Who’s the best cook in the family out of my large group of cousins on my dad’s side? This was the question supposedly answered by my cousin Allen who claimed he held the crown and title. I don’t know about that, but he did come up with a good combination of herbs and seasonings for a delicious, juicy turkey burger.

If you’re looking for a good recipe to help kick-off the grilling and barbeque season, I definitely recommend Allen’s juicy turkey burgers. As long as you use ground turkey thighs or ground turkey breast no leaner than 97/3, you should have a tasty burger.

I have tasted turkey burgers, plenty unfortunately, that taste like cardboard, and that’s basically because they were either overcooked or didn’t have enough fat in them. Yes, while overall we want to decrease the amount of saturated fat in our diets, turkey burgers need some fat or else you’re going to get that cardboard taste.

In addition to using the right kind of ground turkey, the egg and breadcrumbs also help make the burgers moist.  A seasoning combination of dried herbs of dill, tarragon, parsley and sage along with my addition of onion and garlic powder in place of all-purpose seasoning, all make up Allen’s tasty recipe. I was quite impressed, and I think you will be too. Enjoy!

Allen’s Turkey Burgers
Serves 4

1 pound ground turkey thighs
1/8 teaspoon dried tarragon leaves
1/4 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs
Fresh cracked black pepper

In a large bowl, add the ground turkey and spices, and mix to combine. Then, add the egg and bread crumbs and combine further. Heat a non-stick grill pan over medium to medium-high heat. In the meantime, form four patties with your mixture.

Lightly spray the grill pan with cooking spray and place your patties on the grill cooking for about 7 minutes on one side before flipping and cooking for an additional 7 – 8 minutes until done. Serve on whole grain buns or on what Allen recommends – Pepperidge Farm Deli Flats.

My Mom’s side of the family makes the best cornbread dressing, hands down – at least according to my taste buds. And yes, we say dressing not stuffing, we’re from the South. It’s so interesting how different regions and families have different food traditions for the same dish. I recently discovered that some folks have only seen dressing served mashed/fluffed or in a mound rather than in squares the way my family and nearly everyone in my parents’ hometown serves it.

So what makes our dressing so good? I believe it’s due to the variety of flavors that come from the sage and various herbs in the poultry seasoning. The sweet cornbread base, as well as the moisture from just the right amount of delicious broth are also key. These are all common, basic ingredients in dressing, but there’s still just something special to me about our dressing! 

Perhaps it’s the nostalgia from having that same great consistent taste no matter whether it’s my grandmother’s or great aunt’s dressing, which we devoured several times a day for several days each Thanksgiving and Christmas years ago, or whether it’s from the modern kitchens of my aunts and mother. Overall, I think our memory of how it’s supposed to taste is what allows us to get it right every time.

Despite the culinary tradition our cornbread has in our family, I made the bold move to change it up just a little bit by adding some diced apple and chopped pecans (fall flavors I love). I also made my cornbread base from scratch instead of relying on the ole’ handy Jiffy Mix.

Usually we make our dressing by taste and look alone (no measurements), but as I made my version to share with you, I measured most of the ingredients. Still, you have to rely on your own judgment to get the seasoning just how you like it. That’s the great part about cooking — the flexibility to come up with your own flavor traditions. Enjoy!

Apple-Pecan Cornbread Dressing

1 eight inch square pan of sweet cornbread (recipe below)
3 -4 cups herb-seasoned stuffing mix (regular, not cornbread based)
1 celery stalk, very finely diced
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick) 
3/4 cup diced, peeled apple (about 1/2 large apple)
1 cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped
1-1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, plus more to taste
2-1/2 cups turkey or chicken broth (plus more to drizzle)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Crumble cornbread in a very large bowl. Add stuffing mix, celery, onion, sage, poultry seasoning, diced apple, pecans, salt and pepper; mix well. Add melted butter and broth and mix well again. Taste the dressing mixture for flavor and add additional salt, pepper or poultry seasoning if needed.

Spoon mixture into two lightly greased 8″ square baking pans and smooth evenly. Bake for 45 minutes or until top of dressing is golden brown and an inserted knife comes out clean.

