Shrimp Burgers with Orange Aioli

Now that weddings have come and gone and my apartment is finally in order, it's time for life to return to normal.  A normal life for me means cooking well-rounded meals - no more takeout.  When I found huge, gorgeous shrimp on sale, I decided the recipe to mark the return to normalcy would be a shrimp burger.

I chopped up some boiled shrimp and mixed them with mayo, panko bread crumbs, salt, and pepper.  If you have a little cream cheese, try mixing that in as well to help bind it and add a little flavor.  I didn't have any cream cheese, but I did have some shredded mozzarella.  Turns out that works as well.  Everything is cooked, so just pan fry it until it's firm and browned to your liking.  Don't flip it too soon - leave it alone.  Let it get nice and browned before you flip it; otherwise, it will fall apart.  I know this from experience.  I rectified the situation, but it was no longer a perfect patty.  While the shrimp burger was cooking, I mixed some mayo with garlic, orange zest, red pepper flakes, and a little fresh juice from the orange.  I spread that on a toasted bun ant then topped it with the shrimp burger.  We're talking about a 15 minute meal, including boiling the shrimp.

Not all citrus is created equal.  Lemon/garlic is great with seafood, but the orange is an unexpected twist.  Those shrimp were probably all "hey Orange, who are you and what have you done with our good friend Lemon?"  And then the orange was like "chill brotha, we're gonna get along just fine."  And they did.  Looks like we've got some new friends in the refrigerator.