Three Pepper Supreme Cheeseburger

Summer has definitely arrived in our desert.  The good part is that lovely green chilis are starting to show up in earnest.  We have some kind most of the year, but as summer arrives, and turns to fall, the harvest is vast and varied.

We are not keen on hot peppers in this household, but the mild to medium ones are a total delight and find their way onto our plates at many meals.  The nutritional value, along with the wonderful flavor and very low calorie count, makes these one of our favorite foods this time of year.

To explain the three peppers in the title . . . You can see the Anaheims on the plate, and there is a roasted half a sweet red bell pepper peeking out from under the burger.  The third?  Well, that is a small trace of jalapeño pepper that is embedded in the cheese.  That is plenty of “hotness”!

 

Now, for that “bun” . . .

Clearly not a bun at all, but a toasted slice of the loaf pictured below cut into halves to stand in for a bun.

I am experimenting with different whole grains to see what I can come up with.  I’m using all organic flours and meals, with either honey, maple syrup, or molasses as the sweetener.  I have acquired a rather large assortment of specialty flours and meals, so am making some variations from our usual sourdough staple bread.

This is also red pepper season, so when I bake the bread, I turn up the heat and toss in a shallow pan of cut-in-half red bells.  These are just the right size to add to a burger or sandwich.  If the half pepper is brought to room temperature, or especially if reheated in the pan the burger was cooked in, the flavor is intensified considerably.

The loaf shown below is supposed to be Seeded Rye.  I put in about half a handful of caraway seeds, thinking that might be too many, but upon tasting the bread, it is clear that I need to be much more generous with the seeds.

I didn’t use a particular recipe for this loaf – just sort of winged it – but as you can see, it is not dark in color like I would expect a “dark” rye loaf to be.  There are light rye loaves, too, but this is sort of in the middle.  To make a dark rye, recipes that I perused called for the addition of unsweetened dry cocoa powder.  I have plenty of it on hand, but it just did not appeal to me.  Maybe next time I will give it a try.