Tuna Burgers

When people think of burgers, they usually think beef, and sometimes turkey. Tuna burgers are underrated and delicious. They are more delicate than their meat-based counterparts, so be gentle when flipping!




Traditional Tuna Burgers

1 can water-packed tuna, well drained
1 egg
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/3 cup minced onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup minced red bell pepper
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp. chili sauce
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro, minced
1 dash Tabasco sauce
1 dash Worcestershire sauce

Combine tuna, egg, bread crumbs, onion, red bell pepper, mayonnaise, chili sauce, cilantro, salt, pepper, garlic, Tabasco sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well, shape into 4 patties and chill for 30-60 minutes.

Cook for 3-4 minutes per side. Be gentle. These are fragile!


Oriental Tuna Burgers

1 can water-packed tuna, well drained
1 egg
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
1/3 cup minced scallions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup mayo
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. minced fresh ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 dash Tabasco sauce

Combine tuna, egg, breadcrumbs, scallions, garlic, mayonnaise, soy sauce, ginger, salt, black pepper, and Tabasco sauce. Mix well and shape into 4 patties; chill for 30-60 minutes.

Cook for 3-4 minutes per side. Be gentle! These are fragile!

The Secret Ingredient

I could not put one more slab of raw beef up as a photo, and I've yet to photograph this dish. So, I'm putting up a photo of the most important ingredient: Magic Hat No. 9.

You don't want to drink this stuff. You want to cook with it! We have a most amazing recipe for pot roast and Magic Hat No. 9 is a key ingredient. It supports all the other flavors without losing its own identity.

This dish is a labor of love. It is not particularly labor intensive, but it takes time to cook. In fact, if you can use your crock pot, please do so. The last time I made this, I could not fit the meat inside the crock pot, so I went stovetop. It was still wonderful.

So, here we go.

Good Karma's Most Amazing Pot Roast

2.5 lb pot roast (a brisket also works extremely well here)
¾ cup apple cider or malt vinegar
1 cup Starbucks Sumatra or Gold Coast Blend coffee*
2 bottles of Magic Hat No. 9 Beer (Blackened Voodoo also works well here, but it is hard to find)
1 small can of tomato paste
1 large yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 chili peppers, chopped (Serrano, Habanero, Jalapeno – depends upon how much heat you can take!)
3 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp granulated garlic
½ tsp onion powder
1 tsp thyme
3 tbsp. canola oil (plus 1 tsp. extra for coating the beef)
Salt & black pepper to taste

Wash the pot roast off and pat dry. Make a rub with the chili powder, cumin, paprika, granulated garlic, onion powder and thyme. Lightly oil the top and bottom of the pot roast and coat with the rub. Allow it to sit for 30 minutes.

In a large pasta pot, heat the 3 tbsp of oil over medium heat. Add the chopped garlic and onion, as well as the chili peppers. Cook until the onions are translucent. With the heat on medium-high, add the pot roast and brown both sides. Once both sides are browned, remove the roast from the pan and set aside.

Scrape the tiny bits of garlic, chili pepper and onion from the bottom of the pan, and then add the coffee, cider or malt vinegar and the two bottles of Magic Hat, along with salt and black pepper to taste. Stir to incorporate the “bits” from the pan. Then return the roast to the pan. This begins the process of slow cooking. Lower the heat to medium-low and allow the roast to cook slowly for about 2-3 hours minimum. Several times during the cooking process, check the spice level. If you feel like you need to add more, do not be afraid to do so.

With about 1 hour left in the cooking process, add the can of tomato paste. This will not only ad an extra punch to the flavor, but it will help to thicken the liquid, which can then be used as a gravy for both the meat and whatever side dishes you may choose. (Garlic mashed potatoes would be my choice.)

Remove the meat from the pan, cut it and place it on a serving tray. If cooked correctly, you will not need a knife. The meat should just simply fall apart.

If you still want thicker gravy, simply add a tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with a bit of water. Do not allow it to sit or it will clump; stir it immediately until the juices thicken.

