Osso Bucco

I love lamb.  I love everything about those fluffy four-legged critters.  They're so cute and cuddly.   Did you know that a lamb stays a lamb until its first birthday?  It then transform into sheep.  Now, don't get me started on SHEEP!  As a celtic musician, I know enough Scot's out there to know too much about sheep...and I worry about them.  The sheep, not the Scot's.

But going back to the cuteness factor of lamb, how many of you out there remember Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop?  I LOVED Lamb Chop as a small child. I had a stuffed Lamb Chop toy and carried it around everywhere.  Lamb Chop was my hero, as was Shari Lewis...until now because as I write this I have a sudden epiphany... Lamb Chop is the source of LAMB CHOPS!! Shari Lewis, how could you!!  Had I the wherewithal to understand Lamb Chop was a lamb chop at the time, I'm sure I would have boycotted her show and her puppets.

A few years went by..

Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop finally worked their way out of my consciousness and I had eaten and enjoyed many lamb chops (thanks mom!!).  I was a teen growing up in urban Canoga Park, California.  Ironically, farms were right down the street from our house.  My friend Tom lived on one of those farms.  His family owned chickens, goats, horses, and lambs.  Or maybe they were sheep as I never asked their age.  I loved everything about Tom's family farm.  We built houses in walnut trees, chased chickens, rode horses, and one day, we peered into one of the work rooms and saw Tom's father getting ready to butcher one of the lambs.  Talk about being a confused adolescent.  I loved lamb chops but I couldn't bear seeing one slaughtered.  No, that was it for me...no more lamb chops.

Until a few years later again..

I was in my 20's and ordered Osso Bucco at a restaurant not realizing it contained lamb shanks  And it was FABULOUS!!  Fall-off-the-bone tender and in a perfect trifecta of sauce from veggies, spices, and wine. I just couldn't get enough.  Lamb chops were once again fair game for dining.

Which brings me to today.  As I mentioned before, there are some in my household that do not approve of my indulgence with certain animals so I rarely cook them.  This includes lamb.  Here's a recent conversation at home regarding lamb:

Me: But sweetie, I love Osso Bucco with lamb shanks and sometimes dream about them.
Wife: Fine, you can dream about them but you can't cook or eat them in my presence.
Me:  But they're so good.
Wife: Either them or me.
Me:  I would never eat you.
Wife: Grrrrrrrrrr

So, I've taken to Turkey Drumsticks as my Osso Bucco surrogate.  I know, it's not quite the same but it keeps the peace in my house and comes very close to satisfying my desire for that perfect fall-off-the-bone-with-trifecta-sauce.

I'd like to now share with you a recent Turkey Osso Bucco recipe:

Here's what you are going to need:

• 1 1/2 TBS Sea Salt
• 2 TSP Ground Cumin
• 2 TSP Chipotle Chile Pepper
• 1 TSP Ground Coriander
• 1 TSP Garlic Powder
• 1 TSP Onion Powder
• 2 or 3 Turkey Legs
• 2 TBS Olive Oil
• 2 Medium Carrots, Chopped
• 1 Medium Onion, Chopped
• 2 Dried Chili Peppers
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 3 Garlic Cloves, Coarsely Chopped
• 2 Cups Chicken Broth (Low Sodium if possible)
• 1 Bottle Beer (I used IPA but you can use anything you like)
• 2 TBS Butter
• 2 Limes, Halved

Cooking this dish requires the turkey legs to be seasoned over night.  Once seasoned, the real party can begin.

• Combine Sea Salt, Cumin, Chile Pepper, Coriander, Garlic and Onion Powder into a rub mixture.

• Spread rub mixture over the turkey legs and place in the refrigerator overnight.

• On day 2, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Remove turkey from refrigerator and allow to stand for 30 minutes to come to room temperature.
• Heat 1 TBS olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat.
• Brown turkey legs in dutch oven on all sides.

• Remove turkey legs to a plate and let stand while you prepare the trifecta.

• Chop the carrots and onion and saute them in the turkey leg drippings in the Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  This will take about 10 minutes.

