Sandwiches | onedadskitchen

Kicking Some Chicken – Open-Face Buffalo Chicken Sub Sandwiches with Ranch Slaw

Since Sean and I have been on our own for the last couple of weeks while Michelle is away on business, we have been trying to make dinners a little simpler than normal since it is just the 2 of us. This means making a lot of much smaller meals and a few things that we might not make all the time because they may not necessarily be among Michelle’s favorites. I had a bunch of chicken I had purchased recently and was looking for something easy to do with it when I decided to make some chicken sandwiches. At the same time, I have been craving Buffalo chicken ever since the Super Bowl and was looking for a way where I could combine the 2 into a nice sandwich. I came across this particular recipe at Kitchen Daily for an open-face Buffalo chicken sub sandwich with a very simple ranch slaw dressing that makes use of yogurt instead of mayonnaise. It does take a little bit of planning ahead to cook the chicken and then shred it for the sandwiches but it is still quite easy to put together.

Open-Face Buffalo Chicken Sub Sandwiches with Ranch Slaw

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup beer, your choice (you can also use an additional cup of chicken broth in place of the beer)

1 1/4 cup Buffalo wing sauce

2 cups very thinly sliced green cabbage

2 ribs celery, julienned

1 medium carrot, julienned (or shaved with a vegetable peeler)

1/4 red onion, very thinly sliced

1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt

1/4 teaspoon dried parsley, crushed

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon dried dill weed

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

Grinder or submarine sandwich rolls

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (optional)

To prepare the chicken, pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towels and season both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper. In a Dutch oven or a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the chicken thighs and cook for about 3 minutes on each side until the chicken is golden brown. Add the chicken broth and the beer and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pan and continue cooking the chicken for one hour.

While the chicken is simmering, begin to prepare the ranch slaw. In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, celery, carrot and red onion. Briefly set the bowl aside. For the ranch dressing, in a small bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, dried parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, dill weed, black pepper and salt. Pour the ranch dressing over the vegetable mixture and toss the vegetables to coat them well. Cover and refrigerate the slaw until you are ready to serve.

After one hour, transfer the chicken thighs to a cutting board and shred them with 2 forks. Discard the cooking liquid. Return the shredded chicken to the Dutch oven and set the pan over low heat. Add the Buffalo wing sauce and stir until the chicken is well coated. Keep the chicken warm. Halve the rolls you are using and place them on a baking sheet. Place the rolls under the broiler for about 2 minutes until they are lightly toasted. You could also use a toaster oven for this step if you prefer.

To assemble the sandwiches, divide the Buffalo chicken among the 4 grinder or sub roll halves. Top each half with plenty of ranch slaw and 2 tablespoons of the blue cheese crumbles, if using. Serve the sandwiches with additional ranch slaw on the side.

You have a lot of choices when it comes to making the sandwiches. You could use the boneless chicken thighs or you can use boneless chicken breasts if you prefer to have white meat or that is what you happen to have on hand that day. You can use any Buffalo wing sauce that you like, but you want to remember that you are using the wing sauce and not just regular hot sauce. Wing sauce is a little bit thicker than traditional hot sauce and does not have the high concentration of heat that just hot sauce has. I know Frank’s makes a good brand of wing sauce and I personally like Sweet Baby Ray’s myself, but you could naturally use any kind that you like. You could even make your own by combining some hot sauce, melted butter and cayenne pepper if you prefer to go that route. I left the blue cheese off the particular sandwiches I was making but they would go well since it is a Buffalo sandwich. As for the slaw, I thought it came out great. The dressing is much thicker than what you would find in a traditional mayonnaise-based coleslaw, which to me really helped to make it great. You get good ranch flavor thanks to all the spices that use and the nice mix of the cabbage, celery, carrot and red onion really helped to make it stand out. This would be a good coleslaw recipe to use for just about any sandwich that you like. I would definitely make these sandwiches again as they came together pretty quickly. Poaching them in the chicken broth and beer not only gave them great flavor but made the much easier to shred and pull apart.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on February 11, 2015 in Cooking, Dinner, Dressings, Lunch, Poultry, Salad, Sandwiches, Side Dishes

Tags: Buffalo Chicken, Buffalo chicken sandwich, Buffalo wing sauce, Kitchen Daily, open-face Buffalo chicken sandwich, open-face Buffalo chicken sub sandwiches with ranch slaw, ranch slaw

