Turkey Steaks & Creamed Chicory

Creamed chicory goes so well with lighter meats like pork and chicken; tonight, with turkey ...

Chicory? You might know it as endive, but I know it as chicory, so ... it's creamed chicory. We're having it over turkey steaks on a bed of rice pasta combined with mushrooms and spinach.

Let's go!

Griddle pan on ...

Two small skillets out ...

Milk pan out ...

Turkey steaks on the griddle pan for maybe four or five minutes on one side, then flipped over.

Meanwhile, in one skillet soften your spinach with a little butter, sea salt and white pepper. Once wilted and reduced, remove to a chopping board and really smash it up! In the other skillet, soften some sliced mushrooms in a little butter.

Once the steaks are turned over ...

Combine the two into one skillet (the one that had the spinach in) and keep the other skillet (the one that had the mushrooms in) for the creamed endive, which is a simple case of removing the leaves from the core and pouring cream over ... low heat, sea salt, white pepper and perhaps some powdered garlic, certainly some herbs: chopped parsley. Control the heat to just wilt the chicory and slightly reduce the cream.

Ready to eat?

The rice pasta that I like cooks simply with boiling water poured over for 60 seconds. Let's do that and then retrieve the now cooked pasta into the skillet with the spinach and mushrooms, splash of olive oil and combine together.

Plate up with the pasta down, the turkey steaks sliced on a Chef's angle and crowned with the creamed chicory sauce.

Super!

Fast & Furious! Turkey & Mushroom Stroganoff

I've shown you this a good number of times in various guises, but it's worth showing again ...

... and to emphasise just how fast a good meal can be made using this recipe.

Turkey & Mushroom Stroganoff

Clock is ticking ...

Skillet on, coconut oil in, sliced turkey meat in.

Maybe a minute or so later, shredded onion in, sliced mushrooms in, garlic powder, black pepper and a little sea salt.

Rice noodles in boiled water ... 60 seconds. Retrieve and add to the skillet.

Cream and chopped herbs, dill in this case for a nice Russo-Scandic feel, toss together and turn out into a bowl.

Shredded spring onions to garnish.

Done! Four minutes? How quickly can you make it?

Turkey Mince Sliders with Celeriac Remoulade

... just a simple meal, quick to make and great to eat!

Turkey Mince Sliders

1lb Turkey Mince
Lemon Rind
Chilli
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Ground Coriander

Coconut Oil to fry

Mix the lot together, divide into 8ths and make meatballs, pressing down gently once you pop them into the skillet for frying.

Coconut oil in the skillet for frying.

Fry off on a higher heat for 2-3 minutes each side, lower the heat and cook on for maybe 5 minutes each side.

Meanwhile ...

Celeriac Remoulade

Celeriac
Egg Yolks (1 per Person)
Olive Oil
Lemon Juice
Cider Vinegar
Sea Salt
White Pepper
Poppy Seeds

Slice the celeriac into thin slices and shred into long matchsticks.

Blanch in boiled water.

Make up the remoulade by whisking the egg yolks, drizzle of olive oil, splash of cider vinegar, juice of half a lemon, no need to be exact ... together with sea salt, white pepper and poppy seeds.

Drain the celeriac and combine with the remoulade which will cook through in the residual heat.

Serve

Mound up some of the celeriac remoulade in the middle of the plate and surround with the sliders over some salad if you like - I went with shredded lettuce and tomato slices.

Three Minute Dinner! Turkey Stroganoff

Ready? Go!

Skillet on ... goose fat in.

Peel and chop onion ... in.

Slice turkey breast ... in.

Vegetables ... in.

One minute left ...

Pour boiling water over rice noodles ... 60 seconds.

Back to the skillet ... stir soured cream in ... add herbs ... done!

Quicker than a fucking microwave!

Real food, not nuked ...

Turkey & Prawn Pilaf Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers should not be overly wet on the inside, so try to keep "wet" ingredients to a minimum.

