Stuffed Turkey Burgers

It's been a while, I know. Since the last time I cooked and tonight, I've eaten some fabulous things...unfortunately I am terrible at taking pictures of foods when I'm eating elsewhere. Friday night, it was my friend's 30th birthday and we went to an Italian place for dinner. I had Penne Steak Gorgonzola. They gave me 4 measly (wayyy overcooked) steak tips on top of penne smothered in a delicious creamy Gorgonzola sauce. The sauce barely made up for the lack of steak. Saturday I went to dinner with Jaime at Karma. I wish I had taken a photo of the sushi roll we got. It was a baked salmon roll that was topped with mountains (no exaggeration) of shredded, baked sweet potato. We also had beef tataki, crazy maki, and steamed dumplings. Yesterday, Mum had a craving for some Olive Garden, so off we went. I had a shrimp and crab tortellini dish. Today for lunch I had my favorite meal of the weekend. After my trip to Barnes & Noble ($2 book sale!!!), I decided that Panera was the next stop on my travels. I got the Turkey Artichoke panini. Oh. My. Goodness. It was amazing. Smoked turkey smothered in an artichoke spinach spread with cheese, carmelized onions and tomatoes, on top of grilled focaccia.

Carmelized onions were the topping of the day. I used them in my own meal tonight. I finally got around to using the rest of my ground turkey tonight to make stuffed turkey burgers. I loved them. Mum had one and wasn't a fan of the goat cheese, which I suppose is an acquired taste. I consider goat cheese to be the greek yogurt of cheeses. A bit of a twang and the creamy texture...yum!

Before I began my recipe, I had to prepare 2 things in advance: carmelized onions and roasted red peppers.


Both were so much easier to prepare than I ever thought they would be. For the onions you just quarter an onion (or 5) then slice them and heat them in a pan coated with olive oil. Be sure to stir them to coat them in the oil and continue to cook over med-high heat for about 30 minutes or more, depending on many onions you have, continuously stirring. For the peppers, I just halved them, cleaned out the seeds and membrane, and put them under the broiler for 7 minutes until the skin was blackened. Then, I immediately transferred them to a ziplock bag for 20 minutes so they could sweat. Then I just peeled off the skin and sliced them. I had to take fewer pictures, as my phone/camera was dying.


Stuffed Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:

1.2 lbs lean ground turkey
6 tbsp. bread crumbs
3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. grated lemon peel
2 tsp. dried thyme
1 1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
5 tbsp. soft fresh goat cheese (or any cheese you want to use)

1. In a large bowl, mix turkey, breadcrumbs, lemon juice, lemon peel, thyme, salt and pepper. Divide into 4 or 5 equal portions. Split each portion in half and form two equal-sized patties. Place 1 tbsp. of goat cheese on top of one patty and top with the other patty and press along the edges to seal and enclose cheese. Repeat with other patties.
2. Heat the grill to med-high. Grill the burgers until cooked through, about 5 minutes on each side. Top with onions and red peppers.

I served mine with those Deli Flats bread/buns.

Menu for the week:
Tomorrow - Shrimp and Mango Curry
Wednesday - Eggplant Parmesan