• When the carrots and onions are in their happy place, stir in the garlic and saute for an additional 2 minutes.

• Parties getting started now.  With the carrots, onions, and garlic all happy, it's now time to add the dried chile peppers and cinnamon stick.  Saute for an additional 5 minutes making sure all the brown bits are stirred up.  You should smell the cinnamon after a few minutes.

• Stir in the broth and beer.  I highly recommend taking a big swig of the beer before dumping into the mixture.  Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes.

• The turkey legs can now join the party.  Place them in the mixture.

• Cover the turkey legs with parchment paper.  Place the lid on the Dutch oven making sure it is a tight fit.  Then place in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for up to 2 hours.

• Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and let stand, covered, for 30 minutes.  During this time, preheat the broiler with an oven rack about 7 inches from the heat source.  
• After standing for 30 minutes, discard the parchment paper from the Dutch oven.

• Carefully remove the turkey legs and place them on a lightly greased rack.  Place them in the broiler for 3-4 minutes per side until the skin crisps.  When done, remove them to a serving platter.

• The remaining liquid in the Dutch oven has had time to settle
• Skim off the fat that may have accumulated at the top of the mixture.  
• Pour the liquid through a strainer into a medium sauce pan discarding all the solids from the trifecta sauce you are about to create.
• Bring the liquid to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until the sauce reduces slightly.
• Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter until it is melted and the sauce is smooth.
• Squeeze the lime over the turkey breast followed by a healthy helping of sauce.

Congratulations!!!

Turkey Breast In A Pot

When I tell people I’ve been to Paris, their first response is typically, "oh, as a foodie, you must have died and gone to heaven."   Well with all due respect to my friends, Parisian chefs, and Ben,  I've never been impressed.  I've been to Paris twice and never had what I would consider to be a great meal.  Sure, while there I've scarfed on awesome crepes walking home late at night, I've walked miles to bring those buttery and flaky croissants back to the rental apartment, and I've thoroughly enjoyed freshly baked afternoon baguettes with brie, rotisserie chicken and the prosciutto.  Hmmm, I guess the street food is pretty good after all :)

But never have I had one of those classic Parisian meals like I saw on 100 Foot Journey.  You know the meal I'm talking about, the michelin star'd meal that constantly has us foodies drooling over.  I just never experienced that type of gastronomy in Paris.  Could be that I’ve not gone to any of those restaurants.  Could be that it's all a myth.  But whatever.  The fact remains,  I’ve been to Paris twice and am still wearing my socks, daily!!

So what does all this have to do with WhatsMarkCooking?  Where is he going with all this?  Does he just want to moan and complain?  While it's true I like to moan and complain, that's not where I'm going.  Last night I found myself holding an in-bone turkey breast and wasn't quite sure how I wanted to cook it.  At first I thought...braise'er up.  I opened the fridge and there was no Guinness.  DOH!!  My bad.  Neither was there an open bottle of red wine to use.  Which isn't that surprising because in my house an open bottle of red wine is a rarity.  Well, that's not exactly true.  Open bottles of red wine are common but rarely do they actually contain wine after an hour or two. And NEVER would you find one the next day, opened, and not consumed. To be fair, there are a few UNopened bottle in our little wine fridge but they are earmarked for special occasions such as ENGAGEMENTS, WEDDINGS, and the birth of grandkids (hint, hint).

Anyway, so there I was, no braising liquids and a decent in-bone turkey breast in hand.  Now what? And again, how in the world does this relate to my rant about French food?  Soon.  Soon.

I next consulted the internet (why not?) and searched on braising.  One thing led to another and I found myself looking at a French technique called En Cocotte. Here’s what I read:

co·cotte /kôˈkôt,kəˈkät/ 
noun:
1. en cocotte a covered, heatproof dish or casserole in which food can be both cooked and served; a Dutch oven. 
2. a fashionable prostitute. 

I decided to focus on the first definition since I wasn't sure what my wife would think upon arriving home from work with a fashionable prostitute in the kitchen with me.  And so I set out on my big French Cooking Experiment!!  I decided to make:  Turkey Breast In A Pot.

