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| Picture of a Lamb Burger |
Tired of eating plain old hamburgers, or are just looking for something a little different to have on the barbecue this weekend? Consider using different meats for your burger grilling needs. Delicious burgers can be made from ground pork, chicken, turkey, and lamb. The secret is to properly season these meats before cooking so that the resulting burger is tasty.
Lamb is a traditional Greek meat dish which is often seasoned with mint. We love the flavor we get when we use McCormick’s Greek Seasoning with lamb dishes, and the lamb burgers are no exception. This is really a quick to make and unique tasting burger.
Greek Seasoned Lamb Burgers
1 pound lean ground lamb
2 tsps McCormick Greek Seasoning
Place ground lamb in a bowl. Sprinkle 1 tsp of Greek Seasoning over top of the meat and mix. Sprinkle remaining 1 tsp of Greek seasoning over top of meat and mix well. Then form into 4 to 5 burgers. Grill until well done. Serve on toasted rolls.
We served of lamb burgers on toasted rolls spread thinly with mint jelly. Top with lettuce, tomato, and cheese.
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| Big and Bold Seasonings from McCormick |
New at our Spice Place online store are McCormick’s Big and Bold Seasoning Blends. This is a line for very unique blends of seasonings from McCormick that we’ve simply fallen in love with. The flavor experts at McCormick have crafted some very delicious and savory blends into these seasonings. Each of these seasonings has a unique blend of herbs, and spices and they contain very little salt. We offer each of these spice blends in professional chef size containers ranging from 19 to 21 ounces.
Ranging in taste from Key West’s citrus flavor through Santa Fe’s cumin chili taste to Monterey’s red bell pepper seasoning, the McCormick Big and Bold Seasonings are a treat for the taste buds. These seasonings can be simply sprinkled on your foods, or mixed with liquids such as vinegar, lemon juice or water to make a delicious marinade. The flavors are unique, and will add a whole new set of tastes to your meals.
- Key West Style – A blend of lemon peel, basil, thyme and other herbs and spices for use on shrimp, seafood, chicken, beef, and pork.
- Monterey Style – Bold Red Pepper and Roasted Garlic flavor goes well with chicken, fish, seafood, pork and beef.
- Santa Fe Style – A rich taste of the southwest seasoned with chili, cumin and just the right amount of garlic. Use with beef, pork, chicken and seafood. Blend 1 tbsp with a pound of lean ground beef for a Santa Fe style hamburger.
As the summer barbecue season approaches, curious chefs should consider this line of seasonings for there backyard cooking. Each seasoning has it’s unique taste that will make your outdoor cooking taste great and you’re certain to receive rave reviews of your recipes from your guests.
McCormick’s Big and Bold Monterey Style Seasoning has become a favorite seasoning of ours. It’s a mix of coarsely ground garlic, red bell pepper, roasted garlic, red pepper, and contains tumeric and annatto for adding a yellow color to foods. We find that the yellow color adds a pleasing and appealing look to chicken. So today we’re going to share our recipe for making a barbecued whole chicken seasoned with McCormick’s Monterey Style Seasoning along with a little bit of chili powder.
Monterey Seasoned Chicken Recipe
a 4 pound whole chicken
2 tbsp McCormick Monterey Style Seasoning
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 cup water
- Wash the chicken under cold water and set on a plate to allow excess water to drain off.
- Place the Monterey Style Seasoning and Chili Powder in a cup. Add sugar, water and vinegar. Stir to mix well.
- Put the whole chicken in a one gallon size freezer zip-loc storage bag.
- Dump the seasonings over top of the chicken, seal the bag, and flip over a few times to distribute the seasonings. Place the chicken in the refrigerator and marinate for about 2 hours turning over every 1/2 hour so the seasonings evenly infuse the chicken.
- Since this is a whole chicken, it needs to be cooked indirectly so it cooks slowly and completely. So place the charcoal on only one side of the grill. Light grill.
- Remove the chicken from the zip-loc bag, and place into a disposable heavy-duty aluminum pan that has the bottom lined with non-stick aluminum foil. We use the disposable pans because the smoke from cooking will permanently mark a real roasting pan.
- When the grill is ready, place the chicken on the side away from the heat, cover and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the internal temperature of the chicken is about 170° F. For proper food safety, it’s very important that a meat thermometer is used to make sure the chicken it cooked thoroughly to prevent illness from under cooked chicken.
- Let the cooked chicken sit for 10 minutes before carving or else you’ll find you have shredded chicken (instead of sliced chicken).
