Tag Archives: ground meat recipes

Crispy Pork Larb!

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Crispy Pork Larb

Crispy Pork Larb

This is one of those dinners that is both healthy and delicious.  Trust me when I tell you when you take one bite of this you will be forever grateful that I started this blog–yes it’s that good!  For those of you who do not know, larb is a thai street food.  It’s so good that it’ll make you question how we do street food in America.  It’s bright, fresh, and full of the umami flavors that will make you go Mmmmmm… If you don’t fancy pork, no problem, you can try this with ground chicken, turkey, or even lamb and beef.  Check out my recipe for Chicken larb here.  This is one of my favorite ways to use ground meat, it’s so simple that this meal almost makes itself!

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Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

 

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground pork

3 large cloves of garlic thinly sliced

1/4 cup of diced red bell pepper

1/2 of a red onion, sliced thinly

1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup of fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup of fresh cilantro leaves

1 head of romaine lettuce, leaves removed to use as cups

1/2 cup of sliced persian cucumbers

1/3 cup of fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon of a good quality fish sauce, I used red boat

2  tablespoons of soy sauce

1/4 cup of water

Sea salt to taste

2 tablespoons of cooking oil of your choice

red pepper flakes to taste

Directions: Heat oil, garlic and red bell pepper and cook until garlic is fragrant–about 15 seconds.

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Add in ground meat season with sea salt and cook until brown about 5-7 minutes.

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Once brown, add in soy sauce, fish sauce, water and red pepper flakes if using.

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Cook until liquid evaporates and pork is brown and crispy about 2 minutes. Add in lime juice, toss well, remove from heat.  Add the meat to the lettuce cups, top with a generous amount of the fresh herbs, cucumbers, red onion, red pepper flakes, and a squeeze of additional lime juice, enjoy! So good!

 

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Basil Chicken

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Basil Chicken

Basil Chicken

So everyone has that one friend whom they idolize, you know the one who is super intelligent, charismatic, gorgeous, and the kind of mother to her children you only wish you could be. Well that person for me is my friend Jennifer. She has the energy of the energizer bunny–actually I think she could out last that bunny 3 times over, She’s a great friend, reliable without fault, and on top of all that, she is a great cook. One of her signature dishes is basil Chicken.  It’s beyond delicious, the sweet notes of basil mixed with the Unami flavors imparted by the soy sauce in this dish make it heaven on a plate.  She makes hers with the whole parts of chicken, usually legs, or drummetts. I decided to try it using ground chicken, because who couldn’t use another way to use ground meat?  I’m so glad I did, it is equally as delicious as using chicken with bones, but much less time consuming, because there aren’t any bones.

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Prep time: 5-7 minutes

Cook time : 15 minutes

Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground chicken

3/4 cups of fresh basil chopped

1 small brown onion or shallot chopped

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

2 large cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons of olive oil/ghee

1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

sea salt to taste

Directions: heat oil in skillet, add garlic, sauté for 30 seconds, then add the onion, and cook until translucent. Add the ground chicken and brown. Add in the soy sauce, basil and red pepper flakes, cook for 2 minutes then turn off the fire. Serve over brown rice, or in lettuce cups.

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Lamb Burgers with Yogurt Cucumber Mint Sauce

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Lamb Burgers With Yogurt Cucumber Sauce

Lamb Burgers With Yogurt Cucumber Sauce

Sometimes you just need a burger! Considering the fact that Americans consume nearly 50 billion burgers a year, I am assuming most people need more than one! Although beef burgers are great, it’s nice every once in awhile to switch meats up a bit.  This lamb burger provides the perfect switch.

 

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Prep time: 7-10 minutes

Cook time: 7-10 minutes

Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1lb of ground lamb

1/2 cup of mint, chopped finely

1/4 cup of flat leaf parsley chopped finely

Sea Salt & Black pepper to taste

Ingredients for Yogurt Cucumber Sauce

1/2 cup of yogurt

1 large clove of garlic grated

1/4 cup of organic Persian cucumber cubed

3 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 Tablespoon of finely minced shallot

1 tablespoon of mint finely chopped

Sea salt to taste

Directions:  add all the ingredients for the yogurt sauce to a medium sized bowl, mix well and set aside.

