Turkey Burgers and Oven Fries

My husband and I really liked these. My 4 year old took about 5 bites before he decided that he didn't like it. Oh well. My 1 year old didn't even get that far because he was enchanted by the fries, cherry tomatoes, and pickle. Once again, Oh well...

Adapted from a Sonoma Diet Cookbook recipe, the Turkey Burgers were delicious. The oven fries are my very own invention...technique is really key here. As a sidenote, you can use ground Chicken if you prefer.

Grilled Mushroom Turkey Burgers with Oven "Fries" or "Chips" - depending on which side of the pond you are on.

Here is how it all went down:

Place a large pot of salted water on high heat to bring to a boil. Meanwhile, preheat oven to:

Cut up potatoes like this
and place them into the pot of boiling water
Let them boil for 10 minutes - no longer!

Into a medium bowl, add 1/2 C finely chopped Mushrooms
Add 1/2 C Salsa,
1 T Chopped Garlic,
1 T Italian Seasoning,
1/4 t Kosher Salt,
and 1/4 t Ground Black Pepper
Those potatoes were done for me SO, I drained them immediately into a colander and rinsed them under cold water like this:
Then I turned them out onto a towel* and patted them dry (well, as dry as I could)
I turned them onto a jelly roll pan (you can use a cookie sheet) that was greased with Olive Oil. placed them into the preheated oven and set the timer for:
Back to the burgers...
Add the turkey to the salsa and mushroom mixture, stir to combine (you can use your hands since you will ultimately have to do so to shape the patties)

Shape the patties and place them onto a hot griddle, grill pan, outdoor grill, Foreman Grill, fire pit...you get the picture. When they start to brown around the sides and onto the top, it is time to turn them over. This process takes only 3 or 4 minutes depending on the thickness of your burgers.
After 15 minutes, turn the broiler on high and place the fries in the center of the oven. It will only take a couple of minutes at this point so don't forget about them. The bottoms will brown from the hot pan and the tops will brown from the broiler.

While they are still piping hot, toss them around the pan with some salt. Voila! Serve them up with malt vinegar and ketchup.
I apologize for not taking a final plate shot. The kids were starving and I had their plates all ready, hubby was washing hands and we were all ready to eat...make your own and you will know how they look :)

We topped ours with cheese, a little mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and baby spinach. You can also add more salsa to the top if you like!

*You will notice that I use cloth towels to drain things on - even fried food and bacon. I don't use paper towels in my house at all so we go through a lot of cloth in our house.