I haven’t had salmon in a long while, but I had a craving for it this week. It may have something to do with me trying to introduce more vegetable juices into my diet; I have a massive sugar craving (I literally had a moment with a triple chocolate cookie…or two this weekend) and so to counter that I’m pressing, juicing and blending my taste buds out of it to a more balanced diet. Salmon is packed with all kinds of nutrition and doesn’t need a lot of prep or cooking time, so it’s the perfect partner on my road to healthy eating. I hope it lasts!
But in my usual, ‘let’s make this more complicated’ way…I thought I would make cooking salmon a little more challenging for me. I literally tossed and turned in my bed thinking of the ways I could prep it. Oh! I forgot to mention, another goal of mine, is to be more efficient. When you do a lot of cooking as I do, you need recipes you can freeze for those rainy days or use in 5 different ways throughout the week. So having thrown that into the melting pot of ideas I settled on:
Burgers. Juicy Salmon Burgers.
I’ve stuck to the more traditional ‘salt of the sea’ flavours you associate with fish and salmon: capers, mustard, even cream cheese (think of smoked salmon and bagels). To make these uber healthy you can grill rather than fry them, in fact all the burgers ended up in the oven for a few minutes after frying just to seal the cooking.
The capers are salty all by themselves, so I recommend rinsing them first.
I served this in a brioche bun, with caramelised onions (finely sliced red onions, gently fried before adding balsamic vinegar near the end to help soften it), lashings of soft cheese and basil leaves. With a side of oven baked sweet potato wedges
INGREDIENTS METHODJuicy Salmon Burgers
1. Cut the salmon into large chunks, and put about a quarter of it into a food processor, along with the mustard. Turn the machine on, and let it run — stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary — until the mixture becomes mince like in texture.
2. Add the onions and the remaining salmon, and pulse the machine on and off until the fish is chopped and well combined with the mince. be careful not make the mixture too fine.
3. Scrape the mixture into a bowl, and by hand, stir in the bread crumbs, capers (whisked egg) and some salt and pepper. Shape into burgers using flour dusted on your hand to prevent it from sticking. ( Cover and refrigerate the burgers for a few hours.)
4. Place the oil in a frying pan (1/4 inch of oil), and turn the heat to medium-high.
5. When the oil is hot, cook the burgers for 2 to 3 minutes a side, turning once. Alternatively, you can grill them: let them firm up on the first side, grilling about 4 minutes, before turning over and finishing for just another minute or two. To check for doneness, make a small cut and peek inside. Be careful not to overcook.
6. Serve on a bed of greens or on buns or by themselves.