Pilaf is a Middle Eastern, Turkish, Persian, Uzbek, even North African dish of rice cooked in a seasoned broth, a term which I'm using in the broadest of sense since the rice will be cooked in broth, but inside a stuffed pepper.

You can stuff your peppers with anything you like, but here, I went with: minced turkey, prawns and cauliflower rice.

In a skillet, brown off the mince.

Meanwhile, steam some cauliflower and add to the skillet, crushing gently as you go and expelling as much liquid as you can.

Add some spice: ground coriander, perhaps some chilli powder, a little sea salt and some black pepper.

When the mixture is good and dry, simply lop the tops off a few peppers and stuff them up.

Place the peppers into an ovenproof dish (no lid), slip the tops back on the peppers and now pour in some bone broth. Stock will do if you don't have broth.

Into the oven at, say, 170C (350F?) for maybe 20 minutes, maybe half an hour, by which time the broth is reduced and the peppers good and soft.

Serve out into a wide brimmed bowl, slicing the peppers open and pouring more broth over.

Turkey Tacos

... and breathe.

Friday night! We made it! Another week down and a great weekend beckons.

Let's let our hair down, have a drink and enjoy a really good meal - something quick, easy and nutritious.

On a Friday, we like something spicy. I happen to have some turkey breast in, some chicken breast, some peppers, an onion, chillies ... you're thinking what I'm thinking, right? Accompanied with marjoram, dried oregano, paprika and black pepper, we'll have our taco fillings.

Backup? Slice the meat into strips, slice the peppers into strips, slice the onion, de-seed the chillies and chop into small strips. Brown off the meat, add the onions, chillies and cook through, adding the peppers in last to warm through and just hold some texture.

Meanwhile, some accompaniments ...

Pico de Gallo - Cucumber, tomato, radish, spring onions and olives. Chop up.

Holy Guacamole - Avocado, lime juice and salt. Blend well, then blend some more.

Tacos - We also need tacos! Gem lettuce. Easy!

Beauty! 5 minutes of chopping, 10 minutes of cooking, little more chopping while that's going on and you're done ... dinner in 15 minutes.

Drinks? Tequila beforehand, red wine with.

Sausage & Lentil Casserole

Caution! Lentils Ahead!

You know what? I don't at all mind lentils. I know they're not paleo, not even by a long stretch of imagination even for the most lenient of paleo revisionists, but who cares?

What they are is a good pack of protein, good micros and, as our man at Free the Animal will tell us, a useful source of resistant starch. The bad? Anti-nutrients! Which are largely neutered by the soaking and cooking process.

Not ideal, but certainly not all bad ... and if you like them, a perfectly good deviation for a quick meal.

Casserole: French for "saucepan", a deep dish which is both committed to the oven and presented at the table for serving.

I went with the following:

• Turkey Sausages & Smoked Bacon
• Onion, Garlic & Chilli
• Potato
• Mushrooms
• Green Lentils (Canned)
• Tomato Purée
• Dried Marjoram, Black Pepper & Sea Salt
• Fresh Parsley

Take a large oven-proof pan and melt some of your favourite paleo fat (yes, goose fat, for me) and fry off your sausages. I went with turkey sausages.

Toss in some shredded smoked bacon, chopped onion, garlic and chilli. Fry off until softened.

Add in cubed potatoes and fry on to start to cook through.

In with the mushrooms, sliced, quartered or chopped, to mop up the surplus fat.

Tip in the can of lentils, water and all.

Finally, a good squirt of tomato purée, dried marjoram, black pepper and sea salt.

Settle into the oven for about half an hour to cook through and reduce, and you're done.

Remove from the oven, stirring in some fresh parsley and serve at the table with something green - tenderstem broccoli, here, Savoy Cabbage would do equally well.

Turkey Stew & Oopsie Rolls

Mid-week and I have things I want to get on with, so home, bung a few things in a pan, set it off cooking and get about my business ... I can finish it off later.

