Juicy Smoked Blue Turkey Burgers with Pear & Celery Slaw

Ingredients

•  1 lb. ground turkey (Superior Foods Featured Item: #46140 – Michigan Turkey)
• 8 oz. Moody Blue Cheese (Superior Foods Featured Item: #99852 – Roth Cheese)
• salt & pepper
• 2 bartlett pears, cored and julienned
• 3 sticks of celery, julienned
• 1/2 small red onion, julienned
• 2/3 Cup mayo
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1-2 Tbsp. honey
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/4 Cup chives, sliced
• Bib lettuce
• 2 Cups Chicken Demi Glace (Superior Foods Featured Item: #91669 – Bonewerks Culinarte)
• 4 Artisan Burger Buns (Superior Foods Featured Item: #98237 – Boulart)
• butter, for grilled buns

Preparations

1. Preheat oven to 375°F
2. In a large bowl  combine ground turkey and crumbled blue cheese. Make sure cheese is dispersed as evenly as possible, then divide mixture into 4 equal portions to make burger patties. Season each patty on both sides with salt and pepper and place in the fridge until time to cook.
3. In a separate bowl combine mayo, lemon juice, and honey to make a dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then toss in pear, celery, red onion, and chives. Combine everything and adjust seasoning again, if needed.
4. When it’s time to cook, heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a  skillet over medium  heat, and heat up demi glace in a saucepan until heated through. Add burgers to skillet and get some nice color on one side before flipping. Once second side has color place skillet in the oven to finish cooking burgers until 160°F internally.
5. Butter both cut sides of the buns and toast on grill or in clean pan until golden and slightly charred.
6. With tongs, submerge burgers one-at-a-time in the demi glace. Set burgers on bottom bun and lettuce. Finish burgers with  a healthy pile of slaw and top bun. Feel free to eat with more demi glace as a dipper on the side, and serve with chips, fries, or a salad of your choice.

TIPS:

Burgers can be grilled, but for ideal juiciness try to use a skillet. The blue cheese when heated will start to ooze out so a skillet helps to retain moisture and flavor.