Greek Turkey Burgers

Over the summer, I had a plethora of cucumbers to use. From my small porch garden, the cucumbers were the most productive this year. And since I can only tolerate so many pickles and salads, it was time to go Greek. One of my favorite Mediterranean sauces is tzatziki, a cucumber-yogurt sauce served on gyros and souvlaki. So, with the help of a Bon Appetit magazine recipe, I decided to make Greek turkey burgers (or in Iron Chef speak "turkey burgers with cucumber 2 ways").

Greek Turkey Burgers
Makes 4 servings. Adapted from Bon Appetit magazine.

Ingredients
1 1/3 lbs ground turkey
4 oz feta
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt
Cooking spray
1/2 cup cucumber, grated
6 oz Greek yogurt
1 tbsp mint, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
4 hamburger buns, split and toasted
Lettuce, for topping
Tomato, sliced, for topping
Cucumber, thinly sliced lengthwise, for topping
Peperoncini, for garnish

Directions


For this recipe, I used the "Pheta Cheese" from the local Chapel Hill Creamery. It came in large blocks in a salty brine. It wasn't as soft as some fetas, but it was still very a very tasty cheese. Stir together the turkey, feta, red onion, oregano, lemon zest, and salt, making sure not to overmix. Shape mixture into 4 patties, about 1/2" thick.

Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat and coat with cooking spray. Place burgers on the grill and cook each about 5 minutes per side or until they are done all the way through. Remember, this is poultry and not beef, so there's a fine line between fully cooked (not pink) and dried out.

Stir together cucumber, yogurt, mint, and 1/2 tsp salt in a small bowl. To assemble burgers, spread buns with tzatziki and load with burger and toppings of your choice. Garnish plate with peperoncini. I also prepared some oven roasted potato wedges to serve on the side that I seasoned with salt, pepper, and dried oregano.


I love burgers because they can make for a quick dinner on a busy weekday night. Form 'em, grill 'em and eat 'em. These burgers tasted great without being too greasy. In fact, the yogurt sauce and cucumbers gave them a fresh taste. Feel free to use whatever fresh herbs you want in the tzatziki. The mint in this version is a traditional Greek flavor, but fresh oregano, parsley or thyme could be great. So take a break from the weekly plain cheeseburger and go Greek!

Pappardelle with Corn Pesto

At the height of the summer corn season, I often feel like I'm up to my ears in ears. Strands of corn silk hide in various corners of my kitchen. Every time I open my CSA box, I'm horrified to see more corn. Just when I get rid of all of my tomatoes and zucchini, armies of husked soldiers descend upon my house. This is when you have to turn to food blogs, websites and magazines for inspiration. Luckily for me, during the height of this corny panic attack, an issue of Bon Appetit arrived at my door telling me, "Everything is going to be alright. We feel your pain and we can help."

Tagliatelle with Corn Pesto
Makes 6 servings. Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
4 slices turkey bacon, sliced in half lengthwise, then crosswise in 1/2" pieces
4 cups corn kernels (about 6 ears-worth of corn)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1.25 tsp salt
3/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/3 cup olive oil
8 oz pappardelle
3/4 cup basil, torn, divided

Directions
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook bacon until crisp and brown, then transfer to paper towels. Add corn, garlic, salt, and pepper to pan and saute until corn is tender, but not browned. Reserve 1.5 cups of the corn in a small bowl.


Place the remaining corn into a food processor. Add Parmesan and pine nuts. Blend this mixture until it is well combined. Stream in olive oil until the pesto is smooth.

Cook pasta in salted water in a large pot until just al dente. Reserve 1.5 cups of the pasta water and drain the pasta. Add the pasta back into the pot along with pesto, corn, 1/2 cup basil, and bacon. Toss mixture together over medium heat until ingredients are evenly distributed. Add in pasta water, if necessary, 1/4 cup at a time until pasta and sauce are at the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with remaining basil and Parmesan to taste.


This is one of the most creative ways I've seen corn used. It could have become cornbread, succotash, corn relish, corn on the cob, or corn chowder, but instead it made a delightfully summery entree. Sauteing the corn caramelizes it a bit and brings out a lovely sweetness. Combine this with the fragrant pine nuts and some salty Parmesan and it gives the pasta a beautiful golden color. The taste was incredible, allowing the corn to shine without making you feel like you just dumped some kernels on some macaroni and called it a day. I think this dish is very elegant with a lot of subtle simplicity that makes it a wonderful treat after a long, hot summer day. And it also goes to show you - you can make pesto out of pretty much anything. Buon appetito!