Cornbread

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8″ square baking pan with butter or cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fully combine using a rubber spatula. Pour the batter evenly into the pan and bake for 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Last week I served this tasty pulled chicken sandwich along side my bowl of butternut squash soup. With the weather getting cooler and cooler these days, hot soup and warm sandwiches are ideal for weeknight meals and leftovers to take for lunch. So what makes this sandwich or any sandwich for that matter tasty and more than just the standard luncheon meat on bagged sliced bread like the kind I grew up on (think bologna or ham and cheese)? The answer’s very simple … the bread and the extras.

I’ve found that simply making your sandwich with fresh baked bread from a bakery can add a new dimension of flavor to your sandwiches if you’re used to making sandwiches at home with your regular packaged bread. My favorite bakery breads to use for sandwiches include wheatberry, rosemary Italian or foccaccia, sunflower or multi-seed boule (like the one I used for the photos here), or ciabatta. Also, I like to buy the bread whole rather than have it sliced at the bakery. I read the tip somewhere that slicing the bread as you need it allows it to keep longer than if you have it pre-sliced, and I’ve discovered that to be true.

The extras that I speak of, another key to good homemade sandwiches include breaking out of the jar of your simple mayo spread. Instead, add a little extra flavor by using pesto or avocado as a spread on your sandwiches or mixing in seasonings to your mayo. For this pulled chicken sandwich, I added one minced clove of garlic with fresh ground black pepper to my mayonnaise and those additions alone elevated the “deliciousness” of my sandwich. You can also try dried herbs, a splash of lemon juice, or a diced sun-dried tomato. Be creative, and enjoy!

Pulled-Chicken Sandwich with Garlic Mayo

1 loaf fresh baked bread of your choice
2 – 3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Pulled chicken from one roasted or rotisserie chicken
Green leaf lettuce
Vine-ripened tomato, sliced
Thin-sliced red onions (optional)
Garlic mayo (see recipe below)

Drizzle olive oil over one side of two slices of the fresh bread and lightly toast in the oven under the broiler, remove from oven and set aside. On the untoasted sides of the bread, spread a thin layer of garlic mayonnaise and top one slice with pulled chicken. Then sprinkle chicken with a little pepper. Add lettuce and a few tomato and red onion slices. Top with the other slice of toasted bread and cut sandwich on a diagonal. Serve with hot soup.

Garlic Mayonnaise

1/4 cup quality mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, finely minced (almost to a paste)
2 dashes of fresh ground black pepper

Mix the finely minced garlic and pepper well into the mayo and use on bread for sandwiches or as a dip for fresh vegetables or (eek!) … fries.

Until this past weekend, I never realized just how beautiful the Virginia countryside is. Last fall I took a trip to Culpeper, VA with a friend to visit their cute shops and pick apples. We had such a great time that I wanted to share the experience with some of my family members. So this past weekend I, my parents, a cousin and several aunts and uncles took an overnight trip to Culpeper and Madison counties for a few farm and winery tours. Blessed with sunny and pleasantly crisp fall weather, we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and as we took the “back” roads from place to place, the sights of the wide open and beautifully manicured fields accented with wooden fences and gorgeous homes added to our enjoyment.

Culpeper County was having their official Fall Harvest Farm Tour, and although we didn’t include all 12 site visits on our trip, we made it to several including a few unofficial stops to two wineries and to Graves Mountain Farm for apple picking. Between the nine of us, we left the orchard with about 10 or 11 boxes of apples – staymen, red delicious, golden delicious, fuji, and granny smith. So needless to say, a few of my upcoming posts will include apples!

First up, apple pecan chicken salad. I’ve wanted to feature chicken salad for a while because it’s always great for using up leftovers from roast chicken (waste not). In addition, it’s also good to make when you’re short on time or want to make a batch to last you for enough lunches or afternoon snacks through the week. Just simply buy a whole roasted or rotisserie chicken from the supermarket – a great short cut.

The Corner Bakery has a delicious chicken salad that includes apples and currants, so along with the apples I picked, that is the inspiration for this recipe. The sweetness and crunch of the apples add a pleasant taste to this chicken salad, and my favorite flavor note in this recipe comes from the toasted pecans. So enjoy, and take a look back at my apple recipes from last fall – apple pecan salad with apple cider vinaigrette (apple pecan is a great flavor combo) and apple crisp.