So, Turkey Stew - brown off diced turkey in goose fat, add onion and garlic, then potato, carrot, pour in chicken stock and sprinkle over some sage and marjoram.

Lid on and let it gently simmer for a couple of hours ...

Ready to eat?

The stew will be nicely reduced, so add some peas to the stew, stir in some arrowroot or manioc flour which does not clump if you sieve it into the stew.

Boil or steam some greens. I went with some Brussels Sprouts.

Stew is no more complicated than this and a really good, nutritious and seriously tasty meal can be made with absolute minimal effort or expertise.

We had Oopsie Rolls with ours ...

Oopsie Rolls? I put the question mark there since I'd not heard of them before, but they seem to be well known across the internet so I wonder if it's one of those regional things.

Oopsie Rolls are a low-carb bread alternative. Now, I am not enormously in favour of mimicing modern foods with paleo-friendly ingredients, but some things really are better - spiralized vegetable spaghetti, for instance.

I have no point of reference for whether I got these right or wrong, but we enjoyed them and I can certainly see how they'd hold their own for something like burgers or cooled off and a convenient sandwich made for lunch the following day.

Anyway, let's make 'em!

Oven on, 180C (350F?) and get a greaseproof tray. I don't have one, so the grill pan will have to do with a sheet of baking parchment.

Ingredients are: Cream Cheese (100g), Eggs (3), Baking Powder (1 tsp) and Salt (pinch).

Separate the eggs, whisk the whites until firm in one bowl and in another, combine the yolks, cream cheese, salt and baking powder. Fold the mixture into the whites and spoon out onto your tray. This will make 6-8 and don't worry if they touch each other - once cooked, they can be cut apart.

Into the oven for 25-30 minutes until brown and hardened a little. If it's your first go with these, you'll have to feel your way - this was my first go and this worked out for me.

Turkey & Prawn Laab [Quickest Ever!]

I love Laab ...

From my first go to revisiting just that, I've made up Laab a number of times, but this is my quickest yet.

End of the week, home, the pressures of work dropped and ready to enjoy a great evening and weekend ahead, we need quick food.

Here's how:

• Meat - Minced turkey or pork (for speed), prawns, perhaps white fish
• Flavours - Fish sauce, spices, black pepper, chillies, lime or lemon
• Vegetables - Anything, diced or sliced
• Fat - Coconut oil

In a skillet, warm the fat, fry off the meat, add the prawns, add your flavours and add your vegetables.

I don't think there are many rules, just put some minced meat, flavours and vegetables into a pan, cook through and eat. Little prep, quick frying and get stuck in as fast as you can ...

I went with spring onions, green beans and bell peppers, all thinly sliced across the bias, turkey mince, prawns, fish sauce, ground coriander, chillies, black pepper and lime juice.

Alongside, I made a nice cucumber raita for alongside and served with lettuce leaves.

TexMex Frikadeller [Fun with Fusion]

Frikadeller are simply, Danish Meatballs, usually served with red cabbage alongside.

Most often made with pork, I made up a batch with turkey mince ... and gave it a little twist.

Friday night is our Tex Mex night. We have Chilli, Fajitas, Enchiladas, that sort of thing on a Friday, so tonight, is a kind of fusion - Danish Meatballs with a Red Cabbage Salad made Mexican (italicised).

I'm justifying it as a meeting of the two cultures somewhere, somehow, like how Enchiladas Suizas came to be - a meeting of Mexican and Swiss.

Ingredients

Frikadeller - turkey mince, cassava flour, lemon zest, ground coriander, paprika, black pepper, cayenne pepper, celery salt and dill, goose fat for frying

Salad - Red cabbage, tomato, cucumber, radish, spring onion, red chilli, green chilli, black pepper, dill and a sprinkle of cider vinegar

Sides - Holy Guacamole! ... with dill, and Greek yoghurt with lemon and dill.

Frikadeller

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and begin forming meatballs. See? Nordic Meatballs ... but spicy!

In a couple of batches, fry off the meatballs in your favourite paleo fat (all together now ... "goose fat, for me"), flip after a couple of minutes and then roll them around the pan after another couple.

