I've been rediscovering my
Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats cookbook and quite a few of the burger recipes have been jumping out at me now that it's grilling weather. When I put burgers on the menu, it's usually just a plain old ground beef burger. And while I have to admit that I like the ease and simplicity of just throwing a plain old burger on the grill, burgers can be so much more than that!
I had a hard time deciding which one to try first, but settled on the Chicken or Turkey Spanakopita Burgers. These are not made with ground beef, but rather ground chicken or turkey (we used turkey). In with the ground turkey goes onions, garlic, seasonings, feta cheese and spinach. I love feta and spinach together!
Unlike turkey burgers we've had in the past, these were quite moist (and that's even with me forgetting the olive oil drizzle). The feta cheese flavor did not come through as much as I would have liked, but perhaps the brand of cheese I chose is the culprit there because there seemed to be plenty of nice feta chunks in the mixture. We were a bit afraid that the burgers would be fragile, so we cooked them on a grill pan - chilling the burgers first also seemed to help keep them together. If the burgers themselves weren't interesting and flavorful enough, Rachael suggests several topping as well: sliced cucumber, sliced tomato, grilled onions, a roasted red pepper spread and pepperoncinis. We skipped the cucumber and tomato and I inadvertently forgot the pepperoncinis, but the burgers still had plenty of flavor. Interestingly, there is
a slightly different version of these burgers on her website that calls for a yogurt sauce - I'm not a big fan of yogurt, so I'm not sure I would have made this anyway.
Everyone very much enjoyed these kicked-up burgers and happily, the mixture made enough for me to have 4 burgers leftover (it made 10 burgers in all) to stick in the freezer (I used 2 pounds of ground turkey and upped everything except the spinach). I look forward to trying the buffalo chicken burgers next.......yum!
Lastly, a picture somewhat close to what I tried to get, but couldn't make work:
(Photo from RachaelRayMag.com)
Alysha - these look so good! Thanks for inspiring me. I had no idea what to make for dinner before checking out your blog. :)
ReplyDeleteLauren
Hi Lauren. Glad I could help with your dinner plans. :) Hope you like them!
ReplyDeleteI love spanakopita, I think I am going to have to give these a try. They look great.
ReplyDeleteMmm, love these burgers. Loved your colorful pictures!
ReplyDeleteLeora - I think I love anything with spinach and feta!
ReplyDeleteCate - Thanks!
This look amazingly good! I am saving the recipe to make during the summer when my family comes to visit. Burgers are always easy to make for lots of people and these I am sure are going to be a hit!
ReplyDeleteAna
Ana - That's a great idea to do fancy burgers for a crowd. I wish I tried something like that for one of our annual BBQs we used to do in Indiana. It would be fun to several different gourmet kinds but have plain ones for the picky eaters too.
ReplyDeleteAlysha,
ReplyDeleteI was looking for new recipes with Greek flavors to try this weekend and this one worked out perfectly! DBF and I both loved them. Thanks!
Liz
Liz - Glad you both enjoyed them. :)
ReplyDeleteWow. These were SO GOOD. My boyfriend was reluctant (he's a traditional cookout man) but he liked them so much (and they're cheaper than beef burgers) that we made them twice last week (the second time, he suggested mixing the olives in with the turkey, which was delicious!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - Mmmm...olives sound like a tasty addition!
ReplyDeleteWe just cooked this as part of our year-long project to cook our way through the entire 365: No Repeats recipe book. I think we may have suffered at the hands of a poor-grade feta because the burgers seemed a little dull. Such a shame because your photo looks yummy.
ReplyDeleteoneyearproject - I actually thought the feta fell flat too. I didn't write about it because I attributed it to the feta I bought as well - I've tasted that feta plain since then and even then it was not very falvorful. Worth another try with a different brand of feta......
ReplyDelete