Showing posts with label sauce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sauce. Show all posts

Turkey Bolognese Burgers

1:29 PM | Labels: , , , , , , , ,



It’s hard to believe that in just 10 days I’ll have graduated college. I’m going to move back home, start a dietetic internship to become a Registered Dietitian – it’s not nearly as frightening as actually stepping out into the workforce (stay tuned in about 1 year when I reach that point), but it is definitely new for me. All of the habits I’ve gotten into living on my own, cooking for myself – these are all about to be challenged as I learn to adjust once again to the rules of living under my parents’ roof.

One food habit that I picked up while in college was eating more ground turkey breast. It’s relatively inexpensive, pretty darn healthy, and much easier to track down than grass-fed beef (at least around these parts). My family eats it occasionally, sure, but I think I might actually miss my turkey burgers and casseroles that may not be weekly staples, but are definitely on the menu a few times a month.

Of course, I don’t just pack down the turkey meat from the package into patties and cook them just like that, so I’m always on the lookout for tasty ways to flavor the turkey to make a truly interesting burger. I think I got really lucky with these turkey Bolognese burgers, because they’re by far some of the best I’ve had. A lot of times, it’s the burger toppings that enthrall me, and they distract me from the essence of the burger – the turkey. And although the sauce poured over these burgers is truly fantastic and I’m equally looking forward to the tofu-avocado sauce I’m going to pour over them again tonight, the burger itself is also cooked to absolute perfection. No dry meat here, folks! I’ve never broiled a turkey burger before but after the success of this recipe, I think I’ll be testing it out with other recipes, too.

Overall, this dish is a keeper: the arugula lends its quintessential bite, the sauce had just a little bit of a spicy kick to it, and the burgers were melt-in-your mouth delicious and full of savory flavor from the mushrooms. I also made it lactose free by using nutritional yeast instead of parmesan cheese and forgoing the cheese on top, and I still found them to be delicious. Cheese certainly can make anything taste better, but when it’s this good on its own – that’s the mark of a truly exceptional recipe. So come on, go make this for you and your family. Maybe swap spinach in for the arugula for the kiddos if they’re not a fan of arugula’s distinct flavor. 

  
One Year Ago: Spicy Edamame

Turkey Bolognese Burgers with Sauteed Arugula
These turkey burgers will definitely not make you question, “Where’s the beef?” You won’t miss red meat at all once you bite into these savory, complex & perfectly cooked burgers – that’s a promise.

Yield: 5-6 burgers
Prep Time: 20-25 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
(printable recipe)

The Ingredients
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces baby portabella mushrooms, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 ¼ pounds lean ground turkey breast
3 tablespoons egg whites
¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 ¼ cups arrabiata sauce1
8-10 cups arugula
hamburger buns or rolls, for serving (optional)

The Method
Heat the oil in a large skillet, then add the mushrooms, onion, and seasonings. Cook until the vegetables have softened and cooked down, approximately 10 minutes, then set aside to cool slightly.2

Preheat the broiler and line and lightly grease a baking sheet. Combine the turkey, cooked vegetables, egg whites, and nutritional yeast in a medium-large mixing bowl. Form into 5-6 equally sized patties. Arrange the patties on the prepared baking sheet and place under the broil for approximately 20-25 minutes, flipping halfway through.

When the burgers have around 2 minutes left in the broiler, wash the arugula (but don’t dry) and add to the pan you used to sauté the vegetables (you may need to spray lightly with nonstick spray or olive oil). Stir occasionally until the arugula has wilted, then remove from the heat and keep warm until the burgers have finished.

Serve each burger with ¼ cup warm sauce and the arugula.

Source, adapted: Aggie's Kitchen


Notes:
1I made this sauce while everything else was cooking – I started it alongside the sautéed vegetables and simply kept it warm over low heat towards the end when it was ready and my burgers were still cooking. If you make this ahead of time or use store bought sauce, just be sure to warm it over low heat before serving (maybe 10-15 minutes).
2I did not let my mixture cool (surprise). I also transferred it to the food processor and pureed it – not because I’m trying to hide veggies from myself, but because I didn’t really chop them finely enough and thought they’d be better texturally pureed. I think it may have helped keep the burgers juicy, but having never eaten them with chunks of mushrooms, I can’t say for sure. Go with whatever makes you happy.

