Sunday, March 20, 2011

Freezer Cooking Round 3 (recipe included)

My mom is back in town for our THIRD Round of freezer cooking. I feel like we've accomplished enough at this point that I can confidently give tips from our experience. Later I'll be sharing some of why and how I do homemade freezer meals, but for now I will just start with a favorite recipe that I got from my sister in law.

Rachel Ray's Curry Turkey burgers


This healthy dish has received rave reviews from family and company at my house. It works great as a freezer meal because you do all the work ahead of time and just grill and eat whenever you are ready. I slightly modified the recipe. For example the recipe is enough for 5 large burgers, but I went ahead and stretched it to six. I used 3 patties the first time for my small family and I kept the other half in the freezer for a second meal. I also put the freezer tips in this recipe, but if you don't want to do a freezer meal you can just skip right to the grilling.


Ingredients
1 1/3 pounds ground turkey breast, the average weight of 1 package
2 scallions, thinly sliced
A handful cilantro chopped very fine, about 2 tablespoons
1 inch piece fresh ginger grated or minced
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
Coarse salt
2 tablespoons mild curry paste or a handful of curry powder (which is what I use)
Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
buns

Toppings:
Bib or leaf lettuce
Sliced vine-ripe tomatoes
Mango chutney (This really makes the dish and is a must! Trader Joe's Ginger Mango Chutney is great if you have that option)

Directions
Combine first 8 ingredients and form into 5 or 6 patties.
Separate patties with wax paper so that they don't stick together

Freeze until ready to grill (best if used within 4 months)

Thaw patties in fridge over night
Grill patties 6 minutes on each side on indoor electric grill or pan fry for same amount of time in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.
Pile patties on buns with lettuce, tomato, and chutney spread liberally on tops as a condiment.

3 comments:

Virginia Revoir said...

I've always wanted to make meals in advance and freeze them. Sometimes I just feel I am in the kitchen allll day. I would love to just try it.

{amy} said...

This recipe sounds delicious! I'll have to try it soon!

Eos Mom said...

I love those burgers! We used to make them all the time--so good. Smart to freeze them for a future meal!