Apple Pecan Chicken Salad

1 whole roasted or rotisserie chicken (4 – 5 pounds),  shredded or well chopped into small pieces
1 stalk celery, finely diced
1 cup diced apple
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon quality mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 light dashes smoked paprika
1/4 cup dried currants
1/2 cup pecan halves, toasted and roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Toast the pecan halves in a small sauté pan over medium low heat. Remove pan from heat once the pecans become fragrant (about 3 – 4 minutes). Allow pecans to cool slightly, then chop.

Working piece by piece (breast, legs, thighs, wings) and with your hands, separate the meat from the bones and chop the meat of the cooked chicken up into small pieces, then add it to a large bowl. Add the celery, diced apple, currants and half of the salt, thyme, paprika and some fresh ground black pepper along with the mayonnaise and stir well with a rubber spatula to combine.

Add the remaining half of salt, thyme and paprika along with the chopped pecans and stir to combine once more. Taste for additional salt and pepper. Serve apple pecan chicken salad on bread as a sandwich or with crackers or toasted bread. 

The classic backyard-bbq comes standard with smoky beef burgers and hotdogs. While these summer mainstays will likely never go out of style, you might want to provide options for yourself and your guests and add the increasingly popular turkey burger to your menu.

Turkey burgers can either be great or horrible — easily. Without good seasoning and at least some fat, your burgers might come off the grill tasting more like cardboard than anything tasty. But, with a few additional ingredients and a little more attention than you would give to beef burgers you can overcome the dry-turkey-burger challenge.

When making turkey burgers, you’ll want to use ground turkey that is at least 97/3 (as in 3% fat). Stay away from 99% lean ground turkey, which is more likely to dry out. Ground turkey that includes turkey thighs is even better if you’re striving for the juiciest turkey burger you can make. I used 97/3 ground turkey for this recipe and the juiciness of the burgers was pretty good.

I recently came back from a visit to the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health where they have very tasty and healthy food, and when I returned home, I went on their website to take a look at their recipes. That’s where I discovered their recipe for sun-dried tomato turkey burgers, which inspired me to write this post. My recipe, containing fewer ingredients, is a little simpler than theirs.

The chopped, sun-dried tomatoes add a few bright notes of flavor throughout the burger and the sautéed shallots and flat-leaf parsley add to the flavor as well. As with any burger, whether you’re cooking the burgers on the grill or on the stovetop in a pan, you’ll want to be sure not to overcook it (otherwise get ready for a dry burger).

Do you have any other tips or ways to make tasty turkey burgers? One of my cousins adds ground chicken sausage to his, which is another way to add good flavor.

Sun-Dried Tomato Turkey Burgers
Adapted from a recipe by the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Makes about 4 – 5 burgers

1.3 pounds of lean ground turkey (no leaner than 97/3)
1 shallot, finely diced
1 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
4 olive oil-soaked sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
2 clove garlic, minced
1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small pan over medium heat; add shallot and sauté for about 1 minute or so. In a large bowl, add ground turkey, sautéed shallot, and remaining ingredients. Stir with a fork to mix well. Break off a handful (about the size of a baseball) of seasoned ground turkey at a time and form 4 to 5 burger patties. Cook over a grill or in a pan on stovetop over medium to medium-high heat.

To cook by stovetop, set patties aside and heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large non-stick pan. Add patties to the pan being sure not to overcrowd the pan. You may have to cook two patties at a time depending on the size of the pan. Cook on one side for about 3 – 4 minutes and then flip patties to cook on the other side for another 4 minutes. Flip once more to cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Check one patty for doneness. If it’s not done, cook a little longer. Let burgers rest for a few minutes before serving on burger buns with lettuce, tomatoes and your other favorite burger toppings.

On my journey to becoming a real cook (see definition below) I rely on a variety of tools – questions to other cooks, classes, cooking shows, reading and journaling. Since I didn’t grow up at my mother’s side everyday learning the ins and outs of cooking (in this day and age very few people have had that fortune), these tools help me catch up.