A Bounty of Bread to Enjoy with My Breadmaker – Homemade Rye Bread

05 Feb

Yesterday I wrote about the breadmaker that I received for Christmas and have been using pretty regularly since then. I have tried a few different recipes, including the basic white bread recipe that Sean and Michelle both use for their lunches and sandwiches. I prefer something a little different from just white bread, so I decided I was going to give the rye bread recipe a try. The one they list in the book for the breadmaker is pretty basic and simple so I decided to go along with that, but I also wanted to combine it with a recipe that I found at King Arthur Flour for a sandwich rye bread. The resulting recipe listed below is really just combination of the two recipes.

Basic Sandwich Rye Bread

1 1/2 cups water

4 1/4 cups bread flour

2/3 cup rye flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 tablespoon caraway seeds (optional)

To use with the Zojirushi breadmaker, measure and combine the ingredients into the baking pan in this order: water, bread flour, rye flour, sugar, salt, Dijon mustard and butter. Make a depression in the middle of the flour and place the yeast in the depression. Make sure the yeast does not touch any of the liquid. If the dry yeast contacts water the results from the breadmaker may not be ideal. Insert the baking pan into the unit and close the lid. To select the desired course, press the SELECT COURSE button to set the arrow to the BASIC WHEAT. Press the start button and allow the breadmaker to proceed through the cycles of preheating, kneading, rising and then baking. If you are using the caraway seeds, when it is time to add the ingredients such is the seeds, the breadmaker will beep for 30 seconds and ADD will flash in the display. Open the lid to the breadmaker and add the appropriate ingredients. Allow the machine to proceed through the baking cycle and carefully remove the baking pan when the machine has indicated that the baking process is complete. Remove the bread from the baking pan and allow it to cool.

Granted, this particular recipe is designed for the specific Zojirushi breadmaker that I am using, but I think it could be adapted to fit with other breadmakers. The breadmaker takes 3 hours and 40 minutes to complete everything for this particular recipe. In the end, the result of the recipe was very tasty. The bread had a nice crust and crunch to it on the outside while the inner layer of the bread was done perfectly. I used this for my sandwiches pretty much all week long and have made it again since that initial recipe because I like the result so much. It certainly does provide a savings considering what the cost of a typical rye bread is here at the local stores. One loaf seem to last for me about 7 to 10 days so I think we certainly got a lot out of it. I did not add the caraway seeds to mine though I do like to have rye bread that way on occasion and I am sure it would taste just fine. I enjoyed the bread with chicken salad and tuna salad but anything you want to use the bread for would be perfect. You could also adapt this recipe to make it without a breadmaker. If you are interested in that particular method, here is the link to the original recipe at King Arthur Flour.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

8 Comments

Posted by MikeG on February 5, 2015 in Breads, Cooking, Lunch, Sandwiches

Tags: homemade basic sandwich rye bread, homemade rye bread, King Arthur Flour, rye bread, rye bread in a Zojirushi, rye bread recipe in a breadmaker, sanwich rye bread recipe, Zojirushi

21 Sandwiches for Your Game Day Spread | Serious Eats

30 Jan

21 Sandwiches for Your Game Day Spread | Serious Eats.

I have been really busy work and stuff around the house this week with Michelle leaving on a business trip so I haven’t had much time for blogging the last few days. I should be able to get back into a rhythm next week, but for now here are some more great Super bowl party ideas. If you are looking to try some great sandwiches for the big game, Serious Eats has put together 21 sandwich recipes to wow your crowd. Try them on game day or any time, because a good sandwich is always a great option. Check it out!

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Posted by MikeG on January 30, 2015 in Beef, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Dinner, Lunch, Pork, Poultry, Sandwiches, Sauce, Sausage, Seafood

Tags: 21 sandwiches for game day, party sandwich ideas, sandwich ideas for the super bowl, Serious Eats, Serious Eats 21 sandwiches for your game day spread, super bowl sandwich ideas

Super Bowl Food Ideas and Party Recipes – Bon Appetit

24 Jan

Super Bowl Food Ideas and Party Recipes – Bon Appetit.

