Turkey Sliders

Ingredients

Cooking spray
6 slider rolls

½ pound ground turkey

½ cup onions, minced

1 clove garlic, pressed

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 egg

¼ cup bread crumbs

Step One:

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Lightly apply cooking spray to the skillet.  Split the sider rolls and place the cut side down in the skillet until evenly toasted.  Repeat this for each roll.

Step Two:

Mix the remaining above ingredients together in a bowl.  Form six 2” meatballs and then flatten the meatballs to a small burger patty shape.

Step Three:

Apply cooking spray to a non-stick skillet or griddle, and heat it over high-medium heat.     Add the sliders.  There should be a sizzle sound, and almost instant browning.

Step Four:

After five minutes flip the sliders over to cook the other side. Cook the sliders until it reaches doneness.   Place each slider on its own roll and dress it to your liking.

Seared Cod with Green Mojo

Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves, pressed

½ cup fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon olive oil.

2 6 oz 1” thick cut cod filets

¼ teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

3 sprays of cooking spray

Step One: 

Place the garlic, cilantro and oil in a blender or food processor and blend/process until smooth. Alternatively a stick blender can be used. A classic mortar and pestle can also e used if one desires an upper body workout.  No matter the method employed once the mojo is made reserve it at room temperature.

Step Two: 

Remove the fish from the wrapper; if the filet is whole, then cut it in to two equal sized pieces. Take note there is a top side of the filet that is pale and even colored, and a bottom side that has a pattern of dark coloration.

Step Three: 

Spray a non-stick pan and heat it to medium-high heat.  Place the filets in the pan topside down.  Cook for five minutes. Turn the filets over using a traditional turner, or better yet using a fish turner and cook for another ten minutes.   Remove the filets from the pan to one plate each. Spoon the mojo over the filets and enjoy.

Easy Sausage Stromboli

Ingredients

1 pack of refrigerated pizza dough (not pizza crust) *

2 Italian sausage links (pork, chicken, turkey, or veggie)

1 cup water

½ cup diced green peppers

½ cup diced onions

1 cups Zesty Garlicky Basil Tomato Sauce

1 cup Italian shredded cheese blend

Approx. 1/3 cup flour

* Your favorite pizza dough recipe may also be used.  

Step One:

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Remove the sausage from the packaging and place it in a

saucepan. Add 1 cup of water to the pan.  Lid the pan and heat it over medium-high heat until sausage is cooked through.  Once the sausage is cooked remove it from the pan to cool. Once it’s cool slice or crumble the sausage. 

Step Two:

When using refrigerated dough remove it from the refrigerator.  Discard the packaging and place the dough in a medium sized bowl.  Cover the bowl with a moist paper towel.  Allow the dough to warm to room temperature.   If using you favorite dough recipe, then prepare according to that recipe. 

Step Three:

Add the onion and peppers to the Zesty Garlicky Basil Tomato Sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Step Four:

Spread some of the flour over the  working service.  Place the dough on the floured surface.  Roll the dough in to an about 1/8 inch thick rectangle.  Flour will need to be used during rolling.  The amount of flour depends on the dough. The entire amount of flour may not need to be used. 

Step Five: 

Starting at one end of the dough rectangle spread a 1-2 inch wide line of sauce across one end of the rectangle. Next place some of the sausage and cheese on top of sauce.  Carefully roll the topped section over on to the dough rectangle once. As if making a spiral with the filling on the inside, add the sauce, sausage, and cheese with every roll until there is 2 inches of dough left.  Roll the Stromboli over a find time to form a seal. Gently press t the ends of the Stromboli together. Place the Stromboli on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

Smoked Pork Shoulder

Ingredients:

1 3-pound boneless pork shoulder

1/2 cups Light Brown Sugar

1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt

½ teaspoon poultry seasoning

1 teaspoons black pepper

½ teaspoon garlic powder

Approximately 2 cups soaked hickory wood chips

Step One:

Remove the pork shoulder from the refrigerator and let it warm up to room temperature for approximately 15 minutes.  During that time mix the remaining ingredients, save for the wood chips, in a container.

Step Two:

Place the pork shoulder on a cutting board. Generously rub the mixture onto the meat pressing it in as you go. The mixture is called a dry rub because what your doing is rubbing it onto the meat.  Place the rubbed pork into a container. Lid the container and place it in the refrigerator for a minimum of 6 hours. The
pork can also be plastic wrapped and then placed in the container.

Step Three:

Soak the wood chips for 30 to 45 minutes. Heat the smoker, and once it is ready add 1/5 of the wood chips, you’ll need to replace the wood chips once an hour or so. In the order of preference there are three types of smokers that can be used for this preparation: charcoal (offset, vertical with a water pan), gas (propane or natural gas), and Electric.  

If using charcoal, then you’ll need to monitor the smoker to ensure against flare-ups or fading temperatures. There are other smoking methods such as pit smoking (think Hawaiian luau) or cold smoking (think gravlax), but they are not particularly well suited for this recipe. Ensure the thermometer on the smoker reaches 225 degrees and not much higher.  A hallmark of smoking is slow and low.  Since shoulder is a working part of the pig, it is tougher than the loin so if cooked too fast at high temperatures it becomes too tough to eat.

Step Four:

Place the pork in the smoker. Smoke the pork 4-6 hours. The internal temperature should be around 165 it is done.  The pork will have a shiny crust from the sugar and internally there should be a pink ring around the pork. The result will be tender, moist, and flavorful. 

Note:  If you want to have a smokey flavor, but do not have 5-6 hours to monitor a smoker, then you can smoke the meat for 2 hours and then finish it the oven or a crock pot set to 225 degrees for the remaining 3-4 hours. The result will be good.  A lot of restaurants actually use this method, and it works well.