The Crabby Cook - by Jessica Harper

My brother-in-law Scott claims that he will not eat turkey in any format other than roasted, Thanksgiving-style. He thinks ground turkey is peculiar and unappetizing.

If you have a relative as annoying as this, or if by any chance Scott is coming to your house for dinner, you will want to skip this turkey burger recipe. For that matter, don’t bother with last week’s recipe for turkey loaf either, unless you substitute beef for the turkey. For some reason Scott is okay with ground beef, but picky people like him often have such irritating quirks.

Scott is also famous for hating chicken soup, by the way. And, in a recent development, he swore off panini, of all things. He sent his friends vicious anti-panini e-mails, the details of which I was spared, thanks to my handy “delete” button. Can’t wait to hear about his next radical shift in food preferences.

Meanwhile, since Scott is usually 2000 miles away, I make these turkey burgers a lot, and I think of him each time I make them. He would hate them, but normal people will not.

Turkey Burgers

4 tablespoons oil, divided

1 small onion, chopped fine

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey, half dark, half white meat

2 slices whole wheat bread

1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Whole wheat buns, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo for serving.

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Place the onion mixture in a large mixing bowl. Add the ground turkey.

2. Tear the bread slices into 1-inch pieces and place them in a food processor. Process briefly, until you have large crumbs. Add the crumbs to the the turkey in the bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Shape the mixture into six patties.

3. Wipe out the skillet. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the skillet (or you can use a grill pan for this) over medium heat and add a few burgers. Cook them until they are nicely browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes on each side. Repeat with the remaining burgers. Serve them on whole wheat buns with lettuce and tomatoes and mayo.

P.S. I like to pump up that mayo like this: Mix 3/4 cup mayo, 1/4 cup creme fraiche, 1 Tbls. Dijon mustard.

Tags: ground turkey, panini, turkey burger recipe

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Meat Me. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.