Sunday, June 19, 2011

Salmon Burgers with Ancho Guacamole

I am not the only one who cooks in our family.  My beautiful wife, Clare, is also a great cook and a great baker.  Every once in a while, I ask my Angel to provide a guest blog post so that I can share some of the amazing and delicious things that she makes for family, friends and, of course, me.  She has already provided guest blog posts about Tuscan Vegetable Soup, Cuban Bread and Loyalist Bread. So, without further ado,

A Guest Blog Post by Clare ...

Keith has posted a few things about our recent vacation in the Outer Banks on his blog.  We spent a week with my parents, along with one of my aunt and uncle and my cousins in Avon, which is near Hatteras. For the first night, the plans were to grill hamburgers and hot dogs.  This is a problem for me because I do not eat meat.  But I do eat seafood.  My dad went to the grocery store and bought a piece of salmon and made me salmon burgers.  The burgers that he prepared were delicious and I got to thinking about salmon burgers a lot.  Eventually, I decided to make salmon burgers myself.

I looked at a couple of recipes online and I talked to my dad and Keith.  My dad helped me with the ingredients for the salmon burgers and Keith had a great idea of "planking" the burgers.  By using cedar planks, it would be much easier to turn the burgers and the planks would add a little cedar flavor to the burgers.  Keith also offered to make some ancho guacamole for the salmon burgers.  The guacamole was a good topping for the burgers.  


SALMON BURGERS
A Clare Bolek Original
Serves 12

Ingredients:
2 pounds of salmon
3/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons of Lusty Monk Mustard (you can substitute
      with Dijon Mustard)
1 medium Vidalia onion, diced
3 cups Panko bread crumbs
2 beaten eggs
3 cloves garlic, diced finely
1 teaspoon of Spanish paprika
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste

1.  Begin soaking a cedar plank(s) in water.  You should be able to place about four burgers on a plank.  The plank(s) should soak for about an hour.

2.  Prepare the burgers by cutting the salmon into even pieces.  Place the salmon pieces in a food processor and process until the salmon is broken up.  Add the salmon to a bowl and add the onion, garlic, cilantro, paprika and lemon juice.  Mix thoroughly and then add the Panko bread crumbs, eggs and olive oil. Continue to mix thoroughly.

3. Make patties by taking a handful of the salmon mixture.  You should get about a dozen patties.  Place the patties on a sheet of wax paper.  Once all of the patties are formed, place them in the freezer for about one half of an hour.

4.  After about thirty minutes, remove the patties from the freezer.  Heat the grill on medium high heat.  Remove the plank from the water and pat dry.  Drizzle a little olive oil on the plank and place the patties on the plank(s).

5.  Put the planks on the grill.  Let the burgers cook for about ten minutes and then flip them.  Continue to cook the burgers for about ten minutes more.  Remove the burgers from the heat.

Serve the salmon burgers on toasted or grilled buns.  You can use whatever toppings you like, such as lettuce, tomato, red onion or ... guacamole.


ANCHO GUACAMOLE
Adapted from a recipe by Alton Brown
Serves many

Ingredients:
3 avocados
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ancho chile powder
1/2 medium red onion, diced
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 clove garlic, diced

Directions:
1.  In a large bowl, place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat the avocado with the lime juice. Drain, and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocados have been coated.

2.  Add the salt, cumin, and ancho chile powder.  With a potato masher, mash the avocados.

3.  Fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice.

4.  Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

The Salmon Burgers were a great success.  Both Keith and I really enjoyed eating these burgers.  The great thing is that we more burgers, which I froze to eat another day.  I am definitely going to make this recipe again.  As Keith would say,

ENJOY!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Claire,

Always happy to see one of your creations on the blog. We have salmon regularly and usually have a little left over. Next time, we might adapt your recipe and do some salmon burgers on our G. Foreman grill.
Did you get the milk coupon?
Emory