Okay, I know this sounds a little odd, but you really must try this one. I went to Trader Joe’s over the weekend and found some really beautiful strawberries. When I got home, I wanted to make something interesting with them. So, I enlisted the help of Adam and we used them to make turkey burgers. Strawberries are used in many things that are not desserts, my favorite being strawberries over arugula salad with a balsamic vinaigrette (arugula is a leafy green with a slight peppery taste). The sweetness of the strawberries works well with the balsamic vinegar and peppery taste of the arugula. So, I decided to take the same flavors and add them to turkey burgers.
When cooked, the burgers are moist and since I stuffed them with the strawberries and some feta cheese, the middle gives you a burst of flavor and gives a really pretty presentation with the red and white middle and specs of bright green arugula throughout.
| Strawberry & Feta Stuffed Turkey Burgers |
- 1 pound turkey meat (for turkey burgers, I do not chose the leanest)
- 5-6 medium to large sized strawberries
- 2 ounces reduced-fat feta cheese (fresh goat cheese would work too)
- 2 large eggs (eggs give the turkey a lot of moisture)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce (Adds a smokey flavor)
- 1/2 cup store bought breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup arugula, roughly chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- Dice the strawberries and feta cheese into small pieces, then set aside. Next, in a large bowl, combine the eggs, olive oil, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, arugula, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Add the turkey meat to the mixture by using your hands mix until just combined. Over mixing at this stage will make the burgers tough when cooked. Separate the turkey mixture into 8 balls that have been slightly flattened in to a patty. Place about 1 tablespoon of the strawberry and feta mixture into the middle of 4 of the patties then cover each of those patties with the remaining four, by slightly pressing together the edges.
- Preheat a grill pan or griddle to medium high heat and spray with cooking oil/spray. Once the grill/pan is preheated, place the burgers in the pan and leave for 3 minutes. Flip the burgers and cook for another 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low, cover with some aluminum foil and cook for another 4 minutes or until cooked through, turning once.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I prepared a variation of this recipe using “fromage de chevre” last night. The recipe is great, though with the way poultry is typically injected with saline solution these days, I think that excluding the salt is fine.
On a more amusing note, the goat cheese was a different story … I opened the paper package, expecting cheese of a similar consistency to that which is typically served in restaurant salads: light and crumbly. What I received was a block similar to waxed brie and smelled mildly of wet goat. I tried a sliver (with the wax intact) and confirmed my sense of smell is indeed still strongly linked to my tastebuds: I had a mouth full of something that tasted like a wet goat smells. Quite riveting. Luckily, removal of all the wax seemed to significantly reduce this odor, rendering the cheese usable again. This caused me to realize two things: 1) there are multiple kinds of goat cheese 2) I had possibly stumbled across a cheese delicacy which requires an iron stomach.
Michael – Choosing to exclude the salt would probably work just fine, it is amazing how much salt is added to foods these days. The great thing about this recipe is that other ingredients, especially the balsamic vinegar helps bring out flavor, just as salt would in the burgers.
It sounds like you had quite the experience with the cheese, this may be my fault in writing the recipe. When I suggested “goat cheese” I meant fresh goat cheese, usually you will find it in the store packaged in plastic in the shape of a cylinder, as opposed to a ripened goat cheese, which would usually have a rind. It was silly on my part not to mention this earlier. Goat milk can be used as any other milk (like cows milk) with any kind of cheese making process or technique, so just as you see many types of cheese made from cows milk, you will see the same with goat’s milk.
I hope this helps and thank you for commenting.
~Joanne
What type of condiments could you serve with this burger? It obviously wouldn’t go well with ketchup or mustard. Something sweeter perhaps? Any suggestions?
Krista, great question …
You could make a cucumber/feta yogurt dressing, kind of like tzatziki or maybe just serve it with a little mayo on the bun (if I remember correctly, that is what we did). Maybe a basil mayo (either use a blender or food processor to blend basil leaves into mayo OR just mince up basil leaves really small and add to some mayo).
We will keep thinking of some other alternatives, thanks for commenting
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