SUSTAINABLE EATING - Leftover Turkey Burgers

Bored of leftover turkey sandwiches?  Why not try these healthy turkey burgers.

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Ingredients
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 green and 1 red pepper finely chopped
6 scallions finely chopped or red onion
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey or fresh turkey meat
2 medium eggs slightly beaten
2 tablespoons of parsley chopped
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Colorful chopped onions and peppers being sauteed

Procedure

In a food processor, finely grind the leftover turkey (white and dark meat).

In a small pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, sauté scallions and peppers (about 6 to 10 minutes).  Set aside to cool off for few minutes.

Add the pepper and scallion mixture into the ground turkey.  Mix well.  Add the eggs and parsley and continue to mix well.

Place the breadcrumbs on a piece of wax paper.  Take enough of the turkey mixture to make a burger.  Place the burger on the breadcrumbs and press lightly.  Turn over and do the same.
In a non-stick frying pan, add the additional oil and sauté' the burgers few at a time, turning once with a spatula. Approximately 10 minutes. Serve.

turkey burgers before sauteing

Some Dishes from My Thanksgiving Dinner

A lot of work ....and a lot of love .....

Braised asparagus

Stuffed mushrooms

Shrimps and clams ready for the broiler

Fried calamari

Cheese and fruit platter

Fresh fruit

Manicotti

SUSTAINABLE EATING - Soup from Turkey Carcass

The day after Thanksgiving, as I'm cleaning up I take the turkey carcass and make a delicious soup .  It has become a yearly ritual!

Place the carcass in a large soup pot and add cold water to cover by an inch or two.  Bring to a boil and skim any foam. 

Add a carrot or two, celery, a cherry tomato and little salt.   Simmer until the broth is rich about 2 hours.

Remove the turkey carcass.  Before discarding it, remove the pieces of meat attached to the carcass and put back into the broth.

In the meantime, I boil some barley separately and cook it midway.  I then stir the barley into the broth and season it with black pepper.

Trust me, it's light, flavorful and delicious.

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Savory Apple Stuffing - Ripieno di Mele

Granny Smith Apples

This stuffing is a favorite of mine because I love the tartness of the apples. It's great for stuffing a goose. I make as an alternate for people who do not like the sausage stuffing.

Ingredients

1/2 cup pancetta, diced or butter
Celery leaves and stalks, chopped 1 cup
Red onion, chopped 1 cup
6 Granny Smith apples
1/2 teaspoon of fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon of fresh sage
1/4 cup parsley chopped
1 cup stale bread crumbs

Fry pancetta in a large skillet until almost crisp; remove from pan.
To the grease, add celery, onion and parsley and cook over low heat.
Add diced apples and seasonings and cook about 10 minutes.
Add bread crumbs and fried pancetta.  Stir lightly over low heat about 2 minutes.
Place the stuffing in a casserole and baste occasionally with turkey juices.

Images: ©2010 - casa-giardino picasaweb

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Our Italian Thanksgiving – We Skipped the Turkey and Opted for Capon

Up until I got married, it was traditional in our Italian home to cook a capon rather than turkey on Thanksgiving. .

Capon

For your information, a capon is a castrated young rooster.  Since the capon gets a more diverse feed including free range forage, it is fatter and develops more flavor than a turkey. Being fatter, it is very moist, with very white meat and, best of all, it is self-basting. My parents preferred capon over turkey.






Giblet and liver stuffing for Capon - Cappone Ripieno

Ingredients
½ cup olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 cup cooked giblets and livers
1 cup celery chopped
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon sage chopped
1 teaspoon thyme chopped
½ cup Parmigiano
½ cup blanched almonds

Cooking Giblet: Simmer the chicken giblets, allowing 1 hour for gizzards and 10 minutes for livers. Chop coarsely and measure. Follow procedure below.

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When my children were old enough to understand, we switched from a capon to a turkey and we also adjusted the stuffing to satisfy everyone’s taste.

Sausage stuffing for Turkey

1 lb. sausage meat
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 cup celery chopped
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon sage chopped
1 teaspoon thyme chopped
½ cup Parmigiano

Heat oil in a large skillet, add onion and cook until soft, add broken chunks of sausage meat and brown lightly. (or substitute cooked giblets). Add celery and cook for 10 minutes in low heat. Remove from heat, add egg and Parmigiano and mix well.

