Salmon Burgers with Chile-Inspired Salad

I just spent 10 days in Chile over the Christmas break, and boy did I enjoy some delicious food!  And I ate avocados every single day!  Ok, perhaps most people wouldn't be so excited about that, but avocados are one of my favourite foods and I wish I had an avocado tree in my backyard.  I also tried palmitos (palm hearts) for the first time and love them too.  When I got home and was met with the sad fact that it's still winter here I really wanted to have some Chilean food to make me feel sunnier.  And I don't feel confident enough to make ceviche here since the fish needs to be fresh, as in caught-that-morning fresh.  So I decided to make a salad that I had many times while I was there, and paired it with some cooked salmon... a zesty lime salmon burger.  The lime went really well with the tastes of the salad.  I also had cold, cooked beets with many of my meals in Chile, so I made some of them too.  I was going to make a cream sauce to go with the salmon burger, but instead I put a few slices of avocado on top which went perfectly with it.  I found the salmon burger recipe in Chatelaine magazine's Superfood mini cookbook.  The salmon has 400% of your recommended daily intake of vitamin D, so it's a great food to eat in the winter when the weather is lacking sunshine.

I don't know why the beets look black, they were a wonderful purple on-camera.

Both recipes make 4 servings.

Zesty Lime Salmon Burgers:

- 1 large can (450g) can Sockeye Salmon

- 1 egg

- 1 green onion, thinly sliced

- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro or basil (I used cilantro)

- 1/4 cup fine bread crumbs

- 1 lime (1 tsp. of zest and 2 tbsp. of juice)

- 1 tsp. Tobasco sauce

- 1/2 tsp salt

- vegetable oil for frying

Drain salmon and break up with a fork.  You can leave the skin and bones in for extra calcium.  In a bowl whisk egg, then rest of ingredients, except the oil.  Using a fork mix the salmon into the egg mixture.  Form into 4 firmly packed burgers, about 1 cm. thick.

Generously coat a large non-stick pan with oil and turn heat to medium.  When hot add burgers and cook uncovered for about 3-4 minutes per side, or until a thick golden crust forms.  Serve with sliced avocado on top.

Chile-Inspired Salad:

- 1 large head of iceburg lettuce, chopped

- 4 avocados, thinly sliced*

- 2 tomatoes, cut into small wedges

- 1 can of palm hearts, sliced (They are in the canned vegetable section of my grocery store)

- olive oil and lemon juice to use as dressing

Just divide the ingredients among 4 plates, save some of the avocado slices to garnish the salmon burger if desired.

* To slice an avocado first cut it in half by slicing it all the way around, right down to the pit.  Then twist the 2 halves so that one side pulls apart from the pit.  Use a spoon to scoop out the pit from the other side.  Then make thin slices, while the pulp is still in the skin.  Then use a spoon to carefully scoop out the slices.