The Weber! Archives

Greek Turkey Burgers – The Month of Burgers

Greek turkey burgers are a tasty, welcome change from ordinary burgers. Enjoy them with couscous and tabouleh.

Greek Turkey Burgers

Turkey burgers are great in the summertime because of their light flavor. They are also pretty good for keeping your summer figure as they have less fat than beef. Of course, if you don’t have ground turkey available, ground beef would work for these burgers as well.

Feta cheese is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep’s milk or a combination of sheep and goat milk. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it is formed into large blocks and aged in brine. Its flavor is tangy and salty, ranging from mild to sharp. Although Feta is a mild cheese, some prefer a less salty variety. French Feta cheese is less salty than its Greek forebearer.

The yogurt used in the sauce is plain yogurt we made using a sous vide immersion cooker. Mixed with mayonnaise and white pepper, it makes a light sauce perfect for these burgers. You can use whatever buns you like. If you don’t want to use buns, feel free to put your Greek turkey burgers in Pita bread.

My good friend gave me some tabouleh, easily the best I have ever had. We will be featuring that recipe soon. Anyway, what goes better with tabouleh than Greek Turkey Burgers and some curried couscous?

These burgers are great for the summer, on the outdoor grill, or on an indoor cast iron griddle. Use your favorite Feta cheese. There are many varieties available, my favorite is French. Of course, if you don’t like Feta cheese, you could substitute your favorite cheese instead. Don’t be afraid of putting mint, it’s not going to taste like peppermint candy.

Boswell Barbecue Sauce – Smokey, Sweet, Sour and Hot

I started making barbecue sauce a couple of years ago when I ran out of storebought and didn’t feel like going to the store to get more. How hard could it be? So, I’ve been working on this sauce and this is just the way we like it. I think you might like it, too. It’s sweet from brown sugar, honey, and molasses, and it’s sour from red wine and apple cider vinegar, and it’s hot from several types of chili. I’m going to put this on our Nesco Baby Back Ribs, but it’s also great on Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken, or anything else you want a sweet and sour hot barbecue sauce.

Bacon Wrapped Spicy Ham Roll Stuffed Chicken

Bacon-Wrapped Spicy Stuffed Chicken with Ham Roll

When I posted this on Instagram, a lot of people said it looked delicious. I told them it was, and I wasn’t lying. The recipe is based on Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Stuffed Chicken, which my good friend, Maria de la Rocha had posted quite a long time ago. I had been meaning to make it, but when I actually looked at the recipe, I realized there were some changes I could make to make a better dish.

Spane’s favorite appetizer is what I call Spicy Ham Rolls. It’s basically ham slices rolled up with cream cheese and chopped jalapeño. I got the recipe from a girl I worked with that had given her leftovers from a party she had had. When I make them, they are gone immediately!

If you make this, you can use whatever barbecue sauce you like, or you can use the one in the recipe. If you really don’t like jalapeño, you can omit it and use bell pepper instead.

Street Dogs – Hot Dogs with Bacon and Peppers

Have the famous Street Dogs at home – jumbo franks wrapped in bacon with sauted jalapeno, onions and bell peppers. Have them with corn!

Expert Burgers

These burgers are called “Expert Burgers” because they have such great flavor , stuffed with Swiss cheese, with caramelized onion and coleslaw.

Chinese Stove Top Barbecued Cornish Hen

With just the two of us, a regular chicken is just too big, so I started buying Cornish Hens. They come two to the pack, at 1 1/2 pounds each. A one-half bird is enough to feed one person. Cornish hens taste just like regular chickens and are not baby chickens. For more information, please see the Wikipedia article on Cornish Game Hen.

I love barbecued chicken, but barbecues have been outlawed in our city, so I am stuck with less conventional ways of barbecuing. Last year, I bought a cast iron grill/griddle just for the purpose of barbecuing steaks and making pancakes. It also does a fine job with chicken, and I use the top of my wok to cover foods so they can completely cook. Of course, I have to have my windows wide open, and I shut off the bedroom where the fire alarms are to prevent them from going off. My grill/griddle is easy to clean, just put it in water while it is still warm, but not hot.

