Herbed Turkey Burgers with Goat Cheese and Cranberry Sauce
This burger is a meal in and of itself, but it’s totally appropriate to serve with a side of sweet potato fries.
Recipe:
Cranberry Sauce
12 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2-3/4 cup sugar (to taste)
zest of 1 lemon
juice of one lemon
3/4 cup water
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine all ingredients and cook until cranberries burst, give off their juice, and thicken (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and strain through a fine mesh sieve if desired. Pour into a heatproof jar and allow to cool. Refrigerate. Will thicken as it cools.
Turkey Burger
1/2 medium onion, diced fine
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped, fresh sage
2 teaspoons minced, fresh rosemary
1 pound lean, ground turkey
1 egg
2 tablespoons greek yogurt
3 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
goat cheese, grainy mustard, and spinach leaves to serve
In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, sweat onions and garlic. Once onions become translucent, add sage and rosemary and saute another minute. Do not brown or the garlic may burn. Set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl combine ground turkey, egg, yogurt, breadcrumbs, and cooled onion/herb mixture. Mix gently to combine. Divide meat into 4 sections and shape into patties (about 1/4-1/2 inch thick), making a shallow well in the center. Refrigerate patties for 20 minutes to firm up.
Heat a heavy skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle patties liberally with salt and pepper, cook, flipping only once, for about 4 minutes on each side. Top with goat cheese, add a splash of water to the pan (1 tablespoon is good) and cover until liquid evaporates. This will soften the cheese, but not melt it since goat cheese doesn’t really melt. Place burgers on toasted buns with mustard and spinach, top with cranberry sauce.
Light Wheat Brioche Buns
I used King Arthur White Whole Wheat and regular whole wheat flour. You can use whatever you like or just use bread flour.
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
3/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons warm milk
2 teaspoons dry yeast
2 tablespoons honey
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
poppy seeds or sesame seeds for sprinkling
1 egg + i tablespoon cream for egg wash
Measure out warm water and milk into a glass measuring cup. Stir in honey and then yeast. Allow to rest 5 minutes until foamy.
Lightly beat the egg in a small dish and set aside.
In a stand mixer, whisk together flours and salt. Rub butter into flour mixture with your fingertips. Mix in the yeast and water mixture, as well as the egg. Knead with the dough hook for 5 minutes. The dough will pull from the sides of the bowl and form a ball, the dough ball should be tacky to the touch. Rise, covered with plastic for 1-2 hours until doubled in bulk.
Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and roll into balls. Place the dough portions on a parchemnet lined baking sheet and cover loosely, allow to rise another hour.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Whisk together egg and cream, brush the tops of the dough with egg wash and sprinkle with seeds. Bake buns in the center of the oven for 15 minutes. The buns should be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Allow to cool on a cooling rack. Buns can be baked and frozen in a resealable plastic bag for use later. Just defrost for 1-2 hours on the counter, or overnight in the refrigerator.
