Turkey Burger Summer

This house is the official "Turkey Burger Central." I'm lucky to be married to a guy who doesn't really care for red meat, and doesn't really fight me on these things. Once in awhile, if we go out, we will splurge on a beef burger... But at home, it is strictly turkey meat.



The one thing about turkey is that I don't feel that it has as much inherent flavor as the fattier beef counterpart does, so I have experimented a lot with different seasonings. My favorite (other than the "Turkey Tricolore,") starting with ground meat and shaping the patties, has the following seasonings added:

a half-capful of Liquid Smoke
a couple shots of Worcestershire sauce
a little Adobo seasoning (or garlic powder)
a shake of ground cumin
1/2 a medium diced onion
one egg
a little salt and pepper

After you flip them once, then brush on a little chili sauce. I like to top them with cheddar, or turkey bacon, and a little lowfat mayo sometimes.



You can also substitute the chili sauce with BBQ sauce, whichever you prefer. We like veggie fixings and whole-wheat buns.



Another variation I like is to top the burger with turkey chili, and shredded cheese. They are sloppy and they feel sinful, but they don't have much fat at all.



Sometimes we get pre-packaged or frozen turkey burgers, so there is no chance to put your own seasonings inside, but they are really convenient. Grilling can dry out the Jennie-O patties, because they are very lean... But I got an idea from the Harper cafeteria, which serves really yummy turkey burgers. They keep the burgers in broth, and serve them from there. So we simmer ours in chicken stock until they turn white. It keeps them juicy, and you can strain the stock through a funnel and put the carton back in the fridge for re-use once or twice (the stock just gets more flavorful.)



Mmmm... well, now I'm all worked up, and I've gotta break for lunch... Hope you guys have a good one, too!

Grilled Turkey Sandwich

When I toured the campus at Illinois Wesleyan when I was 18, I fell in love with it. Winter had fallen on the campus, and a beautiful white blanket lay over the "quad." All was quiet, and I busily began imagining all the brilliant students hard at work learning SCIENCE and LITERATURE with delicious fervor. I would fit in here, I thought. It's okay for me to be a nerd here. These are my people. My dad chewed his lip and wondered how he could afford it. He had really just brought me to Bloomington to tour the campus of his alma mater up the street, Illinois State. In typical daughter fashion, I'd fallen in love with a more expensive option.

But Wesleyan smiles on the low to moderate-income honor student, and I found out that day that the "Green Weenie" (unofficial mascot name) financial plan for me included my choice of three meal plans. The school was starting a new system that next autumn, in which your student ID card functioned as a debit card for food. You could get a) all your meals in the school cafeteria, b) most of your meals there and a little "virtual money" at the school snack bar, or c) one meal a day in the cafeteria and $300 credit at the snack bar. I grimaced when the campus tour guide told us proudly, "and we're getting a new food service this year... MARRIOTT!!" My heart sank. My stomach flopped.

I knew for a fact that Marriott food service was just a new name for the same food service that I'd had all through grade school and high school: S.A.G.A. Food Service. I probably don't need to tell you that the food was awful. I never knew what it stood for, but the long version of the name that students had given it was "Soviets Attempting to Gag America." Enough said.

I went to Wesleyan anyway, and some of the food in the cafeteria was palatable. Some was not. I had a friend who swore that while working there, he read "Grade C Meat, But Edible" on the box of frozen burgers he unpacked. "BUT edible!" he repeated many times for emphasis, "BUT EDIBLE!" (This tale is an urban legend, I now know, but the school made it oh-so-plausible.) I know that I was stupid enough to give the Sweet and Sour Pork and something called Beef Ragout not one, but two tries each. I gagged them down, and was sent sprinting to the bathroom to gag them back up again for a total of four times together. The Soviets were winning!

