Tuna burgers 2 ways with wasabi slaw

Many people abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent, so I wanted to share a burger recipe that uses fish instead of beef. This ahi tuna mushroom burger uses is full of flavor, not overly fishy tasting, and has a very similar texture to beef burgers. 

Fresh vs. Frozen vs. Canned

You can use either one of these options for this recipe, although the canned tuna recipe is slightly different.

I think there's a common misconception that fresh fish is better than frozen fish, but that is not true. In fact, unless you live 50 miles from the ocean, frozen tuna is actually better because it is flash frozen onboard the fishing boat. You just have to make sure you safely thaw the fish.

Canned tuna is a great cost-effective option. It has the same nutritional value as fresh or frozen tuna. You just have to make sure there's been no salt added. Also, look for "pole-and-line-caught" on the label, which is a more sustainable and enviormentally-friendly practice.

I realize some people don't like the taste of canned tuna, but I honestly can't tell much of a difference in taste in this burger recipe. My husband can vouch for that, too. You'll notice there's a slight difference between the ahi tuna burger recipe and the canned tuna burger recipe. That's because the canned tuna doesn't pack together as well as the ahi tuna, so it needs binders in the form of pank bread crumbs and eggs.

Let's talk about mushrooms

Did you know mushrooms are 50% water? In order to get a more concentrated umami flavor, you have to evaporate the water out. The easiest way to do that is by roasting the mushrooms, which is the first step of this recipe. Also, if you don't first roast the mushrooms, the water content may cause your burgers to fall apart.

Wasabi slaw

This slaw is packed with flavor, thanks in part to a little bit of wasabi. I found wasabi paste at my local grocery store. I think it really is the key to the slaw recipe. But if you don't like wasabi or if you can't find it, just omit it. Although I must admit I'll be a little sad.

 Ahi Tuna Mushroom Burger

Yield: Makes about 8, 3-inch burgers

Time: About 1 hour

Ingredients

For the burgers

• 16 ounces mushrooms, sliced (baby bella, white, or shiitake work well)
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 shallot, sliced
• 2 Tablespoons red curry paste
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 pound ahi tuna, minced

For the slaw

• 1 teaspoon wasabi paste (more or less to taste)
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice
• 2 cups green cabbage, shredded
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions

For the burgers

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray. Spread mushrooms in single layer on baking sheets.
2. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
3. Place garlic and shallot in food processor and pulse until minced.
4. Add cooled mushrooms, red curry paste, salt, and black pepper. Pulse until mushrooms resemble ground beef. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if necessary.
5. Combine mixture with ahi tuna.
6. Set 3-inch ring on plate and fill ring with mixture. Remove ring and continue process.
7. Place tuna patties in freezer for about 20 minutes.
8. Heat nonstick skillet over medium heat and prepare with a little oil.
9. Add burgers to pan. Cook 2 minutes on each side.
10. Place on bun if desired.

For the slaw

1. Combine wasabi paste, Greek yogurt, and lime juice.
2. Stir in the cabbage and cilantro.
3. Top tuna burger with slaw.

Canned tuna mushroom burger

Yield: Makes about 8, 3-inch burgers

Time: About 1 hour

Ingredients

For the burgers

• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (baby bella, white, or shiitake work well)
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 shallot, sliced
• 2 Tablespoons red curry paste
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs
• 16 ounces canned tuna in water, drained

For the slaw

• 1 teaspoon wasabi paste (more or less to taste)
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice
• 2 cups green cabbage, shredded
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions

For the burgers

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray. Spread mushrooms in single layer on baking sheets.
2. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
3. Place garlic and shallot in food processor and pulse until minced.
4. Add cooled mushrooms, red curry paste, salt, and black pepper. Pulse until mushrooms resemble ground beef. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if necessary.
5. Add eggs and tuna to food processor and pulse until combined.
6. Set 3-inch ring on plate and fill ring with mixture. Remove ring and continue process.
7. Place tuna patties in freezer for about 20 minutes.
8. Heat nonstick skillet over medium heat and prepare with a little oil.
9. Add burgers to pan. Cook 2 minutes on each side.
10. Place on bun if desired.

