Goat Cheese Burgers with Spicy Roasted Red Pepper Date Sauce

This week has flown by in such a blur! Earlier this week in class we learned preservation methods (think duck confit, salt cod, pickling vegetables, gavlox, preserved lemons). On Thursday in class we spent the day on potatoes, and I learned how to make pomme frites (I had never fried French fries before!) and gratins, and various other delicious potato preparations. Needless to say, everyone was too full from class to eat dinner that night. However, the most exciting day of the week was Friday, I got to fillet fish! I had never fillets fish before, I was always too intimidated or afraid I’d screw up royally. Anyone going on a fishing trip soon??

After class there are often many fun events the school offers. On Tuesday after class there was a beer and cheese tasting (what… beer and cheese?!) But I had a blast, I got to taste six different beers (or should I say I sipped each of the beers, I’m still not a beer girl) with six different cheeses that paired well with each beer. I learned that beers are graded by their bitterness levels and alcoholic levels… I could be completely off base… but that is what I gathered from the lecture. Some beers were incredibly bitter and the taste lasted for minutes in my mouth, I’ve never experienced such a thing before. Needless to say, I dislike most mainstream beers and these beers were much nicer (and more expensive).

After class on Tuesday, there was a demonstration by a chef from Arizona that worked at the Ritz Carlton and he made two dishes for us. The first dish was raw tuna topped with watermelon pop rocks (yes, I typed that right) mixed with ancho chili powder and picked radish. The second dish was steak with a spicy chile maple glaze with a poblano sauce and fried avocado wedges on the side. They were both amazingly delicious and fun dishes to try. On Thursday, there was a hotdog eating contest along with a condiment and beverage contest. I decided to join the condiment contest at the last minute with a Spicy Red Pepper and Date Sauce (somewhat similar to the sauce 2 blogs ago). I won second place!! I had never experienced the feeling of that adrenaline rush, when you are with the other contestant with the hopes you will win… but I wasn’t disappointed that I didn’t win. My classmates and chef instructor gave me wonderful support and all congratulated me so that was a great feeling.

I haven't gotten to cook too much this week at home so I will go ahead and post my second place condiment recipe.

Spicy Red Pepper Date Sauce

10 dried dates, pitted, cut into chunks

2 roasted bell peppers (jarred roasted peppers don’t do this justice)

7 oz pickled chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

1 big clove garlic

1/4 cup honey
¼ cup water (or as much is needed to blend)
½ cup Greek yogurt (I used the Fage brand)
1/3 cups mint, minced

1 tsp. course sea salt

First, roast the red bell peppers on the gas stove until the skin is blackened (or broiled in oven till skin is blackened). Put in plastic bag for 5 minutes. Under cold water, peel the skin off the peppers. Take the seeds and stem out of the peppers. Pat dry the peppers with layers of paper towels.

In a blender or processor, combine the first 6 ingredients and blend until it makes a thick paste. Once the pepper puree is smooth add the yogurt and blend. Add the minced mint to the sauce. Add a generous sprinkle of salt. Taste to see if needs more salt.

For this recipe, this tastes great on a gourmet hotdog (this was a condiment for the hotdog contest), but hamburgers or chicken would all work equally as well. This would be a great condiment for the grilled meats this summer. For the burgers, I used lean beef and made a well in the patty and stuffed it with goat cheese (season the goat cheese!) and then covered it up with the meat. Cook or grill as normal and when you eat your burger you will have a goat cheese suprise in the middle!