VERY Tasty Turkey Patties

Nothing like adding fat to improve the flavor of ground turkey — or anything else for that matter.  These turkey patties were juicy and tasty and ... okay, so they weren't particularly healthy but they were good!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 3-4 slices pre-cooked bacon
• 2-3 ounces cheddar cheese
• 1 Tbl. mustard
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs, Italian flavored if you have them.
• 1-2 Tbl. olive oil

Procedure:

1. Finely dice the bacon and cheese.
2. With your hands, mix turkey, bacon, cheese, mustard and bread crumbs.
3. On a clean surface, smooth the meat into a 1/2 inch thick sheet.
4. Using a wide-mouthed glass or round cookie cutter, cut equal-sized patties.  Remold the scraps until all has been used for patties.
5. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.
6. Sauté the patties 3-4 minutes per side.  
7. Remove patties from the pan and drain on paper towels.
8. Serve.

This made 9 "old-fashioned glass" diameter patties. 

UPDATE: This is more than one meal for us so we got to test them as leftovers the next night.  We "nuked 'em in the nuker."   A few seconds in the microwave, enough to hear them sizzle, brings them back to moist and tasty.  I can see mass-producing these for the freezer the next time ground turkey is on sale!

Portobellos with Sausage Stuffing

We needed a smallish meal to place between the luscious carnivore extravagances of the holidays.  This recipe stretches one link of grocery store Italian sausage to flavor a great meal for two.

Ingredients:

• 2 portobello mushroom caps
  
• 1 Italian sausage link (approximately 6" long by 1" diameter)
  
• 1-2 shallots, finely minced
  
• 2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely minced
  
• 1/2 cup Italian-flavored bread crumbs or plain bread crumbs and Italian herb seasoning
• 1/2-3/4 cup grated parmesan, divided
  
• 1 egg
• 3-4 Tbl. olive oil, divided
• romaine lettuce
• salad dressing

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F
2. On top of the stove, heat 2 Tbl. olive oil in a largish oven-proof skillet 
3. Remove the stems from the portobello mushroom caps, taking care not to break the caps, and mince the pieces of stem
4. Scrape the gills out of the mushrooms with a spoon and discard them
   
5. Squeeze the sausage meat out of its casing and break into small pieces
6. Sauté the sausage meat, onions, garlic, and stem pieces until the meat is done
7. Add the parsley and sauté just long enough for the parsley to wilt
8. Remove the meat mixture to a bowl large enough to mix the stuffing, making sure to get as much as possible out of the skillet
9. Coat the portobello caps inside and out with olive oil and place open-side down in the skillet
10. Bake for 8 minutes
11. Let the meat mixture cool and then mix in the bread crumbs, half the cheese, and the egg to make a stuffing
12. Remove the mushroom caps from the oven and flip them so that the open side is up
13. Mound the stuffing on top of the mushrooms and top with the remaining cheese
14. Bake another 15 minutes
15. Make a salad of dressed romaine lettuce on each plate and place the stuffed mushroom on top.

A complete and satisfying meal!  And it dirties only one pot ... and a knife, the cutting board, a bowl to mix the stuffing and to dress the romaine, ...

Perky Turkey Meatballs

Here's a formula for turkey meatballs with sufficient flavor and bite to stand up against most any sauce you put with them. Tonight, we had them with peas and rice flavored with mushrooms, shallots, curry powder and yogurt. I'm looking forward to having them over dilled carrots in a paprikash sauce. Ooh, they'd also be good in a wedding soup. Yum. Luckily, I made enough for several meals.

