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Sunday, July 5, 2009

Broiled Mini Tuna Burgers



Did you know the first burgers were made in Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut. Now, it's one of the mostly widely know and loved food all around. I've mentioned this before when I posted the 10 fun food facts for the month of April. Their burgers are flame broiled and served between two slices of toasted white bread with cheese, tomato and onion as a garnish. No ketchup allowed. It's frowned upon. I'm serious with that last sentence, which makes me want to visit the place even more.

What does that have to do with these burgers? Absolutely nothing. Thought I'd share that with you all. No...wait...I lied. Back up a bit. Ok, so I had made a mini loaf of pan de sal over the weekend. I didn't have enough room on the baking pan and thought it'd be cute to make a mini baby loaf. For those interested, I got my mini-loaf pans at Sur La Table. I bought 4 for $2 each. It's a 2"x4" size. They do look cute when the bread comes out of the oven. You just want to go "aww...".

I wanted to make crostinis with it, but I didn't really have an idea what to top it with. I got a craving for tuna, yet I didn't want it on my usual salad fix. I cut loaf into 1/8-inch slices and as I did, burgers came into mind. I had some grape tomatoes left in the fridge as well as a block of manchego cheese.

I decided to made a simple sweet and sour sauce for the "ketchup". Mixed up the tuna with an avocado instead of mayo and added some sweet relish, panko crumbs and some ground pepper.

You can make the regular sized version of these burgers. Just double up the ingredients and use regular sized bread. Adjust broiling time accordingly. These fit me just right. You can use them as starters, too.

Makes 7 mini burgers.



Broiled Mini Tuna Burgers

1 7oz can tuna in oil.
4 tsp sweet relish
1 small avocado
1 c panko crumbs
pepper
14 small slices of bread
grated cheese
4 grape tomatoes (sliced)
sweet and sour sauce


Preheat your broiler.

Make the sweet and sour sauce. This can be done ahead of time and will keep for a long time in the fridge.

Drail most but not all the oil from the tuna. Mix in the sweet relish, avocado and panko crumbs. Season it with some pepper.

Mold the tuna mixture in 7 small patties. Place on an ungreased baking sheet.

Toast the slices of bread either in the toaster oven or the conventional oven for 5 min.

Put into the broiler for roughly 10-15 min then flip and cook the other side for another 5-10 min. You want to see a good char crust on it. 2 min before removing sprinkle the cheese over the patties and let it melt into gooey goodness.


Putting it together:
Spread some of the sweet and sour sauce on both slices of bread. Top with the tuna patty and tomato slices.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

So cute, and i always have tons of tuna around. Its a staple here at my house :). Hope you had a great 4th of july.

Donna-FFW said...

These little slider type tuna burgers sound and look delicious. Love it with the sweet and sour sauce!

Anonymous said...

huh. I'll have to try these.

Dewi said...

Good idea Jenn! Having eaten so much of meat from the party, tuna seems like much healthier and delicious.

Bob said...

Sounds great! Although as an aside, I'm always annoyed by places that get upset when you want something they don't like on your food. They aren't the ones eating it, why do they even care? Grumble.

Reeni said...

What tasty little sliders! The flavors sound so yummy!

Mary Bergfeld said...

These look really appealing. Tuna is a wonderfully healthy alternative to beef.

Jenn said...

Heavenly: Thanks, I did.

Donna: Thanks.

hummingbird: You should

Elra: Definitely!

Bob: Ya I see your point. I guess the reason they don't want you to put ketchup on there is to keep the tradition of how it was first made. Plus I hear you don't really need the ketchup on there anyway.

Reeni: It is.

Mary: I couldn't agree more.

Parita said...

Burger with sweet and sour sauce sounds delicious!

zerrin said...

Tuna is a great idea in burgers! Never tried, never even thought of it although I adore it. And these burgers look definitely so cute!

teresa said...

Oh wow this looks so good! Great idea, and I love the food facts too!

Jenn said...

Parita, Zerrin: Thanks.

Teresa: Food facts are awesome!

Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction said...

These sound tasty! I might have to give these a try as part of my $100 challenge since I have some tuna in the pantry that I need to use!

chow and chatter said...

these are so cute

Anonymous said...

Oh my darling, Oh my darling, oh my darling tuna burgers! These are BEYOND what I expected! Avocado, and sweet and sour sauce..Me LOVE!!

theUngourmet said...

I bet your little loaves of bread were so sweet! Very yummy tuna burgers!

I think I watched a show once on Food Network about that burger joint.

Jenn said...

Jen: You should!!

Chow and Chatter: Thanks.

burpandslurp: Me love it too.

ungourmet: yeah. i really want to go visit it.

Dana Fallentine said...

I love your lens work on the photos! The burgers look fabulous!

Talita said...

What a original recipe! I never tried something like that!

Heather S-G said...

Just look at the beautiful color on these! They sound delicious! Always nice to find another use for tuna, too...love it (and so does my daughter, so double bonus)!

Jenn said...

Dana: thanks

Talita: give it a try. :-)

Girlichef: the many uses of tuna. LOL.

Nutmeg Nanny said...

Yum! Seeing this recipe is making me think of the Grilled Tuna Burgers at M Cafe in LA. Great recipe!

Jenn said...

Nutmeg: I haven't been to cafe M yet. I gotta go.

Justin said...

these are adorable

Phyllis said...

Jenn, these look amazing! I would have never thought to combine canned tuna, avocado, panko into a patty! When's the cookbook coming out? :)

lisaiscooking said...

Great thought here! The tuna with avocado sounds pretty great, and on the homemade bread, these must have been stellar.

Pooja said...

Lovely burger! Loved the combo of tuna and avocado! Makes it double healthy!

Jenn said...

Justin: Thanks

Phyllis: Dunno. But I've bee toying with the idea. ;-)

Lisaiscoooking: They were.

Pooja: No guilt in eating these. ;-)

tavolini said...

These are so cute!

www.gerona-3d.com said...

Very useful piece of writing, much thanks for your post.

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