Saturday, August 10, 2013

Fiesta Turkey Burgers, Rich & Thick Parmesan Cauliflower Mash and Roasted Asparagus

This evening I decided to cook some of the turkey burgers that I had in the freezer.  I buy them at Costco (they are uncooked) and come 12 to a package.  The ingredients in them are simply: white turkey, Kosher salt, rosemary extract and black pepper.  They are good sized burgers and they cook quickly...about 5 to 7 minutes per side on the grill or in a pan on the stove (you cook them while frozen).  We grilled them in between heavy downpours early this evening.  They are good, but pretty plain, so I jazzed them up a bit.  While hubby was grilling the burgers, I cut a Poblano pepper into strips and had him grill them along with the burgers.  I placed the burgers on our plates, topped them with sliced pepper-jack cheese (Monterey Jack cheese w/ Jalapeno Peppers), then placed the grilled Poblano pepper strips on top and added a spoon of fresh salsa, dollop of sour cream and diced cherry tomatoes. Voila...in just minutes, we went from plain burgers to Fiesta Burgers!  Beef burgers would be great served this way, too. I made Rich & Thick Parmesan Cauliflower Mash to go with the burgers along with some roasted fresh asparagus.  It was a fresh and simple dinner to put together.  I snapped a few photos below as well as the recipe for the cauliflower mash.  Enjoy!



Rich and Thick Parmesan Cauliflower Mash

Ingredients:

1 medium head of fresh cauliflower, broken into 1-inch florets
1 cup (8 oz) of chicken broth or stock
2 ounces brick style cream cheese (1/4 of an 8-oz brick)
3 to 4 tablespoons heavy cream
3 to 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, place cauliflower and chicken broth; bring to a boil and then cover pan; turn heat down to low and simmer until cauliflower is very soft and tender and chicken broth has completely cooked into the cauliflower (about 20 to 30 minutes). Make sure there is no liquid left at all in the bottom of the pan (remove the cover if necessary and cook until any remaining liquid is gone and the cauliflower is no longer wet looking).  Remove pan from heat and add cream cheese and heavy cream.  Using an immersion blender stick, blend or puree the cauliflower until the cheese and cream are fully incorporated and the mixture is smooth.  Add grated Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper, to taste.  Blend another minute.  Adjust seasoning and add additional cream, if necessary, to thin out a little bit.  Add additional Parmesan to thicken. The cauliflower mash should be thick and not runny at all. 

*Note:  To reduce the cooking time for the cauliflower, just cut it up into smaller pieces. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a handheld potato masher, it just won't be quite as smooth.

2 comments:

Sami said...

Quite a fancy mash. I usually just boil cauliflower and carrots or broccoli, a little bit of butter and blend in the food processor. Yours must certainly taste a lot better, will try it soon for sure!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Sami! Your version actually sounds good, too! You could simply add a bit of cream and Parmesan to your version and I bet it would work nicely, too. I love carrots and broccoli! I would love to make some type of pureed veggie casserole that gets baked one day -- I may try that out soon. :-)