Spicy Asian Salmon Burger w/ Avocado Yogurt Sauce

Lately, when I've been visiting my Mom we've been getting delicious pre-made salmon patties at Whole Foods.  But as you know, if you've been following me for any length of time, I LOVE my time in the "test kitchen" and I've been wanting to experiment with salmon patties for awhile.  Now, before I go on, let me give you the definition of my test kitchen.

Test Kitchen - noun - (/test/ /kitch-en/)
A place where I go when my 2 young sons are not beating one another up, screaming for food, water, help, or otherwise just consumed with doing something else besides being under my feet (ie. playing their Ipods, watching TV, chasing the cat, reading or quietly plotting together their next "adventure" which hopefully will not end up with stitches or a trip to the ER.)
How do I use in a sentence?  I go to my TEST KITCHEN when I want to get away from all of my responsibilities and make something really kick ass, clean, delicious and healthy.  AKA, my happy place......



OK, moving on.  So I brainstormed this recipe up yesterday, made a quick run to the grocery store for a couple of items and whipped this up for lunch today in the test kitchen.  I was very happy with the final product.  The sauce was an afterthought and I think that it just MADE the salmon burger!  It was like the "icing" on the fitness cake.  Better yet, there is enough leftover sauce for me to mix with some tuna this week for a healthy tuna fish salad that I'm already looking forward to eating with some gluten free whole grain toast.

As with all of my recipes, I tend to just kind of "dump" the ingredients in and am not big on measuring but I'm hoping that I've given you the appropriate measurements below.  Feel free to change as you see fit.  This is just a guideline for you.  Have some fun with it.

Spicy Asian Salmon Burger

Now I only bought 1/2 pound of salmon but I am giving you the recipe for an entire pound of salmon, which would be enough for 4 patties.  I only wanted to make 2 patties b/c I'm the only one in my house that will eat this.  I grilled up both patties, ate one today and will just heat up the other later this week. Always think AHEAD when making anything and try to make sure that you make enough for another serving.  Cook once, eat twice...that is my motto!

Ingredients:
1 lb. salmon - order a pound of salmon from your fish monger at the fish department of your local grocery store and just tell him what you want to do with it, and ask him to chop it up super nice and fine for you.  Make sure you ask him to take the skin off as well.  This will just save you an extra step at home and I'm sure he will be more than happy to do it for you!  I'm sure you could use canned salmon, however, that is not something that I typically buy so let me know if it turns out for ya. I'm sure it would be great!
1 tsp. low sodium soy sauce
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp onion powder
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp ground red cayenne pepper
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
good sprinkle of whole grain bread crumbs or panko crumbs - maybe 1/4 cup
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Mix the ground salmon with all ingredients listed above and shape into 4 patties.  Place some oil of your choice in a nonstick skillet (I used a couple teaspoons of sesame since that is what I put in the patties) and cook patties about 5 minutes each side on medium heat.

While the patties are cooking, make the sauce.  I love you sauce..............

Spicy Avocado Greek Yogurt Sauce

Ingredients:

1 avocado, mashed

1/4 cup plain 0% Greek yogurt

1 tsp cilantro cayenne mustard (this is a specialty mustard I found at Earth Fare, but regular mustard would be fine, at which point you could just add in a little cilantro and some extra cayenne pepper)

dash garlic powder

few dashes ground red cayenne pepper

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Put all the ingredients together in a small dish and mix up!  Serve the sauce with the salmon patties


I sauteed up some spinach with just a little bit of salt, pepper, ground red cayenne pepper and garlic powder and served the salmon patty on top of that with the sauce.  I hope you try it, and if you do, I hope that you enjoy it!!!

In Good Health,
Debbie