Turkey Burgers with Apricot Glaze

Another quickie dinner for the Eisenbergs, I'm afraid. Nobody here but us chickens, too hot, too busy to do much else.  For those of you who didn't catch the previous post, the fabulous plate that the dinner is on is a disposable, compostable plate  made from palm leaves that have dropped, been cleaned and pressed into plates.  They look like wood and are strong like styrofoam.  I'm in love with them!  You can check them out at Marx Palm Leaf Plates.  I have some other photos of the plates that I'll put at the end of the post.

With only two people at home now we have a lot of leftovers and I hate to throw them away.  I had pulled a recipe out of a magazine that called for turkey burgers with a currant glaze, but I had some wonderful apricot glaze leftover, along with the mustard dressing that I had made for the Red Rice and Sausage dish previous post), and then there were peaches... What can I say - it's peach season in North Carolina and I can't resist them when I head to the farmers' market.  Apricot glaze and peach - YES!  Needless to say I had to revamp the recipe to suit my pantry and the season.

Here's the burger recipe:

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

1-1/3 pounds ground turkey (not breast)

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons mild flavored oil (light olive or canola)

1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/2 cup Good Food Apricot Spice Barbecue Glaze ( if you make your own, include fresh ginger), more to serve at the table

1/2 citrus fruit - tangerine, lemon or orange

2 ripe peaches

Whole grain buns

I have some very fragrant lemon-thyme growing at my house, which I knew would be perfect with the apricot/ginger sauce and peaches.  When using fresh herbs you don't want to use the tough stems, so slide the leaves off against the direction in which they are growing.  Fresh herbs can be hard to chop when they are wet, so I usually chop them dry, and then wash them.   A tea holder is a great tool for this.  If I had one of those individual ball holders I would use that, but since I didn't, I used this individual mesh tea holder, and it worked just fine.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the meat, chopped thyme, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and salt. You can see how nice and pink the meat is - if it's brown at all, it means that it's been exposed to the air and wasn't stored properly. I like to mix it all up with my hands, using a light touch to combine everything together.

Divide the mixture into 5 patties, each about 1/2-inch thick.  They will look quite large, and maybe a little thinner than you'd like them, but when they cook they tend to draw up, and will be thicker and smaller after they've cooked.

(I actually had more than 1-1/3 lbs, which is why there is a small blob in the middle- for our dog, Molly!)

Spray a cast iron skillet with some cooking spray and turn the heat on high.  When the pan is very not - just before smoking, add the burgers.  Let the burgers cook for about 3 minutes, turning down the heat just slightly if they appear to be overbrowning.  Flip the burgers over and let them cook another 3 minutes. Place half of the glaze in a small bowl.  Brush the burgers with the glaze.  Partially cover the pan, reduce the heat to low to medium (depending on your stove - you don't need the burgers to brown anymore, but you do need to get the centers cooked). 

 Let the burgers cook another 2 minutes, and then  flip them over again,brush with the glaze and let them cook for 1 more minute.  The interior temperature should be about 165 degrees.  They will continue to cook after you remove them from the pan and while you brown up the peaches.

While the burgers are cooking, slice the peaches in half to remove the stone.  Slice each peach half into 5ths, and squeeze the juice over the slices, and then dab on some of the apricot glaze. 

These are freestones, so the pit comes right out of them.  If you don't get freestones, you will have to cut the peach off of the pit - it doesn't look as pretty but tastes good just the same!

When the burgers come out of the pan, turn up the heat to medium-high, add the peaches and cook them until they are browned.

Serve the burgers on toasted buns with some of the reserved apricot glaze and grilled peaches.  If you want to make your own apricot glaze, puree canned apricots with some fresh ginger, lemon, tamarind, salt and mustard.

Have any of the Lowfat Mustard Sauce left from the previous recipe?  Here's another dressing you can make from yesterdays:

2 tablespoons of Lowfat Dijon Mustard Salad Dressing

2 tablespoons nonfat Greek yogurt (I use Oikos)

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon water, or more to taste

Mix everything up with enough water to make it the texture you like.  Use 1-1/2 teaspoons per person on mixed greens (1 to 1-1/2 handfuls per person).

Here's another view of the plates: