Category: Main Dish

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Spicy Poblano Burgers with Pickled Red Onions and Chipotle Cream

From Cooking Light, July 2010

A poblano chile is the perfect mix of fruity flavor with a little bit of heat. Leave the seeds in your poblano if you want more fiery flavor.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 burger)

Ingredients:
2 poblano chiles
1 tablespoon 1% low-fat milk
1 (1-ounce) slice white bread, crusts removed, and torn into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro, divided
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 pound ground sirloin
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
Cooking spray
4 (1 1/2-ounce) hamburger buns, toasted
1/4 cup Pickled Red Onions (recipe in next post)

Preparation:
1. Preheat broiler.

2. Place poblano chiles on a foil-lined baking sheet, and broil for 8 minutes or until blackened, turning after 6 minutes. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 15 minutes. Peel chiles, and discard the seeds and membranes. Finely chop.

3. Combine milk and bread in a large bowl; mash bread mixture with a fork until smooth. Add poblano chile, 1 1/2 tablespoons cilantro, cumin, coriander, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and beef to milk mixture, tossing gently to combine. Divide mixture into 4 equal portions, gently shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty. Press a nickel-sized indentation in the center of each patty. Cover and chill until ready to grill.

4. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

5. Combine the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons cilantro, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper in a medium bowl. Stir in sour cream, shallots, and juice. Remove 1 chipotle pepper and 2 teaspoons adobo sauce from can; reserve remaining chipotle peppers and adobo sauce for another use. Chop chile. Stir chopped chipotle and 2 teaspoons adobo sauce into sour cream mixture. Set aside.

6. Place patties on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 3 minutes or until grill marks appear. Carefully turn patties; grill an additional 3 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Place 1 patty on bottom half of each bun; top each serving with 3 tablespoons chipotle cream and 1 tablespoon Pickled Red Onions.

Posted on » by Dana & Nancy » Theme:

Summer Vegetable Pasta

Summer Vegetable Pasta

I just used the zucchini that Michael gave us tonight in this recipe. I chopped the zucchini into smaller pieces because rings would obviously have been too large! Overall, I’d give it 3 stars. Just average for me.
Everyday With Rachel Ray, June/July 2009

4 Servings
Prep 20 min
Cook 25 min

Ingredients:
1 pound corkscrew pasta, such as rotini
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs
3 zucchini (about 1 pound), thinly sliced
4 ears corn, kernels scraped off
6 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil

Directions:
1.In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente.Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water and the pot.

2.Meanwhile, in a small skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add half of the garlic and cook until golden, about 30 seconds. Stir in the breadcrumbs and remove from the heat.

3.In the reserved pasta pot, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the remaining garlic and cook until golden, about 30 seconds; add the zucchini and cook, turning occasionally, until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the corn, cooked pasta and reserved 1 cup pasta cooking water. Add 1 cup cheese and toss; season with salt and pepper.

4.Stir the remaining cheese and the basil into the breadcrumb mixture and sprinkle on top of the pasta

Posted on » by Dana & Nancy » Theme:

Brined & Barbecue Smoked Turkey

Recipe courtesy of http://www.hotsmokebbq.com

Ingredients:
Buy a 5 to 6 pounds baby-turkey, take out the small package of giblets (if it is there) from the body cavity of the turkey, and cut off any excess fat or skin.

Rinse the turkey under cold running water, blot dry inside and out using paper towels, and tie the legs together using butcher’s wire.

Turkey Brine Ingredients:
We have adapted the original turkey brine recipe to suit our own preferences and taste:

1.25 cups salt
1 quart hot water
1/2 lime in thin slices or squeezed
1 cup molasses or maple syrup
1 onion, medium size, in thin slices
4 cloves garlic, in thin slices
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
5 bay leaves
4 whole cloves
4 quarts cold water

Pour the quart of hot water in a large and deep non-reactive pan or bucket, stir in the salt and molasses until fully dissolved, and add the lime, onion, garlic and other herbs and spices.

Add the 4 quarts of cold water and let cool to room temperature or – even better – refrigerator temperature.

Brining Turkey:
Lower the turkey in the brine and make sure it is fully submerged. If need be, put a water filled plastic bag or container on top to push the turkey down.

Close the lid and put in the fridge to let the brine do its job.

After 12 to 14 hours, remove the turkey from the brine (you don’t want it to become too salty) and blot dry inside and out using paper towels.

Turkey Barbecue Preparation:
Prepare your Weber barbecue (or similar barbecue, or smoker or oven) for indirect grilling. Use about 10 to 12 charcoal briquettes in each side coal pocket.

Pour about half an inch of water in the drip pan. Some fanatics will replace the water with beer or wine. It may sound idiot, but you will notice the difference!

Charcoal Briquettes:
I always use charcoal briquettes because of their even shape and size. I also found they have a more constant quality when compared with regular “lump” charcoal (mostly small lump charcoal, that is…).

Smoke Wood:
Once the charcoal in my barbecue is glowing and grey, I put a few water soaked chunks of smokewood (say about 1″-2″ thick and 3″-5″ long) on top of the charcoal.

Juancho’s BBQ Tip
Smoke is like a condiment, adding a specific taste to your food, like salt and pepper. And just like you don’t want your food to get too salty or too spicy, you don’t want too much smoke either. Too much smoke will leave a bitter and/or creosote taste on your food. In general: do not exaggerate on the smoke. Just a whisp should be enough. Because of the fairly high temperature of the charcoal fire during hot smoking, and to prevent the smoke wood from burning too fast, I soak my smoke wood in a bucket of water for a couple of days prior to use.

Smoking Turkey:
Get smokin’! Stick the turkey on the grill, chest up, right above the drip pan. Brush liberally with melted butter and close the lid of your smoker.

As soon as you see a fair cloud of smoke coming out of the top vent holes, it is time to shut the bottom vent holes to almost closed position.

Roast the turkey for 2.5 to 3 hours until done.

Try to resist peeking under the lid too often. Every time you open your barbecue you will lose heat, and the cooking process will take longer. On the other hand, if you have time anyway, what the heck…

During the roasting process you control the temperature inside the barbecue by gradually opening or closing the bottom vent holes. Mind you: the top vent holes will ALWAYS remain fully open during roasting and smoking.

During roasting, you should see only a whisp of light Hot Smoke coming from your barbecue.

Every hour: brush liberally with melted butter and add 6 to 8 burning charcoal briquettes per side coal pocket.

As soon as you feel that the turkey’s skin may be getting too dark, cover the turkey loosely with aluminium foil and return the lid.

Turkey Dinner Time!
Once you feel that the turkey is done, use a meat thermometer to check if the internal temperature in the thickest parts of the turkey has indeed reached about 180oF (just over 80oC).

If the turkey is indeed done, transfer it to a pre-heated serving dish, cover loosely with aluminium foil, and let it rest for fifteen minutes. This rest will allow heat and juices to distribute evenly, thus making this grilled turkey even better!