Ingredients:

• 1-1½ pounds ground turkey
• 1 egg
• ½-¾ cup bread crumbs, optionally use seasoned bread crumbs
  
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. lemon pepper
• 1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 Tbl. olive oil
• ½ cup chicken broth
  

Procedure

1. Thorougly mix turkey, egg, bread crumbs and seasonings. This is most easily done with your bare hands although a potato masher will work, too.
2. Roll the mixture into ¾"-1" balls
3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet with a lid
   
4. Brown the meatballs on at least two sides but do not worry at this stage on cooking them all the way through
5. Pour the chicken broth into the pan and cover letting the meatballs steam to finish cooking all the way through
6. Remove the meatballs from the pan and drain.
7. Use immediately or store for later use.

When you remove the meatballs from the pan, you can start your sauce in the pan. For example

1. Sauté finely chopped mushrooms and shallots
2. Add frozen peas, rice, water and curry powder
   
3. Simmer until the rice was done
4. Stir in some plain yogurt
5. Add turkey meatballs and warm through

Add the peas later if you want them bright green.

Easy Hamburgers & Sweet Potato Oven Fries Redux

This time with pictures & just salt & pepper on the "fries." We served them with sweet gherkins and some tasty honey-dill mustard. Preheat an iron grill pan in a 400°F oven.
Peel the sweet potatoes & cut into french fry size.
Toss the potato pieces in 2 Tbl. olive oil and season as desired. Lay in a single layer on a roasting pan. Roast in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Flip the potatoes and return to oven.
Put the hamburgers on the grill pan, only oiling the pan if you are using very low fat burgers. Roast in the over for 8-10 minutes. Flip the burgers and roast another 6-8 minutes and check for doneness. Continue to cook until they reach the desired doneness. The USDA recommends 160°F for ground beef but remove the burgers from the oven at a slightly lower temperature because the temperature will continue to rise. When the burgers are done, the potatoes will be done, too.

The previous post on hamburgers and sweet potato fries is here.

Tweaking the Easiest Hamburger Meal

After many years of making pan-cooked hamburgers that were dry, hard on the outside, too raw in the middle, I am so happy to discover oven grilled hamburgers! The first time I tried them the result was exactly medium burgers, no pink but still juicy. This time I aimed for the rare side of medium with just a blush of pink. Nailed it.

Procedure:

• Place ridged grill pan in oven and preheat to 450°
• Lightly brush hot grill pan with oil to prevent sticking
• Place 3/4 inch thick burgers on pan and return to oven for ten minutes
• Flip burgers and return to oven for another 6 minutes

In the same time it takes to roast the burgers, you can roast some vegetables. Here's what we had as our side dish:

Ingredients:

• Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
• Mushrooms, stems trimmed and halved if largish -- make them about the size of the sprout halves
• Dried herb mix, salt & pepper, e.g. McCormick Italian Seasoning, ground sea salt, and Alessi Lemon Pepper.
  
• Olive oil
  

Procedure:

1. Place trimmed and halved veggies in a single layer on a broiling pan, roasting pan, or cookie sheet with sides.
   
2. "Droozle" a bit of olive oil over the veggies
   
3. Sprinkle on the herbs, salt & pepper
4. Stir to coat the veggies and the bottom of the pan -- I use my hands for this
5. Roast in a pre-heated 450° oven 10 minutes
   
6. Stir and roast another 6 minutes

This make such an easy supper!! In thirty minutes or less,

1. Turn the oven on and put the grill pan in.
2. Prepare the veggies.
3. When the oven is at temperature, put the veggies in, brush oil on the hot grill pan and add the burgers
   
4. Leave alone in the oven for 10 minutes
5. Flip the burgers & stir the veggies
6. Leave alone in the oven for 6 minutes
7. Supper!!

What could be simpler?

Hamburgers & Sweet Potato "Fries" in the Oven

Here's a meal that takes very little prep time and only thirty minutes in the oven. Burgers and fries are not exactly "good for you" but letting the burgers grill up out of the grease and making sweet potato fries in the oven is a healthier version.

I used Za'atar to flavor the fries. Za'atar is a variable mixture of herbs, often with thyme as a base, used in Middle-Eastern cooking. I've spoken before about buying spices while on vacation. I got this bag of Za'atar at a Lebanese grocery store while visiting friends in Los Angeles.

