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Paleo Diet Recipe Primal Mexican Turkey Burgers with Coriander Guacamole-min

Recipes: Mexican Turkey Burgers with Coriander Guacamole

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For me, free range turkey is one of the most underrated meats. It's often overlooked in favour of chicken, when in truth it’s a lot more versatile, whilst still being lean and high in protein. Lean turkey mince is brilliant to use in chillies, but it also binds really well to make delicious turkey burgers. Try these with a hearty spoonful of homemade guacamole on the side.

Makes 8 burgers

Ingredients

For the burgers:

  • 500g free range minced turkey
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 2 jalapeno chilli peppers, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  •  
    2 tsp smoked paprika
  • A small handful fresh coriander, chopped
  • Sea Salt, to taste

For the guacamole:

2 large, ripe avocados
1 clove garlic
2 spring onions, finely chopped
Juice ½ lime
Black pepper
Sea Salt
1 handful fresh coriander, chopped

Turkey Burgers How To:

Heat a little olive oil in a pan to a medium heat. Lightly fry the onions until golden to mellow out the flavour. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
Rinse the turkey mince in a little cold water. Combine all ingredients in the mixing bowl with your hands, being sure to mix well. Roll out into 8 generous sized balls on a chopping board, then flatten into burger shapes.

Heat a grill to a medium-high heat. Grill the burgers for 6 – 8 minutes each side, making sure they are thoroughly cooked through.

Meanwhile, peel the avocados and remove the stone. In a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic clove with a little sea salt to form a paste. Scrape into a bowl with the two avocados, and mash to a pulp with a potato masher.

Squeeze in the lime juice, black pepper and coriander and mix well. Serve on the side with the burgers.

Ahh Mexican food, it doesn’t get much better than you. Let me know if there are any other Paleo adapted Mexican recipes you’d like to see on here!

Paleo Diet Recipe Primal Mexican Turkey Burgers with Coriander Guacamole-min

How to grind your own beef mince ground grinder paleo network-min

How to Grind Your Own Ground Beef Mince

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A while ago I wrote about why I don't buy ground beef (or any mince meat for that matter). But I love cooking with it. Making it yourself is the only way you can possibly:

  • Know exactly what's in it
  • Be sure it only contains good cuts of meat
  • Know how fresh it is
  • Know it's safe to eat medium-rare
  • Know it will taste good

How to grind your own beef mince ground grinder paleo network-min

The first time I tried it I used an old fashioned mincer like the one in the photo above. It was a total mess, with meat juice going everywhere! So since then, I've worked out how to do it properly with the mincer – but also far faster with my food processor.

How to Grind Your Own Ground Beef Mince:

1) Find a good cut of meat, not too lean – a bit of fat makes all the difference. I often buy a cut that is on special offer, then freeze the ground meat that I make.

2) Depending on what you're making with the mince, you might also grind another type of mince too. For example, I like to make my bolognese with half beef and half pork mince.

3) This is the step I found out the hard way. Cube the meat evenly, then put in the freezer for a couple of hours. Do this, it makes a huge difference and stops your kitchen resembling a crime scene. I've even taken to putting the grinding plate into the freezer too. Without it being super cold it won't grind properly and will be a mushy nasty mess. You have been warned.

4) In small batches feed the meat cubes into the food processor or grinder

5) Check for any un-ground pieces to put through again, and get rid of any gristle that has made it's way through.

6) Whatever you don't use, straight away freeze in small batches for use in a future recipe.

And once you've ground your meat? Try some of these recipes:

Chilli and Cumin meatballs with a mango and pomegranate salsa
Texan Style Sweet Potato and Bison Burgers
Spiced Beef Kofte with a Pomegranate Glaze
Tomato-Free Bolognese Recipe
Mexican Turkey Burgers with Coriander Guacamole

Why You Need To Stop Buying Ground Beef minced mince-min

Why You Need To Stop Buying Ground Beef

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So many recipes call for ground beef (or mince meat, depending on where you’re from). It’s on sale in every supermarket and butcher, but what exactly is in it – and should you buy it?

What Actually Is It?

The point of mince meat, is to use all of the bits of the animal that can’t be used elsewhere. Commercially produced ground beef will typically contain parts from hundreds of different carcasses. This product is also a good way to make use of old dairy cattle, and other animals that wouldn't be used for the popular cuts of meat. A pack of ground beef could contain all sorts of different parts of thousands of cows, yet the ingredients will still say “100% beef”.

Why You Need To Stop Buying Ground Beef minced mince-min

The E. Coli Risk

The other significant problem with ground beef, is the health risk.

E. Coli can get into the food chain when the dirty exterior (and particularly any faeces) come into contact with the inside of the meat – the bits that go into the mince.

