Truly Tasty Turkey Burgers (a.k.a. Crabbie Patties)
Ingredients
2-3 lbs ground turkey
1/4 cup parsley (fresh or dried)
3-4 whole cloves of garlic
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp paprika
2 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 medium onion
Salt and Pepper to taste
(Fixings)
Hamburger Buns
Ketchup
Mustard
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Pickles
American Cheese
Onion
Whatever else you like on hamburgers
Do your kids baulk at eating new or different foods? Do they watch SpongeBob? If so, try these Crabbie Patties Turkey Burgers.
Directions
In a large bowl, put the parsley in the bottom of the bowl. If you are using dried parsley flakes, add the oil at this time to soften the parsley flakes.
Finely chop the onion and put into the bowl.
Press the garlic into the bowl with the onion and parsley and loosely mix.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and loosely mix.
Using your hands, mix in the ground turkey, folding the ingredients in the bowl into the turkey so that it is completely mixed through.
Oil a skillet and heat on a medium heat.
Take a handful of the turkey mixture from the bowl and form into a pattie. You can make your patties as big or little as you want.
Continue making patties until all the turkey is used up.
Add as many patties to the skillet as it can hold.
Allow to cook for a couple of minutes, then, using the back of a spatula, press down on the patties to release some of the moisture and to flatten the pattie.
Cook until browned. Turn over and press with the spatula again.
Cook until this side is also browned and the pattie is cooked totally through.
Remove the patties from the skillet and place on a serving plate.
Continue to cook until all the patties are done and on the serving plate.
Serve with the fixings and let your kids make their own.
Additional Notes
If your kids are like mine, they will occasionally whine and complain any time you want them to try something new. Even though you know that they will like what you are offering. It's natural. So what do you do? Do you let them refuse and give them something you know they like? No, you rename the food being offered, make up a story about what it is and offer it again. This time, because your kids' imaginations have been engaged, they try the new food and, surprise, surprise, they love it!! Kudos to you. So that is how this recipe came about. I wanted my kids to eat turkey burgers, but knew that they would go "Oooh yuck", so I told them they were Crabbie Patties. The green stuff was not "parsley", it was "seaweed". The meat wasn't ground up turkey, it was "crab meat". When asked how I got the recipe, since SpongeBob is notorious for not giving up the recipe, I told them that I knew the special password to get SpongeBob to release the recipe. But when asked what all the ingredients in the recipe were, said that I was sworn to secrecy and could not tell them. They laughed and asked for more. And since SpongeBob dresses a crabbie pattie just like a hamburger, you can serve it with the same favorite toppings as your kids like on their hamburgers. Anyway you spin it, your kids will want these Crabbie Patties as much as they want hamburgers.
If you have an aversion to putting your hands in raw meat, you can also put all the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Process the ingredients until all the onion is chopped up. If the meat is sticking to your hands while forming the patties, wet them with a little bit of water right before making the pattie. The meat won't stick as much. If you can't find pre-ground turkey, just get breast meat or thigh meat from your local grocery meat department. Then cut up the turkey meat and put all the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Good eating.
