by Sam Tackeff | Feb 17, 2009 | Meat, Quick and Easy
I buy a lot of ground turkey from Drewes these days, mainly because it is cheap, but also because it is incredibly versatile and fulfills the MEAT! craving without compromising my attempts at a healthier diet. I find that most recipes I use can easily substitute ground turkey for beef or lamb without losing flavor, and you can easily get worldly tastes by changing up the spices that you use to flavor the meat.
Here are a few things you can do with a pound of lean ground turkey, or lean ground beef, with a little bit of creativity and most of them take no more than half an hour from start to finish.
1. Make meatballs: put ground meat in a bowl, and add a cup of minced onion or leek, some minced garlic, parsley, some grated parmesan cheese, and about a half cup of bread crumbs. Season with salt, pepper, cumin, and chili (themore seasoning the better), add an egg to bind the mixture and knead with your hands. Form into small little balls, and pan grill, moving the balls around until they are fully browned, about 10 minutes.
2. Make turkey burgers: use the same recipe as above, except form into patties.
3. Make chili: Brown the meat in a big pot with some onion. Add a can of pinto beans with it’s juice, a can of kidney beans, and a can of tomatoes (I like using San Marzano tomatoes). Season with some garlic, chili powder, cumin and oregano. Add a half bottle of dark beer, drink the rest. Simmer for a while. Done!
4. Make Turkish spinach and meat: saute an onion in some olive oil. Add ground meat, and cook until meat is browned. Add a few tablespoons of tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Add about two pounds of spinach, and some stock. Stir until the spinach cooks down. Finally, add a half a cup or so of rice, and a couple of cups of stock or water. Cover, and cook until the rice is tender, about half an hour to forty minutes. Serve with some plain yogurt, or an egg on top.
5. Make burritos: season the meat with salt, pepper, cumin and chili. Heat up a can of refried beans with a chopped tomato. Goes well with pepperjack cheese. Serve in a tortilla or over some rice.
6. Make Indian keema mutter: saute an onion, and add the meat. season with salt, pepper, a few cloves of garlic, a teaspoon each of ginger, garam masala, and chili. Cook until the meat cooks, and then add a few cups of frozen peas. Cook for a few more minutes and finish with a few good squeezes of lemon, and some fresh cilantro.
7. Kapuska, a turkish cabbage stew: Brown the meat, add a few chopped onions, and cook until soft. Add a few tablespoons of tomato paste, and some red pepper flakes, and cook for a few minutes. Add a can of tomatoes, salt, and pepper, and a chopped small cabbage. Add a few cups of broth, and simmer for a half an hour until the cabbage is tender. Add some more spice if you would like, and serve plain, or with yogurt.
8. Make a cold thai salad called Larb: Cook your ground meat, and set aside to cool. When cooled, add about a quarter cup of sliced shallot, and some spring onions. Add a small handful of fresh chopped mint leaves, some thai ground chili, a few drops of fish sauce, and several tablespoons of fresh lime juice. Serve at room temperature, perhaps with some sticky rice, or as the filling for lettuce wraps.
9. Stuffed vegetables: Mix cooked ground meat with a few cups of cooked rice, season with basil, parsley, parmesan, salt and pepper. Stuff some hollowed tomatoes (add the inside to the stuffing mix), cored zucchini, and peppers with the mixture, and bake in the oven, tightly packed together for about half an hour at 350.
10. Finally, although I cook from scratch most nights, and strongly favor organic and wholesome foods, sometimes, when I’m tired and hungry, Hamburger Helper Lasagna does the trick. Add a can of chopped tomatoes and some steamed broccoli for some semblance of health.
by Sam Tackeff | Feb 13, 2009 | Holidays, Pasta, Random
Yesterday was Darwin day, a fantastic day for a fantastic man, commemorated in the UK by the printing of special stamps.
Tomorrow is Valentines day, and most people have been posting delicious things on their food blogs, including all varieties of cookies with pink frosting, truffles, and molten chocolate cake (a little bit cliché if you ask me).
I’d rather discuss today, Friday the 13th of February, and give it it’s own moment in the spotlight. I generally like this unlucky and mysterious day, and at one point as a child, I “reclaimed” it as my good luck day. To be fair though, I also claimed that I enjoyed getting shots, and really that was just a tactic to avoid the fact that I really hated them.
Friday the 13th, which occurs infrequently when the calendar aligns with the sun and the stars is filled with superstition, and a large amount of uncertainty as to its origin.