Here's what I would need:

• 1 Carrot
• 1 Celery stalk
• 1 Onion
• Olive Oil
• Aluminum Foil
• 6 cloves of Garlic
• 2 sprigs of Fresh Thyme
• 1 Bay Leaf
• 1 tbs Flour
• 2-3 cups of Chicken Stock
• In-Bone Turkey Breast (2.5 lbs)
• Salt and Pepper

Here's how I did it:

• Remove all but the lowest rack in the oven and preheat to 250 degrees.
• Season both sides of turkey breast with salt and pepper.
• Under a medium heat, place a few TBS of Olive Oil in a 6 quart dutch oven.
• Once the oil is nice and hot, place the turkey breast in the pot

• Brown all sides of the turkey breast in the dutch oven.  This should take at least 10 minutes.  Make sure all surface areas of the turkey breast is nice and browned.

• While the turkey breast is browning, chop the carrots, celery, and onion.

• Smash the garlic cloves with the flat end of a knife in order to release the oils. Remove the peels. Below you can see the cloves and peels separated along with the thyme and bay leaf

• By the time your veggies are prepped, the turkey breast will most likely be browned so take it out of the dutch oven and place it on a plate.
• With the turkey on a separate plate, add your carrots, celery, onion, and garlic cloves to the pot.  Stir and let them soften up for 5-10 minutes in the oil and turkey.
• Next, add the thyme and bay leaf to the pot and stir for 1 additional minute.
• Almost everyone is in the pool now and the party's should be rocking.

• Take the pot off the heat and place the turkey breast back in, skin side up so that it is sitting on top of all those veggies.  Everyone's happy now!

• Now comes the French part.  Cover the top of the dutch oven very tightly with aluminum foil.

• Place the cover of the dutch oven on top over the aluminum foil.
• Stick the whole party into the oven and set the timer for ONE HOUR.

• After an hour, take the pot out of the oven and check the temperature of the turkey breast using a digital thermometer while making sure not to touch the bone with the thermometer. 

Turkey is good to eat at 160-165 degrees but remember, like all meat, you want to let it sit out for a bit before slicing in order for the juices to congeal IN the meat.  If you cut into it too soon, you lose all that precious juice.  Also remember that as the meat is sitting out, it still cooks a bit longer as well.  So my aim is to remove the turkey from the heat source at about 155 degrees.  This allows for 10-15 minutes of sitting time before it hits the correct temperature which is about the right time you need to make gravy.  If the temperature of the bird registers under 155 degrees when first removed from the oven, wrap the whole party back up tightly and place it back in the 250 degree oven for a bit longer.  Once at 155 degrees, your bird will be singing "tout est fait".  Remove it from its nest to a cutting board and "tent" it with aluminum foil.

Now we make gravy!!

I've always shy'd away from making gravy but trust me, once you make gravy using the following method, no longer will intimidation be part of your vocabulary.

With your bird removed its nest, the bottom of your dutch oven should contain veggies and juices.  Making gravy is completed in three steps; 1) concentrate the juices and veggie mixture, 2) add a thickener, 3) simmer until perfection is reached.  Here we go:  

• Turn the heat up under the dutch oven to boil away the liquid.  This creates a concentration of juices and veggies and should take anywhere up to 10 minutes.

• With the liquid all boiled out, your veggies are now ready to be thickened.  Turn down the heat to medium and sprinkle in 1 tbs of flour on top of the veggies.
• Stir the veggies for three minutes.  The flour will adhere to the veggies.
• Next, slowly whisk the chicken stock in to the thickened veggie mixture.
• With all the stock whisked into the pot, the party is back in full swing. Continue to stir until there are no lumps left (another 5 minutes).
• Add salt and pepper to taste and let the gravy simmer for yet another 5 minutes.

Now that the gravy is done, you can empty the contents into a gravy boat.  My gravy boat of choice is a battleship rather than some dainty little vessel because I like to keep all the veggies in the party and spoon it over my turkey.  All those broken down veggies taste great on top of turkey.  Other's like to pour the gravy through a strainer so that there are no veggies.  Party poopers!!