I used Hoisin sauce because my son had expressed a desire for Chinese food the day before, but you could use whatever barbecue sauce is your favorite. I served it with Same Day Fried Rice and we had ourselves an Asian feast!

Chinese Stove Top Barbecued Cornish Hen YouTube Video

Pork Loin Roast with Tangy Lemon Sauce

Labor Day is such an important day to remember those who fought for good working conditions and a living wage. It’s also a fine excuse to make some good food. Whilst looking through Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible, I came across a recipe for pork roast which gave me the idea to make this pork loin roast with tangy lemon sauce.

Pork loin roast is one of my favorite meats. I like mine on the rare side, just pink on the inside. I usually give the end slices to Spane because he likes his a little more cooked. There is no excuse for serving a dried out, gray colored roast of pork. Armed with a good instant thermometer, you can serve perfect pork at 140 degrees. Just make sure to let the roast rest for about 10 minutes before carving it. I use an electric knife because it makes the nicest slices.

If you want to make this on the grill, more power to you! Pork roast is great on the grill, but you have to use the Indirect method. This means you put a pile of hot coals on one side of the grill, and a pan of liquid under the meat, which gives the meat a nice, steamy place to slowly cook. If you want, you can use beer, wine or fruit juice for the liquid.

Nesco Baby Back Ribs

Nesco Baby Back Ribs fall off the bone, and have smoky, tangy flavor. No outdoor grill? These ribs are your answer.

Recipes in this Post

Ruby Red Grapefruit Roasted Chicken

A few days ago, someone asked me for a different way to roast a chicken, and I have her this recipe. I haven’t made this in a long time, and it was a welcome change from the ho-hum regular roasted chicken we all know and love.

Spane and I both love grapefruit, and I was lucky to get some beautiful ruby-red grapefruit at my local corner store. Today, I’m going to go to the local farmer’s market and get some more. Did you know that grapefruit is really good for you? As a member of the citrus family, they are packed with vitamin C, have low sodium, low sugar, high lycopene, high potassium, and fat burning enzymes.

binder clips bind chicken skin together — Binder clips bind chicken skin together

I have to tell you, binder clips are great in the kitchen. I use them mainly to close up bags, especially bags of frozen vegetables. When I was making my chicken, the skin on the breast tore, and I needed it to cover the grapefruit slices. What to do? I heard some TV doctor yelling “Clamp!” in my head, got some binder clips out of the drawer and clamped it up. When the chicken was finished cooking, it was just a matter of removing the clips, and the skin stayed nicely together. Clean up was simple, too, and unlike twine, I can reuse my clips after thoroughly washing them.

Broiled Ahi Tuna with Blood Orange Balsamic Reduction

Since we didn’t make a big Holy Thursday Seder meal this year, I thought it would be nice to make something memorable for Good Friday. Catholics are bound not to eat meat on Good Friday. I was at the market on Thursday picking up some last-minute things, and the butcher brought out two lovely pieces of Ahi tuna. I already had purchased Blood Oranges at the Farmer’s market earlier in the day. I also wanted something simple for Friday night because we would be spending a good deal of our day in the church for the Stations of the Cross and The Seven Last Words of Christ.

I have to say I was proud of my son. Our church has the kids from the middle school put on a play, complete with Roman soldiers and a real wooden cross. Spane said to me, “Mom, can we leave, it’s really sad.” Later, I saw he had a tear in his eye, and I knew that he had finally GOTTEN it. We will be going to Easter Vigil on Saturday night (Sunday according to the liturgical calendar), so we will once more be joyous again.

After all that, I was kind of tired when we got home. I looked on the Internet for tuna and blood oranges, and everything was pan-seared. I wanted it to be broiled, so I went my own way. It was delicious, and I suggest you try it. You can even do the whole thing on the grill, just make sure you have an oven-safe pan for the sauce.

Greek Turkey Burgers

Bacon-Wrapped Spicy Stuffed Chicken with Ham Roll

Chinese Stove Top Barbecued Cornish Hen YouTube Video

Pork Loin Roast with Tangy Lemon Sauce

Recipes in this Post

Our Favorite Cooking Quotes