#91 Baked Scotch Eggs

 

You will probably never meet a woman who loves eggs more than I do. I was told several times to eat no more than two eggs a week, but I still do eat a lot more. In college, I survived on eggs and rice. Not all year, but there were many weeks while alone during school months when I nourished my younger self happily with big bowls of steamed rice, and a vicious cycle of boiled, fried and scrambled eggs every day, always with soysauce & crushed fresh hot chili on the side. And some days that was the only main dish, it was easy to make, inexpensive and it took care of my hunger. I cannot believe how I ate like that at one point in my life. LOL, so lazy! A few years ago during lunch at work, I told my manager that I need to make eggs every dinner, no matter what other food I had on the table, and one of my co-workers who overheard the conversation could not believe it. Imagine if I told them how bad my egg addiction was. Well, things have changed, I have since regulated my stomach. This journey is my Gastronomy 101. :) It has  indeed refined my egg consumption, I actually add fresh herbs and spices to my eggs now, I even wrap it with meat like how I did it with my new discovery: Baked Scotch Eggs. Scotch egg is made by wrapping a hard boiled egg with sausage meat and then by deep frying in oil. I showed a picture via text message to a friend after I made it, and he texted back: "What.is.that?", "It's eggs and it's Scottish.", I replied. :)  Later on, I discovered that Scotch eggs actually did not originate in Scotland; Fortnum & Mason, a London department store claims to have invented Scotch eggs in 1738, which maybe inspired by nargisi kofta ("Narcissus meatballs"), a Moghul dish. There were also claims that it originated in North Africa or India, and the technique made it's way to Britain via France; the book: Culinary delights of Yorkshire by Peter Bone (R Fyfe & Co, 1981) claims that it originated in the Whitby area of Yorkshire in the 19th century at an eatery named William J Scott and sons, the book claims that the dish was originally  called "Scotties" which were covered with fish paste instead of sausage meat. The earliest printed recipe is the 1809 edition of Mrs. Rundell's:  A New System of Domestic Cookery. Whoever invented it, my biggest thanks to you! It is delicious!  Because I always strive to cut unnecessary fats in our diet, I made this dish by using a recipe that consists of fresh turkey meat instead of sausage, and baked it instead of deep frying, I also used panko instead of fine breadcrumbs since that is what I had available. The meat flavored with cloves, dalmatian rubbed sage, and thyme was absolutely amazing.  My fellow food lovers, meet my Home-made Scotch Eggs. :)

Yield: Serves 4

BAKED SCOTCH EGGS

Ingredients:

 

1 lb  ground turkey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
4 large eggs, hard boiled (not too large)
flour
1 large egg
2 cups fine dry breadcrumbs 

Directions:

1. Mix the meat thoroughly with the seasonings and divide into four equal portions.
2. Have the four eggs hard boiled, for about 12 minutes.
3. Peel them, dip them in water and coat them in flour.
4. Wrap each egg evenly in a portion of meat, being sure they are covered completely.
5. Beat the remaining egg.
6. Dip each egg in the beaten egg then coat thoroughly in breadcrumbs.
7. Chill for one hour.
8. Bake until golden brown on a cookie sheet at 400°F; about 30 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Jenny Sanders, Food.com

 

dalmatian rubbed sage

clove

 

thyme

mix it, 

dip it, 

coat it

wrap it

bake it

Done! Simple and easy.

In  the UK it is a popular picnic food, and is often sold pre-packed at grocery stores . 

Here in the United States some British style pubs and restaurants serve it.

And now you can make it too!

I ate it with hot sauce..it is so good, I LOVE IT!!!!

#82 Turkey Chili with Garbanzo Beans

We made Chili using a much leaner turkey meat and garbanzo beans. Before I started cooking it, I was worried that I am planning to put too much Cumin, one of my favorite spices, because I really love a chili that tastes very "cuminy" :)  But my instinct told me that it's okay...go ahead, add more! It turned out just right and delicious, just as what I had imagined. Since we started this journey, I have been increasingly comfortable in tweaking recipes that I discover every day. And I am now able to imagine what magic a teaspoon of cumin, a pinch of salt or coriander, or a teaspoon of dill weed can do to a dish in the making. This newly acquired skill resulted from my insane craving to taste unknown flavors and a kitchen habit used to satisfy it -- a strange tasting habit that never left me ever since I first became a mother. Most, if not all mothers taste every bit of food before they feed it to their children, and while most get rid of this habit when their children grow up, mine stuck with me forever. Now, not only do I have to taste prepared food before serving, I also have to taste every spice before I add it to a pot, that has either a simmering sauce or a boiling quart of broth, or even to a pan splattering with hot oil...I already know that Cayenne pepper is spicy and cumin does not taste good by itself...but I do it anyway every. single. time. Weird, I know. After months of consciously and unconsciously doing this, I discovered that when I look at recipes, I could actually develop a taste in my mind while reading the ingredients. But is it the spice tasting or  is it because I am just so obsessed with cooking nowadays. Haha! I hope this is normal? (gulp!) and that maybe this comes naturally to people who put their hearts in learning how to cook. :) When I saw a recipe for Chili last week, I thought, hmm, I can make this with turkey meat to cut the fat, and since I had some garbanzo beans sitting in the pantry  for five months now, I decided to use it this time. The garbanzo beans tastes great in it!  This cuminy  turkey garbanzo chili is appetizing, it's made with simple ingredients yet very satisfying and healthier too. I love it!