It's finally time to slice your bird.....

And serve!  We added a simple salad and steamed potatoes.

Well that's it for today from Rue du WhatsMarkCooking.  Au Revoir!

Turkey Burgers and Roasted Cauliflower

Well I'm back. And I suppose you may be wondering, "What has Mark been cooking since his last blog?  Has he been cooking?  Has he been eating?  Is he hungry?   I hope he's not gone without food.  And what about his wife?  Is she starving?  Oh my, now I'm worried!!"

But fret not, we've been eating and I have been cooking.  Just nothing too interesting. I did some killer swordfish tacos that came out excellent but still needs some tuning.

I'm thinking for now, since I figured you're all worried about me eating and all, I'd go ahead and blog about last night's dinner just so you know everything's ok.

Last night was a typical "Mark" dinner.  Turkey burgers (still can't get my wife to eat beef), roasted cauliflower, and salad.  First a word about the salad.  And that word would be, "blech!!"  It was just a bunch-o-mixed-greens thrown into a serving bowl with grocery store bought dressing on the side.  Boring?  Definitely, no doubt about it.  To make matters worse, I even had da' kind home-made croutons from a previous day's drive to Gayle's in Capitola I could have thrown on top of the salad. But I didn't.  Those that know of Gayle's will approve, I'm sure, and those that don't know of Gayle's need to make a special trip to Capitola if for nothing else but to pay homage to this amazing coastal bakery.  I could have sliced a righteously ripe avocado which I also bought on that same drive to Gayle's and thrown that on top.  But I didn't.  I had a jar of roasted red peppers, I had carrots, I had celery, and well, you get the picture.  I could have thrown all those things in my salad. But I didn't.  I know, I failed "Intro to Salad 101" last night.  But in my excuse,  I wanted to concentrate on the roasted cauliflower and turkey burgers. Ya, that's the ticket, focus on the big picture and don't sweat the small stuff.

I admit that I'd rather have a nice juicy beef burger than a turkey burger. I mean, who wouldn't?  But given that beef is NOT on the menu tonight (and most other nights), I'm going to show you my approach to turkey resulting in a pretty awesome and somewhat healthier burger.  My hope is that you get the idea of how I make mine so that you can experiment on your own.  The roasted cauliflower on the other hand is just plain good and so easy to cook. It's a family favorite and if you have a proclivity towards cauliflower, I highly suggest you give this one a try. Special note: I have been asked by my oldest step-daughter to include a list of ingredients at the beginning of my blog and highlight them as they're used in the recipes. This tells me that my kids read my blog. Nice. Thank her if you like this approach. And if you don't, she's a Ph.D candidate in Physics and typically is always right. So there!!!

Turkey Burger Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound ground turkey breast
• 3/4 pound ground turkey thigh
• 1 egg
• 2 TBS Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup "dressing" 
• 1 cup Panko crumbs
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Cauliflower Ingredients:

• 1 head cauliflower
• Sesame Oil
• Everyday Seasoning (or salt and pepper)

Let's start with the cauliflower since it is the easiest.  We are basically going to season the florets and roast them in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes. Simple?  Here's step by step:

1. Pre heat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Prepare the cauliflower:  I like to cut off the florets from the main cauliflower and slice them in half before rinsing.  That way, when I roast them, there is more of the floret exposed to the spices.
3. Once rinsed, cover the entire area of a cookie pan with aluminum foil.  We will cook our florets on aluminum foil.  Why?  Because it makes clean up easy.  I mean really, could it BE any easier to crumble up and throw away, er...I mean, to recycle because after all, we are in California, right?
4. Spray the aluminum foil with Pam or a little olive oil.  This will help to brown the bottoms of the florets.
5. Place the florets on the aluminum foil.
6. Sprinkle sesame oil on top of the florets.  You don't have to oil down every part of the floret since a little goes a long way.  But don't be shy either.  Nothing says, "party" to a floret like sesame oil.
7. Once the florets are oiled up, time to season them.  I use Everyday Seasoning from Trader Joe's.  It contains sea salt, mustard seed, peppercorns, onion, garlic, paprika, and chili peppers.  It comes in a shaker with a built in grinder.  I have used the exact same seasonings individually as well when I didn't have the Everyday Seasoning available.  You can also just use salt and pepper if you have nothing.  You do need some seasoning along with the sesame oil so make sure to use something.

