The June issue of Food Network Magazine is apparently "The Grilling Issue" and included 136 summer recipes! Woo! Well, it wasn't really that tacky and actually had some great ideas in it. Brit spotted the "Perfect Turkey Burger" and decided it must be made. In addition to the main dish from Food Network Magazine, Brit had also spotted a recipe from the June issue of Bon Appetit. Brit wasn't so impressed with Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover, but got excited for a recipe for a cucumber, tomato, and feta salad. To round out the meal, I decided I would make some sweet potato homefries.
Perfect Turkey Burger
(adapted from Food Network Magazine's recipe from their June 2011 issue)
Makes 8(ish) patties
1 large portabello mushroom cap
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp lightly packed parsley
1 to 1.5 lbs ground turkey
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup crumbled feta (I had this left over from the veggie salad)
Bread crumbs to coat
English muffins
Butterhead lettuce
thinly sliced onion, for topping
sliced avocado, for topping
Pour about 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs onto a plate for coating the burger patties.
Use a spoon to scrape out the gills from the underside of the mushroom cap. Dice the cap into small pieces. Pulse the mushroom, onion, garlic and parsley in a food processor until chopped.
Move the mushroom mix into a large bowl and add the turkey, feta, and Worcestershire sauce. Season with a few tsp of salt and pepper. Form balls from the turkey mix and press down into 1-inch-thick patties. Coat both sides of the patties in breadcrumbs, then place them in the freezer (the original recipe just recommends placing in the fridge for 30 min) to help them solidify.
Cook's Note: Since I live in an apartment with no outdoor space, I use a cast iron grill pan to grill the turkey burgers, which works surprisingly well (although it gets a bit smoky in the kitchen when we use it).
Spray the grill pan with olive oil or cooking spray and grill the burgers over medium heat. Turkey burgers need between 5-7 minutes on each side before they're cooked thoroughly.
When Mike and I make burgers, we usually make an aioli to complement the flavors we use in the burger mix - I feel like every good burger deserves an equally good condiment to enhance the experience. This time was no exception.
We then stacked the burger, a few slices of avacado, the butterhead lettuce, and spicy brown mustard on the top english muffin.
Cucumber, Tomato, and Feta Salad
Serves a lot
3 small cucumbers, chopped coarsely
2 large tomatoes, chopped coarsely
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 cup Kalamata olives, chopped coarsely
1/2 lbs goat milk feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup mint, chopped coarsely
4-5 tbsp olive oil (was supposed to be 6)
1/4 cup lemon juice (I squeezed 1.5 lemons)
Salt and pepper
Balsamic vinegar (not in the original recipe)
Combine the first six ingredients. When it gets close to serving, mix the olive oil and lemon juice and use to dress the salad. Season with salt and pepper to taste and then add a few drizzles of balsamic vinegar.
Sweet Potato Homefries
Serves 2
2 sweet potatoes, cut into wedges
Few tsp curry powder
Few tsp cumin
Few tsp smoked paprika
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Mix everything in a bowl together and season to smell and taste . I never measure out the ingredients that I use, so you'll just have to use some logic on how much to use. Bake on a non-stick sprayed baking sheet at 450 F for 15-20 min.
The burgers turned out so well; very moist and delicious. Brit and I almost always make an aioli with our turkey burgers but this condiment wasn't part of the original Food Network Magazine recipe. The aioli is always a critical part of the burgers we make and I'm definitely glad Brit made it this time.
The salad was also delicious. The original recipe had not called for any balsamic vinegar, but Brit felt it was lacking an acid. It definitely made a difference and was well worth adding. We might add some more lemon juice next time we make this dish, and I'm sure we will make it.
My homefries are almost always made with a different combination of spices, but almost always include the smoked paprika. They usually don't end up all that crispy, which we could probably fix by putting them under a broiler for a few min, but we're often too hungry to care and they taste great anyways.
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