We'll cook through in the oven - this is just to seal them.

Mount up in an ovenproof dish and settle into the oven set to 200C for about 20 minutes.

Salad

Shred up all the ingredients, slosh the cider vinegar over and place in the fridge to chill.

Sides

Holy Guacamole is simply a case of blending avocado with lemon juice and a little sea salt. Today, I added dill. NordiScandiWegians love dill! Place in the fridge to chill.

Greek yoghurt with lemon juice, touch of sea salt and more dill. Place in the fridge to chill.

Serve

Big bowl of 'balls, bowl of salad, bowls of sides ... you don't need a map.

Eat, drink and wind down - it's Friday!

B&M ... Quick & Dirty

... at the weekend, we had an unctuous piece of slow-cooked beef shin.

The best bit about a hunk of beef skin is the leftovers: shredded meat salad for lunch and gravy into the freezer in a bag.

Needing a fast dinner prior to fencing, I flicked the oven onto 200C and pushed a bunch of high meat volume turkey sausages in.

30 minutes, we'll be done ...

... meanwhile, melt the gravy in a pan along with some sliced mushroom.

... also, peel and cube up a squash, boil and mash with butter.

Here comes the nom!

Mash down, sausages over, spoon the mushrooms over and pour the gravy around.

That's dinner - get eating! Quick, dirty and absolutely filthy gorgeous!

Aubergine Turkey Chilli Sweet Potato

I'm really into sweet potatoes at the moment and it's Friday: Chilli Night!

So, let's put them together ...

The Chilli Con Carne is a variant of my CCC 2.0 recipe based on turkey mince, which tonight includes aubergine ... or eggplant if you're language is that way inclined.

Ingredients

Chilli - turkey mince, coconut oil, onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, black pepper, sea salt, mushroom stock, chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, oregano, marjoram, cocoa powder, paprika and aubergine.

Sweet potato - erm, sweet potato and goose fat.

Salsa - tomato, cucumber and radish.

Chilli Con Carne

Oven on at 180C (350F) and pop a decent sized sweet potato in, cut in half and flesh side down on an ovenproof, spiked all over with a fork and smeared with goose fat.

That'll take about 30-40 minutes, which gives us ample time to make up a Chilli.

In a large heavy-based skillet, for two, brown off a pound of turkey mince. It's lean, so we can add in a good fat - coconut oil.

While the mince is browning, chop a good sized onion, three or four cloves of garlic, some ginger and chillies to your taste - I like it hot, so used a Scotch Bonnet pepper. Blend all that lot together.

With the mince now browned, pour in the onion sludge and muddle around to cook off the rawness.

Now, empty your spice cupboard! Actually, tonight we're a little reserved, but sprinkle over some oregano and marjoram - maybe a tablespoon each; black pepper - half a teaspoon, perhaps; paprika - a teaspoon-ish; cocoa powder - around half a teaspoon.

Pour in some mushroom stock. Beef stock will do admirably.

Pour in a carton of chopped tomatoes and give it a squirt of tomato purée.

Mix together and add a little water if necessary.

Cut off the outside centimetre of an aubergine. It's the dark skin we want here, to simulate the vibrant colour of red kidney beans. Chop into bean-sized pieces and stir into the Chilli.

Turkey mince cooks through really quickly, so leave the heat on high to reduce.

Salsa

Just slice up some tomato, cucumber and radish ... or whatever salad ingredients you have.

Serve

Sweet potato down, open it out a little, drop of butter, spoon over the chilli and scatter the salsa over. Eat, drink and enjoy your Friday night!

Turkey Breakfast Pattie

I had some turkey mince left over from the other night's burgers ... so it was a no-brainer to do the same again for breakfast.

With an egg, naturally ...

Turkey patties are simply turkey mince, some chopped chillies, garlic, ginger, ground coriander, black pepper and sea salt or fish sauce.