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Several years ago we had lunch from a Mexican chicken restaurant near us called El Pollo Primo. They cook the chicken on a couple large griddles, and then serve a few pieces of whole cooked chicken on a plate along with some corn tortillas, salsa, and Spanish rice. Then at the table, the chicken is shredded by customer, placed on the corn tortilla, mixed with some Spanish rice and some salsa. Then the tortilla is rolled up, and eaten. We found this to be a delicious and unique way of serving chicken.
So over the years we’ve tried to replicate their seasoning on the chicken and we think we finally hit it.
El Pollo Primo Grilled Chicken
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tsp chopped garlic (about 2 cloves)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground corriender
1/2 tsp annatto seed (from a Latin American grocer)
The annatto in this recipe adds the lovely yellow coloring to the chicken that you see in the photograph above.
Place the canola oil, water, vinegar, garlic, cumin, corriender, and annatto seed in a blender. Blend on medium high speed for 1 – 2 minutes to allow the annatto seed to be chopped up by the tines on the blender. Alternately use ground annatto, and whip up well with a wisk.
Wash, and place 5 – 6 chicken breasts and thighs in a large, freezer duty ziplock bag. Pour the seasonings over top of the chicken and seal the bag. Turn the bag over a few times to coat the chicken well, then place in the refrigerator. Let marinate for 4 to 6 hours, turning over ever hour or so.
Cook the chicken on a griddle or large iron frying pan until done, about 15 – 20 minutes to a side.
Serve with warmed corn tortillas, Spanish Rice, and your favorite salsa. You may optionally add sour cream, and cheese.
We like to have breakfast sausage every once in a while. Yet often the brands at the grocer are laden with fat. We do know of
that is fairly lean, but most store bought sausage is very fatty. It seems the manufacturers often can resist the tendency to want to use up the fat and make something off it. Often you hear that the fat is required for the taste. We haven’t found that to be the case at all, and make our own sausage using store bought ground pork.
Sometimes we find a nice looking pork butt roast, remove as much fat as possible and then grind it up ourselves in our meat grinder. This is a great way of really making sure the butcher isn’t trying to make something off their fat just like the sausage manufacturers do! If you don’t have a meat grind though, you can ask your butcher to trim off the fat before grinding the pork butt, and tell them you’ll pay for the fat on the side. Personally, I like being in control of the grinding and making absolutely sure I can get rid of as much fat as I can. An honest butcher will do as you ask and make you a nice lean ground pork.
We happen to have a sausage stuffer too and sometimes make stuffed breakfast sausage. It’s a lot of work to stuff your own sausage and yet it’s rewarding since you know what’s in the sausage isn’t loaded with fat. This article is about make homemade sausage patties so we’ll reserve the discussion on making sausage links for a future article.
We started our homemade breakfast patty sausage using store bought ground pork. According to the nutrition facts on the pork, the amount of fat per 1/4 pound of ground pork is 22g which is 34% of the daily value. Readers might think that value is high, but that amount is for a 4 ounce serving. The typical fat content of packaged breakfast sausage is 22g per 2 oz serving, so the fat in our homemade pork sausage is about half of the fat in prepared sausage. The proof of this is in the picture above of our sausage cooking in the skillet. Take a look closely and you’ll see that there is no excess fat around the sausage. Keep in mind too, that we’re using store bought ground pork and the butcher just can’t resist the opportunity to get $4.00 a pound for fat. If we ground our own pork, and removed all of the visible fat then we could easily have cut the fat in half again.
What you need to make homemade sausage patties
1 to 1 1/4 pounds lean ground pork
1 tbsp very finely diced onion
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
2 tbsp parsley flakes
1 tsp ground sage
1/4 tsp chervil
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp savory
1 tbsp water
Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well with your hands. Form into 5 to 10 patties depending on your preference. Cook over medium low heat in an ungreased non-stick skillet until browned, turn and brown the other side.
Make sure to notice how little fat is left in the pan when you’re done cooking these patties.
Continuing with our latest theme of homemade recipe replacements for store bought packaged foods. The recipes we’ll feature in this series will be simple to make and tasty too.
Today’s side dish recipe is Spanish Rice, a mix of rice, celery, tomatoes and spices. There is no reason to purchase this as a box of dehydrated tomatoes and vegetables because it’s so easy to make from scratch. You find this recipe flavorful with the typical Spanish Rice taste coming for the most part from the chili powder and ground cumin.
