Elle's New England Kitchen

So what do you do with fluffy and delicious homemade pita breads? Anything you want! But my recipe of choice was Argentine Style Burgers from Fine Cooking. I'd had my eye on the recipe for a while, and when Sarah suggested we try pita breads for our first recipe together, I knew exactly what I'd use them for.

Not only are the burgers easy to make, but they are delicious! I love a good burger, and my choice of toppings on a regular old one are just ketchup, sliced tomatoes and lotsa black pepper. Yep, that's my favorite way to have them. I know! Boring, right? Geez, I've gotta get out more, hehe.

But sometimes I start jonesing for a different burger. When I saw this one, I knew I'd make them, it was just a question of when. And then, pita breads popped into my life (I love you, pita bread!), and that's how these burgers are served. Perfect!

The burgers themselves are flavored with onions, jalapeno (seeded or not, you decide) and garlic, that are quickly sauteed to take off the raw edge. I hate raw veggies in burgers. Not on, but in--they just don't belong there unless they're cooked first, right? They get mixed into the meat along with fresh cilantro, cumin and oregano. And speaking of the meat, I used ground turkey. I know what you're thinking...why turkey? Well, we like it. And I already had some. I like finding recipes that I have mostly everything on hand for already, and this was one of them. They're garnished with lettuce, sliced red onion, and chimichurri sauce, and if you read this blog regularly, you know how I L-O-V-E Zen's recipe for chimichurri sauce. I make it often and we use it on all kinds of things! From steaks, to pork chops also rubbed with the piri-piri blend in his post, to parm crusted chicken, and skillet smashed potatoes. It's fabulous on everything--even pizza! I didn't bother making the one from Fine Cooking, and though I'm sure it's delicious, I already have a favorite--so why mess with perfection?



Anyway, here's the recipe. And please excuse my photos, hehe. They look weird, but the taste of the burgers more than makes up for them! I had planned to make another one up from the leftovers, but as it turns out, we had other plans for them, which you can see at the bottom of this post...

Argentine Style Burgers
adapted from Fine Cooking (contributed by Bob Sloan)


2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely diced onion
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 small jalapeno, finely diced
kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey (if you use beef, use 85% lean)
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
4 - 6 inch pita breads (or really nice buns--heh!)

To garnish:
thinly sliced red onion
lettuce
Chimichurri sauce


In a small skillet, heat 1 tbsp of the oil over medium heat.
Saute the onion, garlic, jalapeno and 1/4 tsp of the salt for about 3 minutes, and stir occasionally.
Remove to a plate and set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes.
To a bowl, add the turkey, cumin, oregano, cilantro, 1 tsp salt, some pepper, and the onion-garlic-jalapeno mixture.
Get your hands in there and gently mix until thoroughly combined.
Gently shape the meat into four patties (I ended up with five).
You can either cook these on the stove top, which I did, or grill them.
For stove top, heat remaining 1 tbsp oil in a pan over medium high heat. Cook burgers for about 5 minutes on each side, turning only once. (If you're using beef, cook to your liking.)
Cut part of the top off of the pita breads, and serve the burgers in the pitas along with the onion, lettuce and some of the chimichurri sauce.



This is one of my new favorite recipes, and I know we'll be having it again soon. It's fresh and different, and the flavors all work so well together.

So what did we do with the leftovers? We made pizza! Saturday night was pizza night, and I was thinking that the burgers--sliced thinly, along with some of the chimichurri sauce and some cheese would be fabulous. I was right! The only thing I forgot was the thinly sliced red onion on the pizza. D'oh! It would have been perfect on it, but I'll have to try it next time.



I really hope you'll try these! They couldn't be simpler, but the taste is fresh and different. And if you haven't checked out Fine Cooking, you really should. Their recipes are easy and always fantastic. Those of you who gave up Cook's Illustrated because of their mind boggling and stupid behavior may want to spend your subscription money on Fine Cooking instead. :)

So tell me, what are your favorite ways to have burgers?