Needless to say I opted every year for the maximum amount of money at the school snack bar, "the Dugout." The day the $300 credit ran out was a sad day, indeed, as there would be no real money to replace my play money. Far from the reaches of corrupt food service giants, the simple food there was made the way the counter ladies had been making it since the sixties. My favorite meal was a bag of Doritos, an iced tea, a banana, and a grilled turkey sandwich. "The Dugout" did this very well, and it not only got me through school and saved the fate of the free world, but it is still my favorite sandwich.



The sliced turkey (deli) meat was first grilled by itself on the flat-top grill, THEN placed on the bread with cheese to grill as you would a regular grilled cheese. You have to grill the meat first in the skillet when you make it. This is key. I like to dunk mine in a homemade 1,000 Island-style dressing: low-fat sour cream, Western dressing, and pickle relish. This addition was inspired by the Steak 'n Shake turkey melt, which I also love.

Long story, short recipe. That's how I'm doing it today. Also, I wanted you to know in advance why, if you say the word "ragout" in my presence, I will quite literally turn halfway inside out. Uuwhhhh. I can't abide by that!

Italian Chicken Couscous

I was going to call this Italian Couscous "Where the Grease Meets the Middle East," but I shouldn't advocate negative stereotypes of my own ethnicity. Not when "the Sopranos" just stopped doing that for me.

I'm not trying to be cute, but Chris went crazy for this couscous! (Okay, I'm being a little cute). But really, I always know how much he liked something when later on he says, "Remember that chicken and couscous thing? That was really good." If you know him, you know that's a rave review. I need to go to the store and get the ingredients to make this again soon... And if you know me, you know that for me not to be bored, and to contemplate a repeat means that it was pretty darned good.



I'm using a lot of different grains and pastas lately to support our usual proteins and vegetables. It took me awhile not to "fear the couscous." There really is no reason to, as it is a lot like the pastina I grew up eating. It is really just tiny pasta, and you can use it hot or cold the same way. Even better is that the instant stuff cooks up super fast, like in a minute and a half.

For this dish, I cooked up the couscous, chopped up some leftover grilled chicken, and some sun-dried tomatoes. Joe Caputo's has real, fresh sun-dried tomatoes that don't at all resemble the leather/jerky variety that I sometimes avoid... and they smell great. I had also purchased some fresh mozzarella there, and the round shapes were so small that I didn't have to chop them up, just drained and added them. I think they were called perlini, but I may just be inventing an Italian word there, the way my grandfather began calling the subway "il soob-a-way." It sounds good though, right?

Anyway, I also added chopped scallions, chopped garlic, some toasted pignoli (pine nuts browned quickly in another pan), and some finely chopped celery for crunch. Then I drizzled it with just enough olive oil to coat, and a little shake of white wine (or you could use a little vinegar) for acidity. You could use as much of each as you want, generally though, the oil to acid ratio should be 2:1. Then, you know, salt and pepper.

I served this at room temperature or a little warm, and we just ate the leftovers cold. It was really summery, but a nicely filling lunch, too. Would have been great even without the chicken, too -- as a vegetarian entrée or as a side to bring to a party.

Bacon Fried Rice

I know, I know, it sounds sinful... But it wasn't, really. I had some of that wonderful turkey bacon from Trader Joe's, some leftover brown rice and some veggies (like shredded carrots), so I diced the bacon, diced garlic, and some red onions in just a little olive oil, and tossed in the rice and some slivered almonds. Lastly, I drizzled in a couple of beaten eggs until they scrambled (takes a few seconds).

If I'd had some eggplant and some fresh basil, I might have added that for a sort of thai flavor. Sounds naughty, actually very nice... tastes great!

Wilson's Grill

Now and then, when I go to visit Ma, we will make a pilgrimage to Fairfield, IL to go to the Farmer's Store. Don't know where that is? What if I told you it was in front of "CDC's New 2 U Resale Shop" and across the street from Buehler's Buy Low? Ah, thought that might help.



I don't know where the Farmer's Store gets their merchandise, but it is the greatest. They have cheap fabric and sewing notions, clothing stocks so old you can get stuff from the sixties with the tags still on, shoes, earrings, belts... You can shop until you drop for less than forty bucks.



