16 Burgers of Summer: Roasted Corn Salsa Burger

Good evening everyone! This week marks entry number 2 in our "16 Burgers of Summer" theme. I'm drawing inspiration for these burgers from everywhere, the largest source being a "50 Burger Idea" insert from Food Network Magazine (a feature run in 2012). The problem with these burger ideas are that they are just that - ideas. In order to cram 50 burgers into a tiny insert, they cut out annoying things like quantity and...instructions. The result is some burger concept with nary a solid guideline to follow. These means flying without a safety net - and being creative. Two things that could throw off some at home chefs. I hope to prove with some of these recipes that even if your execution isn't 100%, you can still turn out a great meal. Tonight's dish is a perfect example of this concept.


The Recipe: Roasted Corn Salsa Burger


What You'll Need:

1 Crackin' Burger Recipe
1 1/2 Cups Frozen Corn
1 Small Red Bell Pepper (Diced)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons Mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon Sriracha Sauce


Preheat your grill to 500 degrees, clean the grates then reduce the heat to medium.

Place a small non stick skillet (8 inch) over medium high heat and add the olive oil. Bring the oil to a shimmer before adding the corn. Cook the corn until the kernels begin to soften and become fragrant, roughly 5 minutes. Add in the sliced bell pepper and cook until the peppers have been heated through (3 to 5 minutes). Add a pinch of salt and the lemon juice to the skillet, stir well and remove from heat.

As I noted in the open, the original "recipe" (If you want to be generous and call it that) said little beyond "combine corn and red bell pepper" - so I was left to improvise here. I was originally just going to cook up everything in the skillet, but then I thought, "We're grilling the burgers, why not grill this too?"

Using two sheets of heavy duty aluminum foil, make a pouch to contain the corn mixture. Seal it up well (any gaps or seams and you'll lose all the lemon juice) and place it on the grill directly over the heat. Allow the salsa to cook for the time it takes to cook your burgers (roughly 5 to 7 minutes).

Speaking of the burgers, right before you add them to the grill, give them a light dusting with a pinch of cumin. Then cook them like you would any other burger.

While everything is grilling, combine the mayo and sriracha in a small dish to form chipotle mayo. Spread a thin layer of this mayo on the bottom of a hamburger bun and set aside. You can store the remaining mayo for future recipes.

Once everything is cooked through, assemble the burger and top with a tablespoon of the corn salsa. Serve and enjoy!

The Results:

The chipotle mayo is on the bottom - the pic doesn't show it well but it's there! 

The corn salsa and chipotle mayo compliment well and both are balanced nicely by the juicy burger. That being said, the dish is a bit on the messy side as there's nothing to really "bind" the salsa together. If given the chance to redo this dish, I'd add one more step.

Right after removing the salsa from the grill, stir in 1/2 cup of shredded Mexican or colby jack cheese. Not only will the cheese add another element of flavor to the burger, it will act as a "glue' to keep the salsa together and prevent it from falling all over the plate.

If you attempt this burger at home, I'd highly recommend that little adaptation to this otherwise tasty recipe.

That's all we have for you this evening, We're back Thursday night with another brand new recipe. Until then,

~Cheers


(Oh, by the way, we just recently passed our 4 year anniversary of cooking and blogging at Out of the Culinary...so...Yay!)