Here's what the cauliflower should look like before placing in the oven:

I like to throw the cauliflower in the oven as soon as I place the turkey burgers on the grill.  The burgers take about 10 minutes per side @ 350 degrees so by the time they are done, so is your cauliflower.  BOOM!  You are now a master of timing.

Next, the turkey burgers.

• Combine the breast and thigh meat and mix well.  I have used just breast meat or just thigh meat before but I like a 50/50 mixture.  Breast meat has very little fat and will require you to use more "dressing".  Thigh meat alone results in a burger that just doesn't feel like a burger in your mouth.  I know that sounds weird but give it a try sometime and you'll see what I mean.  Trust me on this one and use a 50/50 mixture.
• Add one egg and mix well

• Add 2 TBS Worcestershire sauce and mix well

• Add 1/2 cup "dressing" and mix well.  Ok, let talk about this so-called "dressing".  I use this ingredient to add flavor to the burger.  I have used all kinds of dressings such as "Drews Smoked Tomato" or "Ken's 1000 Island".   You can get as creative as you want at this point.  Ketchup?  Chili Sauce?  Minestrone soup?  Yup, I've tried the soup before as well.  Works great for meatloaf but not turkey burgers.  For this particular session, I used a Red Pepper sauce pictured below that I picked up from the farmers market.  There are bits of roasted red pepper in it which adds not only to the flavor but also provides some texture to the burger.

• Add 1 cup Panko crumbs and mix well.  I use Panko rather than regular bread crumbs because again, they provide a little more texture and I also find that they soak up the "dressing" more providing structure to the burger without taking away the "dressing" flavor.

I grill the turkey burgers on my gas grill at 350 degrees.  Ten minutes per side.  In the past, I have placed the burgers directly on the grill but I find that they "stick" to the grill and I don't get the "crust" on the burgers that I like.  I like my burgers to have a "crust", as if they were cooked on a flat top.  The crust on the flat top is the result of carmelization of the fats and the meat.  Since there is much less fat in turkey meat, I have to produce the "crust" artificially.  I do that by using seasoning and grilling them on aluminum foil.  So once the burgers are prepared as above, I ready the foil to cook them on by spraying the foil with Pam.  Go heavy on the Pam for this.  

Once the foil is Pam'd up, divide the ground turkey into 6 patties, place the patties on the aluminum foil and use the Everyday Seasoning or Salt and Pepper to season the patties.  I season the patty on one side and then spray that side with Pam in order to glue the seasoning to the patty.  I repeat the same process on the other side of the patty.

Now, you have the patties seasoned, well Pam'd, and on the foil ready for grilling.   Here's what they should look like: 

Place the foil with the patties on the grill.  Cover the burgers if the grill has a cover.  Then put the cauliflower in the oven.  Flip the patties after 10 minutes.  Enjoy the smell of sesame oil as it wafts through the kitchen and into your mind driving the pets crazy.  After another 10 minutes, take the patties off the grill and the cauliflower out of the oven.

Make yourself a little salad...or not!!  

We usually eat turkey burgers without buns (so very carb conscious these days).  But last night, I put a slice of sharp cheddar cheese on mine for a minute before removing from the grill.  Even more decadent, we put our burgers on pretzel buns that were also slightly toasted.   I smeared the bun with a sriracha mayo on one side and chili infused ketchup on the other.  I took a snapshot without the buns so that there was no evidence of malfeasance.  By the way, this was very close to a healthy 30 minute meal.

I encourage you to try these two recipes and experiment with your own dressings in the burgers and let me know how they turn out.