They don't have food there, but we of course had to stop on the way to eat. She suggested Wendy's, which I like, but I wanted to go somewhere more local. We found Wilson's Grill and it seemed to be just what I wanted.



Everyone kind of stared at us for a second when we walked in, but I'm pretty used to that in southern Illinois. Even as kids, my brother and I would get just a little too tan and provoke questions as to our heritage. As teenagers, we looked worse than foreign -- we looked like delinquents. And foreign. We'd routinely get followed around stores by worried managers.

Anyway, once inside, everyone was really friendly. Clearly, they just recognized out-of-towners. Of course, I also realized that I had forgotten my camera. I looked up and saw this sign, and I knew I was going to have to document the experience:



I sprinted across the street and purchased a disposable camera. They only had one variety at the gas station. I want you to know, that the pictures in this post may not be top quality -- but they cost me ten bucks. Appreciate that fully.

I ordered the pickles, and a burger with cottage cheese. I don't do french fries with my burgers, you may remember. Especially not when I'm eating deep fried pickles, anyway.



The burger was fresh and tasty. Certainly as good as Wendy's. Okay, better. And the pickles?



Pretty good, too, I must say. No surprises there -- imagine a deep fried dill pickle, and you'd be fairly accurate at predicting the taste. And the experience, for me, was well worth the ten-spot. Especially since Ma treated me to lunch!

Grilled Polenta

Sometimes you just want a change from the "same old same old..." And during the summer, I just can't get away from my grill. Okay, my grill pan. We do still live in a condo, after all. But you could make this on a charcoal or gas grill for a nice, smokier flavor.



I just bought some pre-made polenta. It comes in a tube, and they sell it in the larger chain grocery stores now. As a kid, I was never much interested in cooked polenta. It usually came to the table in the form that looked like thick Cream of Wheat (which I liked, but does anyone get a big thrill out of it?) I viewed it as simply "filler." I was even less interested as an adult, because it can take some time to cook, unless you use an instant variety. If you didn't know, it is really corn meal.

The only kind I really got a kick out of was the grilled polenta at my beloved (God rest its soul) Cafe Angelo, that used to be located on Wabash in Chicago. It came on a platter with other grilled delights, like portobello mushrooms and octopus. That's what gave me this idea to buy the prepared polenta, slice it, grill it and serve it, topped with browned turkey meat with jar tomato sauce added (which appeals to my husband more than the octupus might.)

I thought this also might be a cute passed appetizer for parties, especially one in which you were going to grill the entreé, anyway. You could thicken the sauce by adding some tomato paste to the turkey and pasta sauce (so that it didn't run so much.) Then you could grill the rounds, and place a small spoonful of sauce on top of each one with a sprig of basil or oregano. Then you'd have a "two-bite" appetizer with no sticks to dispose of!

Turkey Tricolore

I love ground turkey, but let's face it, it can be kind of bland. I've tried lots of different ways of spicing up turkey burgers, and this is one of my favorites. I call it "Turkey Tricolore" because of the festive colors in it: mostly red, green, and yellow. Okay, well, I never called it that before, but now I am.



Here are some of the things I throw in there, depending on what I have on hand. This is a good meal to make the same week you make tacos (I know, haven't posted the recipe yet), because you could just buy two packages of ground turkey, use a lot of the same ingredients, and use a lot of the same condiments.

1 lb. ground turkey
1 drained can Ro-tel tomatoes and green chiles mix
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced fine
2 or 3 diced garlic cloves
1 small fistful diced cilantro
a liberal dusting of mexican seasoning (second entry, scroll down)
1 egg
1/2 teasp. liquid smoke
a good slosh of Worcestershire sauce
salt
pepper

That's it! Mix it lightly with your hands, and form into patties and grill. You can serve it with taco fixings by itself, with cheese on a bun, or my favorite way: with a broiled slice of smoked cheese, like smoked gouda or smoked mozzarella. Hoo boy. Smoke-a-riffic.