Turkey and Zucchini Burgers

This Sunday, visit the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market from 10 am - 2 pm at the corner of Agate and 19th Ave for a wide selection of fresh produce from Camas Swale Farm and pastured meat and poultry from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm. 

With our haul of Camas Swale zucchini and green onions I finally tried a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's Jerusalem that I'd heard has a cult following. I'd avoided it until now because of my kids' lukewarm feelings about zucchinis. Miraculously this summer they have suddenly become zucchini enthusiasts, for example eating zucchini flatbreads with gusto. These burgers were a similar hit, especially with the spiced yogurt sauce that doubled as a creamy dressing for a salad with lentils and roasted baby turnips.

Turkey and Zucchini Burgers with Green Onions and Cumin

from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's Jerusalem

makes about 18 small burgers  

for the burgers
1 lb ground turkey
1 large or 2 medium zucchini, grated (2 cups grated)
3 green onions, sliced
1 large egg, beaten
2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
oil for browning

for the sour cream and sumac sauce
2/3 cup yogurt
1/2 cup sour cream
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1 Tbsp sumac
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Make the sumac sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and mixing well. Refrigerate until needed. 
3. Put all the burger ingredients, except the oil, in a large bowl. Mix well, using your hands, making sure to get all the ingredients are well incorporated, and shape into about 18 burgers.
4. Coat the bottom of a skillet lightly with oil and heat until it is nice and hot. You should hear a good sizzle when the patties hit the pan, If not, let the oil heat more. Working in batches, brown the patties on both sides, for about 2 minutes per side, and add more oil as needed.
5. Carefully transfer the burgers to a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet and bake for about 7 to 10 minutes, just until done inside.
6. Serve the burgers warm or room temperature with the sauce.

Turkey Mole Poblano

At this point Thanksgiving should be a distant memory. But if you still have some lingering turkey leftovers in your freezer, I can recommend a turkey mole poblano. The meditative process of roasting all the chiles, seeds, and nuts that go into this elaborate sauce can be an escape from the frenzy of the holiday season.

I always crave something spicy after the mild flavors of Thanksgiving fare, and we often make Mexican dishes with our turkey remains. This recipe for turkey mole poblano is from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. I also consulted Rick Bayless' recipe but wasn't quite up to all the straining involved. Instead I happily embraced the slight grittiness of the various purees (above from left to right: chocolate and corn tortillas, chiles and tomatoes, and nuts and seeds). The recipe made enough to freeze away a batch of sauce and still have plenty to drench our turkey leftovers. We dined on turkey mole tacos with a side salad of kale, roasted delicata squash, black beans, and avocado, as we started to discuss our Christmas wish lists. 

Turkey Mole Poblano

adapted from The Border Cookbook

Mole sauce (makes enough for two batches)

12 ounces whole dried red chiles (a combination of anchos and pasilla)

6 Tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 cup almonds

1/4 cup pepitas

3 Tbsp neutral oil such as canola

4 cups stock (turkey, chicken, or vegetable)

6 garlic cloves

14 ounce can of fire roasted tomatoes

1 medium onion, peeled and quartered

2 stale corn tortillas, torn into pieces

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably Mexican)

1 tsp ground canela or other cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

shredded cooked turkey (3 cups for half of the sauce recipe)

1. Break the stems off the chiles and remove the seeds. Toast the chiles until fragrant in a large, heavy skillet, turning frequently, and transfer to a bowl. Cover with two cups of boiling water and allow to rehydrate.

2. In turn, toast the fennel seeds, cumin seeds, pepitas, and almonds until fragrant and transfer them to a blender. Then toast the garlic cloves until soft. When cool enough to handle, peel them and add to the blender. Add one cup of stock to the blender and blend until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.

3. Next add the rehydrated chiles to the blender, along with the fire roasted tomatoes, and 1 cup of the rehydration liquid from the chiles, strained through a strainer. Blend these until smooth and add them to the bowl with the nut and seed puree.

4. Add the quartered onion to the skillet and cook until slightly charred on all sides. Place these in the blender along with the corn tortilla, the chocolate, the cinnamon, and 1 cup broth. Blend until smooth and add to the bowl with the other purees.

5. Heat a deep Dutch oven over medium heat and add the oil. Spoon in the sauce and fry while stirring continuously (it will splatter) for about ten minutes. Add the remaining broth and continue to cook for about 30 minutes. Depending on how much turkey you have, at this point you could reserve a portion of the sauce to freeze for a rainy day.  Add the shredded turkey and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Serve the turkey mole with warm tortillas, over rice, or bake into enchiladas. Enjoy. 

Turkey Stock Tortilla Soup

With Eugene blanketed in snow, it seemed like a good day to make soup. I unearthed the carcass of our successfully spatchcocked Fair Valley Farm turkey, which I'd tossed in the freezer after we'd polished off all the leftovers and turkey sandwiches we could eat, and simmered it for a couple of hours with some celery and parsnips I found in the crisper.

The resulting flavorful turkey stock formed the basis for a delicious tortilla soup, based on a Rick Bayless recipe. This soup starts with a puree of rehydrated pasilla chiles, roasted garlic, onion, and tomato, that is then fried in oil to deepen the flavors. This is then diluted with stock into a deep red, fragrant soup. The best part is in the serving, when you pile on crispy strips of fried tortilla, creamy avocado, sharp radish, and plenty of grated cheese that melts into this bone-warming soup.

