Sunday, January 2, 2011

Spicy-Boyfriend-Is-Away Burgers

Tobie is, a bit of a picky* and somewhat regimented eater. For example, he'd never cook burgers if we didn't have green lettuce to put on them.

Tobie's Law--all burgers must have one or two crisp slices of lettuce on them or they shall be deemed inedible.

He thinks chicken on pizza is an abomination, won't eat any meat unless it is cooked to hell (I told him what chefs think of people who order steak 'well done'), he hardly touches left overs, and is lukewarm toward Mexican food.

I, on the other hand; love things bloody/nearly raw, hate to throw out food, could happily survive on Mexican food alone, have fairly loose rules on what foods ought to be eaten together, and think chicken on pizza is a nice way of getting lean protein into a meal.

Yet, we somehow make it work. 

But ground turkey is a major point of contention between us. I LOVE cooking with ground turkey. I used to make shepherds pie, burgers, meatballs, lasagna, chile--all with ground turkey.

Tobie loathes it. To the point where he practically gags when he tries it.

So I am back at the homestead alone now for a week while Tobie and his family cavort in Dublin. I had to stock up on groceries (I have a car for another 2 weeks until Terrence gets back and reclaims it) so naturally I bought some ground turkey breast because Tobie wasn't there to stop me!

[Cue maniacal laughter.]

Anyway, I frittered around with it and came up with this killer (IMHO) recipe. Enjoy!

        Spicy-Boyfriend-Is-Away Burgers
-1 egg
-3 inch piece of dried chorizo sausage, peeled and finely diced
-handful of bread crumbs (if you are making your own dice them very small, or grate frozen bread)
-2 tbsp chipotle chile flakes (or one med. sized chipotle chile in adobo sauce)
-1 tbsp chile paste (or dried chile flakes/tsp cayenne)
-1 tbsp garlic powder
-1 tbsp chile powder
-salt and pepper
-2 green onions, diced

Mix everything up, form into patties, cook on heated/oiled pan or in the oven until salmonella/E.coli risk free!

I ate mine with pita bread, radicchio, salsa, purple onion and a bit of mayo. It was pretty damn delicious. Also, I wasn't really measuring things so all of that is a rough estimation. If you're worried about spice level then put in 1/2 the spices and fry up a spoonful to test it. I like a pretty strong kick.

--
*He is definitely going to disagree with me that he is a "picky eater" if he reads this post. Sorry Tob, I calls them as I sees them!

3 comments:

Estelle said...

ohmygoodness...spicy turkey burgers...that sounds so good. Yum. It's like food p0rn. And yes, medium-rare is the only way to eat a steak. Seriously. Why ruin it by burning it?

But I have to agree with Tobie with the chicken on pizza thing. Although, it may be because I have had a bad experience with buffalo chicken pizza before (:gag:)
♥Estelle♥

E. Greene said...

That's an odd one about the ground turkey. I had my first negative ground turkey experience just a few weeks ago: I bought some frozen ground turkey and it looked really gross. I was surprised. It looked more like turkey sludge. I think it was lots of parts and connective tissue. Maybe some unpleasant ground turkey scenario similar to mine is buried deep in Tobie's subconscious.

Anyway, enjoy all the boyfriend-is-away food! Oddly for me, I think the only things that my husband isn't wild about are Japanese food (can you believe it?!) and cereal for dinner. I love both. Though, I do have the feeling that cereal for dinner will still remain in my future :).

Nurse J said...

thats funny, i eat taco bell when my wife is out of town. not because it is very good or i love it that much, but because my wife hate HATES it. so if i'm gonna indulge.....recipe sounds like a winner.