Saucy Salmon Burgers (and other good things to do with frozen fish)!

Hola, my sweet Butterballs!
Long time no food :(  Just so you know you weren't neglected intentionally, here's a brief summary of mine and Matt's last two months:

-Bought a house! (Yay!)
-Moved into the new house! (Yay!)
-Had a spring concert! (Yay!)
-New pipes exploded because they were too full of tree roots. (Boo...)
-Matt got his big kid job! (Yay!)
-Matt graduated with his Masters degree in Media Arts! (Yay!)
-Former neighbor at the rental went postal and weed whacked all of Matt's rosebushes, in addition to verbally threatening us and our landlady resulting in police reports... (Boo...)

 

All of this took place within two weeks.  In addition, we made the executive (and ultimately incredibly stupid...) decision to switch Butters to the fancy protein food that was supposed to make him a kitty cat super model.  The subsequent result was really just alot of cat poo and bleach.  Also, Butters gained three pounds.  So naturally we put him back on the fat cat food, and all of us are much happier.

You can certainly imagine that not a lot of cooking happened during this period of time.  I made roughly 7 lbs of guacamole for Matt's graduation party, but that's really about it.  I went to a conference last week for five days, and Matt officially used our new stove for the first time.  It's been rough I tell ya.  We went grocery shopping for the first time in three months the other day.  You know it's bad when you have to buy things that are usually just in the cabinet (read: salt and flour).  $500 later (shudder), our kitchen has food in it, and we even have vegetables!  Another semi-entertaining obstacle was learning how to use our first gas stove...  I may or may not have lit a pasta scoop on fire.

I am super fortunate to be able to just hang out in the summertime.  Obviously I could go back to the Huck or something of the like during the summer, but to be quite frank, this is the only chance I get to get anything accomplished during the year (i.e. keeping up with you fine people, laundry, drinking wine, you know, real basic life necessities...).  I've cooked more in the last two weeks than I have in the last two months, which makes everyone happier.  The result of this is lots and lots of new recipes!   

You may notice that I am using frozen salmon fillets.  You may feel welcome as always to use fresh salmon.  As a quick weeknight dinner, I usually like to have a bag of frozen salmon in the freezer (for pasta, burgers, salads, etc.).  They contain no additional ingredients, and they are quite a bit cheaper (especially if you need to keep it in the freezer to cook at your leisure).  Also, this recipe makes about six burgers, so if you're on a budget, it's important to consider volume, and these burgers only cost about $2.00 per serving (including sauce, garnish and buns), which is pretty impressive considering they're made out of something other than beef.

To make my saucy salmon burgers you will need:

For the Burgers:

about 1 1/2 lbs of salmon (I use frozen)

3/4 cup bread crumbs (if your mixture doesn't seem to be sticking together, you can certainly add more!)

1/2 red onion, finely minced

1/4 cup red pepper, finely minced

2 tbsp olive oil mayonaise

2 eggs

1 tsp dill

1 tbsp parsley

1 tsp or more if you like sriracha 

salt and pepper to taste

Thaw salmon (de-bone and remove skin if it hasn't been already), and pull apart until the meat appears minced.  Add in the rest of your ingredients and mix with hands until well combined.  Form into six equal patties (but don't mush them flat, they should be about an inch thick prior to cooking).  Heat about 3 tbsp of olive oil in a pan on medium to medium high (a grill pan works well too!), cook on each side until browned, flipping once.  If you want them more well-done (read: drier), you can finish them in the oven at 350 degrees for about five minutes. Otherwise, just heat your oven to warm to keep them ready to eat as you finish cooking all of the patties.  

While your patties are in the oven on warm, you can make this tasty tzatziki sauce to put on top.  Truthfully, on any given week night I might cheat and use Costco's organic tzatziki sauce, but if I have the time, this is the recipe I like to use.

You will need:

1 1/2 cup sour cream or unsweetened Greek yogurt

3 tbsp grated cucumber

2 tsp chopped garlic (finely)

1 tbsp chopped dill (fresh is best!)

2 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, don't over stir.  If you want a thicker spread as opposed to a sauce, use 3/4 cream cheese and 3/4 sour cream or yogurt instead of 1 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt.

To assemble:

Matt and I like thinly sliced tomato and cucumber for garnish and toasted hoagie rolls (cut into two, smaller burger sized buns).  I like to toast the buns in the same pans I used for the burgers with a little extra olive oil.  For an extra "zip", you can rub the toasted part of the bun with a clove of garlic.  Spread your tzatziki on both sides of your bun, add burger and chosen garnishes.  Most of the time we serve these with chips and salsa, or guacamole (which is also a tasty substitute for the tzatziki sauce!).