Cooking Rice
The Spanish Rice recipe starts with 3 cups of cooked rice (that’s one cup dry rice cooked at a simmer in a covered saucepan along with two cups of water until the water is completely absorbed. Usual cooking times for short grain rice is about 20 minutes. We find Basmati rice cooks faster and is usually done in about 10 – 12 minutes. Brown rice takes longer and takes about 45 minutes. Once the water has been absorbed by the rice, remove the saucepan from the heat and let sit for 5 minutes. For our Spanish Rice we used Basmati rice — it’s our favorite rice. If you like, you can use day old rice for this recipe, and you’ll find the resulting Spanish Rice has a different texture.
Spanish Rice Recipe
3 Cups cooked Rice [above]
1/2 onion, chopped fine
2 stalks celery, washed, and diced
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp oregano leaves
1 tsp ground cumin
- Place 1 tbsp olive or canola oil in a large non-stick skillet and heat.
- Add the onions, celery, and garlic, and cook until the onions and celery are tender.
- Add diced tomatoes, chili powder, oregano leaves, and ground cumin. Stir and cook about 2 – 3 minutes to reduce the water from the tomatoes a little bit.
- Add the 3 cups of cooked rice, and mix well. If usning fresh made rice, the recipe is ready to serve. If the rice was day old from the refrigerator, cook, breaking up the rice some with the spatula, until the rice is warm.
You may add 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper to this recipe if desired. Remove the membrane from the green pepper, and then dice into 1/2 pieces. Add the pepper to the recipe along with the onions and celery in step 2.
When we cook our meals we try to avoid using salt or MSG in our recipes. When making side dishes from the packaged foods that come in boxes or cans, the seasonings are all mixed together and it’s almost impossible to cook without salt. By looking closely at the USDA Nutrition Facts label you’ll see these packaged foods are all laden with salt – many of which contain more than 25% of the recommended daily value of sodium in a single serving.
So this post starts a series of easy to make replacements for commonly purchased packaged foods.
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Refried Beans are one of those foods that many of us love to eat with our Mexican and Latin American meals yet many of us have no idea what is in the recipe. For years we’ve purchased our refried beans in a can at the grocer and simply reheated them in the microwave or on the stove top. After making our recipe for Refried Beans we found our recipe to be superior, has no fat, and no salt added.
Refried Beans starts with Pinto Beans, a small red bean typical in Latin American cooking. We purchase ours at a Latin American Grocer, but if you can’t find a Latin American Grocer near you, buy the red beans in the Mexican or Latin American section at your grocer.
Refried Beans Recipe
Measure out 1 cup of Pinto Beans, pick over them and remove any foreign items like stones and odd plant material. Place the beans in a 2 quart sauce pan, and add about 1 1/2 quarts of water. Place on the stove, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and let cook for 3 hours. Check every so often and add water if the pot is drying out.
Just before the beans are done, dice 1/2 onion very fine (1/8″ or so), and saute the onions in 1/2 tbsp of canola oil along with 1 tsp chopped garlic. Cook until tender but not browned.
Drain the beans using a strainer, and place the pinto beans in a 2 quart mixing bowl. Sprinkle the cooked onion & garlic over the top of the cooked beans, and add:
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dark chili powder
Mash the pinto beans and seasonings using an electric hand mixer until the beans are at a consistency that you like. We like our Refried Beans to be coarse and have a little crunchiness to them. Some may want their Refried Beans mashed like the beans that comes out of the canned Refried Beans. Either way, you’ll find this a delicious recipe and a much better and healthier recipe than the canned variety of Refried Beans.
Kraft Macaroni and Cheese With Hot Dogs
Ever since I was a child I’ve eaten Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for a quick lunch. I’ve tried the many different varieties of mac and cheese made by Kraft including the Velveeta, and instant squeeze cheese packets. But my favorite Kraft mac and cheese remains their original with elbows.
One way that I make the Kraft Mac & Cheese is by adding two or three hot dogs to the boiling water along with the dry macaroni pasta. Both will cook together, and then when I strain the pasta, I separate the hot dogs from the pasta, and cut the hot dogs into 1/2″ sections, mix back into the pasta, and mix up with sauce. I always use real milk, and real butter, although not the 3 tbsp that the package calls for. Instead I use 2 tbsp butter, and 1/4 cup of warmed milk. To warm the milk, I simply measure into a Pyrex cup, and set near the stove while the pasta cooks. The butter, I simply slice, place in the bottom of the pan, and pour the drained pasta over top. Let this sit about 30 seconds, then stir to mix the butter around, sprinkle the pasta with the powdered cheese sauce mix, and add the mix, stir, and add the hot dogs. Let site 2 minutes to let the cheese sauce thicken.
