Turkey Burgers

The other day I looked in my fridge to see the turkey meat staring me down. I had a quick deep sigh assuming that I had already let the meat go to waste and I picked it up to verify this fact with a quick glance at the date. Nope! I still had an extra day to use it! Whew! I had recently made meatloaf and so I didn't want to make that again. Although I have made a yummy meatloaf before with this recipe. I didn't want to just mash it together and make turkey burgers - it didn't sound appealing and I didn't have much culinary inspiration to create a recipe on my own. So the hunt was on.

I scoured my cookbooks for a ground turkey meat meal. Julia Child failed me, Martha Stewart failed me (gasp!) However, the next book I picked up was the winner: 365 Dish A Day Cookbook on page 103 was my meal for the night. I adapted it as usual, but since the recipe isn't readily available for you to click I've posted both the original recipe and the one that I used as adapted by me.

Original Ingredients:
1/4 cup of long-grain white rice
salt and pepper
1lb of ground turkey
1 small cooking apple, peeled, cored and grated
1 small onion, chopped finely
1 garlic clove, chopped finely
1 tsp ground sage
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp ground allspice
vegetable oil for frying

Ingredients (as adapted by me):
3 Tbsp of apple sauce
1lb of ground turkey
1 small uncooked red apple, chopped finely
1 small onion, chopped finely
1 garlic clove, chopped finely
1 tsp ground sage
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp ground allspice
vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

• Cook the rice until tender. Drain, rinse under cold running water, then drain well again.
  
• Put the cooked rice OR applesauce and all the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix well together
  
• With wet hands, shape the mixture into 8 thick burgers. Pour a little oil into a large, nonstick skillet, add the burgers and cook for about 10 minutes, turning them over several times, until they are golden brown. Remove from the skillet and serve while hot.

The reason that I substituted the applesauce in place of the rice was simply because I got started late and 1. didn't have white rice, I only had brown rice - which even in a rice cooker takes FOREVER and 2. I knew that without the rice I'd need some moisture - so since it already had apples - I figured the applesauce would be a good alternative and indeed it was! Yummy, not too applely though. In fact, if you didn't know they were in there you might never taste it.

I of course had the hand of my happy helper - who loves to cook whenever he gets the chance - so he helped stir dry ingredients together. Momma took over when we added the raw meat and popping hot oil and he sat in his chair consuming some applesauce. Yum!

The burgers turned out great - I didn't eat them with a bun or anything - just ate them straight. The biscuits in the background are an upcoming recipe that I am going to try. Those were leftovers from an event we hosted here a few nights prior. They are yummy. Stay tuned!

Turkey cutlets with rosemary and shallots

I have to say that this was a pretty tasty meal, although not entirely well thought out on my part. See I am prone to have those timing issues when I cook. I do not have the finesse to simply have everything come together right when I need or want it to. Not simply the multiple parts to a meal - but the steps within making a dish. This dish called for several steps - spaced minutes apart - and while perfection is not key to make a successful edible meal - it did cause a bit of stress for me. Huh? I know I'm rambling.

What I mean to say is that if you are going to make this dish and you are prone to timing issues - have everything measured out and ready to go before embarking on cooking this dish. I became flustered after realizing that I needed a dry white wine which I had skipped over when preparing my shopping list. ... no fear though I had a bottle of unopened Chardonnay in the fridge - so moments before I am to be adding this to the skillet I am furiously trying to uncork and very uncooperative 2007 bottle of Chardonnay... and the cork suffered. In fact the cork was annihilated. I basically had to uncork it twice. I'm sure I looked pretty ridiculous at this point as obviously it wasn't the end of the world, nothing was burning or on fire but I was frantically and frustratingly trying to get this freakin cork OUT! Seeing as how it all worked out and the food was fine even with a minute or two delay I am pretty sure my reaction was a bit unnecessary. Ahem... anyway.

This meal I actually made two recipes that I had never tried before. The first turkey cutlets with rosemary and shallots, another recipe out of Everyday Food's December issue (yes eventually I will have made everything and move onto another magazine, cookbook or other) and the second spinach with blueberries a recipe provided by a neighbor who shares my plight in getting a picky toddler to eat anything vegetable or healthy.

Turkey cutlets with rosemary and shallots

I procured one turkey breast at the store for a nice $2.50 a little over a pound not so huge and not so tiny and I split it in half length wise then I halfed the smaller side and cut the larger piece into three sections. Upon completing that the recipe calls to hammer the meat. My son assisted me in this endeavor. He loves to 'cook' and help in the kitchen and I think promoting a healthy appreciation in the kitchen is important so rather than shoo him to go watch a movie, he was allowed to help.


Ingredients (as adapted by me):
1 boneless turkey-breast half, sliced on the diagonal into 5 cutlets
2 T of extra-virgin olive oil
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 large shallot
1/2 cup dry white wine
5 springs of rosemary (1.5 inches each)
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 T cold unsalted butter cut into pieces

Directions:

• Place turkey cutlets between two sheets of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet pound cutlets into 1/4-inch thickness.
  
• In a large skillet, heat 1 T of oil over medium-high heat. Season turkey with salt and pepper.


• Cook turkey until cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes per side (add more oil or reduce heat to medium if skillet becomes too dark. Transfer turkey to a plate.




• Add 1 T of oil and shallots to skillet; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots begin to soften, about 4 minutes.


• Add wine and rosemary and cook until syrupy, about 3 minutes.


• Add broth and cook until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.




• Return turkey to skillet and cook until warmed through, about 1 minute.
  
• Remove from heat and stir in butter.

I would make this dish again, but as I already stated I'd have it all set out before starting - or at the very least uncork your wine beforehand. ;-)


Spinach with blueberries

This dish was extremely simple and surprisingly tasty. Getting my son to eat anything that is a veggie isn't so much the problem as getting him to eat anything is. He enjoys broccoli, even cauliflower, but to get him to eat much of anything requires a lot of patience - so in trying to get him to eat healthy I'll take any tricks. My neighbor offered me this one. Ingredients:
1 bag of spinach
1 cup of blueberries
1 tsp of salt

Directions:

• Steam spinach and blueberries together in a double boiler until soft, might require to be done in two batches depending on the space availability of your double boiler.
  
  
• Add salt after steamed and stir together. The blueberries will infuse into the spinach.

This was yummy. The blueberries weren't necessarily sweet anymore afterwards but the spinach which can have a bitter taste to it lost all bitterness as well and the salt really combined it all together. My son ate almost a cup of steamed spinach for dinner and consequently this was the same night that he slept for nearly 6 hours straight, spinach with dinner every night!