Sucessful Salmon Burgers

On to cooking with my dad who I think makes just about anything taste good (he's even had me liking venison before...awhile ago that is :).
I love to cook with him. Although I love me some veggies and he is definitely a meat guy...he also is the first one to try just about anything, loves interesting and exotic foods just as much as I do and indulges me in my crazy healthy substitutions . not without comment however :).

He also knows my culinary taste pretty well so when he mentioned that he wanted to attempt homemade salmon burgers...well you can just imagine my excitement! I quickly consulted my go-to-site (eatingwell.com) and found this gem of a recipe:
Salmon Burgers with Green Goddess Sauce

Let me just say that there are a ton of salmon burger recipes out there. So many in fact that it got a bit overwhelming. I choose this one because I thought it was a good simple recipe with ingredients i was familiar with and production that seemed just as simple.

We started by opting to get fresh salmon from the Lobster Man in our town (basically a truck with fresh seafood...YUM). After consulting my dad he thought we should add both the onion and scallion option so I went to work. My dad took the skin off the salmon and honestly the most intimidating part was chopping it up. The first thing on the recipe clearly states "The key to perfect salmon burgers is to handle the fish delicately: don't overseason, overhandle or overcook it. " Since i was in charge of the first two I was just a bit nervous...

After successfully completing the chopping I set to make the burgers. My sister Jenny (also a GREAT cook!) helped me scour the burgers (or separate into equal parts) and thankfully supervised the patty making process (ie told me when the patties were good looking). again, I didn't want to "overhandle" the salmon. After all patties were made and safely in the fridge we hit our first snag....I FORGOT TO ADD THE CILANTRO. Now if you haven't cooked with cilantro you may not know that its quite a potent flavor. So if a recipe calls for it chances are it a large flavor profile in the dish...what to do? My mom suggested just putting a bit on top of the burgers and pushing it in, but these burgers were on the delicate side. Jenny voted for reforming the patties...we went with Jenny's idea and good thing because the cilantro was great! (by the way if you aren't a cilantro fan feel free to leave this out...we just all love it!)
We prepped the burgers so far in advance that they had plenty of time to sit together in the fridge before the grill master (dad) came home. i think this helped the flavors come together as well as the patties!

The final step was out of my hands, thank goodness, when dad came to grill them up. I still haven't really attempted using a grill (thanks to living in an apartment my whole adult life) so i left that up to him. He did a great job! (not that we were ever worried).
I also threw together the Green Goddess Sauce

On to the critics reviews:
Erin - also had the option to have a beef burger...one bit of the salmon and she was hooked! She LOVE it and claims this was one of her favorites i have EVER MADE!!!!!
Mom - does not eat salmon. i repeat does not eat salmon....LOVE IT TOO!!!!!!
co chef Jenny and Dad loved theirs as well! We had actually made beef burgers because we weren't sure of success of these and no on touched them! We actually had to split the last salmon burger amongst ourselves.
These burgers were so flavorful, perfectly cooked and incredibly fresh tasting!
erin and i loved the green goddess sauce but my dad has a strong aversion to Fat free mayo :) so he wasn't the biggest fan...

Honestly these are a must make for anyone and everyone! I would typically say "if you like salmon/fish" but my mom hates is and she actually ate half a burger!
They took a bit more time and care then some of my recipes but they were well worth the worry!