Father Knows (the) Best (Burgers)

On Father's Day, we had a sumptuous lunch at Bistro Liaison in Berkeley, compliments of My Beloved's two daughters.  They also showered him with a funny greeting card, a new aloha shirt, and a pair of jams with fish swimming over them for our upcoming Hawaiian vacation, so he was feeling very loved and appreciated by the time dinner rolled around. 

I, too, like to spoil him just a little on days like this - after all, he is Cora's "father," in a way. But, having had such a big lunch, it didn't seem like a good idea to overeat twice in the same day, so I decided to make turkey burgers for dinner, without the bun.

Had I said to him "turkey burgers" before serving them, I'd have gotten a less-than-enthusiastic little moue of disappointment - he's more of a red meat kind of guy. But, I waited until he had taken his first bite to tell him, and he was agreeably surprised. These, to him, constituted a celebration dinner.

The secret is incorporating a rasher of crisped, chopped bacon and a mince of sautéed mushrooms into the half pound of ground turkey, forming patties, and frying them on low-medium heat just until the meat lost its pink, perhaps 8-10 minutes in all. When they came out of the pan, I added a tablespoon or two of water to swirl around in the pan, gathering the residual flavors into a sort of "au jus" that I poured over the burgers to add a little more moisture.

The burgers were juicy and rich tasting with only a minor amount of bacon in each one - he was actually surprised when I told him they were turkey burgers. A little steamed broccoli finished the plate and fulfilled my mother's stricture always to have something green.

Not only did My Beloved have a happy Father's Day dinner, his girl Cora loved the jus left on the plates.