"Spicy" Turkey Burgers with Guacamole

Now's the time to proclaim my absolute love for Mexican food and flavors. If pressed to choose my favorite food, it'd probably be tacos. Maybe because the flavor combination possibilities are endless, or maybe just because they often combine some of my favorite tastes: corn tortillas, fresh chopped vegetables, chihuahua cheese or queso fresco and perfectly cooked and marinated meat (carnitas, please!). But the icing on the proverbial cake? Guacamole.

I have to admit, my love affair with guacamole only began a few years ago, when I tried some that my friend Brittney's mom made one night. I didn't like avocados, or at least I didn't think I did Boy, was I wrong. Since then, I've enjoyed probably gallons of guacamole over time. This is just my basic, go-to guacamole recipe. Just about any of it can be adjusted to your preferences, but the core parts are there for you to shape into your own mix. You could even keep is extremely simple with just avocados, lime juice and salt. I love it as a dip and on burgers or other sandwiches. Or both. Just sayin'.

My experience with turkey burgers is fairly limited – I've tried them once or twice at restaurants and made them once, to pretty underwhelming results. Generally, my reservation with cooking with ground turkey is that it's pretty easy to overcook to supreme dryness. But, I decided to give another turkey burger recipe a try as another step in my foray into cooking healthier (which is going alright so far... healthy "macaroni and cheese" was pretty tasty!). But something about this recipe just worked – I'll give credit for the moisture of the burgers to the salsa, oil and bread crumbs. Feel free to up the spicy ante in this recipe, as I didn't really notice much heat.

That icing on the cake has now become the guacamole on the burger. If you have a favorite way to make or combination for guacamole, let me know in the comments!

Turkey burger recipe adapted from Epicurious.com.

Makes 4 burgers.

Ingredients

Guacamole

1 small onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, minced (add another jalapeno or a serrano pepper for more heat)

1-2 chopped roma tomatoes

1/4 chopped fresh cilantro

2 ripe avocados

Juice of 1 lime

Salt, to taste

Turkey Burgers

1 pound lean ground turkey

1/3 cup salsa

1/2 cup finely chopped shallots

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon adobo sauce (or any hot sauce will do)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 cup panko or unseasoned bread crumbs  

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Whole wheat buns, toasted

Cheese slices (optional – I used monterey jack)

Preparation

Guacamole

1. Mix onion, garlic, jalapeno, tomatoes and cilantro in a small bowl.

2. Cut each avocado in half and remove the pits by carefully pushing the butt of your knife into the pit and turning. Slice the avocado flesh almost to the skin and spoon pieces out into bowl with vegetables.

3. Add about half the lime juice, mash the ingredients to your desired consistency and add salt and more lime juice to taste.

4. Let refrigerate as long as you can stand it before diving in (up to an hour or not at all).

Turkey Burgers

1. Mix ground turkey, salsa, shallots, cilantro, 2 tablespoons oil, adobo sauce, cumin, bread crumbs, salt and pepper in large bowl. Shape turkey mixture into four patties.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil (or slightly less) in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add burgers; cook until brown, 3-4 minutes per side. Reduce heat to low. Sauté until burgers are cooked through, 4-5 minutes, turning occasionally. After last turn, add cheese and cover for remaining time to let the cheese melt.

3. Let burgers rest for a couple minutes, then serve on toasted buns and topped with guacamole.