Turkey Burgers

I've tried recipe after recipe for turkey burgers and they always seem to end up blahhhhh. No flavor and they usually have the taste and texture of cardboard. I eat a lot of cardboard so I know how that tastes.  I found this recipe from Martha Stewart and it's actually pretty good and Lovey liked it; which is what really matters in this house if I'm making a burger out of turkey instead of beef.

There aren't a lot of ingredients; but the few that there are pack a punch of flavor.

Fresh sage.

 

Roasted garlic. This can be done earlier in the day or the day before. Here's how I do it.

 

 Provolone cheese.

 And, of course, ground turkey.  I prefer a mixture of white and dark.

Just mix it all up.

 

Divide the mixture into four portions and form into patties. Conveniently, these can be made early in the day or even the day before.

 

 I threw them on a medium-high grill for about 3-4 minutes per side.

NOTE:  I doctored my first burger up like I do a beef hamburger with onion, tomato, lettuce and kosher pickle.  Although good, it really masked the flavors that this burger has.  I prefer with minimal condiments because the meat is flavored really nice with the sage and garlic.  The original recipe suggested using a simple tomato pureé spread on it.

ALSO:  Although char-grilled flavor can't be beat on a burger, I prefer these cooked in a cast iron skillet. The garlic, sage, and cheese flavors are much more prevalent.

Turkey Burgers
Yields 4 burgers

Ingredients:
1-1/2 pounds ground turkey - mixture of breast and dark-meat turkey
1/4 cup roasted garlic
2-1/2 tsp. finely chopped fresh sage
1-1/4 cups grated provolone cheese - about 5 ounces
1/2 tsp. each Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
4 hamburger buns
vegetable oil
melted butter

Mise en Place:

• roast garlic
• chop sage
• grate cheese

Method:
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, gently combine with your hands the turkey, garlic, sage, cheese, salt and pepper.  Do not overwork the meat.  Shape into four patties.  Refrigerate, covered, until cold, about 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat grill to medium-high (if you are using a charcoal grill, coals are ready when you can hold your hand 5 inches above the grill for just 3 to 4 seconds). Brush grill and burgers with vegetable oil. Grill, flipping once, until cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Alternately, you can prepare inside using a cast iron skillet.

Brush both sides of buns with melted butter and place on grill until lightly toasted.

Serve with crispy oven fries.

The Best Way to Grill Corn on the Cob

 Lovey and I ate a ton of roasted corn this summer.


Home from the market I clean the ears up a bit.  I cut off any nasty, slimy silk that is hanging out the top.


 

 Then I trim all of the dark green, stiff things that are on the end of the outer husks

There now, they look nice and neat.  Also the husks are still snugly attached around the cob.
 I don't like opening up all the husks, pull out the silk, then close the husks back around the cob and secure them with a tie of some sort.  It's so hard wrestling to get all of the silk off.

Nope, I just leave the silk in there. It will come out flawlessly when you are ready to eat.

 Soak them for at least 30 minutes in cold water before putting on the grill.  Throw a handfull of salt in the water if you like.  We don't do that but if you are not worried about sodium content go for it.  Wrap them up in a towel and take them out to the grill.  You might want to turn them upside down to drain any water.


 

I heat the right side of our grill on medium for about 15 minutes before I lay the corn on the grill.  Turn every so often and when their husks are nicely marked and nave a nice brown coloring they will be done (about 15 minutes)

 Using a T-towel (the corn will be very hot) pull away the husks and you won't believe how the silk comes right off and out from in between the kernels.  No using a brush or fingernails here.  Place the cob on a platter and begin to doctor them up the way you like them.  

We like to have butter, flavored butter and a little Parmesan on hand along with salt and pepper.
Crunch, crunch!  Such a great way to eat corn!

Grilled Butterflied Chicken

This grilled chicken method is part Julia Child, Bobby Flay and Cook's Illustrated.  I've taken a little but of advice, technique and instruction from each of them. 

I also like to brine the chicken when grilling it; whether whole or parts.  It leaves your chicken so juicy.

To 8 cups of water, add 1 cup of Kosher salt

1/2 cup of sugar

 a whole bulb of garlic, halved and, if you like, about 10 peppercorns

Bring to a boil, whisking the mixture ever so often to help dissolve the salt and sugar.  Remove from heat and allow to cool. 
Good to know if you want to save some time:  Bobby Flay uses half the water but adds 4 cups of ice cubes after the salt and sugar are dissolved.  This helps cool the brine quicker.

Now, you want to butterfly your chicken, which means you are going to splay your chicken out flat.  Grilling chicken this way cuts your cooking time and the cooking is more even between the dark meat and the white meat.

 The first thing you want to do is cut out the back bone of the chicken.  To do this you will need a good pair of kitchen shears.  I found these scissors at an estate sale.  The markings show that they are stainless steel made in Italy.  I don't really know for sure if they were made to be used in the kitchen; but I'll tell ya, they are heavy duty.  To me, they look like something that is used in the operating room.

Turn the chicken breast side down.  Begin cutting up one side of the back bone.

 

 Cut up the other side and remove the backbone.  Freeze this to use in a future broth.

I did not do this step today, but if you want to, make a slice down the middle of the white breast bone that is exposed.  It will make it a little easier for you to break the breast bone in the next step.

Flip your bird over, breast side up.   Now, give the breast bone a good whack to break it and some of the ribs; you want to flatten it out.

Just a couple more things to do before you're done.

 See these little tips on the elbow of the wing?  Clip those off and tuck the wing underneath the chicken.