For the slaw

1. Combine wasabi paste, Greek yogurt, and lime juice.
2. Stir in the cabbage and cilantro.
3. Top tuna burger with slaw.

Easy Bananas Foster King Cake

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible! 

Tuesday is Mardi Gras in New Orleans, also known as Fat Tuesday. It is the culmination of Carnival season, which kicks off on January 6 every year (Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day). Many people in Indianapolis (which is 800 miles from New Orleans, by the way) don't take it seriously. They may celebrate by indulging in southern food and sweets, but that's the extent of it. In contrast, southerners celebrate throughout the entirety of Carnival season with dozens of parades, many gatherings, lots of alcohol, and indulgent foods—including king cake. 

King cake isn't just a one-day treat. Bakeries in New Orleans have been selling king cakes since January.  So if you haven't had your king cake fix yet, I have just the solution for you. I'm making bananas foster king cake with store-bought puff pastry. I wanted to combine a classic New Orleans dessert with a classic Mardi Gras dessert.

Most bakers make king cakes with brioche dough, which is an enriched sweet bread, and fill them with either cinnamon and sugar or a cream cheese mixture. So my version definitely isn't "traditional." But it's important to point out the king cakes we see today are very different now than they were even just a few decades ago. And if you visit New Orleans during Carnival season, you'll find king cakes in dozens of different flavor combinations.

I used Challenge Unsalted Butter to make this king cake. Challenge Unsalted Butter is 100% real cream butter—nothing artificial or synthetic. I recommend using unsalted butter when baking so you can have complete control over the salt level in the recipe.

Easy Bananas Foster King Cake

Yield: 12 servings

Time: About 1 hour

Ingredients

For the cake

• 1 sheet puff pastry
• 2 Tablespoons Challenge unsalted butter, melted
• 1 Tablespoon rum (or 1/2 teaspoon rum extract)
• 1 teaspoon banana extract (you can substitute vanilla extract)
• 100 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar
• 15 grams (2 Tablespoons) all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
• 2 Tablespoons pecans, chopped
• 1 banana, peeled and sliced thin

For the icing

• 115 grams (1 cup) powdered sugar
• 1/8 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Yellow, green, and purple food coloring or yellow, green, and purple sprinkles

Directions

For the cake

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bring puff pastry to room temperature. Cut it down the middle lengthwise in two equal pieces.
2. Mix butter, rum, extract, sugar, flour, cinnamon, cardamom, and pecans. Fold in banana pieces.
3. Spread half of the mixture on one half of the puff pastry sheet and the rest of the mixture on the other half.
4. Roll up each puff pastry piece from the long edges like a log. Place the two pieces side-by-side and twist one over the other to form a rope.
5. Transfer the twisted puff pastry onto the parchment paper and shape it into an oval. Pinch ends together.
6. Bake 30 - 35 minutes until golden brown on top and cooked through. Set aside to cook.

For the icing

1. Combine powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth. Icing should be thick but pourable. 
2. (Skip this part if you choose to use sprinkles.) Divide icing into three bowls. Color with yellow, green, and purple food coloring. 
3. Pour icing over cooled king cake. (Skip this part if you choose to use food coloring.) Decorate with sprinkles. Allow icing to set.
4. Slice and serve.

Buffalo ranch mini pretzel dogs

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible! 

Pretzel dogs make for a delicious Super Bowl snack, and you won’t believe how easy they are to make. I use store-bough refrigerated pizza dough in this recipe because it is almost identical to pretzel dough. The only difference is the hydration levels. You probably wouldn’t be able to tell a difference if they were side-by-side. 

But the real key to making homemade pretzels is a lye bath. Lye is what makes a pretzel a pretzel and not just a baked piece of dough.

What is lye?

Lye, which is also known as sodium hydroxide is an alkaline compound that boosts flavorful browning by accelerating the Maillard reaction and caramelizing sugars on the outside of the dough as it bakes. The stronger the alkali, the better the results. Lye is a very strong alkali with a pH of 14. 

