P Double B Turkey Burgers

Burgers, burgers, burgers.  I am sure that my boys would eat burgers, burgers, burgers a few times a week!  Don't get me wrong, I too love a good burger, but not all.the.time.  I like variety!  After all, it's the spice of life, isn't it? ;-) 

With the frequency of grilling slowing down now that the weather is changing, I thought it timely to try a little variation on our usual burger.  And, since it's Thanksgiving (Canadian), I figured also a good time to try a little turkey, maybe inspire some folks to try somthing a little different!

This time I came up with what we've called the "P Double B Turkey Burger"...read on to see what the P and B's are!

1 lb ground turkey
1/3 cup panko/dried bread crumbs
1 egg
1/4 cup basil (fresh) - chopped
3 slices bacon, cooked (crispy)
1/3 cup parmesan cheese (fresh, grated)
Pepper - to taste

Cook your bacon, remove from pan, pat with paper towel and allow to cool.

In a large bowl, mix the turkey, panko, egg, basil, parmesan and pepper.  Use your hands, get in there and mix it good!  Crumble the bacon and mix into the turkey mixture.  Form patties. 

Preheat your grill.  When you are ready to put your patties on the grill, be sure to oil them with a little olive oil (on each side).  Grill, and serve!

VERDICT:
These were a nice change from beef!  I am a beef fan, but every once in a while it's nice to shake things up.  We could really taste all the flavours - the parmesan, the basil, and of course, the bacon! (P...double B). 

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Pesto

Would you believe that I have never made pesto before?  It always sounded so "foreign" to me...just the name sounded complicated.  Boy was I WRONG!

I had an abundance of basil this year (we love our basil!) and I wasn't sure what to do with it.  I do have plans to freeze some for winter use, but I wanted to use up some of the fresh basil too.  Enter the idea of pesto.  Pulled out some cookbooks just to read what goes into a basic pesto, and came up with my own variation.  Simple, basic.  Some of the recipes called for pine nuts, but with a nut allergy in the house and a baby who hasn't been exposed to many nuts, I opted to leave those out.  And especially since I fed my allergic husband alder smoked salmon and apparently he is allergic to alder...I'm on heightened awareness.  Yikes...bad wife.  Though in my defense, I didn't know about alder trees, I only knew about birch trees!

Onto the pesto...

2 cups basil

1/4 cup parsley
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, fresh & grated
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil

In your handy-dandy food processor, throw in your basil and parsley.  Chop away!  Crush your garlic and add it to the processor.  Add in the cheese.  In a measuring cup, measure out your olive oil and lemon juice, stir to mix, and slowly add to the processing basil/parsley/garlic/parmesan, until a nice "paste" forms.

Just like that...easy.  it takes longer to wash the food processor than to actually make the pesto!

VERDICT:
Easy and tasty!  If I knew then what I know now...we would have been making pesto for ages!  So good!  And I'm already thinking about what kinds of variations I could try! And what a beautiful, fresh looking green!  Not bad for an unedited iPhone picture!

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