Salmon burgers

Tam West

Get ahead and make the fennel pickle the night before if you can so the burgers are quick to assemble on a weeknight. I like to quickly char-grill the cut sides of the burger buns to give texture and to heat, but you could just as easily toast them.

Fennel pickle

125 ml	White wine vinegar
4 Tbsp	Water
2 ½ Tbsp	White sugar
¼ tsp	Ground turmeric
¼ tsp	Dried mustard
1 large	Fennel bulb, trimmed and finely sliced, blanched and refreshed under cold water, drained (Main)

For the salmon

1 dash	Olive oil
4	Boneless salmon fillets, skin on, about 150g each (Main)
1 sprinkle	Lemon pepper, or use finely grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 tsp lightly crushed fennel seeds

For the burgers

4	Burger buns, split and toasted (Main)
4 servings	Mayonnaise, choose a good quality one
1	Lebanese cucumber, thinly sliced
1 handful	Salad greens, washed, dried and shredded

Directions

To make the fennel pickle

1. Place the vinegar, water and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook until the sugar dissolves, then increase the heat and bring up to the boil.
2. Remove from the heat, add the turmeric and mustard powder and set aside to cool.
3. Place the prepared fennel in a glass bowl and pour over the pickling liquid. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge.

To make the salmon

1. Rub a little olive oil on each salmon fillet and sprinkle over a little lemon pepper seasoning, or use fresh lemon and fennel seeds.
2. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat and place in the salmon fillets, skin-side-down. Fry for 3 minutes. Lower the heat to medium, turn the salmon fillets and fry for a further 3 minutes or until cooked to your liking.

To make the burgers

1. Slather the base of your burger buns with mayonnaise, top with green leaves and cucumber, place on the cooked salmon and finish with fennel pickle. Spread extra mayonnaise on the bun tops and serve salmon burgers straight away.