Ingredients:

• Sweet potato
  
• Ground beef shaped into hamburgers about 1 inch thick
• Za'atar or other herb mix for the potatoes
• Salt
  
• Olive oil

Determine amounts by how many servings you want. For two servings I used one large sweet potato and two four-ounce burgers.

Procedure:

1. Place an iron grill pan in the oven if you have one (If you don't have an iron grill pan, forego preheating the pan and use a broiling pan with a rack.)
2. Turn on the oven and preheat to 400°
   
3. Peeled the sweet potato and cut into french-fry shaped pieces about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick
4. Toss the sweet potato in olive oil to coat.
5. Toss the coated potatoes with Za'atar and salt to taste
6. Place the potatoes in a single layer on a baking pan
   
7. When the oven is up to heat, cook the potatoes for 10 minutes
8. By this time your grill pan should be very hot. Use a barbecue brush to "paint" the grill pan (or rack) with olive oil to prevent sticking.
   
9. Place the hamburger on the oiled grill pan or rack and cook in the oven for 10 minutes.
   
10. Flip the burgers and the potatoes.
11. Cook another 10 minutes (30 minutes total for the potatoes, 20 minutes for the burgers)

It this point, the burgers will be medium well-done and the potatoes will be soft and slightly carmelized. We put some honey dill mustard on the burgers. Yum.

Only for Asparagus Lovers: Spargel Ragoût

Spring is sprung and the asparagus at the grocery store is looking better and better. Although not much beats asparagus washed, quickly microwaved, and topped with lemon butter, Spring is the time of year for asparagus stew -- Spargel Ragoût. This recipe came down through my father's German relatives and has been modernized (and probably "Americanized") over the years. Don't be shy with the nutmeg.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds asparagus
• 2 Tbl. butter or margarine
• 2 Tbl. flour
• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  
• 1 Tbl. ground nutmeg (Use less if freshly grating the nutmeg.)
  
• Salt & pepper
• Brown or white rice, cooked, to serve as a base for serving the stew.
  

Preparation:

1. Wash & break asparagus into 1 inch pieces, throwing away the tough ends.
2. Boil the asparagus in two quarts of water flavored with 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. nutmeg until just tender. Drain, reserving both the water and the asparagus.
3. In the same pot, melt the butter and add the flour, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper, and 1 tsp. nutmeg. Cook while stirring to make a roux.
4. Slowly pour the reserved asparagus water into the roux, stirring to avoid lumps. Bring to a simmer.
5. Separate the eggs, beat the whites until stiff.
6. Mix egg yolks, ground meat, bread crumbs, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper, and 1 tsp. nutmeg.
   
7. Fold beaten egg white into meat mixture.
8. Drop meat by spoonfuls into the simmering asparagus stock.
9. When the meat is done, return the asparagus to the pot.
10. When the asparagus is hot, serve the resulting stew over cooked rice.

As the title says, only for asparagus lovers but if that's you, you'll love this.

Ground Chuck Bounty

Ground chuck was on sale for less than $2/pound, the problem being that the minimum amount was 4 pounds. With only two of us to feed, a way to use this bounty of cheap meat was needed. So, time to feed the freezer again!

We need meals that can be nuked when I have to teach at supper time and I think it's safer to pre-cook any mixture including ground meat. So, when all was said and done, 4 pounds of ground chuck, 4 eggs, some bread crumbs, and a variety of flavorings yielded 8 meals of meat servings for two, ready to be eaten with a short stint in the microwave.

Ground chuck has a higher proportion of fat than other ground meats but much of that can be cooked off. Thus, no olive oil was added to these, unlike meatloaves and meatballs made with ground turkey or chicken, where the olive oil is needed to add the flavor strengthening of fat.

