Garden burgers for the carnivores

These burgers are sensational if I don't say so myself. They don't taste healthy but they are. In fact, I may never make a regular hamburger again!

Carnivores' Garden Burgers

1 lb lean hamburger (I use 80/20. Any leaner and the burgers tend to fall apart.)
1 lb ground turkey breast

3 cups shredded mixed veggies (see note below)

1 Tb mini capers (optional but yummy!)

1 large spear of fresh rosemary with the leaves stripped off the stalk and chopped roughly

1.) The most important part of the mix is the vegetables but there's lots of room to play. For my three cups of veggies I used a mix of shredded yellow onion, carrot straws, finely diced red peppers and chopped baby portabella mushrooms. The mushrooms were key I think to keeping the mix moist.

 

2.) Use a Tb or so of olive oil or canola oil to saute the vegetables or place a Tb of water in the pan and put a tightly fitting lid on and steam the veggies until they're tender. The three cups will cook down to about a cup and a quarter. Set aside to cool.

3.) Meanwhile, place the hamburger and ground turkey in a bowl and mix together with your hands or a spoon.

 4.) When the veggies are cooled, press them down with a fork and drain off any excess moisture. Add to the hamburger mix with the fresh rosemary and capers. The capers will help season the meat but you can sprinkle a little salt and pepper in too.

 5.) You should have enough mix to form 8 decent sized patties. Scoop out a medium handful of the mixture and form it into a ball. Press the ball between your palms until it flattens. Press your thumbs into the middle gently so that the burger is thicker on the outside than on the inside. Rachel Ray swears this makes the burger cook more evenly. It seems to work! :-)

 6.) At this point I pan-fried two little burgers for the boys and a large burger for myself to make sure I got the seasoning right and that it would hold together. It worked beautifully. These are those sandwich thins you can get at the store now. The bread is a bit skimpy for a burger I think but they are a lot healthier for you.

5.) Once I was sure I liked the mix I shaped the rest into patties and stacked them up like so, with parchment paper, and stuck them in the freezer. The next morning I bagged them up. Now I cook them on the hot grill straight from the freezer and they hold together even better. No need for extra calories like egg or breadcrumbs to bind it all together. The veggies and rosemary worked like a charm and added fantastic flavor.