*Please do not substitute Dunkin’ Donuts, Green Mountain or any other commercial store-bought coffee for the Starbucks brand. The dish depends upon the deepness and richness of the coffee. You can buy as little as ¼ lb at all Starbucks locations.

Lovely Linda's Spanikopita

This delicious recipe is adapted from the lovely Linda McCartney's recipe. There have been minimal changes made.

Linda specified organic ingredients throughout the recipe. If it is not possible to access organic ingredients, please do not hesitate to follow this recipe. It will be delicious regardless.




Spanikopita

1 lb leeks, thinly sliced or 3 bunches of scallions, sliced
6 tbsp olive oil
2 lb washed spinach or 1 lb (2 boxes) of frozen spinach
1/2 lb feta cheese
3 large eggs, beaten
2/3 cup milk
3 tbsp freshly chopped dill weed
2 tsp ground nutmeg
sea salt & black pepper to taste
3/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 lb phylo pastry (country style thick slices recommended)

In a large frying pan, saute the leeks or scallions in 2 tbsp of the olive oil until they soften. In a large pan, wilt the spinach, drain it thoroughly in a colander and squeeze out the excess water. If using frozen spinach, defrost, place in a colander and squeeze out excess water.

In a large bowl, mash the feta cheese with a fork, then add the beaten eggs, milk, dill, and nutmeg. Season well with salt and pepper.

Grease a 9" square baking pan or an 8" x 11.5" x 2" oblong pan. Line it with half the phylo pastry sheets, laying them down one at a time and brushing each with olive oil. Then, pour the filling evenly over the sheets and smooth out. Finish assembly by putting the other half of the phylo dough on top, laying them down one at a time and brushing each with olive oil.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 40-45 minutes until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow it to sit for about 10 minutes prior to cutting.

Wicked Good Pizza Dough

There's nothing quite like pizza and, frankly, the dough can make or break it. Sometimes the simplest doughs produce the best results.

The pizza dough recipe I give you here couldn't be any easier. The results are delicious. And from this basic dough you can create different flavors. Tonight I'm making a basil-flavored dough for my kids' pizza. I've also made it with both granulated garlic and fresh, slightly charred garlic pieces.

So, give this a whirl. If you get creative and come up with some new flavors, give us a blog and let us know what you did!

Wicked Good Pizza Dough

Ingredients

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1 package of active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F; 45 degrees C)
2 tbsp. oil (olive, canola, vegetable)

Directions

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and allow it to sit for about 5 minutes.

In the meantime, mix the flour, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. After 5 minutes, add the yeast water and the oil. Any herbs should be mixed in at this time.

Once the dough forms a ball, remove from the bowl and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in an oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, punch the dough down, remove it from the bowl and knead for about 20-30 seconds. Then roll the dough to the shape desired for your pizza. Place the dough in a lightly oiled and floured pizza pan, cover with your toppings, and cook for about 20-25 minutes.

Make Your Own Pasta!

It's easier than you think! Making pasta is not rocket science, people. You don't even need a pasta machine (like the one pictured here). Pasta can be cut by hand. However, having one of these machines adds a lot of dimension. It produces sheets for lasagne, fettucine, and spaghetti.

There are many variations on the dough. One basic dough recipes calls for nothing but all-purpose flour. Another calls for a mix of all-purpose and semolina flours.

We'll start off easy. I made this recipe last night for dinner and it was outstanding with a garlic white clam sauce and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Here goes:







Deb's Basic Pasta Dough

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 eggs, beaten
2-4 tbsp water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Place flour in a mound on a large work surface. Form a well in the mound and add the eggs, 2 tbsp of the water, salt and oil. Reserve the other 2 tbsp of water in the event that the dough is too dry.

Begin mixing with the fingers of one hand while pushing the flour from the edges of the well into the egg mixture with the other hand. Continue mixing until the dough forms a ball. The idea for all pastas is to have the dough smooth and elastic, not wet and sticky. Knead the dough for 5 minutes or more until it has reached the desired consistency.

