Pesto Turkey Burgers with Goat Cheese

Perfect Pairing:  Store bought pesto

Last year I talked about my garden woes.  This year was not exactly better, different maybe.  I continued to be my overly optimistic self and planted window boxes and herbs.  I bought most of the goods at Gethsemane Nursery again.  That place is incredible. 

I tried some new things in the window box this year.  The shade loving ferns and the mini hosta worked well.  Er, maybe not WELL.  They ended up being a little confused with one side growing twice as fast as the other side, and doing the complete opposite thing from the other window box.  Whatever, there was green stuff growing so I had to be ok with that.  

I tried impatiens AGAIN and they all died AGAIN.  I actually replanted them twice.  One batch died within two days.  That was a new record.  Then I found out that there is a rampant impatiens disease in Chicago.  I am not even kidding, google it. 

I came up with a new method for my herbs.  Instead of having them on my front patio (where there was very little sun) I moved them to the other side of my garage after getting the OK from my nice neighbor to use his plot of land.  Everything was going along swimmingly until I came home one day and found one of the pots missing and part of my basil dug up from the other pot.  I fumed on Facebook for a moment, and then went about my day.  Long story short, another neighbor thought they were being thrown out and rescued them.  Um, that probably does not say much about the state of my herbs, huh?  I got them back and continued giving them TLC.  They still died.  I am going to get a complex over this.

I think I made about two dishes from my herbs before they all went kaput.  These turkey burgers did not make the cut.  There was no chance I was getting an entire batch of pesto out of my sad basil plant…. Not from the first or the second planting (no one can say I didn’t give it a valiant effort).  Store bought pesto was perfect in this recipe.  I mixed some in with the ground turkey and added a dollop on top instead of the traditional condiments.  Add a healthy dose of goat cheese and you have a pretty fantastic burger. 

One year ago on Perfecting the Pairing - Strawberry Pie

Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing - Chicken Yakitori

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Pesto Turkey Burgers with Goat Cheese

Lindsay at Perfecting the Pairing

Printable Recipe


Ingredients:

·        1.25 lb ground turkey (93% lean)

·        ½ cup grated parmesan cheese

·        ¼ cup pesto

·        ½ tsp ground pepper

·        4 oz goat cheese

·        Pesto for serving

·        4 buns

Directions:

Preheat grill to medium heat.  In a large bowl combine the ground turkey, parmesan, quarter cup pesto and pepper.  Mix gently until combined and form into four patties.  Grill until cooked through, about 5 to 10 minutes per side.  Serve on a bun topped with goat cheese and a dollop of pesto.

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