To serve, spoon the pasta into a salad bowl, and top with some fresh ground black pepper.
As for the hot dogs, I buy Sheldon’s Uncured Chicken or Turkey Hot Dogs that are low in fat, and have no Sodium Nitrate in them. Since they’re not cured, Sheldon’s Hot Dogs must be kept frozen, and added to the water frozen. They taste good, don’t have the nitrates, and are lower in fat the most hot dogs. I just looked at the package of Sheldons Chicken Franks I have, and each frank has 7g of fat, 2g of which are saturated, and those are both 10% of the USDA Daily Value. That’s far less then the 36 – 40% values of normal hot dogs. You can find Sheldon’s hot dogs at the healthy food stores like Whole Foods or if your in central Maryland, where I shop, which is the Common Market in Frederick, MD off of Route 85 in Evergreen Square with Central Tractor Farm & Family used to be.
Pastrami Pita Sandwich
A well made stuffed pita sandwich has a delightful blend of flavors and textures. We stumbled on this mix of tastes by accident – simply it’s what we had around to eat! The flavors of the pastrami, Thai Basil and green onions mix to create a wonderful taste experience.
Here’s what’s inside the pita pictured above:
1 large slice beef pastrami cut into 1 1/2″ squares
1/4 cup lettuce, ripped into 1 1/2″ pieces
1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts*, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp chopped spring onions
1 tbsp fresh Thai basil leaves, ripped into 3/8″ pieces.
*Alfalfa sprouts aren’t required but add an intriguing crunch to the sandwich.
Mixing Pita Filling
The secret to making great pita sandwiches is to mix everything together first in a bowl and then stuff the mixture into the pita. If you try to make the pita by simply stuffing things into the pita pocket, you won’t be able to blend everything evenly.
To make this pita pocket sandwich, cut the top 3/8″ off of a whole wheat pita across the widest part. Mix the ingredients listed above in a salad bowl, and then stuff into the pita pocket.
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Some of the most flavorful cuts of beef are also the most tough. With this recipe for Barbecued Beef Brisket, we’re going to take one of the toughest cuts of beef, apply some tenderizer, braise it, boil it, cook it in barbecue sauce, all done without a grill, and end up with a very tender meal. Be aware that this is a recipe that takes time. From start to finish is about 6 1/2 hours of preparation and cooking. The results are worth the investment in time.
We use a couple of what might be hard to find ingredients in this recipe which are Onion Juice and Garlic Juice. We feel that for this brisket roast that the Onion and Garlic Juices instead of sliced onion and minced soak garlic let the flavors soak more deeply into the food and impart a lighter flavor since the flavor is more dispersed. You can find these onion and garlic juices in Safeway Stores and we’re trying to find a supplier for our e-store.
Recipe for Stovetop Barbecued Beef Brisket
Step 1
- 5 pound beef brisket
- 2 tsp Adolphs Meat Tenderizer
- 1 tsp Onion Juice
- 3 tsp Garlic Juice
- 1/4 tsp Tabasco Sauce
- Ground Black Pepper
- Evenly sprinkle the Adolphs Tenderizer over both sides of the brisket. Season with black pepper, and then brown the brisket on all sides in a large dutch oven that has been coated with canola oil.
- Add water to the dutch oven to cover the brisket, and then add the onion juice, garlic juice, and Tabasco sauce.
- Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 2 1/2 hours.
Step 2
- 1 16oz bottle any quality barbecue sauce
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 cup Worcestershire Sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup liquid smoke
- Preheat oven to 250° F.
- Remove the brisket from the dutch oven and discard the water.
- Wash the dutch oven, dry and lightly oil with canola oil.
- Place the brisket back into the dutch oven.
- Place the following in a non-stick 2 quart saucepan: barbecue sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and liquid smoke. Heat, and stir until the brown sugar is dissolved, then pour over the brisket.
- Cover the dutch oven, and place in oven
- Cook for 4 hours, checking every 45 minutes, turning, and making sure the sauce stays moist.
We served our roast with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and used the barbecue sauce with cooked with over top of the sliced brisket.
Tip: When cutting the brisket, cut across the grain so that the tough fibers in the brisket are severed.