You don't quite make a burger, since turkey mince can be quite wet ... but fire up your griddle pan, grab a handful of the meat mix and sort of throw it onto the griddle, spreading it out before it sticks.

We'll be frying an egg shortly, but first let's turn our attention to something green: samphire, here. Gorgeous stuff, so get it when you can and enjoy the hell out of it while it lasts. Asparagus would do well here, spinach, collard, dandelion greens, radish leaves ... anything very green and pack full of K.

Fry your eggs.

Serve up ... burger down first, greens over, egg on top. Superfluous garnish here is pea shoots.

Boom! What a breakfast! Now get out there and rule the day!

Turkey Burgers! [Done Proper]

Pardon my French parlance ... it's Friday night. In case I do ...

It's Friday night! We've survived another week doing our thing, doing it well, doing it fucking well, but now it's time to kick back, enjoy the coming weekend and set Saturday morning up for a hangover from a tribal Friday night!

Food

Turkey mince, garlic, ginger, chillies, ground coriander, sea salt and black pepper.

Portobello mushrooms, lettuce, tomato and avocado.

Bun

Griddle on ... portobello mushrooms on ...

Why? Because we don't eat bread! We eat nutritionally sound food, always, and without exception. So, get your portobello mushrooms on the griddle underside up until the liquid comes forth and then flip them ... pressing down and getting all that flavour back inside.

Oven ... 150C ... keep the mushies warm.

Burgers

Turkey mince.

Easier, quicker and IMO better than beef mince for flavour and protein; spice up with chopped chillies, garlic and some minced ginger, sea salt, black pepper and coriander.

Turkey mince (in packets) can be sloppy. You're NOT going to form a burger, so just ball up the requisite amount of meat and throw it onto the grill pan. Press, squash and round the meat quickly on the pan.

Cook through, nothing more than a mere few minutes each side.

Serve

Mushrooms as the "bun", burgers inside.

You made some guac and sliced some tomatoes while you watched the burgers, right?

Beauty! Proper job, that.

Chilli Con Carne 2.0

Good evening, folks ... it's Friday night and time to kick back, enjoy the evening and eat Chilli!

For many, Chilli is about the beef. It's diced or minced beef. Beef. Got it?

That said, there's no reason why we couldn't make it with other meats. I know ... I know ... some folks half and half with pork, but let's look outside the box.

Turkey Mince!

Yes, minced turkey. It's a lean meat, which means you can couple it with your favourite paleo fat, takes on flavours well and cooks quickly.

My regular method is to hand blend onion, garlic, ginger and chilli to fry off after thoroughly browning beef mince. Add in beef stock, tomatoes, tomato puree, Worcestershire Sauce (Salsa Anglais), paprika, ground coriander, ground cumin, oregano, marjoram and black pepper. Water and let it simmer for a couple of hours.

Turkey mince is a lot quicker ... and gives us an opportunity to do things just a little differently.

Brown off some mince. One pound between two is plenty.

Finely dice an onion, crush some garlic and shred some ginger.

Make a well in the meat, drop in a good cube of coconut oil and in go the onion, garlic and ginger. Stir around and get it well cooked.

One carton of chopped tomatoes, some tomato puree, ground coriander, ground cumin, black pepper, oregano and marjoram. No Worcestershire Sauce this time.

Now, we need some colour and crunch. You could put just about any vegetable in for some interest, but I want to make the chillies the big deal.

I have some large (and so, mild) cooking chillies. Sorry, no idea on variety - they're just sold in bags as 'Chillies', but I know they're quite mild ... which is great, because we can add a lot in.

Several chillies, red and green, sliced up.

Chicken stock, water and on a good simmer, reduce.

Maybe 30 minutes later, we're ready to eat! See, I said it was quick!

Meanwhile, simply make some accompaniments ...

Holy Guacamole, Pico de Gallo and some wraps: British Cos lettuce leaves.

... and your favourite Tequila alongside.

Yeah, the speed on this could be a new favourite for 'Chilli Night'. Chilli Con Carne 2.0, indeed!

