Green burgers are fowl - and very tasty

Photograph ©2013, Lori Korleski Richardson
Turkey Spinach Slider on baguette

The average turkey burger makes most people wonder if perhaps a veggie burger would have been a better choice for healthful eating. Turkey is extremely bland, but when mixed with more flavorful ingredients, it steps into the background and takes on the flavor of the other items in the pot.

I saw this recipe by Sue Li on epicurious.com, but since we were trying to cut out bread from our diet, I didn't try it for a while. What I finally hit upon was serving them not on slider buns or small dinner rolls, but in Boston or butter lettuce cups. They were so good!

Since then, I've made them with the following substitutions: Using half spinach and half chard; using all chard; using chard and arugula; using ground chicken instead of turkey; upping the cumin to 1 teaspoon, and using a shallot instead of scallions; and freezing the raw burgers, then putting them frozen into the pan. I must say, they were all excellent, and I really can't tell you which I liked best.

This recipe says it makes 4 servings, and that's about right with the lettuce cups. But with the bread, my husband and I were filled up with two apiece.

I think the secret is not to overcook them (if you're worried they might not get done enough, make them thinner in the middle when you pat them out or use an instant read thermometer and keep cooking until they reach an interior temperature of 170 degrees).

If you do put them on a bun, or as we did, pieces of horizontally sliced baguette, try the spread that follows. It really kicks it up a notch!

Photograph ©2013, Lori Korleski Richardson
The dozen sliders on a cookie sheet, ready to freeze.

Turkey Spinach Sliders
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
1/2 bunch flat-leaf spinach, thick stems removed, leaves chopped (about 4 cups)
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 pound ground turkey
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil (can spray patties lightly if grilling)
12 slider buns or small dinner rolls, split, lightly toasted (for serving)
Your favorite condiments

Instructions
Combine spinach, scallions, garlic, turkey, and cumin in a medium bowl; season with salt and pepper. Using a fork, mix gently just to combine. Form turkey mixture into 14 1/2"-thick patties.
If grilling, heat grill to very hot, place patties on grill, oiled side down, then turn down to low. Proceed as below.
If cooking on stove, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in two batches, cook patties until golden brown and cooked through (resist the temptation to press down on patties with your spatula while cooking), about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

Serve turkey-spinach patties on buns with mayonnaise, onion, and whatever other condiments you prefer. For a gluten-free dish, serve the patties on top of a salad.

Patties can be formed 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before cooking.

Lori's note: Besides the alternatives noted in the post above, I just put the spinach, scallions (or shallot) and garlic in the food processor and chopped everything fine before mixing it all with the turkey and cumin.

Lori K's Fantastic Green Spread
Makes about a cup

Ingredients
1 cup of packed arugula
1 ripe avocado
1/2 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 jalapeño, stemmed, seeded and quartered (or 2 mild jalapeños)
Cooking wine (optional)
Pepper to taste

Instructions
Mix first five ingredients in food processor; add wine until sauce is smooth. Add pepper to taste. Spread on buns, or on burgers in lettuce cups. Will keep for several days, and it stays a bright green.

Fish for breakfast

Kippers for breakfast?

Cheap Trick sang about breakfast fish on "Breakfast in America":
Could we have kippers for breakfast
Mummy dear, mummy dear?

So what did the teenagers in our group order for breakfast while we were hiking through England a few years ago? Kippers. And how did they like them? Not.

Fish is a hard sell for breakfast in America, except maybe in Hawaii. (When you're surrounded by fish, it always tastes good.) But when we stayed in Helsinki, the breakfast buffet included several kinds of fish, and all very tasty. Certainly a lot more appetizing than the Russian fried eggs we had been eating for the past couple of weeks by then; the typical Russian way of fixing a fried egg is to put it in a tiny hot skillet with butter or grease, then serve it before the white even has time to congeal. So you had a crusty bottom that was hard to cut even with a knife, and a runny, jiggly top. No wonder keffir is a popular breakfast drink there; the Lactobacillus probably keeps them from getting sick from the raw egg.

But fish is good for you, and to cut it out of your diet for what mom called the most important meal of the day is just foolish. Some traditions aren't worth standing on.

So if you're up for a little adventure, try these salt cod fritters. Salt cod, unfortunately, is sold by the pound, and is quite dear unless you figure that you actually are getting two pounds of fish for your money, since the salt removes the water weight from the cod. The good news is that salt cod keeps indefinitely in your refrigerator, awaiting an overnight soak (and several changes of water if you want to remove all the salt).

Lori K's salt-cod fritters
Serves 2

Salt cod fritters

Ingredients
1/4 pound salt cod
1 small shallot or two scallions
1/4 cup flour
Dash cayenne pepper
1 egg
Oil
Sauce
1/2 large ripe avocado
Juice of 1/2 lemon or lime
1 tablespoon water
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
Soak the cod overnight. When you awake, drain it, slice it into thin strips, put it back in the bowl and cover with hot water.
Mince the shallot or scallion (using the crisp green part is OK).
Heat about an inch of oil in a cast-iron pot (a deep one will reduce splattering) until hot but not smoking over medium heat. Sprinkle flour with the cayenne pepper in a small deep bowl. In another small bowl, beat the egg well. Drain the cod strips and wring out the water, then mince. Mix the flour and the egg, fold in the cod and shallot or scallion. Drop by tablespoons into the hot oil, making sure they don't touch. When brown on one side, flip them over, cook for a few minutes, then drain.
While they're cooking, make the sauce:
Mash the avocado, add the citrus juice, then enough water to make it smooth, and season.
Serve over the fritters. Eat them while they're hot!