TURKEY CHILI with GARBANZOS

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground turkey

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups of water

1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce

2 chopped tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

1 red onion

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon red cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 teaspoon chicken base

1 can chick peas (garbanzo beans) (400 ml)

salt to taste

Directions:

1. In a pot, saute garlic until brown, then add the onion and the turkey meat, stir, and let cook.
2. Add the cumin, oregano, paprika, cayenne pepper, chili powder, ground black pepper. Stir. Add the tomato sauce.
3. Add the chicken base to the 2 cups water and mix well, add then pour it in the pot. Let boil.
4. Add the garbanzo beans and simmer for 30 minutes. Salt to taste.
5. Serve warm, top with light sour cream and shredded cheese.

Who first made the Chili is unknown. Here is a link where you can find interesting facts about the History of Chili.

This will make a good light Chili for Sunday's Cinco de Mayo. We also have a recipe for Guacamole . :)  Hope you enjoy it!

#58 Fried Turkey Spring Rolls

Spring rolls are filled rolled appetizers, and has many variations. The name is a literal translation of the Chinese chūn juǎn (春卷 'spring roll') found in East Asian and Asian cuisine. In the Philippines, we call it "lumpia". This was my very first time to make spring rolls, although I am terrified of hot oil splatters, I was very excited to make it. After battling heavy traffic that evening just to get the egg roll wrappers, I was  happy to be home and ready to cook. My little helper was equally excited. I had ground turkey meat in the fridge so I decided to invent my own turkey fried spring roll recipe based on what ingredients I had available. So here it is.

Turkey Spring Rolls 

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey meat

1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus 2 cups for deep frying

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 large onion, finely chopped

1/2 head of cabbage, shredded

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup diced carrots

1 tablespoon chicken base

salt and pepper to taste

egg roll wrappers (you can find these at frozen sections of grocery stores)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/3 cup hot water

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, then add the garlic, onions, ground turkey meat and chicken base. Stir well.
2. Add the frozen peas and carrots and cook until the meat is done. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
3. Combine cornstarch and hot water, mix well to form a paste. Set aside.
4. Heat 2 cups of vegetable oil in a deep frying pan or skillet in medium high heat. You can add more oil if your pan needs more depth.
5. Combine cooked turkey meat filling and raw cabbage.
6. Lay an egg roll wrapper with a corner pointed towards you. Add 1/4 cup of filling. Fold the bottom corner first, then the left and right corners toward the center. Roll and seal with the cornstarch mixture.
7. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown. Remove from oil.
8. Drain on a rack or using paper towels.

This was one crunchy spring roll! We dipped it in sweet chili sauce. I was proud of myself. A friend who was an avid Panda Express' egg roll fan was over for dinner and told me that this was way better than his favorite. He is a very honest person and he tells me truth. Haha. (I hope). Why of course! It's from my global kitchen. ;) It took some time to finish the rolling part, but it was well worth the effort! The turkey meat, was just perfect. I had to stop myself from eating more than enough! We learned many variations, and will definitely make them soon. We had a very good conversation  over dinner about China being the place of origin of this satisfying dish. Good times. I hope for many more.

#14 Our Thanksgiving Turkey

On Thanksgiving day, we roasted a Turkey. And she was, again, very helpful :)

We chose a medium-sized Turkey and used this amazingly simple yet delicious recipe.

ROAST TURKEY

Ingredients:

1 16-18 pound turkey

1 tbsp dried rosemary, crumbled

2 tsps ground sage

2 tsps dried thyme, crumbled

1 1/2 tsps salt

1 1/2 tsps pepper

kosher salt

1 stick butter, melted

garlic powder

paprika

1 can broth, for basting

Directions:

1. Choose a plump turkey. Clean and dry thoroughly inside and out. Remove giblets and turkey neck.
2. Combine rosemary, sage, thyme, salt and pepper in small bowl. Rub some in each cavity.
3. We chose to cook the stuffing separately. For directions on how to insert the stuffing, check out our recipe source: cooks.com

4. The skin over the breast may be placed just under the skin to keep the breast meat moist. 

5. Brush the top of the turkey generously with melted butter, and sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, pepper and paprika.

        

6. Transfer in a roasting pan and roast the turkey, uncovered, at 375 F, basting frequently with melted butter and broth or pan juices.

7. After one hour, baste and sprinkle with seasonings again, then make a tent with aluminum foil and cover breast loosely. Reduce heat to 325F to continue roasting for another hour, basting occasionally.

8. Uncover the breast and continue roasting until an instant- read thermometer inserted in the thickest portion of the thigh registers 165 F ( be careful not to allow the thermometer to hit a bone or the reading will be false). This will take about 90 to 110 minutes longer, depending upon the size of the turkey and the oven being used. 

9. When the turkey is golden brown and done, allow it to sit for 20 minutes to rest before carving. 

10. Transfer turkey to a serving platter. Reserve the pan drippings for gravy. Don't wait for the little plastic device to pop-up, or its likely that the bird will be overdone and dry.

11. Carve and serve with stuffing, gravy and your favorite sides.

It was a great attempt. LOL. Good recipe but it looked a little dry outside. It's really yummy and moist inside. 

I'll do better next time:)

:)

For more information, check out our recipe source: cooks.com