Aged ground beef and goat cheese burger

I was given some lean aged ground beef from my cousin Pat Donato who owns The New Farm and traditionally raised quality beef from Donato Harvest Artisan Meat Farm in Tottenham. All beef and pork cuts are ‘AAA’, dry aged for a minimum of 14 days and hand cut on the premises.

It has a deeper more intense colour then the regular stuff I get at the supermarket so I figured the taste would be more intense as well so I thought the best way to try this was to make a burger, but not just a regular burger but one that deserved to be on a silver platter.

Here is my take on this specially cared for cut of beef:

To the 2 lbs of beef I only added some Montreal steak spice and fresh chopped chives, nothing more.

I formed 8 patties and set aside.

In a large saute pan add 3 tblsp olive oil and 1 medium sweet onion sliced 1 tsp of Montreal steak spice and cook until carmelized. Push to the side of the pan and add 2 cups of white mushrooms and cook until softened and then mix together with the onions. Remove onion and mushrooms from the pan and set aside. In the same pan bring up the heat again and add the burgers, cook for 2-3 minutes per side then place on a baking sheet.

Top each burger with 1 heaping
tbsp of goat cheese and put under the broiler to melt cheese slightly.

Top each burger with onion and mushroom mixture and put under broiler again for a few seconds to heat.

place burgers on toasted buns and top with Presidents choice Smokin' Stampede Beer and Chipotle sauce and serve.

OMG it is sooo good. Buy local,buy fresh and support your community.

Turkey after Thanksgiving

Turkey after thanksgiving is always on sale so why not take advantage of the deals. I bought a fresh whole d-boned turkey breast just after thanksgiving for a lot less and what I did was turn it into a roast.

I like to brine my turkey, it makes for a tender juicy bird and I use the same technique for the breast and believe me it is so tender that it can be cut with a fork.

1- 1 butterflied Turkey breast with skin washed in cold water.

2- To make brine use a very large bowl fill
1/3 with water,
1/4 cup of kosher sea salt
1/4 cup brown sugar.
Mix until dissolved then submerge the breast and top with water until the turkey is covered. Cover bowl with plastic wrap place in fridge for 6 hours or so.

3- remove breast from brine, rinse and pat dry with paper towels and lay flat skin side down and prepare rub.

4- In a medium bowl add:
1/2 cup room temperature butter(I used Becel margarine)
5-6 fresh sage leaves, chopped
1/4 cup fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp chopped garlic

you can also add any of your favorite herbs and spices such as rosemary,pepper flakes, lemon, parsley etc

5- mix together all herbs and spices into butter and with you hands spread 1/2 of the mixture onto the inside part of the turkey breast. Wash your hands and begin to roll all the to end and place cut side on the bottom and begin to tie with kitchen twine. (I pre-cut my twine to make things easier) Depending on the size of the breast make your ties about 2 inches apart and 1 lengthwise to tie it all together and place on a wire cooking rack and then on wide rim pan to catch juices. Then rub remaining butter all over the breast. Just remember do not add salt.

6- Pre heat oven to 375' and place turkey in oven and tent lightly with an sheet of aluminum foil. Bake for about 2 hours then remove foil and begin to baste every 10 min for 1/2 hour or so until the skin turns golden brown.

7- Remove from oven and let stand for 1/2 hour or more before removing twine and serving. Because its boneless you can slice any size and use it for main entree, sandwiches for the week, soups etc.

If you have purchased a fresh turkey breast you can prepare and freeze before roasting for a later date, just wrap in freezer paper or better still vacuum seal. I like whole turkey but this is a nice change for white meat only eaters.