Some say it’s roots date back to a somewhat tragic Norse tale, where Frigga (Friday), a mythological goddess gets banished when the Norse convert to Christianity, and subsequently gathers with 11 other witches and the devil to plot her revenge. You almost feel bad for poor Frigga though, who as a fun lovin’ free spirited goddess was banished and replaced with a strict, reserved Scandinavian culture. At least they brought us cured salmon. The day is also associated with The Last Supper, which was attended by thirteen, and occurred right before Jesus was crucified on Good Friday. Now, sitting down at at a table of thirteen remains a dinner party faux-pas, although, really, it seems as if the real problem is that you have to somehow afford to pay for all of the food to feed this large number of people. I’d say that your budget would be the one that is unlucky.
Perhaps most importantly, today is National Tortellini Day. Isn’t it fantastic that Tortellini gets it’s own holiday? Maybe some superstitious folks will make their tortellini with squid ink and serve it to a party of thirteen.
by Sam Tackeff | Feb 12, 2009 | Soups
I’m sitting down to a very late lunch today, and here it is, Udon Noodle Soup with some baby spinach and a poached egg. The noodles come in a mix, but I use my own shiro miso paste to flavor it, which reduces the sodium and I think gives it a much more refined and pleasant taste. I added the spinach and the egg to give it a little more oomph.
It’s cold here and has threatened to rain all day long, but I seem to have avoided the showers. I went for a long mid-day walk down to the library, then farther on to Tartine Bakery, where I stopped for a small Rocher (a coconut egg white meringue with cacao nibs) and an Americano. I’m a firm believer that there is nothing wrong with eating your dessert before lunch. Alas, the stop was unplanned, so I didn’t have a camera with me, you will have to take my word that it was scrumptious. Next time I will go better prepared.
by Sam Tackeff | Feb 11, 2009 | Local stores, Meat
The first week we arrived in Noe Valley, we spent almost all of our time moving, unpacking boxes, and putting together several items of Ikea furniture. One night, we found ourselves very, very, hungry, and had nothing in our fridge. We set off to find some food. Fortunately, Cecilia, the incredibly kind woman who works behind the counter at Drewes Bros. Meats, opened the doors for us an hour after closing, and after learning our names and our situation, gave us some really fantastic steak with a special discount. “Welcome to the neighborhood!” she waved enthusiastically as she locked up behind us. There was no doubt that we had moved to the right place.
We live two blocks away from Drewes Bros. Meats. Drewes has been opened since 1889, which is a fairly fantastic legacy, one of the oldest meat shops in California. When it almost tragically closed ten years ago, it was bought by two young brothers, Josh and Isaac Epple who had been working in the store since they were teenagers, and couldn’t bear to see it go.
There is no doubt why Drewes is an integral part of the neighborhood. Every time we are in there, people stroll in excitedly to purchase their evening meal. If it’s busy, you take a number from the old school deli counter reel. Everyone is in a good mood at Drewes; sometimes a game is broadcast on the little mounted television, often something is cooking on their mini grill in the back, and everyone chatters about what they want for dinner (with the helpful staff ever offering suggestions).
You can get all types of meats and fish, including rabbits, venison, and dungeness crab- and if they don’t have it in stock, they will find it for you. The only flaw is that Drewes doesn’t actually butcher on site. I learned this last week when I went in asking if I could learn to butcher a pig (a skill that I have been wanting to learn for years), and I was apologetically informed that this wouldn’t be possible. Alas, I’ll have to continue my search, but I’ll still continue going to Drewes.
We frequent Drewes a lot, and the best thing there is their award winning meatloaf. They wrap it up for you with instructions, and you just have to go home and pop it in the oven for an hour. Tonight we had it with corn, green beans, and a mixed salad, but it has gone equally well with mashed potatoes and broccoli.
Drewes Bros. Meats – 1706 Church St (at 29th St.)- Tel: (415) 821-0515 – Hours vary. We find them open later most of the time.
by Sam Tackeff | Feb 10, 2009 | bento
I make bento lunches almost every day. My bentos are usually a mixture of leftovers, and whatever is in my home made freezer stash – cooked rice, dumplings, turkey meatballs; things that I’ve spent some Sunday cooking and saved for another day.
Sometimes though, when I’m running low and I’m getting lazy, I do the unthinkable – I use a frozen meal. Today was one of those days, and I hesitantly pulled out a Butternut Squash Ravioli Lean Cuisine. As soon as I ate it, the regret melted away. These ravioli are really good. The butternut squash filling is sweet and light, there are plenty of vegetables that hold up really well and are not over cooked, and a really pleasant walnut cream sauce. I’m actually suprised every time I eat these that they taste so good. You could probably serve them at a dinner party and nobody would know…
The other container was the last of the leftover bright and happy slaw, from a few days ago. As you can see it holds up well, and the flavor just keeps on getting better!
