Accidentally Delicious Turkey Burgers

by Amazon al Dente at 10:56 PM PDT, March 16, 2009

Last night I was determined to make a nutritious dinner for the boys and got all the ingredients for turkey burgers as I thought I remembered reading them from Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious recipe. But how's this for lazy--when it came time to prep the food, I was so panic-hungry and suffering from the shakes (this happens suddenly and without warning in pregnancy) that I simply couldn't be bothered to pull the book down and open it. Looking up a page number and turning to that page seemed a vast, complex sequence of events and a grotesque waste of precious time. This is the dearth of logic that also happens all during my pregnancies...

"OH SH@$, I CAN'T REMEMBER THE RECIPE!"

"Honey, do you want me to hand you the cookbook?"

"QUICK! NO TIME! JUST HAND ME THE TURKEY!"

"...but it's right here...I can.."

"JUST YOU AND THE BOYS GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

Of course, there are two recipes in her book for making turkey burgers, and I think I mixed the both of them together, but nevermind. Whatever I made was accidentally delicious. I used some leftover organic chicken-flavored stuffing mix instead of whatever bread crumbs she called for (after all, stuffing IS bread crumbs) and I think that gave me a real flavor boost. I thought the recipe called for a cup of bread crumbs, but when I measured out a cup, there was so little left in the bag I decided to use it all. It was probably around 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 cups.

Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey thigh
2 tablespoons low-sodium organic soy sauce
2 tablespoons organic ketchup
2 fat cloves of garlic, minced
3 baby carrots, minced
1 scallion, white and green part chopped
1-1/4 to 1-1/2 cups organic chicken-flavored Thanksgiving stuffing mix
1/2 to 3/4 cup milk
some shakes of salt and black pepper

Directions:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine everything. It just so happens I combined everything except the turkey, because I couldn't find it at first, and so everything had soaked together for at least 5 minutes while I hunted down the ground turkey. Don't ask... But I don't know if this made them taste better, adding the meat last while everything else soaked together, or if it wouldn't matter either way.

2. Squish it all together with your hands trying for an even distribution of little green and orange flecks across burgers. I made 6 big patties approximately 1/2-3/4 of an inch thick. One patty was smaller for the baby. The rest were evenly sized. They will seem overly moist. Don't be concerned. Turkey dries out while it cooks.

3. Cook in a frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil for about 5 minutes per side. Add cheese on top while they're hot if you want cheese. Or you could top it with some fancy Asian slaw and a hoisin sauce or something.

Next Day Brunch: I chopped up a leftover burger patty and used it to make great 2-egg omelets with cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, scallion, and cheddar cheese.

--Sweet B

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