a better burger?

The opportunities to try new recipes this summer has been great. I was growing tired of the usual summer fare of burgers and basic grilled chicken. In Signature Tastes of Charleston cookbook I came across a recipe for shrimp burgers from Hominy Grill. This is one restaurant that my husband and I haven't tried in Charleston, however, their shrimp burger recipe sounded delicious.

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I like to keep in my freezer frozen shrimp that I purchase at Wegmans. I love the uncooked shrimp from Belize. The two pound package costs about $19. In fact when I was at Wegmans the other day, they had shrimp from North Carolina for $14.99/lb. I quickly texted my sister-in-law to check on local prices on the Outer Banks. On the Outer Banks you can purchase large shrimp for $7.99/lb., jumbo at $9.99/lb. and medium shrimp for $5.99/lb. If you feel like removing the heads, large/jumbo shrimp will set you back $3.99/lb.

Luckily I had just enough shrimp left to make two burgers this evening. I purchased from Delicious Orchards a bunch of scallions that I needed for the recipe and I already had a lemon on hand. Instead of breadcrumbs in the shrimp burgers, I needed cornbread crumbs. As I only needed a 1/2 cup, a quick stop at Whole Foods for one of their corn muffins would do the trick. The muffin set me back $2, but it was delicious and for this recipe, convenient.

I got all my ingredients prepped before assembling. I almost forgot to cook the shrimp before hand, but did that quickly. I added a small piece of celery, carrot, a pinch of sea salt and a few peppercorns to the water before dropping in the shrimp. The shrimp were done in less than 5 minutes. Once the shrimp were done, I removed them to my cutting board and chopped them by hand. I used a 1/2 cup measuring cup to portion out the patties. Once I had them done, I popped them in the refrigerator until I had a side dish done and a salad. 

The review of the shrimp burgers, delicious! My husband could have gone for another one. This was a great summertime meal tonight. It was also a nice change from some of the standard shrimp recipes one tends to prepare.