Turkey Mince 'No Taters' Cottage Pie

I'm not averse to potatoes, but looking back through some old recipes I was reminded just how good cauliflower mash is.

Doing things just a little differently, I decided to use turkey mince. Low fat, turkey mince gives us the opportunity to add in whatever fat we choose to - here, coconut oil.

Deviating further, I wanted a more spicy version.

Begin by browning off some turkey mince in coconut oil. One pound for two people is good.

While that's browning, dice up a medium onion and toss that in, stirring through.

Dice up some other veggies. I went with some aubergine (eggplant) and courgette (zucchini), sufficient to double the amount in the pan.

Now, the flavours ...

Garlic first, several cloves. Now, graze through your spice cupboard! I added in some ground coriander, ground cumin, black pepper, paprika, chilli powder and some powdered chicken stock.

Squirt in some tomato purée and stir through. The purée will help to thicken the dish as well as bring in some depth of flavour.

Allow that to cook through in the pan and pick up some toasted flavour. Don't let it stick!

Cover with water and simmer through until the liquid is well reduced.

The mash? Cauliflower ...

Take a cauli, trim the leaves off, core it and steam the florets. Once soft, allow the steam to evaporate off and mash it together with some cheddar cheese.

Transfer the meat sauce to an ovenproof dish and spoon the mash over. Bake at 180C for about 20 minutes.

You kept the cauli leaves didn't you? No? Shame on you! Yes? Great! Take the better ones, shred and steam them.

Serve out, Cottage Pie with shredded cauli greens alongside.

Turkey Laab & Sweet Potato

It's Thursday and with my other fencing class this evening, I need to feed up after work quickly and have some time to rest beforehand.

Baked sweet potato is fast becoming a favourite, the energy release slow and constant through the evening.

Keeping a regular meal interesting is simply a case of putting the thing you like the most about it with something else each time. I know that sounds kind of "Well, duh!" but often folks miss the obvious, thinking variation comes from bringing something new every time. Just combine and re-combine your favourite elements.

I've made Laab a couple of times now and really enjoyed it. It's a simple Thai/Lao dish of cooked minced meat and flavour - simple.

As mentioned, the other constraint is time ...

After a day at work, the commute home and then the pressure of getting something cooked, eaten, get ready and get back out on the road by seven thirty is a challenge. Yes, I could cook something beforehand just to warm up and yes, I could take something to work to eat at, say, four o'clock, but I like something freshly cooked, so quick & easy is the key.

Seafood works ... so does fine meats, like fillet ... so does turkey mince.

Turkey mince is superb and, without going into every part of the nutritional profile, basically, it's a good, almost pure protein. It cooks quickly and has a great texture without requiring the longer cooking that minced beef does.

So, we need to cook something quickly ... here's 30 minutes.

First, the sweet potato ...

Begin by setting the oven to 220C (425F).

Take a large sweet potato and cut it in half longways ... might as well do two large ones, since there'll be leftovers which will do well for lunch tomorrow. Grease a tray with your favourite paleo fat (goose fat, in my case) and place the sweet potatoes face side down, forking the backs all over.

Let them cook ... they'll be done after about half an hour, retaining some good texture.

Now, the Laab ...

Take a large skillet, some of your favourite paleo fat (since turkey is very lean) and brown off the turkey mince. I used 500g for two and we have sufficient leftovers for lunch, along with another sweet potato half. As you brown the mince, break it up and keep breaking it up until you've got a good ground texture.

Turn the heat down.

Now, flavours: fish sauce, ground coriander, black pepper, chillies and, traditionally, lime juice which I used Yuzu instead. That's it. Done. Easy, eh?

Finally, the salad ...

While sweet potato and this Laab would make a fine meal, some cooling salad flavours are always going to be good.

I went with a few slices of cucumber, shredded into matchsticks, shredded spring onions and a tomato, chopped. Need more fat? Have an avocado, too.

Ready to eat?