Let it cool and stuff the turkey.

Roasted turkey

Cabbage and Brown Rice - Verza con Riso Integrale

Of all the cabbage varieties, I like the Savoy cabbage.  Its crinkly leaves are known as the most tender and sweet of the different varieties.

Did you know that the Savoy cabbage originated in Italy?

Cabbage is a low calorie food and full of medicinal properties.

Cooked Savoy Cabbage

Cooking Cabbage:  Soak cabbage in salt water for about 10 minutes to remove any insects from the packed leaves. After soaking, rinse the head thoroughly in cold running water. For the mildest flavor and tenderness, cut out and discard any fibrous thick ribs from the outer leaves.  Cook cabbage in a pot of salted water until it is just tender crisp. Cabbage that is cooked tender crisp will remain sweet. Overcooked cabbage will lose texture and flavor.

Ingredients
4 cups of cooked savoy cabbage
1 yellow onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium can of tomatoes or 2 fresh tomatoes
1 cup of brown rice (uncooked)
Parmigiano Reggiano

Cook brown rice.  See Spinach and Brown Rice
In a pot, add olive oil and saute' chopped onion and garlic.  When golden, add tomatoes, salt and pepper and simmer for 15 minutes. Add cooked cabbage and keep on simmering in low heat.  Add cooked brown rice.  Mix well and simmer an additional 10 minutes.  Add some shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and serve.

Savoy Cabbage and Brown Rice
Images: ©2010 - casa-giardino picasaweb

RIGATONI WITH YELLOW AND GREEN ZUCCHINI - (Rigatoni con Zucche Gialle e Verdi)

As you can see from the photo, the rigatoni are quite large.  In our town, they are referred to as "Maniche di Prete" (Priest's sleeves) or depending which town you go in Abruzzo, they are also called "Maniche di Frate" (Monk's sleeves) or "Maniche di Suora" (Sister's sleeves). 

Images: ©2010 - picasaweb

Ingredients

2 yellow zucchini (sliced)
2 green zucchini
1 lb. Rigatoni pasta
1/3 cup olive oil
1 onion chopped
4 fresh tomatoes (if available) or 1 can of tomatoes
Sprigs of basil and Italian parsley
Parmiggiano Reggiano
Salt and pepper to taste

In a pan add olive oil and saute' onion until golden.  Add chopped tomatoes, basil and parsley.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Add sliced zucchini and continue to cook over low heat until tender.  In the meantime, cook pasta and drain.  Pour zucchini sauce over the pasta and shave some Parmigiano Reggiano.

A Singer Sewing Machine, Vogue Patterns and a Little Style

My mother sewed most of my clothes from childhood to adulthood.  She also sewed curtains, embroidered, crocheted and knitted.  Growing up, I had one-of-a-kind dresses and enjoyed the fact that there were no copies.  As a result, my sense of fashion and style was unique and original.

We owned a vintage Singer sewing machine. 
( I still have it to this day).










Our kitchen table doubled as a sewing room. Spools of thread, yards of fabric, buttons, and many, many patterns – Vogue, Butterick, McCalls and Simplicity.

Apricot suit - Vogue Pattern

In the early 60’s, like many other young women, I was influenced by Jackie Kennedy’s look – her simplicity and sophistication. I wanted to look and dress like her. My mother and I every Saturday would go to a fabric store and eagerly thumb through catalogs looking for just that “look”. With my mother’s sewing skills and Vogue patterns, it was possible to copy the latest Paris fashions. I would cut out the patterns and read the instructions and my mother would do the sewing.

Easter  - White Wool Sleeveless Dress with Cape

  Golden yellow wool dress with jacket Vogue Pattern

                            Chartreuse color suit Vogue Pattern
                   

Today, when I see young ladies dress like hookers with short, stretchy and curvy attires leaving nothing to the imagination, I think that perhaps they should go back and learn what makes a true style icon.  True style does not age but remains "forever young".

Related Links:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/28/jackie-o-style_n_903934.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/fashion/dusting-off-the-sewing-machine.html?src=me&ref=style