Turkey Burgers with garlic scape pesto mayonnaise

Garlic scapes-- the spiraling green sprouts of spring garlic-- have arrived at many farmers markets. In an effort of eating less red meat, we put our scapes to work with this delicious turkey burger stuffed with balsamic caramelized onions and dried apricots. Read on about our "health" efforts, or scroll down for the recipe.

It may surprise you to hear this, but John and I are working on this thing called "being healthy."

Yes, this blog actually has the word "garden" in it (which seemingly implies health), and we do eat a lot of farm fresh fruits and vegetables, but we certainly don't shy away from eating fattening foods.

The thing is, I rather enjoy fat. I'm not against eating red meat, pork, or any handful of desserts. In fact, I full heartedly relish all of the above.

But, there's a catch. The first part is that most Americans eat much more red meat and pork than they should. And we all (should) know that eating it more than once or twice a week is not good for your health.

The bigger issue for me, however, is one of sustainability and ethics. While I do firmly believe that humans are meant to eat some meat, I cannot bring myself to buy meat that has been factory farmed. That is, I can't bring myself to buy meat from any major supermarket or large provider. For starters, the treatment of animals on factory farms is inhumane and unethical. It's also bad for the environment, as their waste and disease runs off into our water supply and pollutes the air. And finally, meat that is raised in these conditions simply isn't good for you. It may be cheap to buy, but the lower price tag is not worth the damage done to the animals and our environment. 

So, where to buy sustainable, farm raised, and preferably grass fed meat? Many farmers markets carry it, and my local Whole Foods has also started carrying local Virginia beef and grass-fed beef from Georgia. Of course, farmers markets and Whole Foods are both more expensive than what is sold at mainstream grocery stores.

Our solution? Eat less meat.

It's a win-win solution. It's better for us. It's better for the environment. We spend less money.  And finally, we are financially supporting sustainable and local sources of meat. In other words, we're voting with our wallets.

It began as a plan to consume red meat or pork only once a week. Likewise, we planned to eat fish at least once a week (check out this list of sustainable fish). I added a vegetarian night once a week, which is somewhat less popular with my spouse. All other nights are another source of protein, such as chicken or turkey. 

Surprisingly, although I was the family member who came up with this idea, John has become an avid supporter. 

After a hamburger cookout with friends last weekend, we had a lot of leftover ground beef. When I suggested spaghetti and meatballs for dinner the following evening, I was rudely reminded that we would have to wait until the next week since our weekly red meat ration had been met. The ground beef went into the freezer.

But what to do with all those hamburger buns?

Turkey burgers to the rescue.

And in case you were waiting for some refreshing photos amidst this diatribe of meat eating philosophy. . . here was the inspiration for our turkey burger condiment:

That's right! Garlic scapes have arrived at market. If you haven't tried them, I recommend you snatch up any you find since they won't be around very long. The curvy and tender garlic stalks taste of mild garlic. They're wonderful used as a simple pesto-- simply process them with olive oil and parmesan. They also work well stir fried with fresh market vegetables or added into most anything you'd add garlic to.

The inspiration for the rest of the turkey burger came from some ingredients I had hanging out in my pantry, as well as a meatball recipe from Chocolate and Zucchini.

I used a combination of white and dark turkey meat, onions (slowly caramelized in olive oil and balsamic vinegar), toasted pine nuts, small bits of dried apricots, some roasted garlic, and freshly ground coriander seeds. To slather on the buns, I simply mixed some mayonnaise, a few teaspoons of pesto stored in my fridge, and some freshly minced garlic scapes.

Although John had his doubts on the merits of a turkey burger, he devoured this quickly enough to convince me it was good.

Turkey Burgers with garlic scape pesto mayonnaise (Makes 4 large burgers)

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For the burgers

• 1/2 lb white ground turkey meat
• 1/2 lb dark ground turkey meat 
• 1/4 cup dried apricots, diced
• 1/2 onion, sliced to 1/4 inch thickness
• 1 TB balsamic 
• 1 TB extra virgin olive oil 
• 1/2 tsp butter 
• 1/4 cup pine nuts (toasted, if desired)
• 2 cloves garlic, roasted
• 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp oregano

For the garlic scape mayonnaise

• 1/4 cup garlic scapes, finely diced
• 2 tsp basil pesto
• 1 tsp EVOO
• 1/4 Cup mayonnaise (+ more to taste)
• dash of freshly cracked black pepper

Making the burgers

I'll admit, there are several ingredients going into these turkey burgers. To make it easier, I set up an assembly line, and got everything going at once.

Begin with making the caramelized onions, since they will take the longest (but require little attention once cooking). Heat one tablespoon of oil in a medium saute pan. In the meantime, slice half of an onion (about 1/4 inch thickness). Add a little bit of butter to the saute pan (until it sizzles), and then add the onion. Add 1 tablespoon of balsamic, and stir. Allow these to cook away at medium-low heat while you work on the rest of the ingredients.

Place two garlic cloves (skins on) in a small pan on high heat. Allow them to roast in the pan until the skins have blackened.

While the garlic and onions are heating up, dice the dried apricots.

Mix together the dark and light turkey meat, then add the dried apricots, pine nuts, coriander, salt, pepper, and oregano.

Here you can see my assembly line from bottom to top: meat and spice mixture, diced apricots, caramelizing onions, and roasting garlic.

Add the caramelized onions and roasted garlic to the meat mixture, form into patties, and prepare.

Make the garlic scape mayonnaise

Combine all the ingredients for the garlic scape mayonnaise. If you don't have prepared pesto on hand (in other words, if you don't freeze large batches every summer like I do), you could simply mix the mayonnaise with garlic scapes, a little fresh basil, and some lemon juice to taste. Or, if you can't find garlic scapes, roast an extra couple cloves of garlic (from the meat mixture) and add that to the mayonnaise.

Putting it all together

Assemble the burgers onto buns slathered with garlic scape mayonnaise. If desired, add a little lettuce, or some oven roasted tomatoes. 

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In the end, I'm not sure that adding caramelized onions to the turkey mixture and slathering the buns with garlic scape pesto mayonnaise really worked in favor of our health efforts.  But at least the idea of a turkey burger sounds somewhat healthy. 

Right?

For more information on meat production and sustainability, check out these links:

Sustainable Table: Animal Welfare

Sustainable Table: What is sustainable agriculture?

Sustainable Table: Sustainable vs. Industrial

And if you're lucky enough to be in a city playing the newly released documentary Food Inc., I highly recommend seeing it. For the DC area: check out the schedule at Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema and the E Street Cinema downtown.