Mediterranean Turkey Burger with Zucchini Fritter and French Remoulade

Every summer that comes along I always get pressured to buy turkey burgers by the pound at least once a week from my wife, so I whipped up this Mediterranean Turkey Burger with Zucchini Fritter and French Remoulade.  She is literally obsessed with turkey burgers, as are my in-laws, so every time I make them they seem to make arrangements to come over :-); Needless-to-say, I live with Turketarains!  If you aren’t sure what that is, it’s someone who has taken the concept of eating turkey as much as possible to another level.  Now I’m not saying that it’s all we eat, but we love it.

Turkey burgers are such a great option when grilling for the family or for guests.  The Butterball® All Natural White Frozen Turkey Burgers are such a nice change to the normal everyday burgers.  I love the fact that they’re frozen and that there is never any pressure to have to cook them or else they go bad.  They are packaged up already portioned out and separated with parchment paper making them super easy to prepare and not-too-mention they are much healthier choice, which I’m always on the lookout for.  My 3 ½ year old is getting pickier by the second, believe me I know, and she eats these up in seconds!

While they are fantastic when simply grilled up and eaten plain on a bun, I love getting creative with turkey burgers.  I always feel that there are more possibilities because the flavor of turkey isn’t very forceful making it easy to enhance with other ingredients.  I obviously did this turkey burger up right by adding tons of awesome fresh vegetables, a killer sauce and one tasty fritter to top off with.

Because I got so creative, there are a few moving parts here so be sure to follow the video closely.  To start off though you can either brush the burgers with oil, season with salt and pepper, grill and keep warm, OR you can prep up everything else and cook the burgers last.  I can cut pretty fast so cooking the burgers at first is no problem for me, but you be sure to do what’s comfortable for you.

I have become more and more infatuated with middle-eastern, Mediterranean and Indian cuisines.  I admire their healthy approach married with bold flavors for an always exceptional experience.  I tried to head down that same path with this Mediterranean Turkey Burger with Zucchini Fritter and French Remoulade.  For the toppings I first started out with marinating some crumbled feta cheesed in some crushed red pepper flakes, fresh chopped basil, extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper.  This really brings forward a ton of flavor and adds an amazing silk cheese element to this burger.

Since every great burger comes with an insanely delicious sauce, I decided to whip up a classic that has some nice Indian flavors in it to help compliment everything else.  The sauce is called a French remoulade and it’s as easy as whisking together mayonnaise, yellow curry, grainy mustard, white wine vinegar and salt and pepper.  Honestly the burger would be extremely delicious if it was grilled and only served with this, but it’s even better with everything else on it.

Heading back to the middle east I put together what we would call an Israeli salad.  Think of an Italian salad, i.e. tomatoes, cucumbers and red onions, along with some bell peppers and tossed in fresh lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper.  To make it even cooler I finely diced everything to give it an almost relish feel, and for some reasons when traditional things are cut different it tastes better… Or I’m just weird, but either way it’s tasty!

Let’s talk about this fritter…  I’m not even lying when I tell you that this thing is insane and so ridiculously easy to make.  It’s literally only 4 ingredients plus salt and pepper.  This little zucchini and chickpea fritter is my little secret into getting my daughter to eat more vegetables and man did I succeed.  She loved’em and asked for seconds.  SCORE!!

Once everything is prepped up it’s time to assemble.  While the hot new bun the past few years has been a pretzel but, the latest craze this year is the brioche bun so you know I did on that!  Don’t forget greens on this burger, but don’t use a traditional green leaf or butter leaf lettuce, try using arugula and or kale.  I did both and was the flavor bold.

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Mediterranean Turkey Burger with Zucchini Fritter and French Remoulade

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Up your grilling game by making this ridiculously delicious Mediterranean Turkey Burger with Zucchini Fritter and French Remoulade!

Servings: 8

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients 

For the Turkey Burger:

• 8 Turkey Burgers
• 4 tablespoon of olive oil
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups of arugula leaves
• 2 cups of kale microgreens
• 8 to asted brioche buns

For the Feta:

• 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese
• ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

For the French Remoulade:

• 1 cup of mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon of yellow curry
• 1 heaping tablespoon of grainy mustard
• 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
• Kosher salt and cracked pepper to taste

For the Israeli Salad:

• 1 cup of finely minced tomatoes
• ½ cup of finely minced cucumbers
• ½ cup of finely minced red onion
• ½ cup of finely minced red bell pepper or yellow bell pepper or both
• juice of ½ lemon
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
• Kosher salt and cracked pepper to taste

For the Fritter:

• 1 finely grated zucchini, liquid squeezed out
• 1 15- ounce can of mashed chickpeas, drained
• ½ cup of flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons of ground cumin
• Kosher salt and cracked pepper to taste
• canola oil for frying

Instructions

• For the Burgers: brush each turkey burger with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook on a hot grill (450° to 550°) for 4 to 6 minutes on each side or until dark grill marks are formed and it is cooked through out. Keep warm.
• Remoulade: Whisk all ingredients together in a medium size bowl until combined and keep cool.
• Israeli Salad: Whisk all ingredients together in a medium size bowl until combined and keep cool.
• Fritter: Mix together all ingredients in a large bowl until completely combined and form 8 thin patties.
• Fry the patties in a large saute pan in canola over medium heat until golden brown on each side, about 6-8 total minutes. Drain on a paper towel after.
• To Serve: Spread some French remoulade on the bottom of a toasted brioche bun. Next, place on the grilled turkey burger and top off with arugula and some marinated feta. Then place on the fritter followed up by placing on some of the Israeli salad and finish with the kale microgreens and the top toasted brioche bun.

Nutrition

Calories: 1110kcalCarbohydrates: 65gProtein: 48gFat: 72gSaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 280mgSodium: 920mgPotassium: 382mgFiber: 6gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 1554IUVitamin C: 29mgCalcium: 221mgIron: 5mg

Course: dinner, lunch, Main

Cuisine: American, Mediterranean

Author: Chef Billy Parisi