Cobb Salad

I've been a bit lazy about making my own lunch as of late. Some weeks you just don't feel like planning what you want to make for every meal, so then you end up at the cafeteria every day. I tried to make healthy choices there, but you know that even if you get soup or even the salad bar, you end up with sub-par ingredients and extra, unforeseen calories. So I finally took action and took back my lunch.

Earlier this year, Saveur Magazine did a story on the origin of Cobb salad. They showed their recipe for the quintessential Cobb. For me, it involved a few too many ingredients for my state of mind, so I slimmed it down both in steps as well as in calories.

Cobb Salad
Makes 4 servings (or, in my case, 5 lunches)

Ingredients
Dressing
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Salad
1 head romaine lettuce, cored and chopped
2 oz blue cheese, crumbled
6 slices turkey bacon, cooked, chopped
3 hard-boiled eggs, cubed
2 tomatoes, seeded, cubed
2 chicken breasts, cooked, cubed
2 tbsp chives, chopped

Instructions
To make the dressing, combine all ingredients in a blender or plastic shaker and blend until smooth. I'm not sure why, but many recipes call for a lot of oil in their dressings, so I've halved the total oil content so you can taste more of the other ingredients.

The rest of the salad is pretty straightforward. Put some lettuce on a plate (or plastic container), and top it with the blue cheese, turkey bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and chicken however you like. Dust it all with chives and drizzle on dressing to taste.


A good salad should be satisfying. It's as simple as that. If you want to eat a salad as a meal to help cut calories, then you have to do it right. You can't eat lettuce with salt and pepper because you will be hungry in about an hour or so. You also can't go overboard with tons of creamy dressings and calorie-dense ingredients, because that defeats the purpose. This Cobb salad is a good balance of these extremes. You get good protein and vegetables to fill you up without ruining your figure. The dressing in this salad is good, but for me a Cobb is all about the vast array of ingredients that you get to eat in various combinations. A little salty, a little crunch, a little soft, a little bland, you get it all. So if you're tired of the same-old, bland cafeteria options, you can liberate yourself with a little blending and chopping.

Strawberry-Turkey Panino

After an afternoon of jamming, I wanted a strawberry-themed lunch without resorting to a salad. Luckily, Southern Living had a recipe for a sandwich using fresh strawberries. I changed a little bit to suit my own needs and pantry, but the spirit of the sandwich remains the same.


I started with two slices of whole wheat bread and built my sandwich containing 5 slices of smoked turkey lunch meat, 1 slice of muenster cheese, 4 basil leaves, and three sliced strawberries. Be sure to keep the cheese to the outside and the berries and basil to the inside of the sandwich to get the cheese melty but the produce still whole.


For equipment, I used my George Foreman grill. No need to buy a separate panini press when a nearly ubiquitous Foreman grill works just as well. I buttered both sides of the sandwich to get a good crust and put the sandwich on for just a couple minutes.


In less than five minutes I made myself a hot and berry-licious lunch sandwich. The original recipe calls for brie instead of muenster, but I feel they both work well with the strawberries and the turkey. The cheese doesn't overwhelm the smokey flavor of the meat or the luscious berries. And the basil adds a fresh pop of licoriceness to add extra intrigue. I would recommend using a sturdier bread such as Italian when making the sandwich so it does not look quite as flattened as mine, but other than that this idea for a lunch is both simple and flavorful.

I don't like to harp on grammar since I'm sure I make all sorts of egregious errors, but it is worth noting something that has been bothering me for some time. The Italian word for "sandwich" is "panino." When plural, it becomes "panini." So if you are referring to a single grilled sandwich, it is a panino, not a panini. And, worst of all, "paninis" is not a word as it would be the same as saying "sandwhicheses." We all have our pet peeves and this just happens to be one of mine, so thanks for bearing with me.

Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe

Recently, Sunday mornings have become one of the most relaxing times of my week. I sleep in as much as I can. After waking up, I putz around the web and the house, not trying to accomplish anything except not trying to accomplish anything. Then, once my stomach is fully awake, I begin to ponder what I want for breakfast. Sunday is a day that some restaurants in town take off, but there are many that open for breakfast and/or brunch. I'm usually a huge proponent for at least 3 meals a day, but starting with a rich meal around 11am or noon makes it difficult to justify two more meals before the day is over. So when it comes to Sunday brunch, I'm looking to go all out. And this past weekend, that is exactly what I got at Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe in Chapel Hill.

