Stuffed Turkey Burgers

Turkey burgers stuffed with pepper jack cheese and flavored up with Pat Neely’s special selection of seasonings makes for a quick and somewhat healthy dinner from the grill.

You know the saying – “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” Well, fool me a third time – it’s my damned fault – I should have learned my lesson. What was I thinking?

In the past week I have prepared 3 recipes from the Neely’s on Foodnetwork.com and for all 3 my taste buds have been left saddened by the lack of flavor, zest or zing. I am not a fan of the Neely’s on TV because it’s just too much mushy love for me. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy for anyone who is that in love, but it just seems a bit much on the show.

I should have known when the chili was a disappointment and the biscuits were flavorless to stop there. I went back for a third recipe though, mainly because turkey burgers fit the search criteria for the ingredients I had on hand, and once again, was left with a flavorless supper.

Ground turkey is a relatively new thing in my kitchen anyway, but making turkey burgers with flavor shouldn’t be that complicated – especially if they’re stuffed with cheese.  Yes, you could taste the cheese – and that was about it.

Stuffed Turkey Burgers

from “Pat’s Stuffed Turkey Burgers” on Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 Vidalia onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 slices pepper jack cheese, cut from an 8-ounce block
• 1 beefsteak tomato, sliced into 3/4-inch thick rounds
• Olive oil

Directions

Preheat grill over medium-high heat.

Add the garlic, onion, turkey, mustard, soy sauce, and salt and pepper, to taste, to a large mixing bowl. Mix well with a wooden spoon. Divide the turkey into 8 equal-sized balls and flatten them into patties. Lay 2 slices of cheese on 4 of the patties and cover each with another patty. Pinch the edges to seal the patties closed, so the cheese will not melt out.

*Cook’s Note: With your finger, press down on the center of the patty. This will keep the juices locked in and prevents the burger from puffing up.

Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper, to taste, and brush with olive oil. Grill for 2 minutes per side. Remove from the grill to a plate. Toast the buns on the grill and set aside.

Grill the burgers until cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes per side. Transfer the burgers to the buns and top with Spicy Mayo Sauce, lettuce and grilled tomatoes.

Summer has come in full swing in these parts and it has been brutally hot and humid. We have had several short wicked storms that resulted in lots of power outages and downed trees throughout the week. One of my friends even said there was a tornado where he lives in PA. It would not surprise me with as quick and violent as these storms have been. And to top it all of my trusty laptop got caught with an annoying virus. No damage to the computer, just 48 hours of fun. Lucky for me I got friends for these kinda things. 😀

So that was my week in a wrap up, how was yours?