Asian-inspired mini turkey burgers

Mini turkey burgers with bulgur cooked in broth and bok choy sauteed with leeks

Linn and I are trying to clear out our freezer before Thanksgiving.   Because we're buying a 15 lb turkey.  For four people.

Linn talked me into this because he wants to have lots of leftovers and pointed out that we don't buy good meat very often (we're buying a happy co-op turkey) and we can store extra in the freezer.

Which is great.  Except that our freezer is full, mostly thanks to Trader Joe's.

So the other night, when I was finally starting to think about dinner at 7pm, I dutifully checked the freezer and found ground turkey.  I had just been to the store and had bought green onions, carrots, bok choy, and dried cranberries.  An idea began to form.

I've been on an Asian-food kick lately, and, with a little imagination (plus lots of ginger and garlic), Asian-inspired mini turkey burgers were born.


These were quick and easy--I think grating the carrot was the most difficult step.  And they cooked in 15 minutes!  Including dried cranberries was a minor stroke of genius, if I do say so myself.  They added a perfect bit of zing (yes, I believe that's a culinary term), which goes perfectly with the ginger.  If you don't have cranberries, I think anything sweet would work--raisins, red pepper.

This also marked the first time I've ever used a broiler.  It was brilliant.  In three minutes my mini burgers were crisp and brown and beautiful.




We ate the mini turkey burgers with bulgur cooked in veggie broth and bok choy sauteed with leeks, but we were imagining more exciting ways to eat them.  Like in lettuce wraps with avocado.



So, without further ado (I'm proud of this one), here's the recipe!

16 oz ground turkey (or beef, or chicken)
4 whole green onions, coarsely chopped
1 medium carrot, grated
1 Tbs grated ginger
4 cloves of garlic, grated or crushed
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
handful or two of dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350°

Mash ground turkey in metal mixing bowl.  For a smoother consistency, put through food processor (I just mashed it up with my hands--or use a fork).

Stir in all other ingredients.  I sort of mashed them in with a fork.

Cover a baking sheet with tin foil.  Shape meat mixture into balls or patties of whatever size you want.  Whatever size and shape you choose, try to be consistent so that they all cook in the same amount of time.

Bake for about 15 minutes.  Time will vary depending on size.  Maybe check after 10 minutes.

Once the patties are cooked through, put in broiler for 2-4 minutes until browned on top.