In a small scale operation cross contamination like this is unlikely, but in a large processing plant, where workers are under pressure to turn around as many animals as possible, the risk is far higher. The way ground meat is made, means any bacteria that has accumulate on the surface of the meat will rapidly permeate through the whole product.

Where so many animal parts are present in one product, the risk is obviously greatly increased. To mitigate the risk, the meat is often vacuumed, washed with hot water and lactic acid, but these measures do not guarantee safety.

What’s The Solution?

For me, the solution is making my own ground beef. I have bought an old fashioned, hand operated mincer, that clamps to my kitchen counter. This means I can buy my own grass-fed organic beef, from my trusted butcher. This way I know exactly what my minced meat contains, I can make it fresh when I need it, and won’t need to store it, which will help the bacteria risk.

Do you make your own ground meat? I’d love to hear your thoughts on minced meat, and whether you’re happy to buy it, or make your own.

Recipe-The-Paleo-Diet-Pate-Offal-Liver-Duck-Chicken-Kangaroo-min

Recipe: Paleo Chicken Liver Pâté

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In keeping with my new years resolution to eat more offal, Pâté seems to be a great place to start.

You can make Pâté with lots of different meats, but my favourite is chicken liver Pâté.

With offal, I'm always very careful to make sure the meat is really high quality – organic, pasture raised is ideal.

Pâté Ingredients

  • 200g (6oz) chicken livers
  • 150g (5oz) butter, diced (or use the same volume of tallow, bacon fat or coconut oil)
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced
  • 2 small brown shallots or 1/4 onion, finely diced
  • ¼ tsp fresh thyme leaves
  • 1tbsp brandy (optional)
  • 1/4tsp grated nutmeg
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pâté How To:

Remove any unsightly pieces from the liver, such as any green or black spots, or any tough stringy pieces. Rinse the livers, then dry using kitchen paper.

Melt a spoonful of the butter in a pan over a medium heat, before adding the garlic and shallots. Cook for 4 or 5 minutes, until the shallots start to soften and turn translucent.

Add in the chicken livers and thyme and continue to cook for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring constantly. When the livers have browned on the outside, but are still pink on the inside, it’s time to add in the brandy.

After a few seconds, add in the remaining butter and the nutmeg and stir into the ingredients for a couple of minutes.

Take the pan off the heat, then use a blender or food processor to puree the contents of the pan, until it reaches a smooth paste.

Season to taste, before spooning into a bowl or jar. Chill in the fridge for at least two or three hours before serving.

Liver Pâté is great as a snack, or served with raw veggies like celery, carrots and cucumber. If you have an leftovers, it should keep for about a week in the fridge.

Have you tried making Pâté yet? Which other types of Pâté do you enjoy?

Recipe-The-Paleo-Diet-Pate-Offal-Liver-Duck-Chicken-Kangaroo-min

paleo barbecue recipes primal bbq ideas summer-min

Paleo Barbecue Recipes

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We've finally started to have a few sunny days – the perfect time to get the barbecue out and try out some Paleo Barbecue Recipes!

There were a few recipes I’d wanted to try in Mark Sisson’s cookbook, The Primal Blueprint Cookbook, which had been waiting for some sunshine.  I amended the recipes according to which ingredients I could get – and what I already had in my kitchen.

I managed to get hold of some turkey (I don’t know why it’s not more popular in Australia?), an essential ingredient in the Turkey Kebabs I wanted to make.  I also made Green Chili Burgers, based on a recipe in the book.  Sadly mine were made with regular beef and not bison as the recipe suggests (another type of meat I've not seen in Australia).

Turkey Kebabs

Ingredients:

200g minced (ground) turkey
1 egg (I'm using omega 3 enriched eggs at the moment)
1 tablespoon dried parsley
½ teaspoon each of garlic powder, cumin, paprika & salt
¼ teaspoon of cinnamon & cayenne pepper
1 spoon of olive oil
 

Method:

It doesn't get much simpler!  I simply added the ingredients (except the oil) to the food processor and blended until everything was well mixed in.  I then formed the meat into kebabs on wooden skewers and coated with a little olive oil.

paleo-turkey-kebabs-barbecue_recipes

The kebabs were then barbecued until cooked thoroughly.

Burgers

Ingredients:

200g minced (ground) beef
1 teaspoon dried chilli
2 tablespoons coriander (cilantro)
Half a small finely diced onion
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon chilli powder & salt
2 eggs
paleo-burger-ingredients-barbecue_ingredients

Method:

I put everything except the eggs in the food processor and blended well.  I then formed the meat into burger shapes and cooked thoroughly on the barbecue.  Whilst the burgers were cooking I fried the eggs and served them on top of the burgers.

paleo-burgers-barbecue_recipes

Along with the meat, I made a simple salad to complete the meal.

