sun-dried tomatoes – AT-AT Everywhere

Lamb Burgers

In celebration of the long Fourth of July weekend, Kevin and I decided (albeit at the last minute) to make some good ol’ fashioned American hamburgers. I’m not sure if we went to the market at the exact twilight of ground meat outage and replenishment, but we somehow managed to go to a spot where they were completely out of ground beef, turkey, chicken, and bison. Bison (our latest obsession; posts to come later) was what we really wanted for our burgers, but we somehow resigned to ground lamb. Not that anything is wrong with lamb, but it wasn’t exactly what eating at Murica’s birthday party is all about.

I found a recipe on Food & Wine and tailored it to serve the two of us, while also including a bit more zing by upping the herbs-to-meat ratio. See the recipe as adapted below:

INGREDIENTS:

Lamb Burgers for two:

3/4 lb ground lamb
1/2 onion, minced
1 garlic glove, minced
1/2 T mint, finely chopped
1/2 T flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/2 T dill, finely chopped (pull leaves only, don’t use thick stems)
Kosher salt and finely ground black pepper
2 whole wheat pita bread (or hamburger bun if you prefer)
2-3 leaves romaine lettuce
4 paper-thin onion slices

DIRECTIONS

In a medium bowl, lightly knead the ground lamb with the onion, garlic, mint, parsley and 1 scant teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Shape the meat into patties about 1/2 inch thick, and transfer them to a plate lined with plastic wrap. Lightly brush the burgers with olive oil.
Herbalicious Lamb Patties
Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil on medium heat, and cook the lamb patties for about 6 minutes on each side. You can also grill the lamb burgers for about 12 minutes, turning once, for medium meat. I was worried about overcooking the lamb, so I stuck a meat thermometer into the patty and cooked til it hit about 140 degrees for medium rare. The patty will continue to cook another 5 degrees once you take it off the pan too.
Set the burgers on the pita breads and top them with the lettuce, tomato, onion and a spoonful of Yogurt-Cucumber Sauce. Fold the pitas over the burgers and serve right away, passing the remaining yogurt sauce alongside.
Lamb Burgers

In my opinion, you can’t really have a lamb burger with ketchup and mustard, so I looked up a recipe for tzatziki. The recipe below is also adapted from Food & Wine. The version I made was chunkier (I upped the cucumber), lessened the amount of yogurt, and added dill and lemon juice. I had nonfat Fage plain greek yogurt, and it came out on the thicker side. I would recommend a regular, non-Greek yogurt to give it a more “sauce-y” consistency. This made about 1/2 cup, which is probably more than enough for two people. I wouldn’t recommend making too much in advantage and eating leftovers, because the lemon juice and salt will pickle the herbs and cucumber. It’ll taste like a strange creamy dill pickle sauce (I learned the hard way).

INGREDIENTS:

1 Persian cucumber, peeled and halved lengthwise
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 t kosher salt
1/3 C plain yogurt
1/2 T extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 T finely chopped mint
1 t finely chopped dill
2 lemon wedges’ worth of lemon juice
Finely ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Using a melon baller or small spoon, scoop out the seedy center of the cucumber. Dice the cucumber. Squeeze the excess liquid from the cucumber without mashing it (skip if using Greek yogurt).
In a small bowl, using the back of a spoon, mash the garlic with the salt to a paste. Stir in the yogurt, olive oil, mint, dill, and lemon juice. Add the cucumber, season with pepper and serve.

We also “needed” a salty component for our burger, so I drummed up a sundried tomato tapenade. The following will makes about 1/3 cup: Place 6 pitted kalamata olives and 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes into a food processor and pulse to chop roughly. If you’re using dry sundried tomatoes (I used the ones from Trader Joe’s – my fav!), pour 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil while pulsing the food processor a few more times to combine. All that being said, the thought of cleaning a food processor after all the chopping/cleaning I’d been doing that day was dreadful, so I chopped everything by hand and then whisked in the olive oil after.

And that my friends was our big fat Greek Fourth of July meal! We celebrated 4th of July with Kevin’s mom over the weekend as well, and she made banh mi sandwiches for us and I cobbled together an Italian pasta salad to bring. It really was a hodge podge of cuisines, but I guess that’s really what eating like an American is all about – celebrating a bit of everything!

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto and Shrimp Pasta

I can’t say enough how much I love those sun-dried tomatoes from Trader Joe’s. I use them in everything – salads, omelettes, sandwiches, vegetable dishes, you name it! I found a great recipe in an issue of Womens Health magazine for a sun-dried tomato pesto last year and finally got around to making it in January …and now I’m finally getting around to writing about it. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

PESTO:

1/2 cup dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped toasted walnuts
2 cloves garlic
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) whole tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup chopped italian parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano or basil
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons olive oil

PASTA AND SHRIMP:

10 ounces angel hair pasta
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 red or green bell pepper, sliced
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

To make the pesto:

1. Place the sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl, cover with hot water, and let soak for 10 minutes, or until softened. Drain and reserve the liquid.

