RECIPE: Salmon (BURGERS)

My love for food extends beyond just eating at great restaurants, I actually really enjoy cooking too. When I'm in the kitchen, I tend to lose track of time and get completely lost in the process of making delish food. In other words, I'm in my ZONE!! Fully focused!

Salmon Burgers

My latest accomplishment was salmon burgers; made with fresh salmon, not that canned crap. Figured I'd share the recipe with you....(you'll notice I don't really give you measurements; the honest reason - I have no clue how much of one thing or another I used, I just know what went in. My advice is to use your judgement and taste things for flavor. One thing to remember, with the salmon burgers, don't add to much of the other ingredients (onions, peppers, etc) it'll prevent you from being able to form patties that will stay together. Moderation is the key)

Ingredients:
Olive oil
Butter (optional)
Fresh salmon (farm raised or wild)
Onion
Peppers (any color)
Garlic
Panko bread crumbs
1 egg
Soy sauce (like a tsp, if that)
Dijon mustard (about a tbsp)
Coarse mustard
Salt and pepper
Any other seasoning you enjoy


Directions:
First, finely chop onion, pepper, and garlic combining into large bowl. Then chop salmon into 1/4" pieces, be careful not to rock the knife back and forth, it'll cause the salmon to get mushy and lose it's texture. You want to keep the salmon in cube like shapes so when you form the patties you can taste whole pieces of the fish. Add to large bowl.

In a smaller bowl combine egg, dijon and course mustard, soy, salt and pepper. Lightly beat egg before putting in bowl. Mix ingredients thoroughly together. Pour into large bowl with salmon, peppers, onions an garlic. Add panko bread crumbs (make sure not to add too much, you really only need like a 1/4-1/2 cup depending on how much salmon you have) then lightly toss everything, making sure its all mixed but not ruining the salmon pieces.

Form patties, place on baking sheet or parchment paper and put in refrigerator for at least 20 mins. Heat pan on medium high heat, add olive oil and butter (if using), once hot place patties on pan. Cook until golden brown, about 2-3 mins on each side. I actually increase the heat to high for less than a min to add some extra brownness to the patties.  If you do that, only cook the burgers for, at most, 2 mins on each side. You want to avoid over cooking the salmon, other wise it will be dry. Optional, you can serve with some kind of sauce or condiment of your choice. I used non fat Greek yogurt. Leftovers can be placed in freezer.

Hope you enjoy and if you come up with some form of modification, please let me know. I had thought about adding spinach or mushrooms, maybe even dill or sage. Maybe next time.