to use the Mexican cheddar cheese but what did I find in store, the hottest cheese in Britain, cheddar with scotch bonnet preserve....best burger of all time!

[June]

Shaun - my mouth is watering! It sounds like a total success and as for the cheddar with scotch bonnet (habanero)...I'm plum jealous now. Talk about perfect.

[Lorraine]

What a great Big Guy sized burger...and nicely spiced to boot. Sounds like Shaun has all the right stuff too!

[June]

A repeat would be darned welcome right now. LOL