Ancho Chipotle Rockfish Burgers with Oaxacan Guacamole

One day, my beautiful Angel, Clare, said that she really wanted some guacamole.  Those words got me to thinking ... how could I make some awesome and different guacamole for her.  I ran through some different ingredients in my head and I did a couple Google searches.  I ultimately decided to make some Oaxacan guacamole.  

The recipe caught my attention because I am fascinated with Oaxacan cuisine, especially the use of sauces and moles.  The principal difference between Oaxacan guacamole and other guacamole is the use of garlic.  A lot of garlic.   After I settled on a recipe, I got to thinking about how to serve the guacamole.

Being an amazing cook herself, Clare once made Salmon Burgers with an Ancho Guacamole.  I decided that I would work off of that recipe.  However, instead of using salmon, I used rockfish.  The Chesapeake Bay has large, sustainable populations of rockfish, which makes it my usual go to for any fish course.  So, I decided to make rockfish burgers. 

Given I was making rockfish burgers with the Oaxacan guacamole, I decided to give the rockfish a little Mexican kick.  I added a little ancho chile powder and some chipotle chile powder to the ground fish.  I also decided to double down on the chipotle flavor by using a chipotle mustard.  If you do not have any chipotle mustard, you could just use plain ground mustard.

ANCHO CHIPOTLE ROCKFISH BURGERS

WITH OAXACAN GUACAMOLE

Recipe for guacamole adapted from Whole Food Markets

Serves 2-4

Ingredients (for the rockfish burgers):

1 pound of rockfish fillet

1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon of ancho powder

3 tablespoons of Lusty Monk Chipotle Mustard

    (or substitute with 3 tablespoons of ground mustard

    and one-half teaspoon of chipotle powder)

1 teaspoon of ground mustard

Salt, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Kaiser rolls

Ingredients (for the Oaxacan Guacamole):

4 avocados, mashed

Juice from one lime

3 garlic cloves, thinly minced

5-6 green onions, thinly sliced

1 cup of cilantro, chopped

1 jalapeno, diced

Directions:

1.  Prepare the rockfish burgers.  Pulse the rockfish in a food processor about a dozen times until it is chopped well.  Transfer the fish to a bowl, and add the bread crumbs, lemon juice, mustard, ancho powder, salt and ground black pepper.  Mix thoroughly with your hands.  Form four patties.  Refrigerate the patties for about twenty to thirty minutes.

2.  Prepare the salsa.  Mix avocado with lime juice and then stir in garlic, onions, cilantro and jalapeno peppers. 

3.  Cook the rockfish burgers.  Heart the vegetable oil on high.   Add the burgers and reduce the heat to medium high.  Continue cooking for about eight minutes, and flip the burgers.  Cook for eight more minutes or until done.  

4.  Plate the dish.  Place a rockfish burger on each roll.  Spoon a large dollop of guacamole on top of the burger.  Serve immediately.  

PAIRING THIS RECIPE

When thinking about what to pair with this dish, I decided that a smooth, rich white wine would work well.  I think that a Chardonnay, Viognier, or Sémillon.  A couple of wines that I have reviewed that may go well with the Ancho Chipotle Rockfish Burgers with Oaxacan Guacamole are the following:

L'Ecole No. 41 -- Columbia Valley Sémillon

100% Sémillon

Walla Walla, Washington USA

Flavors of melon, pair and apple

Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard -- Chardonnay

100% Chardonnay

Comus, Maryland, USA

Flavors of apple and pair

 ENJOY!