Turkey Stock Tortilla Soup

adapted from Rick Bayless, serves four

soup
4 to 5 medium (about 1 1/2 ounces total) dried pasilla chiles, stemmed and seeded (also called chilles negros)
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
3 or 4 roma tomatoes or one small can of tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted 
1 medium white onion, peeled, halved, and sliced 1/8 thick
3 Tbsp of vegetable oil for the soup and more for frying the tortilla strips
6 cups turkey broth (see below), or substitute chicken broth
salt to taste

toppings
4 to 6 corn tortillas, cut into strips, fried in vegetable oil until crispy, and salted
shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack
1 bunch radishes, julienned
1 or 2 avocados, diced

1 large lime, cut into wedges

1. Seed and stem the chiles. Toast them in a hot, dry skillet for a few moments, until fragrant, and then soak in boiling water until softened, at least 15 minutes. In the same hot skillet, toast the garlic cloves until soft and slightly charred. Peel and place in a blender jar. 

2. Heat a large soup pot. Add 2 Tbsp oil and saute the sliced onion until it becomes nicely browned. Squeeze the onion against the side of the pot to leave as much oil behind as possible and transfer to the blender jar. Add the tomatoes and the drained rehydrated chiles. Blend until smooth. If you like, you can pass the puree through a strained to ensure that the soup is free of any seeds or chile bits.

3. Reheat the soup pan and add the remaining Tbsp oil. Add the chile puree and stir continuously as the mixture thickens and darkens. Add the turkey stock, bring to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes. Taste and add more salt as needed.

4. Serve the soup warm with all of the garnishes for everyone to add as they wish. Enjoy.

turkey stock 
1 turkey carcass
a few stocks celery and a carrot, parsnip, and onion or two

In a large stock pot, cover the turkey carcass with cold water (about four quarts), salt generously, and start heating. Coarsely chop the vegetables and add to the pot. Bring the pot to a simmer, lower the heat, and simmer for about two hours. Allow the stock to cool a bit. Strain and reserve. My batch yielded about 3 quarts of stock.

Turkey Pozole

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, the media is full of military-style plans for tackling the big meal, but I feel that the real need is for a strategy to manage the leftovers. I'm game for one repeat of the turkey and trimmings, and there's nothing better than a turkey and cranberry relish sandwich picnic on an unexpectedly sunny post-holiday weekend, but after that I want a respite from all the rich and bland food. Turkey pozole is one approach to finishing off the bird with a meal full of spice and crunch.

We've joined Open Oak Farm's winter CSA, so we had plenty of fresh vegetables for a flavorful turkey broth, including carrots, onions, and kale and chard stalks that I simmered with the turkey remains.

For a spicy base, I used an easy recipe for Smoky Chipotle Salsa with Pan-Roasted Tomatillos from Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday. You sear halved tomatillos and garlic cloves and then blend them together with a chipotle pepper in adobe sauce (a tip on storing chipotle peppers: when you open a can, lay out the individual peppers with dollops of sauce onto a saran wrap covered cookie sheet, freeze them, and store them in a freezer bag for individual use). 

In a big soup pot, I combined this salsa with a couple of cans of cooked hominy, a diced roasted poblano pepper, and the strained turkey stock. The resulting soup made a fiery backdrop for lots of tasty toppings. Because I was feeling a little tired of turkey, I kept this on the side, to be added at one's discretion, along with strips of fried corn tortillas, sour cream, radishes, avocado cubes, cilantro, and plenty of fresh escarole from Open Oak Farm. A virtue of this soup is that it makes for excellent leftovers (not that you need any), since the broth improves in flavor and you add fresh toppings every time.

Turkey Pozole

Turkey stock
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
stalks from greens such as kale or chard, chopped
carcass of one roast turkey (meat removed)
6 sprigs fresh oregano
about 12 cups water
salt to taste

Chipotle salsa
1 pound tomatillos
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 chipotle chili in adobe sauce
salt to taste

Soup
2 15 ounce cans hominy, drained and rinsed (or cook your own from dried hominy)
chipotle salsa (above)
about 8 cups turkey stock (above)
1 poblano pepper (optional)

Toppings
shredded roast turkey
corn tortillas, fried and sliced
sour cream
slice escarole or cabbage
sliced radishes
cubed avocado
cilantro leaves

1. In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil and saute the onions until glassy, Add the carrots, celery, and green stalks and continue cooking until soft. Add the turkey bones and fill the pot with water. Add fresh oregano and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for about an hour. Adjust seasoning. Cool and strain. You can make this a day ahead, refrigerate the stock, and then degrease by removing the hardened fat from the surface.

2. Remove the husks from the tomatillos, rinse and halve. Heat a large skillet, add a thin layer of canola oil, and place the tomatillos cut side down along with the garlic cloves. Cook until the tomatillos are charred, then flip and cook a few more minutes until they are soft throughout. Cook the garlic cloves until they are soft and slightly charred. Scoop everything into a blender jar and add a chipotle pepper and generous pinch of salt. Blend into a smooth salsa.

3. Sear the poblano pepper over a flame until the skin is charred. Put in a bowl and cover with a plate so that the skin buckles off. When it is cool enough to handle, scrape off the charred skin, deseed, and cut into a 1/4 inch dice.

4. Heat a large soup pot, add the salsa and the rinsed hominy and cook for a few minutes. Add the diced poblano pepper and about 8 cups of the turkey stock. Simmer for about 45 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.

5. Serve warm in shallow soup bowls with the assorted toppings.