2. Place the sun-dried tomatoes in a food processor (a blender works just fine too). Add the walnuts and garlic and process briefly to combine. Add the whole tomatoes, parsley, oregano or basil, cheese, and oil and process until smooth. Add just enough of the reserved tomato soaking liquid to form a paste; process again until smooth.

To make the pasta and shrimp:

3. Prepare the pasta according to package directions. Drain and place in a serving bowl.

4. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the bell pepper and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, or until the shrimp are opaque. Sprinkle with the black pepper and salt.

5. Place in the bowl with the pasta and top with the pesto. Toss well to combine.

I really hate prepping shrimp, so I don’t make shrimp dishes very often. The de-veining process is so tedious and… well, gross. I mean really, is there nothing worse than pulling a string of poop out of a dead animal that you are about to then eat? I will say that it was so worth it at least for this recipe. I loved this dish probably more than the last shrimp dish I made (also found in Womens Health).

If I have somehow managed to not destroy your appetite with that last sentiment and you are thinking about making this, note that the pesto can be tightly covered and stored for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator or up to 4 months in the freezer. You can put the pesto in ice cube trays, freeze them, and thaw the cube for use as the perfect individual-sized portion of pesto for a plate of pasta!

Basil, Italian Parsley, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Chicken Sausage and Brussels Sprouts (Dinner à la Trader Joe’s)

I love Trader Joe’s. I have lived walking distance from aforementioned lover ever since I finished college. It’s the perfect place for people who don’t have time to cook, don’t know how to cook, and/or don’t want to cook. They have lovely niche items, as well as your every day staples – all at great prices. There are a handful of items that I now purchase exclusively from Trader Joe’s not just due to their great prices and bountiful array of healthy options, but also because I’ve found that the TJ brand just tastes better than competitive brands (i.e., sun-dried tomatoes, butternut squash ravioli, beets, dark chocolate, almond butter, etc.).

Nothing hurts my soul more than a market-meanderer. Those people set up camp in the aisles with no purpose other than to double the time my trip to the store is supposed to take. They walk right in front of me and then stop to add nothing to their cart, staring longingly at the cheese puffs. I can be pretty patient with situations like these, but after waiting longer than what’s fair, I always intercede the wretched chicken stock-blocker with an “Excuse me, can I get by? PS – don’t buy the cheese puffs. You are fat.” Okay, maybe that last part is just what goes through my head.

One mistake you never want to make is to go to a grocery store before you’ve eaten dinner without a list or idea of what you want to eat. You’ll end up buying way too much stuff and be one of those aisle-cloggers I so detest. I did exactly this last week (sans aisle-clogging), and decided to try to make my hoard somehow work.

I wanted to make something with the TJ butternut squash triangoli (super low in fat and calories for what it is, btw) and brussels sprouts. But what? I ‘ve paired bacon with brussels sprouts many a time, so I decided to try it with chicken sausage. However, chicken sausage generally isn’t as sweet as bacon and I didn’t want to get something as sweet as a chicken apple sausage which would compete with the sweetness of the triangoli. Being obsessed with the California sun-dried tomatoes from Trader Joe’s as it is, I got a package of those and then went with the sun-dried tomato chicken sausage.

Ingredients - all from TJ's — Ingredients – all from TJ’s

Cooking the brussels sprouts in the chicken sausage grease (I know – it sounds so gross) gave the otherwise pretty bitter brussels some great flavor.

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts, Onions, and Garlic

Here’s my original “recipe”.

Ingredients:

1 package Trader Joe’s Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Sausage, sliced
3 cloves garlic*, minced
1 small Vidalia (sweet) onion*, diced
1 bag of Trader Joe’s brussels sprouts (16-oz), halved
1 tbsp Trader Giotto’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning
Handful of Trader Joe’s California Sun-Dried Tomatoes – Julienne Cut
1 package Trader Giotto’s Butternut Squash Triangoli, cooked
Grated parmesan cheese* (optional)

*also purchased from Trader Joe’s

Directions:

Heat a nonstick skillet to medium-high heat. Slice and cook sausage til brown. Transfer sausage to a plate covered wtih a paper towel, without losing any of the drippings. There won’t be very much as it is.
Heat olive oil in the same skillet, and cook the onion and garlic until the onions become soft, scraping up the bits of the sausage drippings that have now browned. Add about 4-6 turns of the Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning.
Add brussels sprouts and cook until slightly softened but crunchy, about 10-15 minutes.
While the brussels sprouts are cooking, prepare the triangoli according to package directions.
Toss everything together, add some the sun-dried tomatoes and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
EAT.