Turkey Burgers with Ricotta and Sage

Too often, I think, we relegate flavours to a certain season. Turkey and sage, for example are classic combination for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. But, to keep those flavours together just during the cooler months seems like such a shame.

Fresh sage and parsley add depth to turkey burgers, while ricotta both lightens and moistens it. I've been making this recipe since last summer when I spotted it in a Martha Stewart magazine.

I won't lie. I haven't changed a darned thing except scaled the recipe down to make 4 burgers instead of 8.

Martha Stewart's Vermont Burgers

(from Martha Stewart )

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey
¼ cup ricotta cheese
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp minced fresh sage
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Divide into four patties and place, on individual parchment squares, in the fridge for at least an hour. This will help the burgers firm up.

2. Heat a grill (or grill pan) on medium heat. Brush turkey burgers on one side with oil. Pick up parchment and place burgers gently on grill. Peel off parchment paper. Brush next side with oil. Grill on each side for about 5 minutes, or until a thermometer registers 165º.

Serve with all your regular toppings or whip up a batch of Martha's Extra Special Sauce.

Oprah's Lentil & Brown Rice Burgers

So, after a weekend of barbecued meat, my husband and I were both ready to get back on the whole grain/legume train. As much as I love the kimchi burgers (which I made again up at the cottage - this time with coarse ground chuck - amazing) and the Huli Huli Chicken, I'm seriously beginning to feel like having meat at every meal slows me down. Heck, even having it 4 nights in a row made me feel sluggish.

I'm guessing about the cause of the sluggishness. It might also be a bit of work burn out, lack of sleep, or general stress about the school year winding down. Perhaps it's unfair to blame the meat.

Whatever the case, veggies and legumes are what we're craving right now, so that's what we're eating. And, in honour of Oprah's last show yesterday, I made the Brown Rice and Lentil Burgers out of the June issue of O Magazine.

Nom. Nom. Nom.

Now, what's interesting about this recipe is that the lentils aren't actually cooked until you throw the patties into the frying pan. That lends a bit more texture to the burgers. My husband devoured two of these last night, they were that good!

Lentil & Brown Rice Burgers

(adapted from O Magazine)

Ingredients

½ cup mixed dried lentils (French, green, red, brown) or standard green lentils
3/4 lb mixed shiitake and cremini mushrooms, trimmed and roughly quartered
2½ tbsp canola oil, divided
½ tbsp soy sauce
½ tbsp miso
1½ tsp kosher salt, divided
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
2½ cups cooked brown rice (I used brown basmati)
2 tbsp flaxseeds
2 tbsp toasted oat or wheat bran
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley
3 scallions, minced

whole grain bread or buns
hamburger toppings (we used pea shoots, alfalfa & onion sprouts, romaine lettuce, dill pickle, roasted red pepper and vegenaise, ketchup and ballpark mustard)

if you're not going vegan for this, the magazine recommends sharp cheddar cheese for melting on top

Directions

1. Rinse and drain lentils. Place in a small bowl and cover with water. Let sit covered in the fridge overnight. Drain the lentils and pulse in a food processor until very finely chopped, but stopping short of forming a paste. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.

2. Wipe the food processor clean and add mushrooms to the bowl. Pulse until very finely chopped. Heat 1½ tbsp oil in a large sauté pan. Sauté mushrooms with soy sauce, miso and ¼ tsp each salt and pepper until liquid is evaporated. Add to bowl of lentils, along with all remaining ingredients (through scallions). Fold together until just combined. Divide into 6 balls and shape into patties, about 1" thick.

3. Working in batches, heat ½ tbsp oil over medium low in a pan. Add half of the patties and cook for about 5 minutes. Once a good crust has formed, gently flip patties over. Cook for another 4-5 minutes, or until golden. Place on a plate in a warm oven to keep hot. Repeat with remaining oil and patties.

4. Serve with whatever toppings make you happy!

Hamburger Buns

After I'd gotten home from doing the grocery shopping yesterday, I'd realized I'd forgotten to pick up both the eggs (I had one) and butter required to make what look like the most amazing hamburger buns ever. Because, you know, I needed something awesome to go with last night's awesome burgers.

In spite of the fact that I had to go out again to Korea town to pick up some kimchee, I knew I wasn't going to be picking up the butter and eggs there. So, I had to throw out the old plan and come up with a new one.

Enter Epicurious. Of course, once finding a recipe that didn't have butter or eggs in it, I was hit with the challenge of milk. I only had 1% in the fridge and their recipe called for half and half AND 1 cup of whipping cream. While I'm sure the cream makes the buns insanely delicious, I'd prefer to spend my calories on the burger, you know?

This recipe takes a while, though most of that time is spent waiting for the dough to rise. Actual hands on time is about 15-20 minutes.

Hamburger Buns

(adapted and scaled down from Epicurious)

Ingredients

1 cup + 2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp warm water (105º-110º)
1¼ tsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2½ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt

1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp coarse salt



Directions

1. Warm milk either in a pot or in the microwave until just below simmering. Set aside and let cool to 105º-115º (any warmer and you'll kill the yeast).

