Back when Gourmet was still magically appearing in my mailbox every month, I came upon this:

How good does that look? Seriously. And turkey burgers seem healthier than beef (although that may just be a lie I tell myself). These come with sundried tomato mayonnaise, which is super easy to make and can be used on other types of sandwiches as well.

In hindsight, I should have used a smaller blender thingy. If you have a small food processor or a smaller blender, use that. But a regular-sized blender will work if you don’t have other options.

I know some of you (cough cough Molly) despise mayonnaise, and I don’t generally like it either. I think this is pretty good, but if you are anti-mayo you can skip this skip altogether or try a substitute… Greek yogurt or sour cream, perhaps?

When you’re buying the ground turkey, look for the kind that is NOT all breast meat. Lean is OK, though.

This recipe also calls for a shallot, which is a cousin of the onion. It gives the burger some extra flavor, but it won’t kill the burgers if you have to leave it out due to an allergy or something.

I only used one clove.

The extra-sharp cheddar is a key part of this recipe. I am partial to the Cracker Barrel kind. Actually, my brother and I have always loved the Cracker Barrel cheese, even though we used to loathe Cracker Barrel restaurants (I don’t think they are related, but I could be wrong). My brother actually threw up on the floor in a Cracker Barrel once, to prove his hatred for cooked carrots. It was the waitress’ first day. Hahahahaha. We were such well-behaved children.

This recipe is really quite easy; the most challenging part is forming the patties and getting the cheese to stay inside. But if I can do it, you can. Just make sure the meat is closed all the way around the cheese before you put it on the grill/grill pan.

I am sure these would be lovely on an actual grill, but we live in an apartment so that isn’t really the easiest option. I used a grill pan, but you can use a regular pan if you don’t have a grill pan and don’t care about the pretty little grill marks.

The recipes says to flip them only once… but since I’m not exactly a grill master, it was more like three times. It is good to avoid lots of flipping though, if possible. You don’t want the yummy cheese to ooze out onto the pan.

Toast the buns while the burgers are cooking. You won’t be sorry.

Not quite as pretty as the professionally styled Gourmet picture, but not bad, right?

Makes 4 burgers (unless you can only find one pound of ground turkey, in which case it makes three burgers)

Turkey-cheddar burgers (Adapted from Gourmet magazine)
1 shallot, finely chopped*
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 lb ground turkey (NOT all-breast meat)
5 ounces extra-sharp cheddar, cut into 4 (1/2-inch) slices
4 hamburger buns
(Plus lettuce leaves for serving)

Preheat oven to 350. Cook shallot in oil in a skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden (2-3 minutes). Transfer to a bowl, then add salt, pepper and turkey. Stir gently to mix.

Using half the turkey mixture, form four small patties. Place a piece of cheese on top of each patty. Form four more patties with the remaining turkey and add to the existing patties. Squeeze the edges together to enclose cheese.

Heat a grill or well-oiled grill pan over moderately high heat. Grill burgers, turning once (see my note above) until cooked through — no longer pink — about 9 minutes. While burgers are cooking, toast the buns in the oven until crusty (about 5 minutes). Also prepare the…

Sundried tomato mayo
1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained**
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1/4 cup mayonnaise

Puree tomatoes with the water and vinegar in a blender or mini food processor. Then blend in mayonnaise. Spread on toasted buns, then add burgers and lettuce to serve.

*I only used one clove, but you can use the whole thing if you want more onion-y flavor.

**There are two kinds of sundried tomatoes at the grocery store: The dried kind and the oil-packed kind in a jar. Get the jar kind. If you can’t find them, you will have to follow the directions on the package of the dried kind to soften them.