Cajun Burgers and Smoky Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries

Sometimes the easiest recipes are the ones that turn out best.

What I mean to say is that lately I’ve been dreaming up recipes and meals that in my mind are going to turn out to be true works of beauty. I can even see the pictures in my head that I will post on the blog – culinary works of art that will have people drooling on their keyboards and racing to their vehicles at midnight to get to the grocery store because they need to make this right. now.

And then I get home and begin to create this culinary masterpiece, only to have it turn out something like this:

Looks like something that came out of the wrong end of a baby, am I right? Ain’t nobody drooling over that. This inevitably depresses me and I declare myself unworthy of food blogging and I give up and decide instead to make something easy. Something comfortable. Something normal. Something that will be so mundane that it doesn’t occur to me to put it on the blog.

Allow me to introduce to you Cajun spiced burgers. (The smoky chipotle fries come later, be patient!)

The burgers would have been even more awesome if they were cooked to perfection on the grill, but sadly its been raining for three days here on the East Coast, so I broke out my trusty grill pan and cooked them on the stove.

I didn’t make the burgers from scratch, either – I cheated and bought grass fed burger patties from my grocery store. If you can afford grass fed beef, I highly recommend you use it. It really does taste so much better! (And no, I didn’t get paid by anyone to say that. It’s just the expensive truth.)

But anyway. The cajun rub I used was one that I actually got to make myself at a food and wine festival I recently attended. Basically, it’s a mix of salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, chili powder and cayenne pepper.

It was a perfect combination of spicy and savory that gave the burgers just a slight punch that went well with the mild spinach, roasted red peppers, mozzarella, tomato and homemade mayo I used to spruce up my burger.

I made another batch of homemade mayo, by the way — this time the only thing I added was a half teaspoon of curry powder for a little extra something. The may didn’t come out quite as thick as I wanted, but for the purposes I intend it for (burgers, tuna salad, etc), it was perfect.

Since I was craving comfort food, what better to pair with a burger than fries? So I sliced a sweet potato into thick wedges, tossed them with olive oil, salt pepper, and some smoked paprika and chipotle chili powder for a smoky spicy flavor that was to die for.

I was craving spice – can you tell?

I threw some asparagus under the broiler at the last minute so I could check off the “green vegetable” box of my meal planner.

Happy Wednesday!