Cooking with Flew: Italian Turkey Mini-Burgers.

These are something I came up with this past summer, but just managed to perfect. They're a fun and tasty meal for friends, especially to fortify your RPG group for a night of gaming. (This is my usual testing group for new dishes.) I use ground turkey because it has a lighter flavor than ground beef, and thus doesn't overshadow the herbs.

Your ingredients:

• Ground turkey. For a group of about five people, I made 24 burgers, so I used 2.5 pounds of it.


• Chopped fresh basil. The fresher the better! I didn't measure exactly, but I would say at least a good handful was used.


• Chopped fresh oregano. Again, freshest is bestest! I used the leaves off of several sprigs.


• Olive oil, preferably extra-virgin. You do have this, don't you?


• Garlic, minced. You can mince a clove or use the stuff in a jar, like I do. Don't use garlic powder or salt (I really don't see the purpose of those things). I used a tablespoon of it for 2.5 pounds of meat.


• Balsamic vinegar. The REAL stuff, Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale, if you can get it. It might be a bit pricey, but you don't need much. A little goes a long way with this stuff.


• One egg, large size.


• Some buns. For slider-sized burgers, I used cocktail buns. Dollar buns work great too.


• Some condiments. Condiments that I found worked well include dijon mustard, sweet and hot mustard, barbecue sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and even plain old ketchup. Feel free to experiment with this part.


• Optionally, other toppings. Italian four-cheese blend, for instance, is lovely on these burgers. So are sliced tomatoes, or little lettuce leaves (Romaine, please; Iceberg is just crunchy water).

Equipment needs are minimal: a knife to chop herbs, a clean surface to chop them on, a bowl to mix the meat, garlic, and herbs, and a skillet to pan fry the burger patties. If you want to separate out the meat into patties before you start to fry them, you can use a cookie sheet for this.

So, start by chopping up the herbs. Then, mix them and the garlic into the ground turkey in your bowl. Get it all mixed up nicely, and then shake on some balsamic vinegar. Don't overdo it! Several shakes is good, but don't pour out half the bottle, it's strong stuff. Mix that in well, and let it sit for about ten minutes to soak through.

Then, mix in the egg, yolk and white both. Get it mixed well so that the egg isn't really noticeable in the meat anymore. This will help bind the patties together; turkey being on the lean side, there's not enough fat to keep them from crumbling into bits otherwise. Don't worry about it affecting the taste, there isn't enough egg present in the meat to be noticeable.

So, once you've got everything mixed, get your pan heated up, and put in some olive oil. I used a decent amount, several tablespoons worth, on the pan. Then, get your patties into the skillet and start frying them. They generally take about five minutes to grill through; give them a flip halfway through to get both sides. Don't worry if they break apart sometimes, that's just going to happen. For slider-sized burgers, the patties should be about two inches in diameter, or so.

PROTIP: Ventilate! The balsamic vinegar will smoke a bit, and if you aren't in a ventilated area, you may set off your smoke detectors.

Anyway, once the burgers are done, they're practically self-serve. Get out the buns, the condiments, toppings, and so on, and have at it! If you're topping with veggies, you hardly need a side. Drinks? Oh, I suppose lemonade is always good. Or soda. You COULD try wine, if you're really feeling hoity-toity, but I don't partake.

That's it for this edition of Cooking With Flew, where our motto is: Less time cooking, means more time eating!