Coffee crusted havarti burger with chile aioli and sofrito broccoli

There. Finally. The burger. Mmm.

This was almost as interesting as it was delicious. I've seen some of my favorite chefs crust things like steak in coffee before, and I had always wanted to try it. Take it from me, it's an excellent idea.

We've recently covered the benefits of chiles and broccoli, so I will focus only on the new arrivals to the party.

Beef! The official protein of the Western diet. Most nutritionists will tell you to take it easy on red meat, and frankly, I'm not going to disagree with them. While beef is a good source of several B vitamins (particularly B12) and iron, there are leaner, more versatile, more nutrient rich proteins out there that have a far more impressive historical track record of maintaining good health and narrow waistlines.

That being said, while I generally try to cook chicken and fish, I see nothing wrong with indulging in a little red meat up to once a week. A rare (and I do mean mooing, folks) steak or burger, perfectly seared and seasoned, is a joy dare not even consider surrendering.

Coffee is something I wish I liked more in its brewed form. It's been linked to lower instances of Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease and cardiovascular disease. It's also rich in antioxidants. Now, do not think for one second that the venti 2% iced peppermint white chocolate mocha with whip and sprinkles you just guzzled is doing you more good than harm. A drip coffee (caffeinated) with minimal added fats and sugars is what you need to aim for to get those benefits.

Okay, let's talk about whole wheat. It's a tale of passion, excitement, suspense and lost love (well, at least lost nutrients). Here we go.

Long ago, there was no white flour. Wheat flour, a product filled with nutritious, perishable oils and compounds that could not travel far, was all we had available to us. With the advent of some new technology, we were able to polish away the bran and germ from our grains, leaving a soft, white powder comprised entirely of endosperm, a nutrient poor, energy rich substance (we call those empty calories) that never seemed to go rancid.

After epidemics of pellagra and beriberi broke out, along with a general decline in the health of the population consuming these new refined grains, millers began fortifying their grains with B vitamins and other micronutrients to compensate for what had been stripped away during processing.

The underlying issue with this is a huge part of the book that inspired this blog. Nutrients taken outside of the context of the foods that contain them are not nearly as effective as whole food. Why? Because we didn't evolve as a species consuming stuff like Vitamin Water, we did so eating whole produce and proteins.

If we really had a handle on how to break down food into individual nutrients and rebuild them to full capacity, then why can't we develop a baby formula that even touches the benefits of real breast milk for newborns? Yeah, chew on that nutritionism.

Wow, this post is getting a little tl;dr. Let's get on with the recipe.

This will make three servings:

3 ground beef patties (4 oz. each, grass-fed, antibiotic and hormone-free)

A little bit of ground coffee (I used a French Roast, you don't need much at all)

3 whole wheat kaiser rolls

Some chile aioli (mine was made with about 1/4 cup mayonnaise, juice of 1/4 lemon, 1/2 clove fresh garlic, and 3 dried, stemmed, seeded and crushed Guajillo [wah-HE-yo] chiles, a palmful of cilantro, sea salt and pepper, that was enough for me, my husband and our friend who was visiting)

3 palmfuls of fresh arugula

1/2 cup of sofrito (mine had 3 cloves of garlic, about 1/6 of a red onion, a handful of cilantro, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 12 or so cherry tomatoes [quartered], salt and black pepper. It was cooked over low heat until the veggies were softened a bit)

About 15 broccoli florets (I bought a head of it and snipped them off myself, so I have a leftover stem to toss into a stir fry or something later)

3 slices of havarti cheese

To taste salt, pepper, spices and what have you

I started by making my aioli. The peppers and the coffee both got the same food processor treatment (this isn't recommended if you're ever brewing coffee. You really do need a grinder for that). Combine the dried chiles and the rest of the aioli ingredients, stir to combine, cover and refridgerate.

Preheat your oven to 350° (we're being wimpy on the temperature here to not burn the sofrito). Toss your sofrito and broccoli florets together on a baking sheet and get them in the hot box. They'll cook for 15 or so minutes on one side, then turn the florets, and back for another 5-10.

While that's working, you can make your burgers. Salt and pepper your beef patties and then crust them in the ground coffee much like you would bread crumbs. Preheat a grill or heavy pan (love cast iron for this) to medium high heat. Those should cook about 3 minutes per side for medium rare. When you take these off the heat, immediately add the havarti so it melts on top. These burgers should rest in aluminum foil for a few minutes before serving.

Toast your buns, smear a little aioli on the top bun, stick your arugula to it, put a burger patty on the bottom bun and combine. Cut it in half for easier consumption.

Garnish with some extra cilantro if you'd like. And I do like. Mmm, cilantro.

Fun Fact: There is a small but extremely vocal minority of people who really, really hate cilantro (I would link the cilantro hater website, but Google told me it wasn't safe).

Come back tomorrow for some first class vegetable sneaking.