Journaling is a wonderful tool that can be used for many purposes, and cooking is just one activity I apply it to. In addition to keeping my cooking journal, I have a dance and yoga journal, as well as a personal reflections journal.

Real Cook n.  
1. A cook with an old school style, yet modern flare.

2. Someone who prepares food from scratch using fresh, quality ingredients and rarely relies on boxed and canned processed foods. A real cook can quickly make a tasty meal due to the skill acquired from years of practice. The real cook knows timesaving shortcuts as well as how to fix mistakes, measure by sight, and make adjustments based on taste and experience. She or he knows ingredients and can taste something and tell you exactly what’s in it.

In my cooking journal I keep track of recipes that I’ve tried and write notes on what to do or not do the next time I make the dish. In other words, I write down what I learned from that particular cooking experience.

 For example, the last entry in my journal was for an herbed cornbread recipe. What did I learn and write down to remember next time? Add two additional tablespoons of sugar, remember to let the melted butter cool before adding it to the eggs, and bake a few minutes less than the recipe states. You can also keep these kind of notes on the paper the recipe is written on (which may be in a book), but I find keeping such notes in a journal more appealing.

In addition to recipe notes, I write down recipe ideas, thoughts about something I tasted that I want to remember, as well as any thoughts or things to remember that I come across while watching a cooking show, reading an article or blog post or attending a food or wine expo. 

Honestly, I don’t diligently write a journal entry for everything I make and not even always for every new recipe I try. Keeping a journal doesn’t have to be another chore on your already long list of things to do, but  it can provide you with a useful reference as you explore and build your repertoire of dishes.  And years from now once you feel that you’ve arrived, you can pass your cooking journal down to someone – a son or daughter, niece or nephew for instance – to help them on their journey to becoming a real cook. Just think of the wealth of information you would have if you had a cooking journal from your grandmother or great-aunt.

Another one of my latest entries in my journal is for Spicy Sausage and Rice. This is an easy recipe I wrote. Serve it with a side vegetable and you’ll have a quick weekday meal. Try it out to get you started with your first journal entry.

Do you already keep a journal of some sort? How do you keep your recipe notes? Better yet, do you have a collection of old family recipes with hand written notes? Leave a comment below and let me know about it!

Spicy Sausage and Rice
Serves 4

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 small onion, diced
3 – 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely diced
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
2 tablespoons tomato sauce (from 8 oz. can)
2 cups water
4 spicy sausage links (12 oz. package of fully-cooked spicy sausage: turkey, chicken, beef or pork. I prefer chicken or turkey. Use Italian, Andouille or some other spicy sausage)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup rice

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and jalapeño pepper and sauté for 2 – 3 minutes. Add Cajun seasoning and sauté for 1 minute more stirring occasionally. Stir in tomato sauce and sauté for another minute stirring constantly. Add water, sausage and salt and bring to a boil. Once boiling, stir in rice. Once water comes back up to a boil, place heat on low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and sit aside, covered for 5 minutes. Fluff rice and sausage with a fork and serve.

Have you had enough chocolate yet? Well there’s more to come from me this month, but for now I’ll give your sweet tooth a break and share a recipe for a light entrée you can try just in case you had too many desserts this past weekend or have been eating heavy meals a little too much during the past several weeks. I’ve had a few recent requests for a “low-cal” dish, so here’s my response (also, check out the Light & Tasty category in the right sidebar for additional recipes).

This chicken and broccoli entrée serves as a light meal on its own and no other side dishes are really needed. The extra-virgin olive oil and butter (yes, butter … a little won’t hurt you) give it flavor along with the minced garlic and red pepper flakes; however, if you have kids or finicky folks in the house, it might not go over too well –- so try it out and see. If they boycott the dinner table, you can always make (or buy I suppose) an Alfredo sauce to go over it, but then again, it wouldn’t be “low-cal.”

This dish definitely makes a good and fairly quick lunch as well as a light dinner. I still think I need to fine-tune the cooking times and measurements of this recipe a little more, so I plan to try it a few more times and update the recipe below. However, what I’ve written here will work for you and is basically the process I followed when I first developed the recipe. Enjoy!

