Our family loves to eat fresh salmon. Salmon is so versatile.

During the summer months, I like to grind my own salmon, turkey, chicken, pork or beef for burgers, meatballs, pot stickers and other dishes.

An easy go-to meal for our family is salmon burgers with tartar sauce or each person’s favorite dressing, served with a side of French fries.

I also plate the salmon burgers for our family on top of a bed of riced cauliflower couscous with a side of green beans in butter.

Salmon burgers are easily dressed up and special for any weeknight meal or a weekend midsummer dinner party. Who knew that salmon, salt and pepper to taste, a bit of butter and your favorite seafood toppings would round out the list of ingredients for this flavorful meal.

Salmon Burgers

1 pound of uncooked salmon fillet, diced into chunks about 1 inch

Salt and pepper to taste

Clarified butter

Chopped parsley to taste

Optional: one egg and some breadcrumbs if binding is needed

Your favorite seafood toppings such as tartar sauce, dill mayo dressing, shredded farm lettuce, sliced onions, etc.

Cut 1 pound of uncooked fresh salmon fillet into 1-inch size pieces. Always check your salmon for bones, using tweezers to remove those thin bones from the fish if necessary.

Place salmon in a dish in the freezer, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until slightly firm. You can do two things. You can put the salmon through your meat grinder on the largest plate and grind it once or place the salmon into a cool food processor bowl, pulsing until the salmon is coarsely ground. The pieces, for either method, should hold together.

Portion the salmon into four equal patties. Place on a parchment-lined plate, cover and set in the refrigerator for about one hour.

Prepare a nonstick skillet, adding a bit of unsalted butter. Salt and pepper to taste each side of the burgers, then simply brown each salmon patty on both sides, approximately 2-3 minutes per side over medium high heat. I like to use clarified butter in the pan.

Place each salmon burger on hamburger-style rolls. These burgers can be topped with a fresh dill or wasabi mayo, tartar sauce, a squeeze of freshly cut lemon wedge, farm lettuce of your choice or even a bit of sliced onions.

Our family likes a slice of uncured cooked bacon on top. You can also add some diced, sautéed red, yellow or orange peppers, an egg, a bit of breadcrumbs and your favorite seafood spices to the recipe before cooking the burgers.

These burgers also go well at room temperature on top of a green salad with cucumbers and a cool creamy sour cream-based dressing, as a light lunch or dinner.