April13: Salmon Burgers with Ginger-Wasabi Mayo and Sesame-Crusted French Fries

1 sack (16 to 18 ounces) crispy-style frozen French fries
4 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 1/2 pounds fresh salmon fillet, pin bones and skin removed
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3-inch piece of fresh ginger, minced or grated
3 tablespoons tamari
2 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
1/2 small red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and finely chopped
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons grill seasoning, such as McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning, or 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
   Coarse black pepper
1 tablespoon light-in-color oil, such as canola, safflower, or peanut oil
1/2 to 3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons wasabi paste
   Juice of 1 lime
4 sesame kaiser rolls, split and toasted
   Red leaf lettuce, for garnish

Preheat the oven according to the package directions for the fries.

Spread the French fries out on a cookie sheet and cook according to the package directions.

Three minutes before the fries are finished cooking, remove them from the oven, sprinkle with the sesame seeds, toss with a spatula to coat, and return to the oven to finish cooking and to toast the sesame seeds.

Cube the salmon into bite-size pieces and place in a food processor. Pulse the processor to coarse-grind the salmon; it should take on the consistency of ground beef or turkey.

Transfer the salmon to a bowl and combine with the garlic, three fourths of the ginger, the tamari, scallions, red bell peppers, sesame oil, grill seasoning, and black pepper. Form 4 large patties, 1 1/2 inches thick. Drizzle the patties on both sides with the oil. Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, add the salmon burgers, and cook for 5 to 6 minutes on each side for well done.

While the salmon burgers are cooking, prepare the ginger-wasabi mayo. In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, wasabi paste, lime juice, and the remaining ginger.

Spread the ginger-wasabi mayonnaise on the buns. Top with a salmon burger and red leaf lettuce and set the bun tops in place. Serve with the sesame-crusted French fries.

4 SERVINGS

This meal is sorta weird. The fries were good. The burger was fishy, but I guess I should have expected that from a fish burger. The wasabi mayo was too strong. I didn't get the proportions of wasabi to mayo right, so it was too heavy on the wasabi end of it. The girls thought it was too hot and I didn't finish my burger. Mainly because I filled up on fries. This meal wasn't horrible, but I'm not wildly crazy about it. I didn't change anything except colors: I used yellow instead of red for the bell pepper, and I used green instead of red for the lettuce. That's all.