Grilling with Mayor Ed Malloy

It is said that a person?s true character comes out in a game of golf, but I like to think there is much to be learned from watching someone in the kitchen.

You can tell a lot about a person by their choice of ingredients, the amount of spice used, the ease in which they maneuver about and the speed in which they cook.

On the heels of burning our dinner the night before I found myself in the beautiful home of Mayor Ed Malloy watching him prepare dinner. This man clearly is no rookie in a cooking environment so it began to make quick sense why his name came up repeatedly when I was asking around to find some of the area?s best grillers.

Paper and pen aside, I found myself leaning on the high counter, taking in the scent of the simple fresh ingredients going into the turkey burgers and on top of the fillet of trout. The truth of the matter is that I have never had a great turkey burger, so I decided to suppress my skepticism and give it a chance. After all, the trout was there to fall back on, and it had to be better than the previous night?s charred fiasco.

For starters, I am of the belief you can?t go wrong with cheese as an ingredient. Using a hard cheese, such as Romano or Parmesan, gives positive flavor to many things. Happily I saw it was one of the first ingredients in the burgers. With a few additional ingredients, the burgers were formed, the fish was on foil, everything was on a tray and we were off to the deck to grill.

Ed cooked the burgers on a medium heat while I took in the gorgeous day, the wonderful view of water and we talked about the day?s events. I was surprised when he announced the food was done, and in minutes we were seated taking our first bites.

Let me retract my earlier statement of never having a great turkey burger. I may never eat beef again. This burger was both moist and flavorful. With a quick spritz of lemon I then tasted some of the best grilled fish ever. Amazingly, salt was not added to either, and more surprisingly, I didn?t miss it.

Here?s how to do it:

Ed?s Turkey Burgers/Meatballs

1 pound ground turkey

1/4 cup shredded Romano (or any hard cheese)

1 egg

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (common basil oregano blend)

Optional: garlic/onion

Trout/Salmon

Juice from 1/2 lemon

Olive oil to coat

Rosemary

Place the trout in the center of a piece of aluminum foil.

Squeeze the juice from 1/2 lemon, then drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle or coat with rosemary (amount depends on how much you like it).

Pull sides of foil up to make a tent ? leaving the sides open.

Cook fish on a bit lower heat than burgers in order for both to finish at the same time.

Wonderful results.

Next I?m on a quest for something along the lines of good Kansas City barbecue.

Lowenberg is writing a summer barbecue series.