 There's a lot of loose skin between the leg and the breast.  With a paring knife make a slit in the skin

Tuck the end of the leg through this slit.  Repeat with the other leg

 And there you have a butterflied chicken.  You also might hear of this method referred to as spatchcocking a chicken.  It is really so simple and after you do it once, it will seem so elementary and is such a great way to grill, or even roast in the oven, a whole chicken.

Once the brine is cooled off place the chicken in a large bowl or baggie and pour the brine over the chicken.  Place in the refrigerator from 1 to 4 hours.

While the chicken is in its brine mince your garlic and mix with the butter.  Both are the same but one you will keep room temperature until it's time to melt and the other you'll place in the refrigerator.

 NOTE:  If you elect to brine, be sure you use unsalted butter.  You will not need the extra salt.  If you don't brine, use salted butter.

 

After brining period is over, rinse the chicken well under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.  Place the chicken on a rack over a baking sheet ( used a broiler pan) and place uncovered in the refrigerator for 1 to 4 hours to dry the skin out.

 

 set the chilled chicken on the cabinet at room temperature for 30 minutes before grilling.  Spread the chilled garlic butter underneath the skin over the breast.

Preheat your grill.

Melt the other portion of the garlic butter and brush over the breast side of the chicken. 

Place the chicken, buttered breast side down.  I place two foil covered bricks on top of the chicken just to discourage any bowing or folding up the edges might want to do.

 After 10 minutes turn the chicken over and place over the indirect heat.  Cover the grill and allow to finish cooking until a thermometer registers 165 degrees F. (about 30 minutes)

Place on serving platter, light tent with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Grilled Butterflied Chicken
Serves 4

Ingredients:

8 cups water
1 cup Kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 head garlic
10 black peppercorns
 1 - 3-4 pound roasting chicken
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
2 cloves garlic, divided

Method:
In a saucepan mix water, salt and 1/2 cup sugar.  Cut the head of garlic in half and add to the brine water, along with the peppercorns.  Heat mixture, whisking until salt and sugar are dissolved.  Remove from heat, set aside and allow to cool completely

To butterfly chicken turn chicken breast side down.  With a good pair of kitchen / poultry shears cut down one side of the back bone and then cut down the other side, removing backbone (bag it and throw in freezer to use in a future stock).  Turn chicken breast side up and pound the breast bone with your fist to break the collar bones and some of the ribs.  Get aggressive with it; you want that chicken flattened.  Cut off the little tips on the wings' elbows.  Tuck the wings behind the shoulders.  With a sharp paring knife make a slit in the skin that is on the sides of the breast.  Take a leg in your hand, slightly push the leg up towards the thigh and insert and ankle of the leg through the slit.  Pull down to secure.  Repeat with the other leg.

When the brine is cool pour in a large bowl or plastic bag then place the chicken in the brine.  Refrigerate from 1 to 4 hours.

Peel and dice the cloves of garlic.  Mix 2 Tbsp. of the room temperature butter in a small bowl and place the other 2 Tbsp. of butter in another bowl.  Mix half of the cloves with 2 Tbsp. butter.  Cover and place in refrigerator.  Mix the rest of the diced garlic with the last two Tbsp. butter.  You can leave this set aside on the cabinet top.

After the chicken is finished brining, rinse the chicken under cold water and pat the chicken dry.  Discard the brine.  Place chicken, skin side up on a cooling rack that is set inside a baking sheet.  Allow to sit uncovered in the refrigerator for 1 to 4 hours to allow the skin to dry out.  You will get a crispier crust this way.

Remove chicken and compound butter from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to putting it on the grill.  When the butter begins to soften, gently separate the skin from the breast and spread the chilled butter/garlic compound underneath the skin being careful not to tear the skin.

Melt the other butter/garlic compound in the microwave until you hear the garlic begin to sizzling and brown.

Heat all  burners for medium direct heat for about 15 minutes.

Brush the skin side of the chicken with1/2 of  the melted butter/garlic.  Place chicken, breast side down over the two left burners until brown and crispy; about 10 minutes.  Turn the far right burner off and place the chicken, breast side up, on this burner to finish cooking on indirect heat.  Brush the chicken with the rest of the melted butter/garlic.  Cover grill and cook for about 30 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees F in the thickest part of the thigh.

Place chicken to carving platter and let rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Grilled Peppers and Onions

I had a bell pepper, red onion and jalapeños that I needed to use up so I thought I'd make a side for myself to go with the Grilled Pork Chops with Apple-Bourbon Glaze that were prepared for our Labor Day meal yesterday.

I didn't use all of those jalapeños in the photo above;  I used 4 or 5 of the smaller ones.


 

I wasn't after the heat of the peppers so I removed the seeds and the veins. Be sure to wear gloves when preparing the jalapeños; especially if you wear contacts that will be removed  before you go to bed.

I simply wanted the nice jalapeño flavor with just a bit of a bite

Don't all of the colors look pretty when tossed together?  Drizzle them with a little olive oil and a sprinkling of celery salt.

I put them on the grill in a make-shift grill basket

Shake them up from time to time until they have browned and softened to your liking.


 

They were light and flavorful. The jalapeños  gave the dish just the kick I wanted and the garlic added another depth to the peppers.

The best part is I got to eat them all myself as Lovey and Kiss weren't interested.


Grilled Peppers and Onions
Serves 2

Ingredients:
1/2 medium red onion
1 orange bell pepper
4 - 5 small jalapeños
3 large cloves garlic
olive oil
celery salt

Mise en Place:

• Slice onion
• core, seed and slice bell pepper
• seed, de-vein and slice jalapeños
• peel and slice garlic lengthwise

 Method:
Toss all vegetables in a small mixing bowl.  Drizzle with a little olive oil and season to taste with celery salt.

Place vegetables in a grilling basket and cook on grill over medium-high heat.  Toss periodically and continue grilling until the veggies are browned to your liking.