Open-Faced Bruschetta Burgers

This was my first time making a batch of burgers using more than one type of meat for the patties, and I must say I was quite pleased with the results. Mixing Italian sausage in with ground turkey makes for a flavorful burger. Serve it with a slice of toasty Italian bread, fresh mozzarella and some homemade bruschetta and you’ve got quite a grilled delight on your plate!

Open-Faced Bruschetta Burgers 
Serves 8 
2 pounds Roma tomatoes, cored and diced
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons minced garlic, divided
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for bread
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil, divided
1 pound ground turkey 1 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage
½ teaspoon salt, plus extra for bruschetta
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 pound fresh mozzarella, cut into eight slices
1 loaf Italian bread, cut into one-inch slices (you’ll likely have extra)

Preheat grill to medium-high.

Make bruschetta by combining tomatoes, 2 teaspoons garlic and olive oil in a medium bowl. Season with salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, Italian sausage, salt and pepper, remaining garlic and Italian seasoning. Shape the mixture into 8 patties.

Put 8 bread slices on a plate and lightly brush with olive oil.

Place patties on grill, cooking for 5 minutes before turning them over. Top each patty with a slice of mozzarella. Cook an additional 5-7 minutes, until meat is completely cooked and the mozzarella is slightly melted. Remove burgers from the grill and let them sit for a minute.

Put bread slices, oiled side down, on grill for a minute to lightly toast them. Remove from grill.

Build your burger by starting with a toasted bread slice, adding a patty and topping with bruschetta.

Make-Fast Mondays: Bratwurst with Beans and Greens

I’ve been firing up the oven a lot lately, the direct result of a long string of gloomy, rainy days (but please keep it coming, El Niño). Chase the gray away by making this delicious, cozy, quick meal!

Bratwurst with Beans and Greens 
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
12 ounces bratwurst or smoked sausage, sliced (I used Saag’s Natural Chicken Bratwurst)
3 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
3 cups diced tomatoes (from two cans; you’ll have a little bit extra)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups chopped greens (I used a mix of kale and spinach)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a skillet or other oven-proof pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for a minute. Add sausage and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes, smoked paprika, thyme and pepper flakes. Cook for another 3-3 minutes so everything’s nice and warm. Remove skillet from heat and stir in the greens. Season with salt and pepper, then put skillet in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Make-Fast Mondays: Focaccia Veggie Pizzas

Not sure about you, but little Loryll was a biiiiig fan of french-bread pizzas. This is my grown-up attempt take on this special, easy treat. I’ve balanced out the food groups just a little bit more -- less pepperoni and bread, with more veggies and still plenty of delicious cheese. 

Focaccia Veggie Pizzas 
1 16-ounce focaccia loaf
1 cup prepared pesto
1 ½ cups marinara sauce
2 large sliced Roma tomatoes
1 red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
8 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced (I ended up with 10-12)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Slice the focaccia horizontally so you’ve got two thin, flat pieces to work with. Place each focaccia slice on a baking sheet. Spread pesto sauce on one piece of the focaccia and top with half the mozzarella slices and all of the tomatoes. Evenly cover the other slice of focaccia with marinara sauce, remaining mozzarella and red bell peppers. Bake the pizzas for 10 minutes before removing them from the oven, slicing and serving.

Summer’s not going anywhere

I know the first day of fall’s right around the corner, but we Californians still have plenty of time to enjoy warm-weather favorites. This salad is a nice, quick fix for those days you’d rather be outside soaking up the sun than spending time in the kitchen.

Quinoa Salad with Tomatoes and Corn 
1 cup uncooked quinoa (red, white, mixed … pick your favorite!)
2 cups water
1 ½ cups tomatoes (I used grape tomatoes, halved)
1 cup white corn
½ cup green onion, chopped
½ cup cilantro
1 avocado, cubed
½ cup crumbled cotija cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Combine quinoa and water in saucepan. Bring to a boil before covering and simmering until quinoa is cooked, somewhere between 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk olive oil, orange juice, rice wine vinegar and lime juice together in a bowl. Add tomatoes, corn, green onion, cilantro, cotija and dressing to quinoa, tossing well to coat. Top with avocado chunks before serving.

Baked fish with plenty of fresh flavors

I need to cook fish on a more regular basis. Boneless chicken breasts, jumbo prawns and ground turkey are my constants when it comes to cooking animal proteins. However, there are plenty of other fish in the sea (ha) when it comes to menu planning, which is I created a recipe around cod, quite a mellow fellow as far as fishy flavor is concerned. I think the acidity of the tomatoes and the salt of the olives really complement the fish in this dish, which also gets some wonderful fresh flavors thanks to parsley and a little fresh lemon juice squeezed over the plate at the last second. This recipe yields four main-course servings.

Baked Cod with Tomatoes and Olives 
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon minced garlic
28-ounce can plum tomatoes in liquid, coarsely chopped or crushed by hand
¾ cup Spanish manzanilla olives
¼ cup dry white wine
1 pound cod fillets, rinsed and patted dry
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
8 ounces pasta, cooked al dente (I used Trader Joe’s Lemon Pepper Pappardelle)

One lemon, cut into wedges Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat bottom of 9-inch-by-13-inch glass dish with one teaspoon of olive oil and set aside. Heat remaining teaspoon olive oil in large frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for just a minute or two, until aromatic, before adding tomatoes, wine and green olives. Let simmer over medium heat until sauce thickens a bit, stirring occasionally, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in parsley and remove from heat. Place cod fillets in glass baking dish and pour tomato sauce over fillets. Cover dish with foil and bake for 20-30 minutes, until fish registers 140 degrees with a meat thermometer and flakes easily with a fork. Divide pasta among plates, topping each plate with cod fillet and a spoonful or two of sauce. Garnish each plate with a lemon wedge and serve.

