Southwest Turkey Burgers

They left Saturday morning. The house took on that familiar absence-quality immediately — the toys gone, the extra boots by the door gone, the sound of children in the upstairs rooms replaced by the tick of the woodstove and the wind outside. I've been here alone long enough that I know this transition well. You let it settle. You don't try to fill it right away.

The leftover turkey became stock, which became soup, which I've been eating all week. This is the natural sequence of a proper Thanksgiving — the meal generates its own aftermath, the carcass giving back what it can, the vegetables finding a second life in broth. There's something right about that. Nothing wasted. The turkey serves the table and then the table serves the winter.

December is coming. The first year without Helen, Christmas was unbearable in ways I'm not going to describe in detail here. The second Christmas, last year, was better — something close to normal, the absence acknowledged but not dominating the day. This third Christmas I feel different again: not resolved, nothing so final as resolved, but situated. I know what the day will require and I know I can provide it.

I've been writing a longer blog post — not a recipe post, but a reflection on what cooking alone has meant this year, what I've learned from it. Three drafts so far. I'm not sure it's finished yet. It keeps expanding. There seems to be more to say about solitude and food than I realized when I started writing it.

The soup ran out by Thursday, and I still had ground turkey in the freezer from the pre-holiday shopping I’d done before the family arrived. I wanted something that required a little more attention than reheating — something where you stand at the stove and do a thing, rather than just wait. These Southwest Turkey Burgers fit that exactly: enough spice to make the kitchen smell alive again, enough simplicity that a person eating alone doesn’t feel like they’ve gone to unnecessary trouble for themselves. The turkey, one more time, doing what it can.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 22 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 lb lean ground turkey
1/4 cup finely diced red onion
1/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil (for the pan)
4 whole wheat burger buns
Optional toppings: sliced avocado, salsa, shredded pepper jack cheese, shredded lettuce

Instructions

Combine the patty mixture. In a medium bowl, combine the ground turkey, red onion, black beans, cilantro, cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mix gently until just combined — do not overwork the meat.
Form the patties. Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions and shape each into a patty roughly 3/4 inch thick. Press a slight indent into the center of each to prevent puffing during cooking.
Cook the burgers. Heat olive oil in a large skillet or cast-iron pan over medium heat. Add the patties and cook for 5–6 minutes per side, until cooked through and an internal thermometer reads 165°F. Do not press down on the patties while cooking.
Toast the buns. While the burgers rest for 2 minutes, place the buns cut-side down in the pan for 1–2 minutes until lightly toasted.
Assemble and serve. Place each patty on a toasted bun and add desired toppings. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Southwest Turkey Burgers — The Bird That Keeps Giving