Tilapia Fish Burgers with Lemon Caper Mayonnaise

* Timing note: you should prepare your lemon caper mayonnaise at least 6 hours prior to cooking your burgers.

Place the tilapia fillets in an oven proof bowl, coat with a little olive oil, and season with salt , pepper and herbs de provence. Add a splash of cold water and bake in a 400ºF (200ºC) oven for about 12 minutes or until cooked through and flaking easily.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then place fish in a bowl and flake with a fork. Try to keep the pieces a little chunky (as you would for crab cakes) so that you can identify the fish pieces in the burger.

Finely chop the red onion, bell pepper, parsley, and green onion and add to the fish along with the dijon mustard, egg and mayonnaise.

Place about 2 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs in a bowl and add enough milk to soften the breadcrumbs but not make them a soggy mess. Allow the breadcrumbs to absorb all the milk then add to the fish mixture. If you end up with too much milk in the bowl, sometimes this is hard to judge. Just squeeze the breadcrumbs in your hand, place that in the fish mixture and discard the excess milk.

Combine well. Your mixture should be moist and just holding together. You may need to a touch more mayonnaise but be prudent as you do not want a soggy mayonnaise mess.

Place in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up before forming into burgers.

Remove from the fridge and form into burgers approximately 3 inches wide and no more than 1/2 inch thick. You do not want these to be too thick or they will fall apart in the cooking process and you will end up burning the outside of the burger and the middle part of the burger will be “uncooked.”

Preheat a nonstick frypan and coat the bottom of the pan (barely) with the canola oil. Meanwhile, form the burgers and press the outside of each burger in the remaining panko breadcrumbs and shallow fry the burgers until a light golden colour.

Place cooked burgers in a pyrex or ovenproof dish and bake in a 400ºF or 200ºC oven for about 8–10 minutes until heated through.

Squeeze a fresh lemon over the burger before serving.

Lemon Caper Mayonnaise:

Combine all of the above ingredients and adjust seasoning as needed. Allow flavours to develop for at least 6 hours or overnight in the fridge if possible. Spoon on top of the burgers and enjoy.