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Posted by toni

Polenta con Marinara di Funghi - a way to feel fancy while you really indulge in a simple polenta with mushroom marinara

5:46 AM | Labels: , , ,


To anyone who thought their final semester at college was a joke, I have to say, I’m jealous. I always thought of senior year, particularly the spring semester, as more of a formality – I’d only have classes a few days a week rather than the full five, I wouldn’t start class early in the morning and wouldn’t stay late in the day, and the classes wouldn’t be all that demanding. What a dream that would be! Nutrition does not afford such luxuries. I’m sure many other majors are the same. The classes I’m taking now are the most rigorous I’ll ever have, and I find myself waking up at 7 in the morning on weekends and not finding time to breathe until nearly 9 at night. I’ve had to stage several self-interventions as the stress escalated within me, and by the end of the day I collapse into bed and am shocked when I hear my alarm going off just minutes later – or so it seems.

It goes without saying that I have been craving comfort food, and one of the most satisfying dishes I’ve found to alleviate stress and exhaustion is polenta. It’s smooth and creamy, warm and filling. It’s like a pillow for my taste buds to relax on. In fact, this mushroom and polenta mélange was exactly what I needed, with flavors that work well together and a warmth to it that transcends just physical temperature and actually soothes you. The recipe also yields an alarming amount of food, yet it amounts to just about 450 calories if you eat the full serving, so you can feel like you’re stuffing yourself into a stupor (thus satiating that all-too-pesky compulsion to eat when stress gets the better of you) without actually doing too much caloric damage. Now that’s what I’m talking about.

Lastly, I want to say that I hope the name I devised for this dish doesn’t offend anyone. I know very little about Italy or true Italian culture: I barely speak a lick of the language and I’ve certainly never visited the country. However, I am currently reading Under the Tuscan Sun, and although this by no means makes me even remotely knowledgeable of Italian culture, it has sparked in me a little bit of inspiration. This polenta dish may be worlds away from authentic. The name I created for it may be butchering the language. I certainly hope not. But something as fluid as “Polenta con Marinara di Funghi” seems to embody this dish so much more appropriately than the all too boring “Polenta in a Tomato-Mushroom Sauce” that it really is. Again, I mean no harm, and freely admit my ignorance. It just sounds pretty, you know?


One Year Ago: Buttermilk Pancakes topped with a Yogurt-Fruit Puree

Polenta con Marinara di Funghi (Polenta in a Tomato-Mushroom Sauce)
Yield: 2 servings
(printable recipe)

The Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
¼ cup chopped onion
1 ½ cups chopped baby bella mushrooms
1 ½ cups (no salt added) diced tomatoes
½ cup (no salt added) tomato sauce
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1-2 teaspoons dried thyme
3 cups water
2 teaspoons (no salt added) chicken bouillon1
½ cup instant polenta
1-2 tablespoons pesto
½ - 1 cup spinach, chopped or torn
2 tablespoons chopped, fresh basil

The Method
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté 5 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and continue sautéing for an additional 3-5 minutes. Finally, add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, oregano, and thyme to the skillet. Bring the mixture to a simmer and continue to simmer over low heat.

Meanwhile, in a separate pot, boil the water with the bouillon added. Pour the polenta into the boiling water and remove from the heat, stirring constantly until it thickens and bubbles. Pour it onto a lipped platter or bowl, allowing it to spread out in a rustic, imperfect way if possible.

Remove the mushroom sauce from the heat and stir in the pesto and spinach. Pour the sauce over the polenta and sprinkle with the chopped basil.

Notes:
1For a fully vegetarian meal, feel free to use vegetable bouillon (do they make that?) or replace the water-bouillon combination with vegetable stock. I only use chicken bouillon because that’s what I keep in my pantry.









 


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Posted by toni

Thirty Minute Thursdays: Wonderful Walnut-Spinach Pesto over a Homemade Ravioli Flop

6:22 AM | Labels: , , , ,


This week did not go as planned. I sat down on Tuesday to write about these to-die-for petit fours cakes that I had made over the holiday weekend, and just then, the phone rang. My grandfather. A fall. A broken hip. Maybe fractured. I spent the rest of the day at the hospital, keeping both him and my grandmother company while he waited to be taken into surgery. Thankfully, the fracture was small and the surgery went well, and he is now on the road to recovery.

All of this to say, my plans for the past two days were thrown out the window, and all of the productivity I had planned for – including things related to this blog – were little more than a joke. I felt a twinge of regret for being so absent, though understandably so, over the holiday weekend, and had every intention of coming back this week full force. And suddenly, it’s already Thursday, and so the petits fours will have to wait at least one more day, making way for a Thirty Minute Thursday post.

