Spiced Rockfish Burgers with Collard Slaw #FishFridayFoodies

Remember that we kicked off Fish Friday Foodies earlier this year. It's a group of seafood-loving bloggers, coordinated by Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. We share fish and seafood recipes on the third Friday of the month. 

This month, Heather of All Roads Lead to the Kitchen is hosting. Here was her challenge to the group: "Let's create some tasty fish and seafood burger recipes to throw on the grill since summer is in full swing (Well, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere)! They don't have to be cooked on the grill. Large burgers or sliders are fine. Please be sure to feature chopped/minced/ground fish or seafood here (by hand or in the food processor), NOT whole fillets."

The only seafood burger I've ever made was this one (above) - salmon patties with homemade cuttlefish buns. But I'm always up for an adventure and a culinary challenge!

I had considered a shrimp burger but noticed that several of the bloggers had planned shrimp burgers already; I wanted to do something different. At the fish market, I found fresh, wild-caught rockfish and decided to go with that.

Ingredients

Rockfish Burger

• 1-1/2 pounds rockfish fillets
• 1/4 C fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 T capers
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 T fresh lemon juice
• 1 t minced lemongrass
• 1 t minced ginger
• pinch of dried Thai chilis (optional)
• 1 t olive oil
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t pepper
• 2 T gluten-free tamari
• 2 T gluten-free flour blend
• butter for cooking

Slaw

• 1⁄2 C rice wine vinegar
• 1 T sugar
• 2 T canola oil
• 1⁄2 t minced lemongrass
• 1⁄2 t minced ginger
• 1 T gluten-free tamari
• 1⁄2 small head green cabbage, shredded
• 2 T fresh parsley, minced
• 6 leaves collard greens, stemmed and chiffonaded

To Serve

• collard greens for garnish
• thinly sliced red onions
• capers
• avocado, peeled and sliced
• mango, peeled and sliced
• cucumber, peeled and sliced
• fresh parsley, finely minced
• smoked paprika
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper

Procedure

Slaw

Make the coleslaw: Whisk vinegar, sugar, oil, lemongrass, ginger, and tamari together in a large bowl; add parsley, collards greens, and cabbage. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour before serving.

Rockfish Burger

Remove any bones from the fillets. Using a chef's knife, chop the fish until it resembles pea-sized chunks. Combine all ingredients - except butter - in medium bowl, mixing well. Once everything is combined nicely, form into 1" thick patties. Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add rockfish patties. Cook until just firm to touch and brown and crusty, approximately 3 minutes on each side.

To Serve
In a small mixing bowl, toss the parsley and cucumber together. Slice the avocado and mango.

Lay collard greens on your serving plate. Place a mound of slaw in the middle of the leaf. Lay the cooked rockfish burger on top of the the slaw. Garnish with red onions and capers. Arrange cucumber, avocado, and mango slices around the burger. Sprinkle the mango with smoked paprika. Sprinkle everything with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

All the Fish Burgers...

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