With it being this easy to make burgers and kebabs, I don’t know why anyone would buy them ready-made!

What are your favourite barbecue recipes?

paleo barbecue recipes primal bbq ideas summer-min

Recipe Cinnamon Sweet Potato Beef Hash-min

Cinnamon Sweet Potato Beef Hash

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I didn't have much spare time last night and an almost empty fridge, so I had to get a bit creative in the kitchen to make my Paleo dinner.

I had half a packet of organic beef mince, a few veggies and lots of herbs; this is what I put together in under 30 minutes.  This would work with whichever vegetables you have, I was just limited by a very overdue shopping trip.

Cinnamon Sweet Potato Beef Hash
Recipe type: Dinner
Print
Ingredients
  • 200g Organic Beef Mince
  • Tablespoon coconut oil (I'm using Melrose organic unrefined coconut oil at the moment)
  • Quarter of a sweet potato, grated
  • Half a zucchini, grated
  • 3 mushrooms, grated
  • Half a red onion, diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 capsicum, diced
  • 1 small tin organic tomato paste (the brand I use has no added ingredients, other than tomatoes)
  • I used 1 teaspoon of each garlic powder, onion powder, cinnamon (I love cinnamon and have been using it in everything lately!) & salt (I'm using pink Himalayan salt at the moment), oregano and thyme
Instructions
  1. I diced the onion and sautéed it in the coconut oil.
  2. I then grated the sweet potato and added it to the onions.
  3. After a few minutes on the heat, I added the mince.
  4. Once the meat was thoroughly browned, I added the remaining vegetables, the tomato paste, the herbs and seasoning.
  5. I continued to cook for about ten minutes, whilst stirring frequently.
  6. With everything minced, grated or diced, it all cooked very quickly; perfect for a busy evening like last night!
  7. I just wish I'd made extra for lunch leftovers...

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Recipe Cinnamon Sweet Potato Beef Hash-min

The Great Aussie Meat Pie paleo diet primal recipe pastry grain-free gluten free-min

The Great Aussie Meat Pie – Paleo Style

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Australians love their meat pies, apparently 260 million a year are eaten here.  For a county with a population of just over 21 million, that’s a lot of pies!

A meat pie just wouldn’t be the same without some sort of pastry.  So I thought it was time to give the Paleo treatment to the Aussie Meat Pie.

The Great Aussie Meat Pie – Paleo Style
Recipe type: Beef
Cuisine: Australian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Print
Ingredients
  • For the Crust:
  • the_great_paleo_aussie_meat_pie-min
  • 400g Almond Meal
  • 4 Eggs (free range, organic, obviously)
  • 1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil
  • Pinch of salt, onion powder, garlic powder & any other herbs you fancy
  • For the Filling:
  • 500g minced beef (I always try to get grass fed)
  • Approx 500ml Beef Stock (I made this a few weeks ago with lots of bones, and froze lots of batches)
  • 1 red onion (only because I’d run out of brown onions), diced
  • Half a sweet potato, diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 4 mushrooms
  • Pinch of garlic powder, salt, oregano & any other herbs you select
Instructions
  1. Mix the crust ingredients together to form a big ball of dough
  2. Roll the "pastry" out and form into paper cupcake cases, reserving about a third of the dough mixture for the lids. You should be able to make about eight individual pie cases, more if you roll it out a bit thinner.
  3. the_great_paleo_aussie_meat_pie_filling_the_cases-min
  4. Cook these for ten minutes at 200 until they became hard, but not golden.
  5. Ssauté the onion in a spoonful of coconut oil, and add the minced beef after a couple of minutes. Once browned off, add the sweet potatoes and carrots and let that cook for a few minutes.
  6. Add the stock, mushrooms, seasoning and herbs and let it simmer for 15 minutes or so, until it had a good “pie” consistency.
  7. Take the filling off the heat and spooned it into the pie cases.
  8. Once filled to the top, roll out the remaining dough and cut it into lid shapes to match the cases.
  9. Put lids on all of the pies, forming a seal around the edges.
  10. Return the pies to the oven for another ten minutes, until they started to turn golden.
  11. the_great_paleo_aussie_meat_pie_finished-min

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I then took the meat pies along to a picnic in the sunshine this afternoon.  I didn't even need to tell my non-paleo friends I hadn't used conventional ingredients – they got fantastic reviews, despite having only good ingredients!

Have you given the Paleo treatment to any Australian or New Zealand dishes?

The Great Aussie Meat Pie paleo diet primal recipe pastry grain-free gluten free-min