Cheers, my dear sweet Butterballs, to a productive and tasty summer!  As, always, love and best fishes!  May your bellies, be full, your faces be pleasantly sunburned, your glasses be full, and your homes be blessed.  Happy cooking!

The Cat is Back!

Butterballs, butterballs, my how I've missed you! This will be my first blog in over a month, and since we have just barely tipped over into the unknown abyss that will be 2012, this will be all about things I am thankful for, and of course, my dear Butterballs, this means you!

My prolonged absence has been mostly due to a lack of computer, as my dear old lime green laptop Bart went down in a blaze of glory trying to download the massive program, Sibelius. I woke up one morning to the blue screen of death, and made the decision to let him go peacefully. I am now coming to you live from my new, chocolate brown Dell, who I have lovingly dubbed, Paula. You can only surmise who the inspiration was :) So naturally, I am very thankful for my new technology, so I can write to you lovely people every so often!

That being said, I would also like to express my deepest condolences to our Patron Saint of Butter, Paula Deen, who has recently been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Say what you want about our deep frying Goddess, but I'd like to meet a single soul who would turn down a meal made by that woman.

In spite of how busy we've all been trying to be grown-ups in the new year, my Hunnies and I have managed to reserve time at least once a week to cook dinner at the Homestead. These gatherings are alot like an episode of Chopped. It starts with one of us sending a mass text, and ends with a myriad of ingredients and wine drinking in my kitchen. This week we ended up with the following:

Pecker: The usual spaghetti squash. See, we just thought Megan REALLY liked squash, but it turns out that somehow over the weeks that we've been enjoying this squash, we've missed the fact that her parents actually grew all of those squash. This was somewhat of a relief as I think we all had secretly come to believe that Pecker had a back alley squash supplier.

Guido: Mozzarella cheese. Or MOH-SAH-RELLLLLLLLL as they say in Jersey ;) Oh, and that delicious bread that they sell in all grocery stores that comes pre-sliced in half with garlic and butter product in the middle. All you have to do is throw it in the oven for about 15 minutes and it tastes like it's been kissed by Our Lady of Lard, Paula.

Hornpipes and Corny: Lettuce, because someone has to save us from our gourdy and buttery selves.

So you may ask, "What on Earth can you make with that crap?" And the answer is: Cheese stuffed meatballs with red gravy and spaghetti squash and lard bread for dippin, of course! And a healthy salad to cleanse the arteries.

For 12 meatballs (no one said this was a diet dish...):
1 lb spicy Italian sausage
1 lb burger
1 egg
1 cup grated parmesan
1/2 a yellow onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp each basil, oregano
garlic salt
coarse ground black pepper
1 cup shredded mozzarella (this melts easier than cubes, and allows you to skip that meatball drying step of baking after you've fried them)

For frying:
1 cup olive oil

Pour oil in pan and turn on medium-high. Combine all the ingredients except the mozzarella in a large mixing bowl. Next comes the satisfying part. This is what my Dad and I have fondly dubbed over the years (and a VERY technical term, I might add), schmooshing. Schmooshing is the process of combining ingredients with one's hands until they cannot be separated. Take a small handful of meat, roll into a ball, and then squish a little to form a cup. You should take a lump of the cheese about the size of a large malted milk ball, and push it into the meat. Take another small wad of meat (such an appetizing term, "wad"...), flatten it out, and place it on top of the cheese, seal the meat until you can no longer see the cheese. Place in hot oil, fry on all sides until dark brown.

For the gravy:
One large can of tomato sauce
2 tbsp each garlic powder, basil, and oregano.

Combine in sauce pan until barely bubbling. Annnnd that's it.

For the spaghetti squash:
1 large spaghetti squash (about 5 lbs)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin
garlic salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp olive oil

Now, one does not simply walk into a spaghetti squash (ha haaaaa). The prep is a labor of love, and takes some time.

Prep of a spaghetti squash:
Using a VERY BIG knife, or food machete, as I like to call it, remove the ends of the spaghetti squash. THIS IS THE HARDEST PART. Do not cut your fingers off, because if you do, you will never be able to make this again, and that would be truly sad. You can either roast these ends, or throw them away, because they are tough as whale bone. Once you have removed the ends, stand the squash up on one of the now flat ends, slice down each side in turn with your food machete. Fill a large baking dish with one inch or so of water, place the squash skin side down in the water, cover with foil, and roast at 400 degrees. This takes varied amounts of time. Once you can pierce the squash with a fork, take it out of the oven. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. scrape the meat of the squash into it, and add spices.

I am so thankful to be starting a new, wonderful year with my friends and family. Even if the Mayans were right and we're all going to die this December, I'll be going out in a blaze of meat, cheese, and love, and that my friends, is what it's all about :)