As we deal with a snowstorm here in my area of New York and then a family party later today, you can have a chance to look over some more great Super Bowl snack, appetizers and recipes for your party, to bring to a party or just to have for your own while you watch the game. Bon Appetit has all kinds of great ideas for your Super Bowl party guide for all of your favorite game-time snacks. Check it out!

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Posted by MikeG on January 24, 2015 in Appetizers, Cooking, Cooking Tips, Cooking Websites, Pizza, Pork, Potatoes, Poultry, Sandwiches, Sausage, Seafood, Side Dishes, Slow Cooker Meals, Snacks, Vegetables

Tags: bon appetit, Bon Appetit Super Bowl party guide, football appetizers and snacks, making snacks for the big game, super bowl appetizers, Super Bowl party guide, super bowl party ideas, super bowl snacks

Great Sandwiches for Dinner, Game Time or Any Time – Pork Meatball Banh Mi

23 Jan

Regular followers of the blog already know how much I love sandwiches. I think could be happy having a sandwich for dinner just about every day of the week, as long as it was something different all of the time. I have looked at making Banh Mi sandwiches for a while but I have always kind of shied away from mom because I was worried that Sean and Michelle would not really care for them because of the spice that is in most of the recipes. However, when I saw this particular recipe for a pork meatball bánh mì from Bon Appétit, I decided to bite the bullet and give the recipe a try. This particular recipe does use a lot of ingredients that I do not normally have on hand so I did have to get a few things, such as daikon, a Japanese white radish. You may have to go out and get a couple of different ingredients if you want to make this particular version, but it is certainly worth the results.

Pork Meatball Banh Mi

For the Hot Chili Mayo:

2/3 cup mayonnaise

2 green onions, finely chopped

1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)

For the Meatballs:

1 pound ground pork

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 green onions, finely chopped

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon hot chili sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

To Assemble the Sandwiches:

2 cups coarsely grated carrots

2 cups coarsely grated peeled daikon (Japanese white radish)

1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1 tablespoon sesame oil

4 10-inch-long individual baguettes or for 10-inch-long pieces French bread baguette (cut from 2 baguettes)

Thinly sliced jalapeno peppers

Fresh cilantro sprigs

To make the hot chili mayo, stir the mayonnaise, chopped green onions, and hot chili sauce together in a small bowl. Season the mix with salt to taste. The hot chili mayo can be made 1 day ahead and kept covered and chill in the refrigerator.

To make the meatballs, line a rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Gently mix the ground pork, basil, garlic, green onions, fish sauce, hot chili sauce, sugar, cornstarch, black pepper and kosher salt in a large bowl. Using moistened hands and a scant tablespoonful for each, roll the meat mixture into 1-inch meatballs. Arrange the meatballs on a baking sheet. Cover and chill the meatballs until you are ready to bake.

To create the ingredients for the sandwiches, toss the grated carrots, daikon, rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Allow the mixture to stand at room temperature for one hour, tossing occasionally. Preheat the oven to 300°. Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add half of the meatballs. Sauté the meatballs until they are browned and cooked through, turning the meatballs often and lowering the heat if they are browning too quickly, about 15 minutes. Transfer the meatballs to another rimmed baking sheet and place them in the oven. Repeat the process with the remaining meatballs.

Cut each baguette or baguette piece horizontally in half. Pull out enough bread from each bread half to leave a 1/2-inch-thick shell. Spread some of the hot chili mayo over each bread shell. Arrange the jalapenos, then cilantro, in the bottom halves of the bread shells. Fill each sandwich with 1/4 of the meatballs. Drain the pickled vegetables and place them atop the meatballs. Press on the baguette tops and serve.

The combination of the spicy mayonnaise, the pickled vegetables and the pork meatballs really make this an outstanding sandwich. Sean had the meatballs without the spicy mayo and he really like the flavor of them, comparing it to a nice piece of sausage on a baguette. I really love the way the mayo combined with the meatballs to give a nice spicy flavor and the pickled vegetables just topped it all off for me. The pickled vegetables are a lot like a coleslaw recipe, so you could use coleslaw instead if you prefer that, but using the daikon gives a little bit of heat to the vegetables. I even used the leftover mayonnaise on other sandwiches throughout the week because I like the way it turned out. I think it would be great on a hamburger, which I did not get to try but I think I will next time. Anyway, this was a fairly simple bánh mì to make that had some nice spice to it and some really great flavor.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on January 23, 2015 in Cooking, Dinner, Lunch, Pork, Sandwiches, Sauce, Vegetables

Tags: banh mi, bon appetit, daikon, hot chili mayo, hot chili sauce, pickled vegetables, pork meatball banh mi, pork meatball recipe, pork meatballs

Recipes to Cook with Your Cast Iron Skillet

20 Jan

Recipes to Cook with Your Cast Iron Skillet.