Chicken and Broccoli with Whole Wheat Pasta

2 cups whole wheat fusilli pasta (corkscrew)
1 red bell pepper cut into thin 2” long strips
1 bunch broccoli (about 4 stalks), use florets only
1-1/2 pound of chicken breast cutlets cut into 1” pieces
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter (you can substitute with an additional 3T olive oil)
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (plus more for garnish)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water (use 1 teaspoon salt) to a boil. Bring another large pot of salted water (2 teaspoons) to a boil. As water is coming to a boil, fill a large bowl (big enough to hold the broccoli florets) with water and ice to create an ice bath.

Add rinsed broccoli florets to first pot of boiling water and let water come back to a boil and continue to cook until broccoli turns bright green (about 3 – 4 minutes). Quickly drain the broccoli and then add the florets to the ice bath for 1 – 2 minutes to stop the cooking process. Drain broccoli from ice bath and set aside. Note: Don’t allow broccoli to sit in the ice bath until you’re ready to use it. It can dilute the flavor of the broccoli.

Add pasta to second pot of boiling water and boil for 6 – 8 minutes. Test a piece of pasta for doneness. Drain and set aside.

In a large sauté pan heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add garlic and dried red pepper flakes and sauté (stirring) for 1 minute. Add chicken pieces and cook on one side for 3 minutes, turn pieces over and cook for an additional 4 – 5 minutes stirring occasionally.

Add bell pepper strips, pasta, and broccoli. Drizzle another tablespoon of olive oil over everything in the pan, and add cut up pieces of the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter throughout the pan. Sauté everything together for another 7 minutes. Add cheese and gently toss with the pasta, broccoli, chicken, and bell pepper.  Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with additional grated parmesan if desired.

Go Obama! That’s what I said as I prepared this dish for dinner on election night. Instead of going out to a loud watch party in D.C. to buy appetizers and $12 to $15 drinks, I went to a friend’s house and made a home cooked meal for the two of us as we watched the electoral counts roll in for Obama.

This recipe is based off of my mom’s lasagna recipe which she usually makes with ground beef. Trying something different, I substituted the ground beef with 75% lean ground turkey. I also added sliced baby portabella mushrooms for a change in flavor and texture.

I don’t normally make lasagna, so it was good practice to put this dish together. After I decided on the ingredients for my layer filling, I just assumed that I had an appropriate baking dish for lasagna. However, when I looked at my largest Pyrex, an 8″ x 11.5″ baking dish, it seemed a little too small and shallow for three layers of lasagna. So before I rushed out to buy a new baking dish, I did some research.

Choosing a baking dish for lasagna isn’t complicated of course, but here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Shape: A square shape is the easiest to work with, but not necessary. Oval dishes are on the market as well.
• Depth: Use a dish that’s at least 2 inches deep, but 2.5 to 3 inches deep is better. There are also some deep dish lasagna pans available (3″ – 5″ deep). 
• Material: Use glass or ceramic rather than uncoated metal pans. Acidic tomato-based sauces can react with metallic pans and negatively affect the flavor of food as well as discolor pans.

One other tip to keep in mind, make sure you use enough sauce (the amount specified in the recipe should do it) so that the lasagna doesn’t dry out as you bake it. 

Turkey Mushroom Lasagna

1/2 of a 16 oz box of lasagna pasta 
(or 9 lasagna pieces for a 9″ x13″ dish)
1-1/2 pound of 75% or 85% lean ground turkey
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
1-1/2 tablespoon of salt
(1 tablespoon for boiling lasagna, 1/2 tablespoon for seasoning ground turkey)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
1 small shallot, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
8 oz package fresh baby portabella mushrooms, sliced
Two 16 oz jars of tomato and basil pasta sauce
3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
1-1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bring a large stockpot full of water with 1 tbs salt to a boil. Add lasagna one by one. Boil until al dente (about 12 – 15 minutes). Remove pasta from water.

While pasta is boiling, combine ground turkey with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground turkey and cook thoroughly, stirring occasionally, until pink color is gone (about 10 minutes). Set aside.

In a sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add shallot, garlic and mushrooms and sauté for about 10 minutes.