One of my latest meals from Rachael Ray’s book was a mushroom ravioli with a walnut-spinach pesto. The recipe was actually for tortellini and pesto, using pre-made frozen cheese tortellini, but I have always wanted to try making my own. So, I followed the recipe for the pesto, and instead of dumping some frozen ravioli into a pot of boiling water, I laid out my newly purchased wonton wrappers and got to work on a different recipe for fresh ravioli I had bookmarked most likely centuries ago.

The ravioli were a total bust. I don’t really know what happened, though I’m thinking I may have boiled them too long, since they absolutely fell to pieces. It was, as I so aptly wrote in my notes about this dish, a hot mess. I also didn’t find the crudely salvaged meal to be particularly filling, despite the high-fat and, therefore, high-calorie nature of pesto. Making the pesto with a cheese-filled tortellini would likely solve that problem, but so could throwing in a protein like tofu, chicken, or fish.

The pesto itself, on the other hand, was very nice. It was easy to come together, though maybe it wound up being less pureed than I typically expect from a pesto sauce. This is either a result of my “trusty” little mini-chopper that I use instead of a real food processor, or just the nature of the recipe itself. It was even a little spicy, and I can’t quite place why that was (there’s really nothing in it that has any heat). The combination of spices must have just come together in this synergistic way so that the sauce was greater than the sum of its parts. Or, my taste buds have gone totally wacky and you should no longer listen to a word I say. Let’s go with the first one, ok?

One Year Ago: Oatmeal, 3 Ways

Walnut-Spinach Pesto, courtesy of Rachael Ray’s Classic 30 Minute Meals
Yield: enough for 10 servings of pasta
(printable recipe)

The Ingredients
4 ounces chopped walnuts
1 cup chicken (or vegetable) broth
10 ounces baby spinach
4 cloves garlic
⅔ cup grated parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

The Method
Toast the walnuts in a dry pan on the stove or in the toaster oven until lightly browned, shaking occasionally and checking often. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, bring the broth to a boil in a sauce pan and then remove from the heat. Working in batches, puree the spinach, walnuts, broth, and garlic in a food processor. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the remaining ingredients. If using for pasta, add the cooked pasta and toss until evenly coated.






 

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Posted by toni

Sneaky-Veggie Pasta Sauce (for the kid in all of us)

11:49 AM | Labels: , , , ,

So, maybe I'm one of the last people you'd expect to dole out tips on (a) hiding vegetables rather than embracing them with all of the love in the world and (b) getting children to eat healthier, since let's face it, I'm just barely out of childhood myself. Ahem. However, one of my nutrition-related passions is pediatric nutrition, and I think that ups my credibility just a little bit (the fact that I study it, not just that I care a lot about it). Regardless of age, there is an overwhelming percentage of the population who just doesn't get enough fruits and vegetables, and you try telling the majority of them to just buckle down and eat some raw carrots. It ain't happenin'. I developed this "recipe" for a class project aimed at helping parents encourage healthy eating amongst their children, but it works for anyone.

I put recipe in quotes because this is really as simple as pureeing some veggies and throwing them into a premade sauce. Yes, you can use a homemade sauce - of course, that's always the ideal. However, there are some pretty solid jarred varieties out there: fairly low in sodium, high in vitamins, and moderate in sugars. So, this can literally take less than the time it takes for pasta to cook to put together, making it a fantastic option for busy people (which is just about everyone, right?).

Sneaky-Veggie Pasta Sauce
Yield: A lot? 1 jar's worth of sauce, about 32oz.
The Ingredients
1 jar (or homemade batch) of marinara/tomato sauce
4oz. mushrooms, sauteed in 1tsp. olive oil
heaping 1/4C coarsely chopped yellow bell pepper
1/4C steamed + coarsely chopped carrot
handful of spinach

The Method
1. Pour the sauce into a sauce pan over low heat to start to warm up.
2. Add all of the veggies to a food processor and blend until it reaches the desired consistency - this can be as chunky or as smooth as you like (or your child demands). The smoother you want it to be, the more necessary it may be to add a little bit of olive oil to help it along.
3. Add the vegetables to the sauce pan, increase the heat to medium, and cook until warmed through.

Do you see what I mean about this not really being an actual recipe? Plus, there are tons of "recipes" like this out on the World Wide Web, so you don't have to use mushrooms, yellow pepper, carrots, and spinach. You could use hot peppers, zucchini, onion, kale, parsnips, avocado - anything. It's quick, easy, and results in the most vibrant tomato sauce you can imagine. There are flecks of color strewn throughout and an incredible flavor. It's such a simple way to spruce up a meal or cover up your veggies, that I plan to do it the next time I make a tomato sauce from scratch. With something this fast, the question isn't "why bother?" It's: "Why not??"

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