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a large mixing bowl if you don't want to use a stand mixer), mix together the warm water and sugar. Sprinkle yeast over top and let proof. Mixture will be bubbly. Add in flour, salt and warmed milk mixture, scraping down the side of the bowl as necessary until the flour is all incorporated. Knead with dough hook for 6 minutes. The mixture will be sticky, and that's exactly what you want.

3. Set aside in a greased bowl (remember to turn dough to coat all over with grease), cover and let rise in a draft free place until doubled in bulk 1-2 hours.

4. Once doubled, punch dough down and turn onto a lightly floured surface. Roll (lightly) with a rolling pin into a circle that's about ½" thick. Using a sharp 3-4" cookie cutter (you can use a glass, which is what I did, but you'll be forcing a seal on the edge of the buns that way and they won't rise as well as they could), cut out as many rounds as possible. Gather scraps and re-roll and cut out more rounds. Discard any excess dough after the re-rolling. Place dough rounds on 3" apart on parchment or silpat lined baking sheets.

5. Loosely cover dough with plastic wrap that has been greased (the dough will still be sticky) and let rise again in a warm, draft free location for 2 hours.

6. Preheat oven to 375º, with racks in both upper and lower thirds of the oven. Brush dough with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds and coarse salt. Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the position of pans in the oven half way through. Buns are finished when they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Transfer to racks to let cool completely.

Makes 9-12 buns, depending on the size of your cookie cutter!

Hamburgers with Spicy Kimchi Mayonnaise and Minted Slaw

Why have I not cooked out of the LCBO's magzine Food & Drink more often? Holy moly, there are some wicked recipes in there.

You know, the kind that make you go back for seconds, even though you're totally stuffed.

This is one such recipe.

I made 4 burgers and between my husband and myself we have no leftovers. I don't know if it was the Rowe Farms beef or the amazing slaw... whatever the case, I'm sad I didn't make a full recipe (one that serves 6), because, my god. I could SO go back for more.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, kimchi is a spicy Korean dish of fermented cabbage. It smells a little of old socks, in my humble opinion, but tastes amazing. I used to bbq it at yakiniku joints in Nakatsugawa.

For the record, these burgers call for a sturdy bun. I decided to make my own off an epicurious recipe that I'll be posting tomorrow.

Hamburgers with Kimchi Mayonnaise and Minted Slaw

(from LCBO Food & Drink Early Summer '11)

Ingredients


Burgers

1 lb lean ground beef (preferably grass fed, free range, if you can get it)
½ tsp sriracha
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp minced fresh garlic
salt and pepper to taste (I only added pepper as the soy sauce had plenty of salt)

Kimchi Mayonnaise

¼ cup chopped kimchi
¼ cup mayonnaise
½ tbsp lemon juice

Minted Slaw

1 cup shredded romaine lettuce
½ cup julienned cucumber
¼ cup finely chopped green onions (1 green onion)
2 tbsp slivered mint
½ tbsp rice vingear
½ tbsp canola oil
½ tsp soy sauce
½ tsp sesame oil
¼ tsp grated ginger

Directions

1. Mix together burger ingredients in a large bowl. Divide into 4 and shape into 4 patties, each ½ inch thick. Set aside in fridge.

2. Stir together kimchi mayonnaise ingredients and set aside in fridge.

3. Heat a cast iron grill pan (or a bbq) over high heat. Grill burgers for 4-5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Serve on sturdy burgers topped with mayonnaise and slaw.

3. Combine lettuce through mint in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together vinegar through ginger. Pour over lettuce mixture just before serving.

I've got to be honest, the May 2-4 weekend is coming up, and I think this is the perfect recipe to open cottage season!

Super Moist Turkey Burgers

This is a recipe born out of laziness and a desire for burgers ASAP. Sometimes, when you've got something in mind, nothing else will do.

I wanted turkey burgers, and I wanted them now. Beyond that, I wanted a hit of solid, bright flavour and a moist, juicy burger. Enter one of the simplest recipes I have made in a loooong time.

Secret ingredient? Because, when it comes to burgers, there often is.

Baba Ghanoush in the burger mix.

If you're thinking to yourself: huh, it looks like that burger has got a bite taken out of it, you'd be wrong.

There are three bites taken out of it. See?

Which should really tell you how hungry I was. Let me assure you, though, my love of these burgers doesn't stem from my hunger. These are really, really good.

Turkey Burgers with Baba Ghanoush

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey
¼ cup baba ghanoush
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp soy sauce
¼ tsp marmite (totally optional - use Worcestershire sauce in its place)

4 burger buns
lettuce
additional baba ghanoush
avocado slices
alfalfa or onion sprouts

Directions

1. Gently mix together turkey with next four ingredients (until marmite). Form into 4 patties with a quarter sized dent in the middle (this will prevent the burgers from bulging in the middle while cooking up) and place on a plate. Cover with plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or so. Because there's no real binder in these burgers, you have to handle them carefully, so letting them firm up in the fridge is an important step.

