Santa Fe by Bobby Flay

For whatever reason, Bill was surfing foodnetwork.com on Sunday (ahem ... what did I say about making him a foodie?) and he printed Bobby Flay's recipe for Santa Fe Cheeseburgers. Lo and behold, we turned on Throwdown with Bobby Flay later that day and they were airing the episode in which he made them! (I have a theory that the Food Network gives prime real estate on their page to the recipes that will be airing that day, but let's not burst Bill's bubble ... he thinks it was pure coincidence!)

Anyway, he was anxious to make them so I came home to a delicious dinner yesterday. I can't say much about the process since I didn't cook them, but I'm providing the recipe (cut down to size) because they turned out so well. I'd ask Bill to guest-post, but he's not really into that (and besides, you'd miss my cheeky commentary!).

Bobby Flay's Santa Fe Burgers
Ingredients:
1 large poblano chile
2 tablespoons canola oil
Salt and pepper
1 lb. ground chuck
2 hamburger buns, split
6 blue corn tortilla chips, crushed

Queso Sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk
8 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely grated
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place chile on a rimmed baking sheet, rub with 1 tablespoon oil, and season with salt and pepper. Roast in oven until the skin of the chile is blackened, about 15 minutes. Remove chile from oven, place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let the chile steam for 15 minutes. Peel, stem, and seed chile and then coarsely chop it.

To make the queso sauce, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add milk, increase the heat to high, and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in cheese until melted. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

Divide meat into 2 equal portions. Form each portion loosely into a 3/4-inch-thick burger and make a deep impression in the center with your thumb (I still haven't figured out why this is, but whatever). Season both sides of each burger with salt and pepper. Cook the burgers, using the remaining oil. (Oddly enough, Bobby didn't specify how to cook the burgers ... but I think we can safely assume he meant on the grill.)

Place the burgers on the bun bottoms and top each with a few tablespoons of queso sauce, chips, and some of the poblano. Cover with bun tops and serve immediately.


Incidentally, Bobby lost this Throwdown to the guy with the famous green chile cheeseburgers in Santa Fe. I wasn't paying close enough attention to tell you what made the difference, but I suspect it was the cheese. Mr. Santa Fe melted American cheese over the chiles instea dof smothering the burger in queso. I love me some queso, but there was something so ooey, gooey and yummy-looking about the cheese melted over those chiles. Maybe I'll have to put these on my list and challenge Bill to a throwdown!