Add first layer of lasagna in a 9″ x 13″ baking dish. Spoon a generous layer of pasta sauce over the pasta. Next, spoon over a layer of cooked ground turkey and sautéed mushrooms. Then, sprinkle a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese (1 cup) and grated parmesan cheese (1/4 cup). Repeat layering two more times adding more cheese to the final layer.

Bake layered lasagna dish for 30 – 35 minutes or until top layer of cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling around the edges of the dish. Serve.

Growing up in the south, breakfast just wasn’t breakfast without some kind of meat included (a real breakfast anyway – cold cereal doesn’t count). I used to eat all kinds of stuff that today I don’t even touch – pork bacon, livermush, fried bologna, pork sausage patties or links, and my old favorite, corned beef hash.

Now that I rarely, if ever, eat pork (or beef for that matter), my breakfast is usually vegetarian and occasionally includes turkey bacon. Many times when I go out for breakfast, I look for a veggie or turkey sausage/bacon substitute; however, I’ve found that most places don’t even give you that option.

When it comes to cooking breakfast at home, I shop for turkey bacon, which is pretty easy to find. I also look for Morning Star veggie sausage patties (I’m not crazy about the links). Chicken sausages are tasty also, although they usually have a pork casing. But one thing I’ve noticed is that I don’t really see turkey sausage patties outside of the occasional restaurant. So this week when I was trying to decide what to do with some of the left over sage that I purchased to make Tuscan white bean soup, turkey sausage patties came to mind.

Before beginning, I looked at a variety of sausage recipes from a variety of sources to get an idea of how to go about making sausage at home (Joy of Cooking, The Gourmet Cookbook, RecipeZaar.com, AllRecipes.com). Different versions called for pork sausage and a few others used chicken or turkey. All used sage, but the other ingredients differed from recipe to recipe. My recipe uses fresh sage, dried thyme, paprika, nutmeg, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Other versions included eggs, allspice, fennel, cayenne pepper and ground cloves.

The recipe below is a good starting point for tasty turkey sausage patties that you can make for yourself, your family, and guests you invite over for brunch. I based my selection of ingredients on simplicity and what intuitively makes sense to me, but I will probably try other recipes and spice combinations to find the perfect taste according to my palette since I’m still searching for something (I can’t quite put my finger on it) to punch up the flavor a little bit. I recommend trying the recipe a few times and playing around with different amounts of spices and herbs to find the flavor that suits your taste.

No matter what, don’t over cook the patties or press them down making the juices flow out as you’re cooking. This will result in a dry patty.

Turkey Sausage Patties
Makes about 10 patties

1 pound ground turkey (don’t get “ground turkey breast” or the 99% fat-free ground turkey)
1 tbs fresh sage, finely chopped
3/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 – 3 dashes of freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Place the ground turkey in a large bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix together well. Spoon out enough seasoned turkey to roll into a golf-ball sized ball. Then pat into a 1/2 inch thick patty. Continue until you have all of the meat divided and shaped into patties.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Place several patties into the skillet (do not overcrowd the pan) and cook on one side for about 4 minutes, then flip the patties and cook on the other side for an additional 4 minutes. Remove patties from the pan and set aside. Cook the remaining patties. Let cooked patties sit for a minute or two before eating in order to allow the juices inside to settle. Remember, don’t squeeze down on the patties as they are cooking. This will make the juices run out and leave you with a dry interior.

NOTE: You can freeze cooked patties and reheat in the microwave for about 1 minute per patty. You can also prepare the turkey mixture the night before and cook in the morning. The uncooked turkey mixture/patties can keep in the refrigerator for up to three days.

As I wrote last week, I spent my Labor Day weekend mingling with farmers, organic foodies and food justice activists at Slow Food Nation ’08 in San Francisco. In addition to sampling artisan breads, loose-leaf teas and fair trade chocolate and sightseeing in the Bay area, my friends and I rented a PT Cruiser and headed up highway 101 across the Golden Gate Bridge to California wine country – Sonoma and Napa Valley.

Our scenic drive through the vineyard-lined roads of Sonoma and the various towns and wineries along Napa Valley’s Route 29 was beautiful. After stopping for lunch at The Plaza Bistro for some wine country cuisine in downtown Sonoma, we made stops at Beringer Vineyards for an hour-long tasting and tour, and then headed down to the Robert Mondavi Winery.

