Oh the feeling of visiting another food blog, only to discover you’ve begun to salivate uncontrollably over the recipe you’ve found there. You’ve discovered the perfect meal idea sitting right there in front of you, with photos and all. You just have to make this as soon as possible.

That’s what happened to me the other day when I popped in to Simply Recipes, culinary home of the lovely and talented Elise Bauer. If you haven’t checked out her site, please do. She’s not only one of the nicest food bloggers out there, she’s also very likely one of the most influential, and with good reason.

The inspiration for this dish came from her recipe for Spicy Grilled Turkey Burger with Coleslaw which had me on the edge of my seat the moment I saw it, and well, I just had to make something like it!

(Note Elise’s Photos are much prettier than mine, and I apologize for that, but there aren’t too many flat surfaces in our new house yet, and I’m forced to use the counters in the kitchen, where not only is the lighting not that great, but there really isn’t any contrast to anything… That will get better as we get settled in.)

Of course, I couldn’t follow exactly in her footsteps. My wife makes ground turkey patties fairly often, and I love them so much that I decided to mix the two concepts for a variation of my own, which would have been perfect, I think, except that a few of the ingredients I was just sure I had already moved to the new house either:

1. Weren’t here…
2. Were no longer viable sources of nourishment. (i.e., they’d gone bad on me while I wasn’t looking. Traitors!)

In the end, however, what I ended up with was not only wonderful, but wonderfully simple, and took less than an hour total for all prep, including a prerequisite rest in the chill-chest for the patties themselves and heating the grill, which of course is not gas, because I think if I’m going to grill, beer and fire are required in the process. (Besides, you can’t Barbecue on a GAS GRILL… If you’ve tried, you know what I mean… blech!)

Sorta-Spicy Tur-chicken Burgers with Iceberg Slaw Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Additional Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

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Ingredients

• 1 1.2 lb package spicy turkey sausage (I believe this was Hormel and that it was Italian Sausage)
• 1 lb ground chicken
• 1/2 package button mushrooms, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• Approx 2/3 cup grated Mozzarella
• 2 tbsp. mayonnaise
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or sweet butter.
• 4 buns-of-your-choosing. (You’ll note that my burgers are far larger than the bun. this is because I generally use kaiser rolls, and I’m used to making patties of an appropriate size for them.)

Instructions

Burgers:

1. Sauté mushrooms over medium heat in either olive oil or butter until well browned. (Do not add salt, or the mushrooms will never brown properly.) Set aside to cool.
2. Remove turkey sausage from casing and place in large mixing bowl. Add chicken, onions, cooled mushrooms, salt and pepper. Combine all ingredients then add cheese a bit at a time until mixture has the consistency of chilled ground beef. (Should be just a bit stiff.)
3. Form into patties and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
4. Cook over medium coals or in grill pan over medium high heat approximately 7 minutes per side or until internal temperature reaches 165°F. remove from heat and let rest at least 5 minutes before serving.

Iceberg Slaw:

1. Place roughly 1/4 head of shredded iceberg lettuce in a large mixing bowl. Add mayonnaise, a pinch of salt and a few turns pepper. Combine well and serve immediately. (Iceberg lettuce will start exuding a lot of moisture the moment the salt hits it.)

Plating:

1. Place patty on bun (toasted or not, it’s your choice.), top with 2 tbsp slaw, slap on the top-o-the bun and serve with plenty of napkins.
2. Enjoy!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1022Total Fat: 59gSaturated Fat: 16gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 35gCholesterol: 376mgSodium: 2220mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 1gSugar: 4gProtein: 95g

What I would have done differently had I thought of it at the time:

The reason that these ended up being “Sorta-Spicy” is that the original plan was to make an arugula and iceberg slaw as topping, so the chicken was added to the hot Italian turkey sausage to tone down the heat in it. unfortunately, the arugula went south on me overnight, leaving me to use just iceberg lettuce. The result was still very good, and the advantage to using iceberg lettuce over a drier leafy green is that it exudes so much moisture that there is no need for additional condiments at all. the burgers were extremely moist from the slaw, the onions and the cheese that was mixed in.

On a scale of one to ten, I’d give this an eight, though it would have made ten easily if my greens hadn’t turned traitor on me. this is well worth a try for anyone who would love a burger with a bit less fat, but all the flavor your could ever want.