The thought of summer always brings a smile to my face, with memories of hot long summer days spent lounging a cold and fruity drink in my hand. With summer comes along the 4th of July, pool parties, park parties and barbecues filled with some of my favorite things - warmth, cold fruity drinks, delicious food, cool and tasty treats. This year we started our summer in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. It was a wonderful trip! Mont Tremblant is best known for it's wonderful skii resorts, but in the summer when all the snow is melted beautiful green forests, crisp blue lakes and gentle meandering rivers are revealed. The icing on the cake was discovering that Mont Tremblant is a culinary gem with many great restaurants serving French, Quebecois, Italian and Mediterranean cuisine made from fresh local ingredients. This summer I will be sharing some delicious recipes with you inspired by the 4th of July. Today I will share my recipe for Salmon Burgers with a Blue Cheese Sauce and Caramelized Onions. Join me in June, July and August for a summelicious culinary journey around the World!!!
Salmon burgers
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Ingredients (serves 4)
0.5lb /8oz/450g salmon
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg, beaten
¼ small onion, diced
¼ teaspoon allspice, ground
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 vegetable stock cube or salt to taste
4 whole wheat or sourdough buns
4 lettuce leaves
Method
Put the salmon, 1 tablespoon olive oil, garlic, egg, onions, allspice, black pepper and salt or stock cube in a food processor and mix (Salmon can be bought already minced from the grocery store, in this case just mix the already minced salmon with the other ingredients)
Form the salmon into patties with a diameter of about 4inches /10cm
Heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat and cook the salmon patties uncovered for about 3 minutes on each size (you can also cook the salmon over an open grill for 3 minutes on each side); You may want to cook the salmon for longer depending on your preferred doneness
Place lettuce leaves on buns and top with salmon patties
Blue cheese sauce
Preparation time: 5 minutes Cooking time: 10 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes
Ingredients (serves 4) 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour 1 cup warm milk 1 cup blue cheese, grated ¼ teaspoon nutmeg Freshly ground black pepper to taste Salt to taste
Method
1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over low heat; when hot, add the garlic and fry till it just starts to slightly brown and gives off a fragrant smell (about 1 minute).
2. Add the flour and fry uncovered for about 2–3 minutes or until it is light golden-brown color.
3. Increase the heat to medium and add the milk,then bring to a boil; once the sauce boils, reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer uncovered for 4 minutes.
4. Add the blue cheese, nutmeg, black pepper and salt, then simmer uncovered for 2 minutes on low heat; remove from heat and pour over salmon patties
Caramelized Onions
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil 1 onion (1 cup), sliced into rings
Pinch of salt
Method
1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over low heat and add the onions and salt, then fry for 5 minutes or until golden brown, top salmon patties with caramelized onions