Turkey Basil Cheese Burger with Tzatziki Sauce

Turkey burgers are a great alternative to their beef based counterpart. I season and cook turkey burgers just like beef burgers. The seasoning is Asian-inspired, which should be no surprise! This recipe starts with 3 lbs. of ground turkey and makes eight good sized burgers (or a larger number of more petit burgers). You can of course start with a smaller amount ground turkey and the burgers can easily be frozen for later use. I added bell peppers, a slice of pepper jack cheese, and tzatziki sauce to complete the burger. The store-bought tzatziki sauce (Greek yogurt, dill, and other spices) made a great addition to the burger. It’s creamy and provides a different flavor to a burger than the usual condiments. Try it, you’ll like it!

Enjoy!

Turkey Basil Mushroom Egg Cheese Burger

Here’s another recipe for turkey burgers using the turkey basil mixture. Mushrooms and a fried egg are added to this burger to make this version of a turkey burger. You can’t lose when you add a fried egg to a burger!

Enjoy!

Roast Pork with Baby Bok Choy (小白菜燒肉, Siu2 Baak6 Coi3 Sui1 Juk6)



This recipe was updated on 16 Aug 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

For me, roast pork is a treat that can be purchased at a Chinese delicatessen. A whole pig is roasted and the skin is crispy while the meat is tender. The butcher cuts pieces from the whole pig and you buy as much of the pig as you want (for me, usually just 1-2 pounds). For special occasions, a whole roast pork is served as part of a banquet. The roast pork is usually eaten all by itself, but also can be made part of a dish. The danger in purchasing roast pork is that you’ll eat it all before making the dish! It was particularly hard in this case since the roast pork was freshly roasted and still hot when I ordered it. I had to summon all my will power not to eat all the roast pork before making the dish. The soy dipping sauce that you usually get when you buy roast pork is used as the basis for the dish’s sauce.

Enjoy!

Chicken with Mustard Greens (芥菜炒雞, Gaai3 Coi3 Caau2 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 27 Jul 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

The local Farmer’s Market had fresh mustard greens available, so I bought one bunch and made this simple quick cooking dish using chicken with a bean sauce.

Enjoy!

Chicken Drumettes with Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇雞翼, Dung1 Gu1 Gai1 Jik6)

 

This recipe was updated on 01 Oct 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Chicken and Shiitake mushrooms make a great combination. This quick cooking dish uses chicken drumettes (the drumstick from the wing) together with whole Shiitake mushrooms and sugar snap peas. You can just as easily use chicken wings (cut into pieces) and snow peas to make this dish. The recipe actually uses a lot of whole Shiitake mushrooms, but you can reduce the quantity of mushrooms by cutting the mushrooms in half or in quarters. It’s weird, but cutting the mushroom into pieces gives the appearance of more mushrooms.

Enjoy!

Noodles in Sauce (乾撈麵, Gon1 Lou1 Min6)

This recipe was updated on 19 Mar 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

This is also one of the first dishes I ever learned how to cook, so it is really simple to prepare. In its simplest form, the ingredients are just noodles, oyster sauce, and green onions (this version adds chicken and eggs), so the dish is really just stir fried noodles with oyster sauce. The name of this recipe - Noodles in Sauce (乾撈麵, Gon¹ Lou¹ Min⁶) -  is more the result of the direct translation from Cantonese and is somewhat of a misnomer since there isn’t much sauce in the dish. There’s also another similar recipe for Chicken and Chinese Broccoli Noodles (芥蘭鷄乾撈麵, Gaai³ Laan⁴ Gai¹ Gon¹ Lou¹ Min⁶).

Enjoy!

Grilled Beef Tri Tip

This recipe was updated on 14 Aug 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Beef tri tip grilled with hickory or oak wood is a very tasty treat for me, since I don’t cook this very often. You must first rim all the excess fat from the tri tip and then marinate the beef overnight before grilling. Even when the supermarket sells a trimmed beef tri tip, you still have to get out your trusty sharp knife and remove the excess fat.  I use a spicy Asian inspired marinade, which is certainly not the usual Santa Maria spiced version (where the dish originated). Surprisingly it doesn’t take too long to grill a beef tri tip, but grilling time depends upon the heat of your grill and the thickness of the beef tri tip. The tri tip is perfectly prepared when the interior is medium rare and the outside has a crunchy crust. In this case, I overcooked the tri tip and reduced the recipe grilling times. Your mileage may vary.

Enjoy!