Some people use baking soda if they’re uncomfortable using lye. Baking soda has a pH around 8.3. That’s a big difference. That’s why it doesn’t work nearly as well as lye. Baking soda pretzels are lighter in color and flavor.

Where can I find lye?

You can find lye online. Here is the lye I use.

What are safety tips for working with lye?

Lye is poisonous and must be handled with extreme caution. The lye solution we’re working with is very diluted, but it can still cause skin irritation. That’s why you should always wear gloves and long sleeves when working with lye, and don’t touch anything that has been in contact with the solution.

Add lye to the water, don’t add water to the lye.

Keep the solution away from pets and children. 

How do you give the pretzel dogs buffalo ranch flavor?

Brushing the pretzel dogs with Challenge Buffalo Snack Spread right after they come out of the oven is the key to delicious buffalo flavor. If you can find the snack spread, you can mix a little buffalo sauce with softened butter. Then I rolled the pretzel dogs around in ranch seasoning. It's that easy! One thing I learned is to add the butter and seasoning after it's done baking because otherwise the seasoning may burn in the oven. 

Buffalo ranch mini pretzel dogs

Yield: Makes 42 mini pretzels

Time: About 90 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound pizza dough, room temperature
• 1 (14 oz) package mini smoked sausages (or 10 hot dogs or sausages, cut in fourths)
• 1 quart cold water
• 1 ounce food-grade lye* (see notes for how to substitute baking soda)
• 4 Tablespoons Challenge Buffalo Snack Spread, melted (can substitute 3 Tablespoons softened butter plus 1 Tablespoon buffalo sauce)
• 2 Tablespoons ranch seasoning
• Also helpful: Spray bottle filled with water**

Directions

1. Prepare 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and grab large slotted spoon. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Divide dough into 8 pieces so it’s easier to work with.
4. Roll one of the pieces into a long rope and tightly wrap it around mini smoke sausage. Once the sausage is covered, cut the dough from the rest of the rope and press down the end so the seam is smooth. Place sausage on one baking sheet.
5. Continue to wrap dough around sausages until you run out of dough. Place all wrapped sausages onto same baking sheet.
6. Put on clean food safe gloves, grab large slotted spoon, and clear work surface.
7. Pour water into large glass or stainless steel bowl. Add lye to water and stir until lye is dissolved.
8. Use slotted spoon to carefully lower several pretzel dogs into lye bath. Push down pretzel dogs with back of spoon so they’re fully submerged. 
9. Remove with slotted spoon after 10 seconds. Allow excess lye solution to drip off before sliding onto baking sheet.
10. Continue process until all of the pretzel dogs have been dipped in lye bath.
11. Rearrange the pretzel dogs so they’re about 1 inch apart using both baking sheets if necessary.
12. Remove gloves and sprinkle each pretzel dog with flaky sea salt.
13. Bake for about 10 minutes or until pretzel dogs are dark, glossy brown.
14. Immediately after removing pretzel dogs from oven, brush with Challenge Buffalo Snack Spread and cover in ranch seasoning.

NOTES

*Use extreme caution when handling lye solution. Always wear gloves. It can cause skin irritation if not handled correctly. Keep the solution away from pets and children. Dispose of the lye bath immediately after you’ve finished using it. You can pour it down the drain. If you cannot find lye here is how you substitute with baking soda: Bring 6 cups water and 2 Tablespoons baking soda to a boil. Submerge pretzels into baking soda bath for 1 minute. Remove with slotted spoon and place on baking sheet.

**I like to use a spray bottle with water to wet the dough a bit before rolling it into a rope. I also spritz the parchment paper so the dough doesn’t stick to it.

Beer cheese dip

Yield: Makes about 2 cups

Time: About 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 8 ounces Velveeta cheese, cut into cubes
• 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 4 ounces IPA beer

Directions

1. Heat Velveeta in small saucepan. 
2. Once cheese is mostly melted, add mustard and Worcestershire sauce and stir until combine.
3. Slowly pour in beer and continue to stir until cheese is completely melted.
4. Serve warm.