Spanish Rice

To go along with our Mexican themed dinner, I made a Phaedra's version of Spanish rice tonight. We had already cooked rice that was sitting in the fridge from our Thai Peanut Chicken dinner so I thought I would use that to cook up a side dish for our burgers. I look at Spanish Rice as you can put it in what you want as long as you keep within the theme :). Hope you enjoy.

1 ½ cups cooked rice

1 green pepper, chopped

3 shallots, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

2 tbsp homemade chipotle pepper in adobe sauce

1 cup chicken stock

½ cup dry sherry

2 tbsp chili powder

2 tbsp chili con carne

½ cup corn

In a large skillet, heat up 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Saute the shallots, green pepper and garlic until tender. Add the chipotle pepper in adobe sauce, chicken stock and sherry. Stir in the spices and corn and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir in the rice and let simmer for about 5 more minutes.

Mexican Turkey Burgers

We wanted to have a Mexican theme for dinner tonight and we pulled out some ground turkey. Dave absolutely loves Mexican food, so I thought I would appease him tonight and make something for him. We pulled out a jar of my Salsa Verde and a few other items and made Turkey burgers with a Mexican kick. Hope you all enjoy.

2 lbs ground turkey, 90% lean

½ red onion

2 jalapenos, seeded and minced

½ green pepper, chopped

1 tbsp garlic

2 tbsp homemade salsa verde

2 tbsp cumin

2 tbsp chili con carne

1 can black beans, rinsed

1 egg

2 cups bread crumbs
Cheese of your choice for the top

Combine all ingredients into a large mixing bowl 

Form into patties, size them to your liking. Dave likes them fairly large...as you can tell from the picture.

These burgers end up being more like individual meatloaves so Dave ends up usually cooking on low to medium heat on the grill and almost bakes them.  Cook them to your liking. Cover the top with cheese and melt.

Salsa Verde

In the height of canning season this summer, I bought a huge bushel of tomatillos. We love anything Mexican and anything salsa. I wanted to make salsa verde and found a recipe that I altered a bit.We use it for a lot of things. Just regular salsa or even to mix into things, such as hamburgers. It gives it an excellent flavor. I hope you enjoy it.

2 ½ lbs. tomatillos, husked and rinsed

2 large onions

10 cloves garlic

4 jalapenos, deseeded and chopped

2 Tb. vegetable oil

4 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. salt

1 cup packed cilantro

½ cup lemon juice

½ lime, juiced

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Peel and chop the onions into quarters. Place the tomatillos, onions, garlic on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with oil. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes—until the exteriors are blistered but the insides are still slightly raw. Transfer everything to a pot to simmer, including the precious juice. Add the lime juice and the lemon juice, sliced jalapenos and all of the spices. With a hand wand, puree the ingredients until smooth. Bring to a boil.  In sterilized pint jars, transfer the salsa verde and seal. Process in a water canner for 15 minutes. Remove and make sure all seals have popped.