You have two options for going to Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe: get there early or wait. This restaurant is on the main street of Chapel Hill, Franklin Street, right across from UNC campus, so it is very popular, especially amongst the church-going crowd. The restaurant is very deep but not very wide. In the front are some bar seats that are first come-first serve and great if you're dining alone or if you are lucky enough to find a couple open seats. The remainder of the restaurant are smaller booths either next to the open kitchen or clustered in the back half of the building. There are some Old English decoration features in the back, but this eatery is a Southern diner through and through. We were extremely fortunate to arrive during a lull time and were seated in 5 minutes, just before a line 20-30 people deep formed.


Firstly, we had an omelet (I think it was called the Big Bird). Three eggs wrapped around sliced turkey, bacon and tomato, covered in cheese sauce. On the side were cheese-covered hash browns and a biscuit. The omelet tasted great. The cheese sauce seemed a little much at first, but it really brought the omelet together, especially since it had no cheese on the inside. The biscuit was good, though nothing special considering this is the South. Hash browns were classic and perfect: crunchy outside with tender inside.


The other meal we had was a pancake combo with scrambled eggs and bacon. But the most interesting feature is this: the pancakes were filled with M&M's! The candies melt into the pancake, giving it the taste of a chocolate chip pancake, but the candy coating gives it an indescribable quality that makes you want to order another stack of these rich beauties. The menu also claims they can use Reese's Pieces in the pancakes as well, so we might be going back to Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe soon to do a side-by-side comparison of these candy-filled griddle cakes.

Lentil Soup

The snow is mostly melted here, but the cold is still stuck to us like white on ice. And I'm still in a soupy mood, so that's just what I've been making as of late. My last soup, potato-broccoli-cheddar, is on that edge of healthy and fatty. This soup, however, is definitely on the healthy side, but not at the cost of good, homey flavors.


Lentil Soup
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine.

Ingredients
1 2/3 cup lentils, rinsed
5 cups water
3.5 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
4 cloves garlic, chopped, divided
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb turkey sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup chicken, cooked, torn
1/2 lb escarole, chopped
1 tbsp red wine vinegar

Directions
Simmer lentils, water, broth, bay leaf, and half of the garlic in a 4 quart pot, uncovered, for 12 minutes.

Heat oil in a wide 6 quart pot over medium-high heat. Cook turkey sausages until cooked through (if raw) or until browned (if pre-cooked). Remove sausages from pan and slice on a bias.

Reduce heat to medium and cook onion, carrots and remaining garlic with some salt and pepper, stirring occasionally until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 2 more minutes, stirring frequently. Add the sausages back to the pan along with the chicken and lentils in their cooking liquid. Simmer the soup uncovered until lentils are tender, 3-5 more minutes.

Stir in escarole and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in vinegar to taste and season with salt and pepper. Discard bay leaf and serve.


This soup turned out quite nice. The original recipe called for uncasing the sausages, but I like to see the nice round slices of meat. And the chicken adds some more protein and texture. The soup overall has a bit of a smokey quality. It's hearty but your spoon will not stick straight up in it. The escarole contributes some more vitamins to round out this as quite a marvelous soup. And what better accompaniment for soup than some freshly baked crusty bread.


My local grocer, Harris Teeter, has a decent selection of freshly baked breads. In addition to the loads of loaves, there are also some take-and-bake selections. If the description isn't enough, here's the gist: you buy some partially-baked bread, take it home and finish baking it in your oven. That way you are guaranteed that the bread is crusty and warm. Be warned, the bread will only last a day or so unbaked before the mold starts to get it, though I think it would hold up in the freezer. Nothing beats all the benefits of fresh bread without the hassle of making it.

Soup, Lion Head and Dangerous Desserts

This week began with another helping of lunch soup. I just can't help my soup cravings when the temperature is below 60 degrees. I made a New England-style turkey chowder. After cooking some onion in butter in a pot, I added some chicken broth, 2 diced potatoes, salt, and pepper. After cooking for about 15 minutes until the potatoes were tender, I stirred in some cubed turkey I had grilled up with garlic powder and rosemary. I dissolved cornstarch in 1% milk, then added this to the soup to add a thick, creaminess. I did have to doctor up the soup a bit with some more spices, but, in the end, it came out nicely, filling me up all week long.


This dish is Chinese (I believe) and it is called lion's head. The meatballs are made of a combination of ground pork, scallions, flour, egg whites, rice wine, ginger, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, salt, and pepper. They were cooked in a pan until browned, then added to a pot with 4 heads of bok choy, halved, and 3 cups of chicken stock. Bring the stock to a boil and simmer everything, covered, for about 40 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through, turning halfway through cooking. The bok choy turned out nicely cooked and the meatballs had a surprising amount of flavor from all of those varied ingredients. The overall taste was a slightly oniony, gingeriness. These would be good as a smaller appetizer size as well if you want. The steaming also helps them keep moist.


