Turkey burger "cupcakes"

Oops, we ate half of them before I remembered to take a picture.

Pure guesswork turned a pound of ground turkey into wonderful little lumps of joy. Here’s an odd thing: having made homemade ricotta the other day, I saved the whey that separated from the cheese curds. I used some of it to moisten the bread crumbs.

The great thing about using the muffin tin is that the turkey cooked much faster than if it had been put into a loaf pan. Also, the result was light, almost fluffy, and moist.

Turkey burger “cupcakes”
1 tbsp olive oil
½ medium onion, finely chopped
1 lb. ground turkey
¼ cup bread crumbs
milk
4 sage leaves, rolled up and cut into a thin julienne
3 Thai chili peppers (or a jalapeno, seeded), very finely chopped
salt and pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
1 egg, beaten

Grease a muffin tin with cooking spray (mine was a 6-holer).

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Cook the onions until soft but not colored, about 5 minutes. About 3 minutes in, add the chili peppers and sage. Set aside to cool when the 5 minutes total is up.

In a large bowl, break up turkey into small pieces that you can easily incorporate with the other ingredients. Mix the bread crumbs with enough milk to moisten them thoroughly. Add them and the onion/sage/chili mix to the turkey. Add the egg. Add salt and pepper and garlic and onion powders. Mix thoroughly.

Roll up a 1” ball of the mixture and microwave it for 20-25 seconds or until cooked through. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Divide the mixture evenly and fill up the muffin tin openings.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Sides included steamed broccoli with butter and lemon juice and a savory bread and mushroom pudding that Peter made.