Meatloaf is a wonderful place to hide a green leafy vegetable like spinach. We all need to eat more dark green leaves and this is a good way to slip them in where they aren't even noticed.

INGREDIENTS

• Ground chuck separated into 1 pound lumps (each pound results in four servings)
• 1 egg for every pound of meat
• A different set of flavorings for each pound of meat
• 1/4 pound of baby spinach or a bunch of parsley for each pound of meat
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs for each pound of meat.

PROCEDURE

1. Preheat oven to 375 for meatloaves.
   
2. Decide what ingredients you will use to flavor each meatloaf or set of meatballs.
3. Whir the egg, flavoring ingredients, and spinach or parsley in a food processor until well chopped.
4. In a large bowl, knead together a pound of meat with each one-egg mixture.
5. Shape into meat loaves, meat balls or patties.
6. Bake meatloaves until internal temperature reaches about 165°. Sauté meatballs or patties until no longer pink inside.
7. Allow to cool and freeze in meal-sized portions.

Among the flavoring ingredients that work well added meatloaf are

• herbs like basil, dill, or cilantro,
  
• exotics like sundried tomatoes, pitted olives, jarred pesto or tapenade
  
• vegetables like carrot, onion, celery, or shallots
• sauces like ketchup, mustard, horseradish sauce, or barbecue sauce
• Spices and garlic

Use your imagination to combine two or three of these together, for example

• garlic, chopped basil and sun-dried tomatoes
• Mustard, carrot and dill
• Cilantro, olives and bell pepper

Then, all you need do for supper is pull out a meat loaf and heat it in the microwave. Add a bag of frozen veggies or a salad and voilà.

Moist Turkey Meatloaf

One of the tricks that seems to result in a moist meatloaf is to use the food processor to make a frothy liquid of the eggs and other ingredients before them to the meat and bread crumbs. Another trick is to add a carrot, which is in itself moist. Here's last night's turkey meatloaf.

1 pound ground turkey
2 eggs
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 carrot cut into 1 inch pieces
3 green onions cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 bunch curly parsley roughly chopped
1/4 cup sundried tomato pesto
2 Tbl. olive oil + oil for pan
Salt & pepper
1/2-3/4 cup bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a food processor, whir eggs, ricotta, vegetables, pesto, and olive oil until well mixed and somewhat frothy.
3. In a large bowl, fold all the ingredients until well mixed.
4. Grease a glass or metal pan with olive oil and spoon in the meat mixture. Cooking the meat in a pan keeps any juices in the loaf rather than around it on a flat pan.
5. Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, using an inversion thermometer to make sure the interior has reached at least 165 degrees.

My favorite pan for this is an old glass tube pan I found at a farmyard auction in Indiana.

Turkey Meatballs that Taste Like Something

All measurements are approximate & adjustable. Beginning to end about 45 minutes. 4 hefty servings.

1 lb. ground turkey
1 egg
1 small onion or 1/2 medium onion
4-5 cloves garlic
1 bunch flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
2 Tbs. olive oil + olive oil for sautéing
Salt, pepper & nutmeg to taste (20-30 grinds each from disposable grinders)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can beef broth (use the broth to wrest the last of the mushroom soup from the can)

• In food processor, whirr egg, onion, garlic, parsley, 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg until well chopped and mixed.
• In a large bowl, mix turkey with the previous mix and bread crumbs. If the mixture is too wet to form meatballs add more bread crumbs but don't use too many or they will make the meatballs too dry.
• Form meatballs about 1-1/2 inches in diameter.
  
• Heat a layer of olive oil in a sauté pan and brown the meatballs on at least two sides. Do not worry about the interior of the meatballs being done. They will cook more in the sauce.
• Mix the soup and broth in another sauté pan with a cover.
• Add meatballs to the soup/broth mixture and simmer about 15 minutes.

Serve meatballs and sauce over the base of your choice: vegetables, noodles or rice. It is quite good over fresh or frozen green beans.