Sun-dried Tomato Turkey Burgers with Roasted Queso Corn

Summer foooood, and the eating is easy.

The older I get, the more I want to punch summer in the nuts. Don’t get me wrong! The idea of summer is always fabulously romantic and lazy and golden and relaxed. But the reality of summer is bugs, bug bites, sweaty armpits, bugs, faces sliding off heads, bugs, wet, heavy air thick as lard, bugs, cranktankerous sticky toddlers dotted in mosquito maps and ice cream goo, bugs, bugs, and bugs.

The food, though? I’ll take it.

Hold on, you know what. Let me adjust my attitude real quick. I’m not being fair to this season. How can I look at this photo and hate summer? I really do love you, summer! I love you before the sun comes up, when the sun is behind giants trees or clouds, and when the sun goes down. Is that better? I suck.

Let’s talk about some dang burgs.

I can’t wait for your new life to begin with these babes. They are ridiculously approachable and glorious for summer grub. You make a simple sun-dried tomato pesto mix. It’s sort of a pesto. We’ll call it a pesto. It’s just sun-dried tomatoes, some garlic, the oil that the tomatoes come in, and fresh basil! That’s it. Just pulse it way, way down until it’s as fine as you can get it. Then swirl that mix right into a mound of ground turkey. That’s all. That’s it. Your pink-hued, sun-dried-infused burgies can rest in the fridge for the afternoon until you’re ready to chow.

Not sorry I called them burgies.

And this corn. Yes, you can even. You can literally even with this corn.

It’s smeared and smothered with a melted butter/sun-dried tomato oil mix, and roasted until glory be. Topped with crumbled queso fresco, fresh parsley and lime juice. Gah.

You could always grill these! They’d be fabulous brushed with the butter, husks pulled back over them, and grilled over some hot charcoals or wood chips. I’m just mildly terrified of grills, so I prefer to stay safe indoors. You know, away from bugs.

Boom. Dress the burgs up however you dig. I added more queso and avocado to mine, because I would fall into a fit of rage otherwise. Butter lettuce is a nice, tender change to the crunch of romaine. But go with whatever ya love. And always, ALWAYS squirt more lime juice on everything. This will definitely make you a better person.

Those burgers, you guys. Just you wait, Henry Higgins. Just you wait.

Aaaaand new life starts now.

Sun-dried Tomato Turkey Burgers with Roasted Queso Corn:

What it took for four burgers:

* 10 medium jarred sun-dried tomatoes (in their oil)
* 2-3 Tbs. sun-dried tomato oil (from the jar)
* 3 cloves garlic
* 8 large basil leaves
* 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
*  four burger buns (onion, wheat, whatever)
* 4 ears corn
* 3 Tbs. melted butter + 2 Tbs. sun-dried tomato oil (in a little bowl)
* pinch of salt and pepper
* 1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco
* freshly minced parsley, for a garnish

In a large food processor, combine the tomatoes, sun-dried oil, garlic, basil leaves, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Pulse pulse pulse until it’s as ground as you can get it! Then pulse a little more.

In a large bowl combine the ground turkey with the sun-dried pesto-ish mix.  Combine it all with your hands. (Little tip! Bring the ground turkey to room temp before you work it. When it’s really cold it’ll make your arms ache all the way through your bones and up to your scull. The end.) Then form four burger patties and very lightly salt the tops of each. Place in the fridge until you’re ready to cook!

Fast forward to cooking time. Preheat the oven to 400. Place the fresh corn in a baking dish and brush the sun-dried butter mix all over each ear. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 20 minutes. Flip and roast 15 more minutes. Top with crumbled queso fresco and parsley and serveeeee.

For the burgs, just heat a sauté pan (or indoor grill pan, or outdoor grill!) over medium high and sear the burgers for about four minutes on each side. Let rest a couple minutes, then place each patty on a burger bottom. Top with more queso (duh), avocado slices and butter lettuce. Spritz with fresh lime and inhale with the corn. UGH.

SUMMER FOOOOOD, AND THE EATING IS EAS- oh.