I love my cast iron skillets and you can never have too many recipes that make great use of them. Bon Appetit has put together 18 recipes for you that you can use for your cast iron skillet for everything from breakfast to dessert. Check it out!

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Posted by MikeG on January 20, 2015 in Beef, Breakfast, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Dessert, Dinner, Eggs, Equipment, One Pot Meals, Pork, Poultry, Sandwiches, Sausage

Tags: 18 cast iron skillet recipes, bon appetit, cast iron skillet, cast iron skillet recipes, cast iron skillets, recipes to cook with your cast iron skillet

Making Use of That Leftover Lamb – Sort of Lamb Shawarma

13 Jan

Okay, now that you have made this delightfully tasty but quite large leg of lamb from yesterday’s recipe, what the heck do you do with any leftovers? Sure you can make shepherd’s pie, which I have done in the past, and it is quite a tasty dish in its own right and makes good use of leftovers, but I wanted to try something different. There really aren’t a ton of uses for leftover lamb and it can get kind of tough and chewy if it is overcooked as it is, so I wanted to find something a little out of the ordinary that would not require a great deal of cook time for the lamb pieces. I received a cookbook, The Make-Ahead Cook, by America’s Test Kitchen, that came to my rescue right away. They had the solution of what to try with leftover lamb that I had never considered before – lamb shawarma. You have likely had or seen lamb shawarma at a Turkish or Mediterranean restaurant at some point in the past as you see this mass of meat rotating on a vertical rotisserie and the meat is gently sliced off from there to produce your dish.This recipe attempts to recreate the taste of that dish with the use of leftovers and a trusty skillet to get you through, and makes a really great yogurt-tahini sauce to go with it.

Lamb Shawarma

For the Yogurt-Tahini Sauce

1/4 cup plain yogurt

2 tablespoons tahini

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley

1 garlic clove, minced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Shawarma:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 pound cooked lamb, sliced thin (about 1 3/4 cups)

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Salt and pepper

4 (6-inch) pita breads, warmed

2 cups chopped iceberg or romaine lettuce

2 plum tomatoes, cored and chopped

2 shallots, sliced thin

For the yogurt-tahini sauce. combine the yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, parsley, garlic and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a bowl. Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste, cover the bowl and refrigerate it until you are serving the meal.

For the lamb shawarma, Heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick skillet set over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the cumin, coriander, and cardamom and cook, stirring constantly, until the spices are fragrant and just beginning to brown, about 1 minute (be careful not to burn the spices!). Add the sliced lamb, breaking up any clumps, and cook until the lamb is just beginning to crisp, about 2 to 3 minutes. Take the skillet off the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of the minced parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Spread 1/4 cup of the yogurt-tahini sauce in the center of each warmed pita, then divide the lamb mixture evenly among the pitas. Top each pita with some of the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley, lettuce, tomatoes and shallots. Wrap the pitas around the filling and serve.

This was really tasty and only took a few minutes to put together completely. The lamb gets barely any re-heating at all, just enough to get it hot and crisp, and it tastes great with all of those great Mediterranean spices that you use in the mix. Place it on a warm pita with the yogurt sauce and it was fantastic. I have to admit I was a little worried that Michelle and Sean would not go for it but we all loved it and gobbled it down pretty easily. This will certainly be my go to dish for leftover lamb from now on. I did add some diced cucumber to the toppings of the pita to mix it all in for a bit of coolness and freshness to go along with the dish, and you could serve this simply with a side of rice or a side salad and have a great meal for lunch or dinner.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

5 Comments

Posted by MikeG on January 13, 2015 in Cooking, Dinner, Lamb, Leftovers, Lunch, Sandwiches, Sauce

