Test Kitchen: Summer Salmon Burgers

I love reuniting with my summer skin—freckles erupt down my shoulders to my wrists, bare feet laugh across screaming hot pavement to vault into the pool, and lips swoop to taste tomatoes, corn, and dripping watermelon too, all the season’s fruits I’ve missed for months and months.

Parts of this recipe will confine you indoors to rest the brioche dough, simmer the maque choux, and marinate the salmon, but do what you can to stay in the sun—particularly for every last bite of this savory pillow of a sandwich—even if that calls for the hardship of a chilled beverage.

Suggested pairing: Bell's Two Hearted Ale (new to Baton Rouge), available at Calandro's Supermarket

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Summer Salmon Burgers (from the Country Roads' Test Kitchen)

Ingredients

For the salmon:

4, 4-oz. filets of salmon, skin removed
1/2 cup pesto
1 tbsp. oregano
salt and pepper (to taste)
4 brioche buns (I rely on Smitten Kitchen's take most often—who needs storebought?) 

For the maque choux: 

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, stemmed and diced
1 stalk celery, diced
a pinch of flour
3 ears corn, shucked
1 beefsteak tomato, diced
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. cayenne pepper

Method

For the salmon:

Rub the filets with pesto and season with oregano, salt, and pepper. Let marinate for one hour. Grill over medium-high for ten minutes, flipping halfway through.  

For the maque choux: 

1. Sauté the onion in olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until golden. Add celery and bell pepper, cooking for five to seven minutes until vegetables are tender. Stir in flour. 

2. Add corn, tomato, and milk. Season with cayenne. Bring to a boil and then simmer, covered, for fifteen minutes. Remove from heat.

To plate: 

Place a salmon fillet on a toasted brioche bun. Spoon maque choux on top. Complete sandwich with top bun. Enjoy!