Lay the sweet potato onto the plate and push some butter in (optional), spooning the Laab over. Avocadoes around the edge, salad scattered over.

Toppings? We have some Cottage Cheese, too, and a pickled chilli as garnish.

Fuelled up ... time to get out there and stab friends in the chest for the evening ...

Turkey Patties

Dead simple ...

Turkey is a lean meat, great for a light meal alongside some good fats from, say, avocado ... I also made just a few fat fries, fried in goose fat.

The burgers ...

Take a pound of turkey mince. Try really hard not to mess with it, fiddle with it or get it mushed up, but divide into four and gently squeeze each up into a ball.

Press the ball flat making a patty around five inches round. Salt over the top.

Fire up your griddle pan and grille them.

Serve with a simple salad and your favourite sauce alongside. I went with avocado, tomato, some pea shoots and a ramekin of daikon tartar.

Daikon tartar? You know ... Tartar Sauce?

Peel, cube and boil some daikon. Blend it with some mascarpone and use it for another meal a couple of days ago. Leftovers ... so, squeeze of lemon juice, sea salt, black pepper, finely chopped dill and roughly chopped pickled gherkins.

I also made a few fat fries, fried in goose fat.

The remainder of the potato went into a Leek & Potato Soup for starters.

The leeks were the green tops off a leek used in another meal which you'll see tomorrow: a Nordic Meat Soup of reindeer, swede, carrot and leek.

In the kitchen, the tops, tails, ends, trimmings and excess can all be used for simple accompaniments or whole courses, sometimes ... it just takes putting together. This soup, for example, made from the trimmings of two entirely different meals.

You can collect up these scraps or just use them on the fly for a soup course or perhaps a little taster in between courses. Imagination and invention ... get your brains working and chase the creative.

Have fun ...

Dinosaur Burgers!

Dinosaur Burgers?

Okay ... okay ... you got me ... but these are from today's living relative, the descendants of dinosaurs: the turkey.

After Prawn & Turkey Laab last night, we had some mince left over. What better than burgers?

Turkey mince is quite wet. Maybe yours isn't but this was. Handling it carefully so as not to mush up the fibres too much, I placed it in a bowl and rinded a lemon over, added some thyme, black pepper, ground coriander and sea salt, then gently folded it all together.

That's it! Burgers should be 100% ... or as close to it as you can. Also, the fibres should be fiddled with as little as possible so that the burgers end up with some texture rather than pink slime mush.

So, burger meat ready, I formed quarter pounders in 4" Chef rings and transferred to the skillet carefully, removing the rings once they were happily settled in a puddle of gently frying goose fat.

Gently does it ... 3-5 minutes each side and we'll have nicely cooked, slightly browned, not burned and not dry burgers, oozing natural moisture and flavour.

Serve out on a lettuce leaf to wrap it and a little relish alongside.

I went with a chilli, sliced and steeped in some red wine vinegar. One chilli for two people, a tablespoon is just right for the vinegar. After a few minutes, slosh in your favourite condiment. I went with Tabasco Buffalo Sauce.

Being breakfast, we had some scrambled eggs alongside. The first burger was eaten more like a Shami Kebab, halves and dipped in the relish, the second wrapped up in the leaf.

What a great way to start a leisurely day off.

It's a fantastic day! Sunny, bright, clear and just hovering around zero ... perfect walking weather.

Laab ... Revisited

Last week, I cooked something I'd never cooked before: Laab.

Thai/Lao dish of simply cooked minced meat and some flavour. I also tossed in some prawns, just because, which would work perfectly well with beef or bird mince, mine was with turkey.

Slosh in a little fish sauce, fresh ginger, garlic and chilli, lime juice, fresh coriander and spring onions at the end. Ground coriander and cayenne pepper also went into mine. Easy as ... and so good!

I don't think there are any rules, so to speak, it's minced meat and flavours. I also added some diced cucumber.

Friday night is normally our Chilli night, but this is so good I had to repeat ...

Tonight, though ... fusion? Perfect with some guac!