BYLINES BY SCOTT
SPIKE MENDELSOHN’S ULTIMATE TURKEY BURGER
For Top Chef alum Spike Mendelsohn, the Hamptons is a summertime escape, resplendent with succulent local oysters, backyard BBQs, and games of beach volleyball. “Growing up with a name like Spike,” he says, “I’d better know how to play some volleyball….” Mendelsohn, who runs several DC-area restaurants, can often be found in Montauk. “I love to surf, and [Montauk] has some of the best on the East Coast.” Mendelsohn mixes up the ultimate après surf dinner: hearty (yet healthy) turkey burgers.
What first attracted you to the Hamptons?
The East End is so peaceful and beautiful. I need this type of scenery with all the crazy restaurant stuff I have going on; it’s a nice escape.
What inspired Shake, your new line of mesh-bottom beach totes?
I just got fed up with dragging the beach back to my house. The Shake bag allows you to shake out the sand on the beach.
You’ve been on Top Chef and Life After Top Chef. Which is your passion—TV or cooking?
My passion is traveling; TV and cooking are work.
Is there a scenario for all three?
Me in Maui with a tiki hut, surfboard, fishing pole, and a camera crew—we got a show!
What’s your favorite catch of the season?
That would have to be rockfish, served either broiled or ceviche.
If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be?
Mike Tyson. I’d serve fish that we caught on our fishing trip together.
TURKEY BURGERS
Serves 6
For the burger:
2 tbsp. butter
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced scallions
2 green apples, diced
1⁄2 cup canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1 cup Major Grey’s chutney
30 oz. ground turkey
1⁄2 cup lemon zest
1⁄2 cup lemon juice
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. black pepper
For the topping:
3 avocados, pitted, peeled, and diced
1 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 red onion, diced
Grated zest, juice of 2 lemons
2 tsp. olive oil
Additional ingredients:
6 multigrain potato buns
Canola oil
6 slices of Muenster cheese
6 lettuce leaves
6 tomato slices
6 red onion slices
Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Add celery, scallions, and apples, and cook, stirring, for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Purée chipotle peppers and chutney in blender until smooth. Combine with turkey, celery mixture, zest, and juice, then set aside. Mash together avocado, cilantro, onion, lemon zest and juice, and olive oil, and set aside. Add oil to a large skillet and place over medium heat. Roll six 5-ounce turkey balls into patties and place in skillet; season with salt and pepper. Cook for three minutes, flip, then cook for an additional minute. Place cheese on each patty and cook two more minutes for medium-rare. Place patty on toasted bun bottom, top with lettuce, tomato, onion, and spoonful of topping. Cover with top bun. Let rest two to three minutes, then serve.
Read the Article at Hamptons-Magazine.com HERE.
