2/15/2007: halfway decent turkey burgers
I have become pretty Zen recently in accepting the utter paradox of (a) enjoying the act of cooking, and (b) finding it too cold, slushy, and miserable outside to leave the house to procure groceries with which to perform said activity. Hence, every meal cooked in the last couple of weeks has involved a calm yet somewhat intense scrutiny of my cupboards, fridge and freezer as opposed to my more normal routine of having planned out meal-specific ingredients at a recent trip to the grocery store.
Last night I unearthed makings for Thai green curry (frozen veggies, no meat), and tonight, as the subject of this post implies, I made a batch of halfway decent turkey burgers. Last time I made some, the burgers were a bit dried out and overcooked, so I countered by adding an extra ingredient (see below). The results were quite satisfying.
Halfway decent turkey burgers
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1 egg
- bread crumbs
- chopped parsley
- 3-4 tbsp. chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- Special guest ingredient: 3 tbsp. butter, chopped into tiny little chunks
Put all ingredients except bread crumbs in a big bowl. Regardless of the amount of turkey or the size of the bowl, the correct amount of bread crumbs always seems to be exactly enough to coat the top of the other ingredients, and no more. Mix well. Cook on a well salted cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, 5 minutes on a side. The butter will melt out and make the burgers really juicy. Makes 4 good-sized burgers.
I ate mine with Colby Jack cheese (Heluva Good brand melts exceedingly well), topped with baby spinach and onion slices, mayo and brown mustard. They were good.
