Fish Burgers with Avocado Sauce

For fish burgers, I prefer to use whole fish steaks rather than the traditional method of combining crumbled fish with breadcrumbs and eggs. Fish steaks just taste better in my opinion, and they provide more of that characteristic "juicy burger bite" than a soft fish patty can offer. Also, by using a marinade of a few simple ingredeints, you have a burger that is lighter in calories.

While this is an easy recipe, choosing the right type of fish is essential. Here, I opted for scarlet snapper steaks with the skin on. Snapper in general maintains its structure to high heat but, if unavailable, you can substitute other meaty fish such as swordfish or tuna; basically any fish you would grill.

Fish Burgers with Avocado Sauce

Serves four

FOR AVOCADO SAUCE

1 whole Hass avocado, halved, seeded and peeled

1/2 cup fat free greek yogurt

1 roma tomato, chopped

1 shallot, chopped

2 tbsp chopped cilantro

salt to taste

FOR BURGERS

4 snapper steaks about 1" thick (1 lb total)

6 cloves garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)

salt and pepper

4 whole wheat hamburger buns, toasted

baby lettuce

To make the avocado sauce:

Combine avocado, yogurt, tomato, shallot, cilantro and salt in a food processor until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the burgers:

1. Using a microplane or the fine side of a box grater, grate the garlic cloves. Combine grated garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, chilli flakes, salt and pepper. Coat each side of the fish steaks well with this mixture. Refrigerate for at least half and hour.

2. Set a skillet over medium high heat and, once hot, add just enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom. Place the fillets, two at a time depending on the size of the skillet, skin side down and cook for four minutes. Flip and finish cooking on the other side for another three to four minutes or opaque throughout. Remove to a paper towel.

3. To arrange the burgers, place a handful of baby lettuces on the bottom half of a burger bun. Top with one fish steak, a generous dollop of the avocado sauce, and the top half of the bun.