The Daring Cooks’ April 2012 Challenge – Create Your Own Recipe!

Eggplant Mushroom Turkey burger

This months challenge was a tricky one, due to the fact there wasn’t a set recipe to experiment with! WE pretty much had to list of ingredients we could choose from and then just go from there! You had to choose 1 item from each of the 3 lists of mystery ingredients, and then from there make a main course. The lists were as follows:

• List 1: Parsnips, Eggplant (aubergine), Cauliflower
• List 2: Balsamic Vinegar, Goat Cheese, Chipotle peppers
• List 3: Maple Syrup, Instant Coffee, Bananas

Now when I first saw that we didn’t have a set recipe to play with, and that we were pretty much thrown to the wolves with this…I was a little nervous, scared and a little terrified that I had to incorporate these things into a dish that I had to in turn eat!   So I chose ingredients that I knew I would love together, for my recipe I chose Eggplant, Maple Syrup and Chipotle peppers, initially I was going to cauliflower, balsamic and then the last list threw me completely through a loop! So I settled on the best 3 I think paired well together!

To get started I made a mushroom eggplant mixture for my burgers…I hate having mushrooms squishing from my burgers so I made a tasty paste to mix into the patties. It was not quick, but it was easy and simple to make…mostly all the ingredients were in my pantry, except the eggplant! So this post will contain 3 recipes :

1. mushroom eggplant paste
2. turkey patty
3. Chipotle maple glazed  Brussels sprouts

Once the paste is done the patties are pretty much a simple addition! The brussels sprout are also easy to make, they take a little time but it is well worth it! some people, like myself and my hubby, like to put bacon in our brussels sprouts, so if you’re like that as well, then try candying the bacon in maple syrup and chipotle glaze…then half the sprouts, blanche them then pan fry in butter and add your crumbled candied bacon (man I should have done this!)

Recipe 1 Mushroom Eggplant Paste

• 4cp eggplant, peeled and diced
• 16oz mushrooms, I used button, but you can use any kind
• 8oz black olives
• 4-6cloves garlic, minced
• 1cp onion, diced
• 1/4 olive oil
• 4-6 drops of liquid smoke or soy sauce
• salt ( for the salt and pepper I used salt free Mrs Dash steak seasoning)
• pepper

Let’s get started! PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 400F

1. In a mixer add the black olives, olive oil, garlic blend into a paste and set aside
2. If you have a big enough mixer/blender you can mix the eggplant, mushroom and onion until it’s finely chopped. mine wasn’t so I had to mix them in separate batches. Finely chop the mushrooms, onions, and eggplant into fine pieces.
3. In  a large bowl add the finely chopped veggies and the black olive paste and mix well
4. Add the mix onto a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment and bake for 45min, stirring occasionally.  The mix will be wet  then it will start to dry out…THAT is how you want it!!!  This makes a great filling for homemade raviolis, lasagna and as a vegetarian Pate!

This recipe makes about 2 1/2 cps of paste

LET THE MIXTURE COOL, BEFORE ADDING IT TO YOUR GROUND TURKEY, MINE COOLED OVERNIGHT! 

RECIPE 2 TURKEY MUSHROOM PATTIES

• 2lbs ground turkey meat, you can use ground beef, lamb, pork or whatever!
• 1/2cp crumbled white cheddar, you can use your favorite
• 1/2cp bread crumbs
• 2 1/2 cps of mushroom eggplant paste
• season to taste ( we used MRS DASH SALT FREE STEAK SEASONING ALSO!)

Let’s Get Start!! Preheat oven to 350F

1. In a bowl, add all the ingredients together and separate into 8 patties!
2. Place the patties into the oven and let them cook on each side for about 10min…you can also do this on the stove top in a pan
3. Sit back and relax, especially if your oven has a timer, set the timer for 10min for both sides! 🙂

Let’s start the Brussels Sprouts

Recipe 3 Maple Chipotle Glazed Brussels Sprouts

• 1lb of Brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved
• 2qt water
• 2tbsp butter
• 1 Chipotle pepper, de-seeded and finely chopped
• 1/4cp maple syrup

Let’s get that water boiling!!!!

1. Clean the Brussels sprouts and half them.
2. Add them into the boiling water and let them cook for about 3-5min, depending on the thickness of the sprouts.
3. While they are cooking, melt the butter in a saute pan and add in the Chipotle and maple syrup.
4. Add the Brussels sprouts into the browning butter and syrup mix. Let the sprouts get coated in the glaze for about 1-2min, then serve!

 

I hope you enjoy the recipes, if you decide to make them…the mushroom paste can be made into patties without the turkey, just use the recipe omit the turkey meat and maybe double to recipe to make fuller patties!

Eggplant Mushroom Turkey burger