Green Chili Cheeseburger with Quesa Fresca, Blue Corn Chips and Pickled Onions

In my quest to make the perfect burger I have been playing with green chili cheeseburger.   I was watching cooking channel and saw Bobby Flay make a green chili cheeseburger,   He included a quick pickled onion and blue corn tortilla chip.

I wanted to make my standard green chili cheeseburger and add the new ingredients one at a time to understand what each is contributing to the overall burger experience.

Lets talk about my green chili cheeseburgers for a second and talk about how I put them together.

Lets start with the meat.   I am a firm believer that you do not need to do anything to the right burger meat outside of quality 80/20 chopped beef.   Sprinkle each side with a healthy hit of salt and pepper to season them and then thats it.  Throw the burgers on a skillet to sear in the fat and you are good to go.

The next component is my cheese.   I use a quesa fresca which I chop up and toss in a sauce pan with heavy cream and a crumbled up saltine.

Next up are the chilis.  I take a nice selection of chilis: jalapenos, poblanos, anaheim and serrano.   I fire roast them and then smoke them.   You scrape out the seeds and veins and what you get is pure deliciousness.

I crumbled up some blue corn tortilla chips and plated the whole thing.   Here is the first pic:

So for starters the beef was delicious and amazing.   The peppers are smokey smokey goodness.   The cheese was salty creamy wonderful and the blue corn tortilla chip gave it a wonderful crunch.   I love it!

Ok now it is time to try again but this time with the pickled onions.  I put vinegar, a chili, peppercorns, garlic and bay leaves in a pot and brought it to a boil.

Now quick pickles are easy as pie to make.   Chop up the onions, dump them in the boiling pickle mix for like a minute or two and then pull it off the heat.    Let it sit for a bit.   Take the onions out and let them cool in your fridge.  They will have a nice bite, amazing flavor and will punch up any dish!

I used the same burger assembly but this time topped it off with the quick pickles.   What did I get?  AN AMAZING burger.  Salty, spicy, rich, smokey, and delicious!  Thanks Bobby Flay for the idea!