Parsley to the rescue

Tonight’s original dinner plan involved trying a recipe for a white bean salad that calls for roasted red peppers.

Unfortunately, I shopped for the ingredients a few days ago and the bell peppers are now past their prime. After hucking the peppers in the trash and having a two-second pity party I started rooting around in the fridge for Plan B.

Eureka! I knew I could do something with the partial bunch of flat-leaf parsley in the produce drawer. Rinsed it, tore it up and tossed it into the Vitamix with some olive oil, lemon juice and garlic. Such an easy, fresh, green dressing. Give this salad a try the next time you want a no-cook dinner with some zesty flavors.

White Bean Salad
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
3-4 cups chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed well and drained

Put olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and parsley in a blender and process until smooth. Combine cannellini beans, tomatoes and feta in a bowl; drizzle dressing over mixture and toss lightly until evenly coated.

May 21 Salad

We headed to Healdsburg for the weekend with Chris’ parents — they’re out visiting from Wisconsin. Monti’s Rotisserie & Bar in Santa Rosa was a good pre-wineries lunch spot. I enjoyed a French Cobb with Romaine, roast chicken, tomatoes, feta, hard-boiled egg and a mustard-herb vinaigrette.

Here's how my garden grows

Our backyard garden is small — we’ve got two tomato plants, two pepper plants, some raging rosemary and a few herbs in a clay pot — but I still get a kick out of harvesting my crop one sprig of oregano or handful of yellow pear tomatoes at a time.

Two pepper plants went in this spring. I’ve only got one bell pepper right now, but it’s getting bigger by the day.

Last summer I had an overabundance of Roma tomatoes. This year, it’s the little yellow pear tomatoes that are coming in strong.

I'm so not missing the produce department these days

I’ve scored a cornucopia’s worth of free produce in the past couple weeks thanks to generous neighbors and coworkers. Nothing says summer like fresh-from-the-garden fruits and vegetables!

First up was the watermelon our photo editor brought back from an assignment. There were a couple melons in the newsroom, just screaming to be eaten, so I carted one of those bad boys home, made a mess of my kitchen while hacking it up, and enjoyed those sweet, pink, juicy chunks with breakfast for about a week.

Carmen, our neighbor across the street, has quite the flourishing tomato plant in her yard. I sliced up a recent delivery and roasted them with breadcrumbs (Tried and liked a Meatless Mondays recipe from the ladies at Big Girls, Small Kitchen).

Yellow squash brought home from the office and sliced into thin chunks tasted zingy after a quick toss in the frying pan with a teaspoon of sambal oelek and a tablespoon each of soy sauce and rice vinegar.

And for dessert, we have peaches from neighbor Patrick. I opted to slice up five or six of these fuzzy delights and baked them into a crumble, using a Jamie Oliver recipe for inspiration.

Peach Crumble
5-6 peaches, washed and sliced
¾ cup flour
¾ cup old-fashioned oats
½ cup butter
1/3 cup plus two tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Layer peach slices in a glass baking dish and sprinkle with two tablespoons brown sugar. Combine all other ingredients in a bowl, using hands to make a crumbly mix. Spread mixture over prepared fruit. Bake at 400 degrees for roughly 30 minutes, until top is golden.

Tuna Melt with Tomatoes

Combine my hankering for something cheesy and a produce drawer full of the neighbor’s homegrown tomatoes and you’ve got a tasty take on the tuna melt, one of my all-time favorite sandwiches.

The pepper jack and chipotle mayonnaise add some sass to this sandwich.

Tuna Melt with Tomatoes
5 ounce can chunk light tuna in water, drained
2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce (I use Cholula Chipotle Hot Sauce)
Two slices whole grain bread
Two slices pepper jack cheese
One medium tomato, sliced thin

Place pepper jack on each slice of bread. Cook in frying pan at medium heat until cheese melts and bread is toasty. Mix tuna, mayonnaise and hot sauce together with a fork and place on one slice of bread, followed with tomato slices. Place second slice of bread, cheese down, on top of tomatoes and allow sandwich to cook for another minute or two more. Slice in half and serve.

Rice, rice baby

Chris and I are trying to mix up our carbs a bit so we’re not shoveling spaghetti into our mouths all the time.
This recipe is adapted from one found in of my oldest cookbooks, “On Rice” by Rick Rogers. I bought it, used at a bookstore in downtown Chico, when I was in college. Although I’ve had this book for many years, I haven’t started cooking with it until recently. I used less oil and broth than the original recipe called for, doubled the garlic, amped up the dried oregano, used smoked paprika (the recipe called for Hungarian paprika) and added some diced stewed tomatoes.

Chicken San Juan
Adapted from “On Rice” by Rick Rogers
Steamed rice
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into square-inch chunks
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup thawed frozen peas
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, in juice
½ cup medium pimiento-stuffed green olives
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick frying pan. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add onion, red pepper, garlic, oregano and bay leaf. Cover and cook until the vegetables soften, about 4 minutes. Stir in broth, peas, tomatoes and paprika and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer for a couple minutes, until ingredients are heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Remove bay leaf. Serve over rice.