Tags: americas test kitchen, homemade lamb shawarma, lamb shawarma, lamb shawarma recipe, leftover lamb, the Make-Ahead Cook, uses for leftover lamb, yogurt-tahini sauce

Trying a Family Favorite Again – Fried Chicken Biscuit Sandwiches

08 Jan

If it were up to me, I could pretty much eat sandwiches all of the time and probably every day. They’re great for breakfast, lunch or dinner and very often we will have different variations of sandwiches for dinner during the week to make things a little bit easier to fit into our crazy schedules. Chicken sandwiches are always a personal favorite and there are a lot of different things you can do with them. Sean really liked the fried chicken sandwiches I have made in the past and I have done them on biscuits before, but when I came across this particular recipe at Chow.com, it seemed like a really easy one to do and it made use of the boneless chicken thighs that I already had on hand. The recipe makes both the biscuits and the chicken and both are really simple to do so that you can have in easy meal just about any night of the week.

Fried Chicken Biscuit Sandwiches

For the biscuits:

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup cold butter (1 stick), cut into 12 pieces

1 cup cold buttermilk

For the fried chicken:

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Kosher salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons sweet paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1 cup buttermilk

Vegetable oil or canola oil

To serve:

Sliced dill pickles

Hot sauce

Honey (optional)

For the biscuits, preheat the oven to 425° and arrange a rack in the middle of the oven. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. In a food processor, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pulse to combine the mixture. Scatter the butter pieces over the top of the flour mixture and pulse until the butter is pea-sized. Add the buttermilk and pulse the mixture just until a moist, shaggy dough comes together.

Alternatively, in a mixing bowl, the whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Scatter the butter pieces over the top of the flour mixture and toss to coat them in the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender, and working quickly, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it is pea-sized. Drizzle in the buttermilk and stir the mixture just until he moist, shaggy dough comes together.

Dust a work surface with flour. Scrape the dough onto the surface and dust the top with more flour. With floured hands, pat the dough into a circle 1-inch thick. Using a 3 1/2-inch round (or fluted) cutter dipped in flour, cut out as many biscuits as possible. Press straight down through the dough — do not twist the cutter, or the biscuits will not rise properly.

Transfer the biscuits to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them at least 1-inch apart. Gather the scraps into a ball, pat it into a 1-inch-thick circle, and cut out more biscuits. Repeat as needed until you have 6 biscuits in total. Bake until the biscuits are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Set the biscuits aside to cool on a wire rack.

For the fried chicken, arrange the chicken in a shallow baking dish and sprinkle it all over with salt; set the chicken aside at room temperature. In a shallow bowl, stir together the flour, paprika, cayenne pepper (if using), and thyme. Pour the buttermilk over the chicken and toss the chicken to coat it well. Add the vegetable or canola oil to a large, straight-sided cast-iron skillet or frying pan. The oil should be 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep, reaching slightly less than halfway up the sides of the pan. Warm the oil over medium heat until it reaches 340° on a candy thermometer. When the oil is ready, lift a piece of chicken from the buttermilk, letting the excess drip off, then dip the chicken into the flour mixture, coating it completely. Shake off any of the excess flour. Fry the chicken until it is cooked through and golden brown, turning the pieces halfway through the cooking process, about 6 to 8 minutes in total. The interior of the chicken should register 155° on an instant-read thermometer when you remove the chicken from the oil; the temperature will rise to 165° as the chicken rests. Drain the chicken on a paper towel-lined plate.

To serve, split the biscuits and place a piece of the fried chicken on the bottom half of each biscuit. Add dill pickles, hot sauce, and the optional honey, or any other condiments you may like, cover the chicken with the biscuit top, and serve.

There is nothing quite like having a piece of fried chicken, and having it on a flaky, moist buttermilk biscuit just seems to make it even better. I always add pickles to my chicken biscuits and they go really well with coleslaw either on the side or right on the biscuit itself with the chicken. Adding a little hot sauce to the mix also can kick it up just a bit if you like that kind of flavor, though the honey is also a nice touch and Sean did add some honey to the top of his piece of chicken and he said it went really well with the biscuit. You can serve these pretty simply with coleslaw or potato salad or any other type of salad you might like, or even some homemade or store-bought French fries if you prefer. Overall I think it is a great sandwich you could even do for a buffet or a party if you are all getting together to watch the game or hang out.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day, try to stay warm (it is about 4° here in New York without the wind, and with the wind it is about 15 below), and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on January 8, 2015 in Biscuits, Breads, Cooking, Dinner, Poultry, Sandwiches

Tags: boneless chicken thighs, buttermilk biscuits, chicken biscuit sandwiches, Chow.com, fried chicken, fried chicken biscuit sandwiches, fried chicken biscuits

Best New Year’s Eve Recipes : Food Network

29 Dec

Best New Year’s Eve Recipes : Food Network.