While Beringer and Mondavi certainly aren’t off the beaten path, I wanted to make these familiar estates my first experience with Sonoma/Napa vineyard hopping. I must definitely go back for a longer stay to visit more of the area’s many wineries and to enjoy Northern California’s lush country side (see photos). A sequel to my trip is in store in order to experience more of the wonderful flavors of wine country cooking that the area is know for, food often flavored with California wine. My first visit to Sonoma and Napa Valley inspired me to add another wine-infused dish to my culinary repertoire and share some of what I’ve learned about cooking with wine.

Cooking with wine adds another dimension of flavor to dishes just as spices and herbs do. Often used in sauces and marinades, wines can also be used in a variety of other ways including stews and desserts. In this week’s recipe, I use it as a braising liquid.

Two questions often asked about cooking with wine, include:
1) Does the alcohol cook out? 2) What type of wine should I use?

Does the Alcohol Cook Out?
According to various sources, some of the alcohol, but not all of it, evaporates when cooking with wine. How much depends on when the wine is added and how long it is cooked. So basically, it varies by recipe. Most of the alcohol is likely to cook out for braises and the long simmering of sauces, but not so much for wine that’s added at the end of the cooking process and only simmered for a few minutes.

What Type of Wine Should I Use?
The main rule of thumb to remember is to only cook with a wine that you would drink. In other words, no “cooking wine” found near the vinegars in the grocery store. “Cooking wines” are often salty and have other additives. It’s not necessary to cook with an expensive wine, but it should be one that you think tastes good.
 
You’ll often find that many recipes call for dry white wine. But what is a dry white wine? Typically, those recipes are talking about a wine that’s not sweet. So a Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc would do. I’ve heard that some people will often use dry white Vermouth whenever a recipe calls for dry white wine, but I’ve never tried it.

So if you want a new recipe that incorporates wine, try out my Wine-Braised Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes and Herbed Rice. If you’re totally opposed to cooking with wine, feel free to substitute the wine with chicken broth. Please leave a comment to let me know how it turns out for you. Enjoy!

Wine-Braised Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes

1 whole chicken cut up (2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks with skin – Note: You can use any combination of chicken pieces that you prefer)
1 tbs of extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbs of butter
1/2 medium sized onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of dry white wine
1/2 cup of chicken broth
1 tsp of dried thyme
1/8 tsp of ground cumin
12 – 16 cherry tomatoes
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp of chopped flat-leaf parsley for garnish

Rinse chicken and pat dry. Salt and pepper chicken liberally on both sides. Heat the olive oil and butter (hot, but not smoking) in a deep frying pan or dutch oven. Brown chicken well on both sides (should take about 10 – 12 minutes).

Remove chicken from the pan and set aside. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of the oil from the pan. Sautée the diced onion and minced garlic in the oil for about one minute. Deglaze the pan by adding the wine and chicken broth and bring to a boil for about one minute. Use a wooden spoon or whisk to scrape the bits (from browning the chicken) from the bottom of the pan.
Stir in the dried thyme and add the pieces of chicken back into pan.

Add the cherry tomatoes and about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper to the liquid and over the chicken. Cover, reduce heat to low/medium low and simmer for 20 – 25 minutes. Garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with herbed brown rice and a vegetable side dish.

Herbed Brown Rice

1 cup of long-grain brown rice
1 1/2 cup of water
1 tbs of extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 tsp of cumin seeds
1 tbs of chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp of some other herb such as dill (or just stick with the parsley)
1 tsp of salt, plus more to taste
10 whole black peppercorns

Rinse rice 1 – 2 times in water and drain. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a small to medium sized sauce pan. Add the cumin seeds. When they begin to sizzle, add the 10 peppercorns and heat for 1/2 minute. Add the water and bring to a boil. Add the rice and stir once. Bring water back to a boil, stir once more and cover. Lower heat and simmer rice for 40 – 50 minutes (check for doneness at 40 minutes).

Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Add fresh chopped herbs and salt to taste and gently stir and fluff into rice. Serve with braised chicken spooning a few tablespoons of the braising liquid over the rice.

Note: If you use white rice, decrease cooking time as directed on package.