I'm not normally one for fresh green beans. Their flavor is usually too strong for me. But this recipe made them not only edible, but enjoyable. After blanching and shocking the green beans, I cooked some sliced shallots and garlic in a butter-olive oil combination until they were tender and fragrant. To this I added a can of tomatoes, allowing the mixture to cook for a few minutes. I added the beans back in and cooked them for about 10 minutes more. At the end, I added some dry white wine, basil, salt, and pepper. The tomato and onion flavors helped to improve the green beans, and the wine managed to add a slight sweetness to it all that was both surprising and delicious.


My graduate school program had recruits in this week and I made them these coffee crunch bars. The recipe is from Bon Appetit magazine, who adapted it from a friend of one of the authors who adapted it from her grandmother. They are like a cookie bar that is cooked for a bit longer without as much leavening agent. Brown sugar adds some depth of flavor and espresso powder compliments the chocolate chips. After baking the dough as a giant cookie, you slice it into bars and allow them to cool. While cooling they crisp up very nicely, making an all-around delicious dessert that is good pretty much any time of the day.


My mom sent me a recipe for an individual chocolate cake that you make a) in a coffee cup, b) in the microwave, and c) in 5 minutes. Here's the recipe:
4T flour
4T sugar
2T cocoa powder
1 egg
3T milk
3T vegetable oil
3T chocolate chips
1 dash vanilla extract

In a large coffee mug, mix dry ingredients. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in milk and oil and mix well. Add chocolate chips and vanilla, and mix one last time. Microwave on high for 3 minutes. Allow to cool and devour. If you want to present this outside of the mug, you can grease the mug but you would have to mix the ingredients separately. The cake comes out decently, though the top is a little dryer and the chocolate chips tend to accumulate at the bottom. But, if you are hell-bent on eating some chocolate calories, at least this is for 1-2 people as opposed to making a whole cake and eating a lot more. This recipe could probably be easily tweaked to make different types of cake, making it the most dangerous recipe ever...

Turkey Cutlets with Caper Sauce - 10/28/08

A little more entertaining this week, so I thought I would give a new recipe a try since I had a guinea pig who was reading, willing and able.


You may notice some similarities in the preparation of this dish with chicken parmigiana (parmesan). Start by finding some turkey breast cut into slices between one quarter to one half of an inch thick. Wrap each slice with a thin piece of prosciutto. Coat each piece with seasoned breadcrumbs. Alternatively, you can cover each with flour, dip into an egg wash, then the breadcrumbs. I chose the simpler route because a) it was easier, and b) I was out of eggs. Cook these up in a pan until they are golden brown. While they are cooking, chop 3 cloves of garlic with 1 small bottle of capers, 1 tsp red wine vinegar, and a few tsp of olive oil. Once the meat is done (be sure it cooks all the way through), plate it and top it with the caper sauce (mixed well). I served it with some colorful pasta I bought in Italy as well as some garlicy bread. This sauce was very good, nicely salty and the vinegar gave it some depth of flavor, though I'm sure the prosciutto helped too.

Turkey Chili - 3/31/08

I was in a soupy mood, so I decided to make a delicious chili.


This one started with a base of onions and zucchini. They key for soups is not to saute or sear the veggies, but rather to "sweat" them over lower heat with some spices. To this I added the ground turkey and let it cook all the way through. Then I added garlic salt, tomatoes, some tomato paste, and water. I let this simmer for about a half hour, then added the kidney beans. The original recipe called for some cornbread dumplings, but when I made their dough, it was too wet to form real dumplings upon the first try. So instead, I made some small cornbread ovals and baked them in the oven. To serve, I spooned the chili into a bowl and topped it with two cornbread ovals, a dollop of sour cream and fresh cilantro. The dish turned out good and has made great lunch and dinner leftovers.

Turkey Burgers and Baked Beans - 1/16/2008

I have been cooking, but I have just been lazy about making blog posts. Earlier in the week I made turkey burgers and some baked beans.


Turkey burgers can be good if you make them right and do not overcook them, but the same is true for almost any food. Usually, you have to flavor up the burgers pretty well to get some good results. To the meat I added, soy sauce, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and a vegetable dip mix (one of the packets you add to sour cream to make a dip). I grilled them on the stove using my new grill pan (shown in the picture) I received for Christmas. They turned out nicely moist and delicious, though I probably should have made them a little smaller so they cooked faster.


Also for Christmas, I received this nice oven-safe pot. I used it to make some BBQ baked beans with tofu. After softening some onion, you mix together the beans, BBQ sauce, tofu, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I baked it until it was bubbly. I like my beans to be softer than these turned out, but it was pretty good anyways. The tofu added a different texture to it all.