Chipotle.Chipotle!

Chipotle Chicken Bacon Cheese Burgers and Sweet Fries with Home-Crafted Chipotle Aioli dip

When I was trying to figure out what to make for Sunday's dinner, I initially searched "Light Sunday Dinner"... several clicks and pages and more clicks later I came across a recipe for Chicken Ranch Burgers at  Julie's Treats and Eats. It seemed fun, so I set off in search of a side dish and I ended up with Sweet potato fries, I decided on them on one site but wasn't fond of the flavor profile so I actually came up with mine based on a series of recipes and their respective comments and reviews. That's where the idea for the Aioli* was born, in the comments.

I have limited space in my kitchen so, I do a lot of prep work before the cooking begins and I usually cook in phases to make sure I have enough room to work. - Sunday's dinner was no different -

I started with the Home-crafted Chipotle Aioli*

*I totally had to "Google", and I quote, "Aioli vs Mayo" before being able to label this recipe with this title. Turns out that Aioli in it's original intent is a garlic, olive oil and salt emulsion, but has become accepted as a garlic, olive oil, *egg* and salt emulsion AKA - Mayo with garlic.
I'm willing to try almost anything (within reason) and that theory definitely extends to the kitchen! So I was excited to try the Aioli.

 Having tried the the garlic, olive oil, *egg* and salt emulsion before and a half dozen eggs and three separate broken mayonnaise attempts later ...it was clear that "emulsion" is currently above my kitchen pay grade ... I cheated and bought an 8 oz jar of Duke's. from my neighborhood
Teeter.

With my Duke's in hand, I was ready to embark on my journey to aioli ...

What you'll need...


2 Green onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 tablespoons (tblspns) finely minced fresh cilantro
2 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce (found mine in the international isle @ Teeter ) ** If you live on the eastern sea-board from FL to MD you should check out GMart for excellent international selections!** 

3 teaspoons (tspns) Lime juice
1 cup (8oz)Duke's (or your fav) mayonnaise
2 tblspoons  adobo sauce

Combine ...

  
 Whisk until well blended

If you're anything like me, this is where you dip you spoon in and taste the aioli to calm your nerves.

... now that you're satisfied that it's yummy *isn't it just DELISH!* ... I recommend returning to the rinsed and dried Duke's jar for easy storage and future use.

Feel free to answer the urge to indulge

*just remember this will only keep for about 7-9 days*

With my aioli safely in the fridge next I moved to the Sweet Fries  ...bka sweet potato fries...

I must admit, I am NOT that much of a fan of sweet fries. Though we've been on several excursions together - I've never come to fancy them. However a member of my critic panel (i.e the hungry tummies I feed with my meals) is a sweet fry fan so I figured, why not? Isn't the mark of a good "Chefonista" (...smile Miss Sophia) that she can cook anything? So... Off I went ...

What you'll need ...

3 medium sweet potatoes (I bought LARGE potatoes because that's what I'd decided on based on the recipes I combined to get here ... learn this lesson with me ... LARGE will be too much if you're serving 4 or less people.)

2 tblspns Sugar
1 tblspns Brown Sugar
1/2 tblspn each
Cumin
Smoked Paprika
Chipotle Pepper Powder
*I used a full tblspn each and it was too spicy for me - lost a lot of the *sweet* to the *savory spice* - I would say, play around until you find a blend that works for you* 
1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 cookie sheet for baking

  Preheat oven to 450 degrees ... I preheated my cookie sheet at the same time based on some of the feedback I found related to crispiness (note mine weren't mushy but the preheated cookie sheet didn't add the level of  crispy I thought it would)

Clean, peel and cut the ends off of the sweet potatoes ...

Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and in half again ...

 Cut each quarter into wedges or half circles - be mindful to keep them rather chunky and as close to the same size as possible-

 Set your *fries* to the side for now ...

In a mixing bowl, combine cumin, smoked paprika, chipotle powder and both sugars ...

 Add 1/4 cup EVOO and mix until the chunks have broken down and you have what could be considered a *paste  -- *I use the word loosely

 Add the cut sweet fries to the mixture and toss until evenly coated

 place fries in a single layer on (preheated) cookie sheet making sure they don't touch

Bake 25 - 30 minutes, flip onto other side after 15 minutes


I forgot to take the picture when I first pulled them from the oven, didn't remember until I had moved them to one side of the cookie sheet to use the other side as storage - forgive the *less than beautiful* final photo!
 

 While my sweet fries were in the oven, I made my burgers. 

Earlier I mentioned that I had chosen the Chicken Ranch Burgers at  Julie's Treats and Eats,  however by now I had changed them to Chipotle Chicken Bacon Burgers ... I mean I did have a wonderful full flavored home crafted aioli!

What you'll need ...

 1 lb ground chicken
1/2 cup Panko
1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 medium white onion
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tblspns BBQ Sauce *I used Sweet baby Ray's Honey Chipotle*
4 - 8 Onion, Pretzel or Brioche burger buns
2 tblspoons butter (or to taste for bun toasting)
2 tblspns Webber Gourmet Burger Seasoning
4-8 strips *turkey* bacon
2-8 slices colby pepper jack cheese *I used 1 single slice per two burgers, you may find that you want to use a slice per burger*

Mince garlic and cut sweet onion in half ... mince one half to mix into chicken and slice the other half for grilling as a burger topper ...

 

 Mix chicken, burger seasoning, minced garlic and onions, bbq sauce, panko, and  bread crumbs ...

Mix well and form into burgers ...

Preheat broiler or grill (I used a cast-iron grill skillet) ... remember to spray with non stick cooking oil such as PAM.

 When the girl/broiler is heated, cook burgers -- about 6 minutes each side or until an internal temperature of 160 degrees...

Just as the burgers are finishing, top with cheese slices and add water to the pan, as the pan steams, cover with a top. This will make the cheese meltdown gloriously onto the burger pattie.

 When the burgers are done and the pan is empty (again I have a small kitchen, if you have more room, you can do these steps simultaneously in separate pans) grill the remaining onion half and cook the bacon ...

While the onions/bacon are cooking butter and toast your rolls (or toast and butter - depending on the toaster type you're using)...

 When the rolls are toasted, add a thin layer of the Home Crafted Aioli to each bun and add burgers. Top with bacon and onion, plate sweet fries and add a side of aioli for dipping if you'd like  

Finally ...  Take your plate and your favorite wine, beer, soda or water and enjoy!!

 BON APPETIT!