Paella Burgers and Spanish Fries with Pimiento Mayonnaise

Ingredients

• 1 package, 16 to 18 ounces, extra crispy style frozen fries
• 1 1/2 pounds ground chicken breast
• 1 cup flat-leaf parsley, divided – 3 or 4 handfuls of leaves
• 7 cloves garlic, finely chopped, divided
• 4 teaspoons sweet paprika, divided
• 4 teaspoons hot sauce, divided
• 2 lemons zested, 1 cut into wedges after zesting
• 2 1/2 tablespoons grill seasoning (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick), divided
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• 1/2 pound chorizo, peeled from casing, cut into 4 (3-inch) pieces, butterfly each piece*
• 1 cup pimiento peppers, jarred or canned, drained well
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• Salt
• 4 jumbo shrimp or prawns, 8 count per pound, peeled and deveined and butterflied*
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 Portuguese rolls (slightly sweet rectangular crusty rolls), split, any crusty bread or roll of choice may also be substituted here
• 2 cups chopped romaine lettuce

Directions

Preheat oven to temperature on back of sack of fries and scatter them across a thin nonstick cookie sheet in a single layer. Cook fries according to package directions.

Preheat a large griddle or nonstick skillet over medium-high to high heat.

Place chicken in a bowl. Separate out a handful of the parsley leaves and leave them whole. Chop the remaining and take half of the chopped parsley and place it in the bowl with the chicken. Add 3 cloves of the chopped garlic, a little less than half the total amount. Next, add 2 teaspoons or a palm full of paprika, about 2 teaspoon hot sauce and the zest of 1 lemon. Measure out a palm full then half again of the grill seasoning and add that to the chicken. Pour a healthy drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil around the inside of the bowl using a spatula. Mix the chicken and form 4 patties. Wash up and add the patties to the grill. Cook 5 minutes on each side.

Place the chorizo above or alongside burgers. Try to weight the chorizo down to keep it from curling up by topping a plate or small skillet on the sausage and adding something heavy from your pantry like canned goods to weight it down. Cook sausage just 2 or 3 minutes on each side. It is already fully cooked, you're just crisping the edges and heating it through.

Place the pimiento peppers and mayonnaise in a food processor and add the whole parsley leaves, the chopped onion, the zest of a lemon, 2 teaspoons hot sauce and a few pinches of salt. Turn the processor on and grind until the dressing is smooth and even.

Squeeze a little lemon juice over the shrimp or prawns, about 1 tablespoon then season them with a little coarse salt and drizzle them with EVOO. Grill the butterflied shrimp or prawns alongside the burgers, 2 minutes on each side, weighting them as you did the chorizo.

Remove the patties and shrimp and add to the chorizo – loosely tenting to keep warm. Drizzle rolls with extra-virgin olive oil and place cut side down on grill. Weight the rolls down and press to toast and char them on both sides.

Melt butter together with remaining 4 cloves chopped garlic and 2 teaspoons sweet paprika over low heat until garlic sizzles in butter. Remove the fries from the oven and place in a large bowl. Add the chopped parsley to the bowl and pour the melted garlic butter over the fries then season with salt to your taste.

Add chopped lettuce to roll bottoms then top with chorizo, chicken patty and shrimp. Slather the bun top with pimiento mayonnaise and set in place. Serve extra mayonnaise with fries for dipping.

* To butterfly the chorizo chunks or shrimp, cut into and across but not all the way through then spread the meat, like wings. For the shrimp, cut along the deveined incision, then spread it open.