Cut the dough into three pieces, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour. After chilling, allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes before rolling.

To finish by hand, roll using a rolling pin until 1/16 of an inch thick. Cut to your desired shape.

To finish with a pasta machine, cut the dough into quarters and form them into a rectangular shape that will fit into the pasta machine. Lightly dust with flour and roll it through the machine, starting at the thickest setting. Then, fold the dough once and roll it through the machine again this tine using the next thinner setting. Repeat this process until the pasta is the right thickness. Cut to the appropriate shape using the machine cutters.

Cooking Caribbean!

I know this isn't terribly mouthwatering, but I find that people often ask me what flank steak looks like. Here you have it. This is the steak often used when making fajitas. Last night, we made Caribbean flank steak in class. It's outrageous when you cook it on the grill but, unfortunately, we can't offer that indoors. So, instead, we cooked it under the broiler. It was delicious. It was served with greens and a Caribbean dish called pigeon peas and rice.

The recipes appear below.







Caribbean Spiced Flank Steak

Ingredients

6 cloves garlic
1 small yellow onion
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup Magic Hat beer*
3 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1 tbsp fresh chopped oregano
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
1 cup olive oil
2 lbs flank steak

Directions

Place garlic, onion and cilantro in a food processor and chop. Then, add lime and lemon juice, the Magic Hat, black pepper, salt and Tabasco sauce and process until mixed. Add the oil and blend until smooth. This is your marinade. Put the steak in a re-sealable zip lock bag with the marinade and leave it in the refrigerator for a minimum of eight hours. Ideally, overnight is the best method.

Heat up the grill (or the indoor broiler) and slap on the steaks! Cook for about 5 minutes on each side, freely brushing on the marinade to maintain moistness.

*No Schlitz, Miller, Coors or other traditional beers in this recipe, please. It doesn't have to be Magic Hat. It can be Red Hook, Blackened Voodoo, Sam Adams...look around for a "little" beer and be selective.


Ass Kickin' Greens

Ingredients

1 tbsp canola oil
3-4 slices bacon
1 large onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp malt or cider vinegar
1 lb fresh collard greens* (torn or cut into 2" pieces)
1 cup chicken broth
Red pepper flakes (to taste)

Directions

Put the canola oil and bacon into a large saute pan and cook until the bacon is well done. Remove from heat, break into pieces and set aside.

Add the onion, garlic, salt, pepper and vinegar of your choice to the same pan (don't clean it out) and cook until the onions and garlic become translucent. Add about 1/4 cup of the chicken broth, then the collard greens. Cook until wilted. You may add more chicken broth as necessary. However, I like my greens a bit "al dente" and not watery, so I generally stop at 1/2 cup.

Add the bacon bits and red pepper flakes. Toss well and serve!


Pigeon Peas and Rice

Ingredients

1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups white rice
2-1/2 cups water
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup unsweened coconut milk
1 (15 oz) can pigeon peas, rinsed and drained
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp grated lemon rind
1 tsp salt
Garnish: Fresh parsley springs

Directions

Place the garlic and onion in a Dutch oven with the oil and cook over medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until translucent. Add the rice, water, chicken broth and coconut milk. Stir well and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender (not mushy). If your rice doesn't cook to your liking within 25 minutes, add a bit more broth and simmer a bit longer. Remember this will depend upon the type of cooking element you use, electric or gas.

Stir in the peas, parsley, lemon rind and salt. Stir well, add garnish and serve. Delicioso!

A Wine Recommendation from Good Karma!

Every once in a while, we're going to feature non-recipe information. I've been meaning to give a plug to Yellow Tail wines, very unpretentious and very tasty Australian wines. These wines were introduced back in 2000 and have grown exponentially since then.

I'm a personal fan of the Shiraz and the Shiraz-Cabernet mix, but that's because I much prefer red wines to white. Not only that, I don't think the food police should tell you that you cannot drink red with fish or white with beef. You can drink anything you want!

You may want to check out their web site:

http://www.yellowtailwineusa.com

Grab a bottle this weekend and enjoy!