Foodista's Turkey Fasirky

What on earth are fasirky, you might ask? Although the name and its spelling might be unfamiliar to you, the actual food is quite complimentary with our culture, as it's essentially  mini burgers that are prepared a bit differently. 

Fasirky are a Slovak dish and they refer to ground meat patties that are combined with egg, breadcrumbs, sometimes scallions and anything else you can think of.  It's usually a quick, stand-by dish that a lot of Slovak people turn to when they want a home cooked meal that doesn't take long to prepare.  I grew up eating it at home and Dan quickly came to love them, to the point where he asks my mom if she can make them all the time.

I decided to try my own version last night - just by process of improvisation and from watching my mom, grandmother and uncle make them over the years.  Mine incorporate turkey meat, but you can also use ground beef, chicken, lamb or a mix of them.

Foodista's Turkey Fasirky:

Ingredients (serves 2):
1 lb of ground turkey meat
1 - 1 1/2 chopped scallions
1 egg
1/2 garlic clove, minced (optional)
Handful of breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable or canola oil

Directions:
Combine the meat with the scallions, egg, garlic, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper.  Fully incorporate with your hands until you get a consistency that's firm enough to form a patty.  If you need to add more breadcrumbs, then do until you get the right consistency.

Form meat mixture into 3 inch oval patties and flatten them out a little.  Not as much as you'd flatten a burger but just so they don't resemble large meatballs.

Then prepare your sautee pan with a generous glug of oil on medium heat.  Give it some time to get super hot and then drop in your meat patties.  Turn over after about 4 minutes or until golden brown on the outside.  Repeat with the other side and make sure the sides are cooked too.  If you need more time for the sides, lower the heat and just leave the patties to cook several minutes longer.  If you're unsure about the doneness of your meat, cut one patty in half to make sure you're in the clear.

Enjoy with some cous-cous, mashed potatoes, a veggie salad - whatever you please.  For my side dish, I used round cous-cous and added chopped scallions and really tiny pieces of radish. It was good!