Spicy Fourth of July Burgers and Fun Holiday Wines

KABOOM!!!!

Happy Birthday America! To celebrate, here’s a burger recipe I’d like to share with you that will really blow up your Fourth of July celebration!!

Spicy Fourth of July Burgers
Ingredients:
1 pound grass fed beef
(The meat we used was a 1 pound package of Certified Organic grass-fed beef from Rocky Mountain Organic Meats.)
2 chipotle peppers
1 Tbs crushed garlic
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp Hungarian paprika
1 tsp chili powder
salt to taste

To prepare, seed and remove the membrane from the chipotle peppers. Put them in a food processor with the garlic and all the other spices.

Mix the processed chipotle mixture with the beef in a medium-sized bowl. Make sure the mixture is well incorporated. Form into patties based on the size you want. We made three out of the pound, and they were the perfect size.

We sampled three different wines with our dinner last night. The distributor sent a bottle of Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages, [yellow tail] Sweet Red Roo, and a bottle of Hob Nob Cabernet Sauvignon (from Languedoc-Roussillon, France)

Of the three wines, I thought the Beaujolais-Villages worked best. It was fruity and acidic enough to stand up to the spiciness of the burgers.

The [yellow tail] Sweet Red Roo reminded me of some sweeter Amador wines I have tried, but without the high alcohol. It would be best served with a little chill or used in a sangria.

The Hob Nob was a nice end to the meal because it had a nice tobacco and chocolate finish. It’s a dry wine, but it served very well as dessert. Unless you count the glass of Rockwall Chardonnay that I went back to after that. Hey, it’s summer… gotta drink those whites!! 😛

I also made a Peach and Chipotle Ketchup (from scratch, naturally) to top these burgers. Stay tuned for the recipe. Peaches are really coming into season, and you’ll definitely want to try this out. The ketchup is both sweet and spicy and tasted great on the burger as well as on top of the eggplant and sweet potato fries we made last night.

About Rocky Mountain Organic Meats
Rocky Mountain Organic Meats offers Certified Organic grass-fed beef along with a large selection of other organic foods such as fruits, vegetables and poultry. All of their meats are 100% grass-fed and grass-finished. Their livestock is raised the old-fashioned way; no steroids or growth hormones, no antibiotics and no grain.

The only ingredients are clean water, grasses and fresh air. They also process the meat according to stringent USDA regulations. The meat can be ordered cut according to your specifications. You can order a quarter, half or full side of meat to fill you freezer.

You can find them on Facebook here and follow them on twitter here.