New Year’s Eve is just two days away and if you are planning a party, big or small, Food Network has some great recipe ideas for you for appetizers, snacks, main courses, cocktails and more so you can ring in the New Year. Check it out!

I will be back with more of my own recipes once the holidays are are all over with so stay tuned for some great, exciting new things to try for the New Year. Thanks for following!

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Posted by MikeG on December 29, 2014 in Appetizers, Beef, Beverages, Cookbooks, Cooking Websites, Dessert, Dinner, Fruit, Holidays, Pantry, Pasta, Pork, Potatoes, Poultry, Produce, Salad, Sandwiches, Sausage, Seafood, Side Dishes, Snacks, Turkey, Vegetables

Tags: appetizers for new year's eve, best new year's eve recipes, food network, Food Network New year's eve recipes, new year's eve recipe ideas, snacks for new year's eve, thingsto make for new year's eve

Have a Pre-Holiday Holiday Meal – Holiday Turkey Burgers

22 Dec

Everyone gets into a bit of frenzy as holidays get nearer and you feel like you have a million things to take care of and plan. I know that is the way it is around here right now as we try to get all of the last-minute things done before the Christmas holiday really sets in. That usually does not leave you with a lot of time to make detailed meals in the days leading up to the holiday as you want to try to keep things as easy as possible. Sure, take-out is always an option when you are looking for something, but an easy alternative is to make some burgers of your own. You can have any type you like of course, but since it is the holidays why not try something different and have this holiday turkey burger, which uses ground turkey and turkey sausage together with some other holiday ingredients for a very different type of burger. I got this recipe from Serious Eats and tweaked it a little to make it my own.

Holiday Turkey Burgers

1 sweet potato

1 tablespoon butter

1/3 cup finely chopped yellow onion

1/4 cup finely chopped celery (about 1 small stalk)

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage leaves

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon finely minced garlic

1 pound ground turkey

1/3 pound loose turkey sausage or pork sausage

4 rolls

Cranberry relish, for topping

Turkey gravy, for topping

Fresh spinach. for topping

Fried onions, for topping

Using the tines of a fork, poke holes all over the sweet potato. Place the potato on a plate and microwave it on high until a paring knife can be inserted in the middle of the potato without any resistance, about 9 to 12 minutes, checking and flipping the potato every 3 minutes. Alternatively, place the potato in a 425 degree oven and cook until a paring knife can be inserted in the middle of the potato with no resistance, about 1 hour. Split the potato open and allow it to cool slightly, about 5 to 10 minutes. Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh into a small bowl and discard the potato skin.

Melt the butter in a skillet set over medium heat. When the foaming subsides, add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the sage, thyme and garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove the mixture from the skillet and allow it to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.

Place the turkey, sausage, 1/4 cup of the sweet potato flesh and the vegetable mixture in a medium bowl and mix the mixture with your hands until it is well incorporated. Form the mixture into 4 patties and season each patty with salt and pepper to taste.

In the now-empty skillet, heat the skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of butter. When the butter has melted and the foaming has subsided, place the burgers in the skillet and cook the burgers until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the burger registers at least 145 degrees, flipping the burger halfway through the cooking process to cook it on both sides, about 4 to 5 minutes per side.

Using the rolls (you can lightly toast them if you like), top each bottom half of the bun with a burger and then add the condiments you wish, such as cranberry relish, turkey gravy, spinach and fried onions.

You can get the complete flavor of your traditional holiday meal with this burger. The sweet potato adds to the density and taste of the burger and you get a bit of a stuffing flavor thanks to the sage and thyme in the mixture. Add on the gravy, relish, onions and spinach and you have everything to make a holiday meal right on the bun. It is a nice and different alternative to a regular hamburger if you want something a little different for a quick meal.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!