Asian Salmon Burgers with Wasabi Mayo

On my last trip to Vermont a few months ago before my maternity leave ended - sadness how long ago that was already - I picked up a bottle of ginger lime marinade by The Ginger People at my favorite health food store. Totally on a whim, since I rarely use marinades. It's been hanging out in the fridge since April waiting to be opened, and a few nights ago I finally figured out how to use it.

I had bought a nice piece of salmon I fully planned on grilling to eat over a salad (my summer obsession!), but just wasn't feeling it night after night. After two days of staring at that pink filet every time I opened the fridge and knowing it was *this close* to going past my threshold of how fresh a piece of fish simply must be before I get squirmy and refuse to use it, the thought of burgers popped into my head.

Enter a quick whirl in the food processor and few typical Asian ingredients I had in the fridge, plus my new marinade, and we had some seriously tasty salmon burgers. They had a great punch of flavor - a bit spicy, a bit tangy from the lime, and a nice saltiness. I served them on low carb sandwich thins with a quick wasabi mayo and thickly sliced, ruby red tomatoes from the garden. I had a long lost bag of edamame in the freezer I remembered at the last minute, which made a perfect side.

Eaten on TV trays while watching Breaking Bad, this was a perfect little summer dinner and twist on the old grilled salmon. Speaking of Breaking Bad, off to watch last week's episode, which is still waiting patiently on the DVR. It's getting crazy!

Asian Salmon Burgers with Wasabi Mayo

Serves 4

Ingredients
3/4 pound salmon
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. Asian style marinade (I used The Ginger People's ginger lime)
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs
Salt & pepper to taste
Dash of garlic powder

Wasabi Mayo Ingredients
1 Tbsp. wasabi powder
2 Tbsp. olive oil mayo

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor, combine salmon, soy sauce, fish sauce and marinade. Once combined, transfer to a bowl and fold in egg, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and garlic powder (using your hands works best). Form into 4 patties, and let rest on wax paper for about a half hour. Patties will be sticky.

Heat an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat and spray with cooking spray. Add burgers to pan and sear on both sides until golden brown. Transfer the pan to the oven to finish cooking, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine wasabi powder and mayo and mix well; set aside.

Serve on buns or sandwich thins spread with wasabi mayo.