2. Heat a grill pan covered with cooking spray over medium heat. Cook burgers in pan, about 7-8 minutes per side.

Serve on buns with toppings of your choice! Some tomato or roasted garlic hummus would be great with these as well.

Teriyaki Pork Burgers

Exciting news #1: The Zojirushi plays MUSIC whenever I turn it on (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star) and when it finishes cooking (a good 30 seconds of music that I'm not familiar with) another one. LOVE it. The sheer ridiculousness of it makes me so happy.
Exciting news #2: Teriyaki pork burgers are the awesome sauce. No. Seriously. Super awesome sauce.

This isn't exciting to anyone but me, is it?

Covered with glazed goodness.

Soy-Glazed Pork Burgers

(adapted from Elizabeth Andoh's Washoku)

Ingredients

1 small onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons saké, divided
1 lb lean ground pork (I used heritage pork from HOPE eco-farms)
½ cup panko
1 egg
1 tbsp miso

2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp hot water
3 tbsp soy sauce

Directions

1. Heat a large skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-low heat. Add onions and sauté for about 2 minutes, or until tender, but not browned (but if they do brown, it's not the end of the world). Add 1 tbsp sake to the pan and deglaze the whole thing, scraping up all of those delicious brown bits. Remove onions from pan with any leftover sake bits and let cool in a bowl.

2. In a large bowl, combine pork, panko, egg, miso and cooled onions. I get in there and use my hands to thoroughly mix it all together.

3. Divide the mixture into however many patties you desire (somewhere between 4 and 10 [I made 10 minis].

4. Return the same skillet you used for the onions to the heat, and cover again with cooking spray. Add patties and sear on the first side until browned, about 1 minute. [If you've done several patties, you may need to do the browning and steaming in two batches.]

Flip, and sear the patties on the second side. If the surface cracks a bit, don't freak out. It'll all work out in the long run. Add the remaining sake, 1 tbsp, to the pan, cover quickly with a lid and let cook for 5 or so minutes (for minis - 8-10 minutes for larger ones). If you're doing two batches, use ½ tbsp sake for each batch.

5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the sugar with the hot water, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the soy sauce. Return the skillet to med-high heat and pour the soy sauce over the burgers into it. Shake the skillet to coat the beef patties and flip them after a minute to make sure they're evenly glazed.

If you're like me, you'll probably spend 4-5 minutes with the flippy and glazing. I love me a thick sauce.

See? That's some mighty fine thick sauce. I had a hard time not licking the plate!

Serve over rice, with a side of sugar-free carrot kinpira.

Last night, one of my friends from forever ago came over for a baking extravaganza. She recently (over the past couple of years) got into veganism, which is something I normally wouldn't mention. But for some reason the concept of vegan baking is something I just can't wrap my head around.

Don't get me wrong. I like tofu. My husband and I eat a lot of vegetarian meals. But baking? The world needs butter and eggs, you know?

In the early years of this friend's veganism, as she felt that recipes are guidelines rather than rules... so she often substituted one ingredient for another... except she didn't really know how to do that yet. Can you see where this is going? We made Christmas cookies together two years ago and I've never really regained my confidence in the kitchen after that particular experiment.

Canned pumpkin isn't really a replacement for butter and eggs in gingerbread cookies.

Just throwin' that out there.

So, when she showed up at my apartment with a bowl in tow - a bowl whose mystery contents she'd been carrying around all morning to her movie premiere too - I was afraid. And when I got close enough to smell the pungent onion odour, I was terrified. It was clearly some kind of dough, but not like one I'd ever seen before. The stuff was so stiff, she literally broke her wooden spoon in half stirring it.

She asked me if I had any caraway seeds. I didn't. So she
shrugged and asked if we had any left over coffee... which she promptly dumped on top of the dough.

I'm not going to lie. I respect you too much. I have no idea how liquid coffee could be a replacement for crunchy caraway seeds.

Staring at the monstrosity in the bowl before me, I had the urge to start muttering, "The horror. The horror."

She stuffed it into a loaf pan. We baked it for two freaking hours. And when it came time to turn it out, it fell onto the counter like a led brick.

She was enthusiastic. I was trepedatious. My husband looked at it with a raised eyebrow and said, "That's interesting".

Just when my confidence felt like it couldn't get any lower, my friend tried to slice it with our bread knife. I say tried because she pleaded no upper body strength and couldn't do it. My husband stepped up to the plate. He sawed away. It took a good 5 minutes to get 6 slices.

It looked moist. It smelled good. I slathered small hunk with hummus. And then magic happened.

It was delicious. Moist, dense, earthy... everything rye bread should be! Make no mistake though; it isn't your supermarket's rye bread.

Perhaps I had been too quick to judge. Sure, it had looked awful, smelled awful and broken a wooden spoon... but in the end, it was seriously tasty.

Hmm. Perhaps I should start being less judgmental with my bread.

Links to Recipes after the Jump!