What's for Dinner Friday Addition~

It has been a week of good eating and trying out new recipes my friends.  This was actually Wednesday night's dinner.

Taco Sliders with Chipotle Aioli from my Paleo Happy Hour cookbook.  While the cookbook is all about appetizers, small plates and drinks, many of the recipes can be adapted for lunch and dinner.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

Taco Sliders:
1 1/2 pounds grass-fed ground beef
1 TBS chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp paprika

Chipotle Aioli:
1 egg yolk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp mustard
2/3 C extra-light olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 tsp honey
2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced

Toppings:
1 head butter lettuce (we used iceberg)
1/2 avocado, sliced (opted out)
1/4 red onion, diced

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix together the ground beef, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and paprika.  Form the mixture into 10 small patties (or larger if making regular size burgers), pressing a small thumbprint in the center of each one. Grill or pan-fry the patties for 3 minutes per side (or longer for doneness or if cooking larger burgers).

2.  To make the Chipotle Aioli, combine the egg yolk, apple cider vinegar, and mustard in a blender, and blend on low.  Drizzle in the olive oil as slowly as possible to allow it to emulsify.  Add the garlic, sea salt, honey, chipotle chilies, and jalapeno pepper, and blend the mixture on high until it is smooth.

3.  Place each burger on top of a piece of butter lettuce.  Top with 1 tablespoon of the Chipotle Aioli, a slice of avocado, and pieces or red onion.

We made our patties a bit bigger, so rather than making 10 sliders it made 7 slighter larger (enough for  dinner and leftovers).

We served them with Alexia's Spicy Sweet Potato Fries (chipotle).  I will say the burgers are not for the faint of heart...they were SPICY.  You can control the heat by cutting the spices in half or cutting back on the number of Chipotle peppers you use (we used 3, we like the heat).

Be sure to have plenty of water on hand :-0