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In a large bowl add the ingredients for the burger, mix with your hands to incorporate all of the ingredients,  and then form patties.

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Heat a cast iron skillet, then add the burgers. Cook each burger without turning them, for 4-6 minutes on each side.

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Serve these on buns with the cucumber sauce or go to my YouTube channel and get my recipe for Creamy herb feta cheese spread.

Creamy Herbed Feta Cheese Spread

Creamy Herbed Feta Cheese Spread

Or skip the bun and use lettuce as a low carb option.

Lamb Burger with Yogurt cucumber sauce

Lamb Burger with Yogurt cucumber sauce

Lamb Lettuce Wraps with Mint Chimichurri Sauce

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Lamb Lettuce Wraps With Mint Chimichurri Sauce

Lamb Lettuce Wraps With Mint Chimichurri Sauce

One of my favorite “cook” books is The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. It is my go to book when I need inspiration for a new recipe. If you own it, then you know it’s not a cookbook in the traditional sense, because it doesn’t contain any recipes. It’s more of a reference for exactly what it title states, flavors that work well together. Yesterday I was browsing it for an idea for what I could do with some ground lamb that I needed to make for dinner. It was a hot day here in California–go figure–so I wanted something light and cooling. I opened The Flavor Bible up and landed on Chimichurri and it hit me! Inspiration at it’s best!! I decided to make lamb lettuce wraps with a mint Chimichurri! These are DELICIOUS!! My husband raved at every bite! If ground lamb isn’t your thing, or you can’t get it in your grocery store, try this with ground beef or chicken, the mint Chimichurri sauce will work with either.

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Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes

 

 

Ingredients:
1 lb Lamb
9 leaves of organic Butter lettuce
1 cup of organic Green onion sliced white parts included
3 cloves of garlic minced
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/4 cup of fresh organic mint chopped

Ingredients for Mint Chimichurri
1/2 cup of flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup of mint
3 tablespoons oil
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
2 cloves of garlic
Sea salt to taste

Directions:
Place all the ingredients for the Chimmichurri in a blender or processor and blend until smooth, set aside. Heat the tablespoon of oil in a skillet, add garlic, and green onion, toss for 20-30 seconds, then add in ground meat. Season with sea salt and black pepper, and cook until meat is browned and cooked through, add in the mint and toss, remove from the fire.
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Scoop meat into lettuce leaves, top with Chimmichurri and enjoy!

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Thai style ground chicken and green beans

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Whenever we go out for Thai food my husband orders one of two things, ginger chicken or, green bean chicken. He absolutely loves these two dishes, and rarely ventures out to try anything else on the menu– unless venturing out is tantamount to him taking a few bites of my dish. I love ginger chicken, but I have yet to ever try this green bean dish that he loves so dearly. However, the ever ambitious girl that I am in the kitchen, decided to try to recreate this dish for him at home the other night. I can not say whether or not I hit the mark on what he has in the restaurant, but this dish definitely hit the mark for me! I loved it! My husband did too. He said “Mmmm…this is delicious” after every bite. You can substitute any ground meat that you choose in this dish.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minute
Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lbs of ground chicken
2 cups of chopped fresh green beans
1/2 cups of green onion chopped
2.5 Tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup of cilantro chopped
1 teaspoon of grated ginger
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 tablespoon of flour optional
1-2 teaspoons of chili pepper flakes
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup of water
Sea salt to taste.

Directions:
Heat oil in a skillet. Add ginger, onion, and garlic, and saute for 1 minute, stirring so that the ginger and garlic don’t burn. Add in the ground meat, cook until browned. Add in the soy sauce, toss, then add in the flour if using. Toss again, add in the green beans, and water, cover and cook for 5-7 minutes, or until the green beans are fork tender. Remove from heat, add cilantro, serve over brown rice, and enjoy!

What restaurant meals have you had success recreating at home?