The Best Ever...Salmon Burgers

Notice the Louisiana hot sauce in the background? What a coincidence. I was just mentioning on some replies on my previous post that tropical storm Isaac is in Louisiana now. Since about 1 week now, we've been having heavy winds and rain here in South Florida, but nothing compares to the windy heavy storm we had last weekend, finally ending last night with several huge BANGS of thunder that shook all the windows.

When you're stuck inside all day on Sunday and half the day on Monday, due to the storm, you better have a plan while you have electricity, to make the best of the situation. As for me, I yearn for comfort food...not necessary junk food but something satisfying...yet, healthy! I had a brilliant idea to make burgers on my little George Foreman grill...better yet, a juicy salmon burger, with robust flavor, not too spicy, but intense in flavor.

How could you not have a burger without sides?...not me! Either fries, or onion rings, but I must confess I do love onion rings...good onion rings, and I am not going to wast any time making them from scratch just for me alone when I can get the Alexia onion rings in my local supermarkets freezer section.

I even made the dipping sauce that was sweet, and spicy (recipe on the side of the bag) I adapted it my way by adding the Louisiana hot sauce to kick it up a bit. No frying with these onion rings. Just bake it for 10 minutes on 400 degrees F. for a crisp perfect, crunchy onion rings that were dipped in Panko crumbs.

You must have tartar sauce with a delicious salmon burger...if not a tartar sauce, but then a special sauce. Now I have both, a ketchup based sweet and spicy dipping sauce, and a homemade tartar sauce that is way better than the store bought!

I was so inspired to make the tartar sauce that I have been making for years, which is really a simple method. Just have a good brand mayonnaise, and to make sure you add sweet pickle relish, or make your own pickle relish by chopping the pickles in your food processor.

So let's get started. For 2 salmon burgers, I used a piece of salmon fillet that was just under 1/2 lb.

2 scallions, trimmed and chopped coarsely.
2 or three pieces of fresh dill, stems cut
1 teaspoon lemon zest
juice of half of a lemon
1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
freshly ground pepper, and sea salt to taste
(I used coarse sea salt ground fine)

Cut the salmon into 1 inch cubes, and add it to a food processor, adding all the listed ingredients.


Being careful not to process; just give it no more than 2 pulses, to keep it coarse, and not make it like ground meat. The Panko will help it hold together.

Have your grill set up, or your favorite grill pan or electric grill heating up.

This is the ideal consistency you should have. (my only problem was, I should have chopped the scallion into smaller pieces) food processor does not seem to chop it up in 2 pulses.

Now you are ready to pat them gently into patties.

On a large plate, add 1/4 cup more of the Panko crumbs and roll the salmon burgers in them. Gently pat some extra on each side.

Spray with PAM or other brand cooking spray on both sides. At this time, you can refrigerate them while you prepare the other easy sides to go with it!

Grill the salmon burgers on the George Foreman Grill, which of course has two sides for grilling which takes half the time than grilling in a grill pan, or on an outdoor grill.
Spray extra cooking spray while you're grilling,

Total time on George Foreman is 4-5 minutes. On a one sided grill you have to flip over to the other side. (4-5 minutes on each side)

Dipping Sauce for the onion rings and for the salmon burger (optional)

1 cup good quality ketchup
(I use Heinz)
1 teaspoon taco seasoning
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
few dashes of Louisiana hot sauce
Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl and serve for dipping, or spreading
.



Linking to:Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage
               Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop @ KatherinesCorner

Baked Broccoli and Cheddar Rice

Half the time, I am just "brain dead" when it comes to making new stuff, so I stay with the "old" and try to make it more healthy and lighter. Unfortunately, this is kind of obstructed with the cheddar cheese. I got this idea from an Uncle Ben's already mixed in the box a few, or maybe more than a few years ago. I really liked the boxed idea, but did not want to deal with all that sodium and mysterious ingredients, so just from that, I wanted to re-create my own. My family loves this, and they can't remember that I also made my polenta the same way, with the broccoli, and cheddar, which again, have not made it in a long time. For this dish, I made Panko crusted oven baked chicken breast. They paired up very nicely.

Baked Broccoli and Cheddar Rice

1 cup long grain rice
1 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Boil the water for the rice adding the olive oil,(or butter) if you prefer. Do not cook it all the way. Takes only 15 minutes with this method. Steam the broccoli florets, and mix the rice and broccoli together, season with salt and pepper, and mix half of the grated cheddar. Bake in an oven proof ceramic dish, for about 15 minutes on 350 degrees, and top with the additional grated cheddar cheese, and bake for another 5 minutes, or until cheese gets nice and bubbly, and golden. Serves 4.

Oven Baked Boneless Chicken Breasts

2 nice large boneless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp real mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 flour
1 cup Panko
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
Cooking spray for moisture

Generously massage chicken breasts with the mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and mix the flour and Panko together in a large baggie. Drop the chicken breasts into the baggie and give it a good shake. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil, pat the Panko base well into the chicken breasts. Smear the oil on the aluminum foil, and with the cooking spray, spray the top of the chicken breasts. (this will assure you for a nice crisp baking, without drying it out.) Bake in a 350 degree oven, for a good 25 minutes, till it gets nice and crunchy on the top. These large pieces serves fro 2-4.