Shrimp Cake Sliders

I had some frozen shrimp in the freezer that really needed to be used so I decided to turn them into a dish with lots of other flavors.  The recipe for shrimp burgers came from the “Well Plated by Erin” blog and is described – “This shrimp burger recipe has a perfect texture with no binders. Add Southern or Cajun spices for a fresh, healthy change to summer grilling!”  I followed the recipe except I peeled the shrimp and soaked them in salted milk overnight and I made them slider sized – 3oz.

Shrimp Burgers

Ingredients:

2 pounds raw shrimp - peeled, tail removed, deveined, divided

3 cloves garlic peeled

1 tablespoon ground paprika

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon seafood seasoning (Old Bay)

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 green onions roughly chopped, divided

1 small red bell pepper roughly chopped, divided

¼ cup roughly chopped fresh parsley

Olive oil for frying

Sliced white cheddar (Larry addition)

Mayo or Greek yogurt

Dijon mustard

Sliced tomato

Lettuce

Instructions:

1. In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, add 2/3 of the shrimp.

2. Add the garlic, paprika, mustard, salt, seafood seasoning, and cayenne. Pulse a few times to begin to incorporate. 

3. Add 1/2 of the green onion and 1/2 of the bell pepper. Puree until fairly smooth, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

4. Finely chop the remaining shrimp, bell pepper, and green onion (you want the shrimp to bind with the burgers but still be a little chunky so that the burgers have texture). 

5. Add to the bowl and stir until evenly combined.

6. At this point I departed from the recipe to pan fry them.

7. Weigh out 3oz. balls, cover, and refrigerate until cooking time.

8. In a pan with oil over medium heat, add the shrimp balls one at a time and flatten to the desired slider size with the back of a spatula.

Shape mixture into 3oz slider sized patties that are about ¾-inch thick and place in the refrigerator and chill for 15 minutes.

Make sure your grill is very clean. Brush the outsides of the shrimp patties with oil. Place on the grill (clean it one more time for good measure—any debris can make the patties stick), close the lid, then cook on the first side without disturbing for 4 to 5 minutes, until the patties release easily. Flip and cook on the other side until the patties are cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes more.

9. Cook until golden brown then flip, add cheese, and a lid and cook until cheese is melted.

10. If desired, in the last few minutes of cooking, place the buns under the broiler, cut side up, and lightly toast.

11. Serve the shrimp burgers on the toasted buns, topped with Greek yogurt, mayo, mustard, lettuce, and tomato as desired. 

The Verdict:

They were very good and a great use of the shrimp - Cindy just raved about them.  Bev said “they are good but I’d rather have fried shrimp” – that’s like saying hamburger is good but I’d rather have filet mignon – duh.  I would make them again even if I didn’t have shrimp that needed to be used but I'd cut back on the Old Bay.

And for dessert, Bev made some chocolate covered strawberries.

After making the 3oz. shrimp cakes, I had 4-5 oz. remaining so I fried it as one cake for breakfast the next morning.  

I just nuked it until the cheese melted and, you guessed it, I topped with a jumbo fried egg cooked in a ring mold and in the same pan (un washed) as the cakes for extra flavor.

Not surprisingly, it was delicious and I'm hard pressed t say which meal I enjoyed more.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

05/24/23 meal date