We break from France and cook in our own kitchen

We love watching the cooking shows on PBS. A very favorite is "Secrets of a Chef: Hubert Keller." He is a delightful, talented man who was born in the Alsace region of France. He also owns 6 restaurants including three "Burger Bars" in Las Vegas, St. Louis and San Francisco.

Not planning a visit to any of those 3 cities in the near future, we decided to prepare his "Double Salmon Tartare Burgers" at home. We enjoyed them very much along with a fresh green salad and several shrimp sauteed in butter and garlic. We also had the tartar sauce, but did not make the green apple relish or place the burgers on rolls. Nevertheless,
the salmon burgers were amazing and worth a try.

Double Salmon Tartare Burgers

Tartare Dressing

4 large egg yolks, pasteurized

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons ketchup

2 teaspoons hot sauce

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Mix all in a food processor except for the olive oil, Add it slowly, drop by drop, pulsing until thickened. (I will admit, we simply added some mayonnaise to the other ingredients and eliminated the need to make the homemade mayo. For the small amount we needed, it still tasted wonderful.)

Burgers

14 ounces skinless salmon fillet, chilled

6 ounces smoked salmon, chilled

1 medium shallot, finely chopped

1 heaping tablespoon capers, drained and roughly chopped

1 heaping tablespoon finely chopped cornichons

2 teaspoons finely chopped tarragon

1 tablespoon finely chopped flat leaf parsley

2 tablespoons of the above tartare dressing

salt and freshly ground pepper

In a food processor, put the shallot, capers, cornichons, tarragon and parsley in the work bowl and process until finely chopped. Cut the fish in 1 inch cubes, add them to the work bowl and chop with quick pulses, scraping down the sides as necessary. Stop when you still have texture. Pulse in 2 tablespoons tartare dressing and pepper to taste.

Divide into 4 equal portions and shape into patties 1 inch thick. Refrigerate to let the flavors develop.

Heat olive oil in a large heavy skillet until very hot. Cook until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes total.

And the perfect wine for this meal was a Konrad 2008 . It was a very typical New Zealand sauvignon blanc wine with lovely grapefruit flavors, very well-balanced, not too dry, not too sweet.