use real butter

Recipe: chorizo sliders

Spring has sprung. It is sprang. It skis like spring. It feels like spring. For all intents and purposes, it is spring. Last week, we went into the backcountry on the Front Range for a little ole ski tour. The snow started out okay, but as the daytime temperatures rose above freezing, the snow began to stick to our climbing skins in giant 6 inch thick clumps. Then it turned to mashed potatoes by the time we skied out and we were like, “Let’s go to Crested Butte.”

cruising the meadow before the descent

a rosy sunrise on james peak

Well, it’s spring in Crested Butte, too! It’s snowing right now, but the sun keeps poking through sucker holes in the cloud deck and it is warm. Now is the time to embrace whatever nature throws at us, be it powder (please, throw A LOT OF POWDER) or corn snow or mashed potatoes. Jeremy and I are already discussing our plans for Neva adventures this spring and summer – by ski, by bike, or by foot. We are all about human- and doggy-powered activities.

crested butte has pretty sunrises, too

skinning uphill at crested butte mountain resort before the lifts open

neva loves the snow

It’s nice getting out on the Crested Butte food scene after a long hiatus (read: Neva). There are new and old restaurants that we’ve been interested in checking out for a while. Last month we dropped by a taqueria, Bonez, for happy hour. All of the food was excellent (I’ll write that up soon), but the thing that blew us away were the chorizo sliders. Each one was a package of spicy, tangy, sweet, creamy, crunchy, buttery. Delicious and totally doable at home! I’ve already posted recipes for two of the components: sweet potato rolls and fennel slaw. You could buy brioche buns instead of the sweet potato rolls, and I’m guessing fancier grocers or delis may carry fennel slaw. The rest is simply: chorizo patties, garlic aioli, and tomato jam. For the tomato jam, I used a shortcut based on the recipe the server gave me.

pico de gallo, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar

place it all in a saucepan

boil it down to a jam

easy tomato jam: tangy, sweet, and a little spicy

Garlic aioli is pretty straightforward to make from scratch. The lazy version would be to blitz a garlic clove with some mayonnaise, but this is also something I think you can purchase in jars. Whichever way you go, it definitely adds a nice garlicky bite to the slider and should only be omitted if you are a vampire.

lemon (juice), garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, egg

place everything but the olive oil in a bowl (or a blender)

bzzzzzzzzzt!

drizzle in the olive oil

et voilà! garlic aioli

Now the only thing left is to cook the chorizo patties and to assemble your scrumptious sliders. I have a recipe for homemade Mexican chorizo, but I think it might be a little to “wet” to make into patties. Since my local Whole Foods (in Boulder) carries a nice bulk chorizo sausage, I went that route. Make your patties about 20 percent larger than your rolls because there will be plenty of shrinkage and we want to avoid the utter disappointment of biting into a slider only to get a mouthful of bread.

for the sliders: sweet potato rolls, fennel slaw, bulk chorizo, garlic aioli, tomato jam

form the sausage into patties

fry them up in a pan

I’ll leave it to you if you want to toast the rolls or not. For the ultimate indulgence, slice them in half, butter each side, and toast them on a hot skillet or griddle just before serving. Spread a little aioli on one half of the bread, drop a chorizo patty on top, add a dollop of tomato jam, and then top it all with some fennel slaw. Finish it off with the other half of the roll and you have yourself a heavenly experience. It’s like a burger with jazz hands.

spread aioli on the bread

spoon some tomato jam on the chorizo

don’t forget the fennel slaw

These are great for solo noshing, social noshing, or great big party noshing. And because the laws of physics will not permit me to fit enough fennel slaw on to a single slider, I like to have a serving on the side with my chorizo slider. Make sliders for appetizers or you can opt for the regular size burger version for an actual meal. Summer, winter, spring, or fall – this slider is a winner year-round.

you spice up my life

get on board with these nuggets of yum

reward yourself

Chorizo Sliders
[print recipe]
inspired by Bonez in Crested Butte

1 lb. bulk chorizo sausage
10 sweet potato slider rolls or brioche slider rolls, sliced in half
butter for the rolls, optional
2 cups fennel slaw
garlic aioli
tomato jam

tomato jam
1 cup pico de gallo (fresh, not the jarred salsa)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar

Make the tomato jam: Stir together the pico de gallo, apple cider vinegar, and brown sugar in a small non-reactive saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce to an active simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until the contents have achieved a jam-like consistency. Remove from heat and let cool. Makes about 5 ounces.

garlic aioli
from Emeril Lagasse via foodnetwork.com
3 medium garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 large egg
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

Make the garlic aioli: Place the garlic, egg, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a blender or a high-sided vessel that will fit an immersion blender, and purée everything until smooth. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the aioli while running the blender until the sauce thickens. Makes 3/4 cup.

Make the chorizo sliders: Form the chorizo into ten patties, about 20 percent larger than the diameter of the slider rolls. If making chorizo burgers, then form about 4 patties and use larger buns. Heat a skillet or sauté pan over medium heat. Arrange the patties on the hot pan and cook until the bottoms are browned (a few minutes, depending on size of your patty). Flip the patties and cook until the bottoms are browned (a few more minutes). Remove from heat. Toast plain rolls in an oven or butter the halves and grill them buttered-side down on a hot skillet or griddle until just browned. Layer aioli, a chorizo patty, tomato jam, and fennel slaw between each slider roll. Serve hot. Makes 10 sliders or 4 burgers.

more goodness from the use real butter archives

mexican chorizo

sweet potato rolls

fennel slaw

hot chorizo sweet onion dip

March 14th, 2016: 12:48 pm
filed under appetizers, bread, condiments, eggs, entertaining, meat, recipes, salad, sandwiches, savory, vegetables