Breaking the routine

I hate routines. Some people fear change. I need change. Without enough recipe variety I get the food doldrums, and, for me, the food doldrums quickly turn into the real doldrums. After all, if I can't get excited about food, there probably isn't really much that I can get excited about, and what is life without a little excitment?

So, how, you may ask, does a person who repeats recipes more than a few times a year only in a handful of rare instances get the food doldrums? I don't know. But lately I feel like I'm recycling all of the same stuff over and over. Maybe it's not the exact same meal but it's the same flavors and cooking techniques (I would be a terrible ethnic cook. I have an Asian stir-fry a few times a year and think it's same-old, same-old).

In an effort to introduce a little excitement, I'm going to attempt to cook some new stuff--recipes I've never tried that (hopefully) introduce some new flavors. But I gotta tell you, when I looked through my cookbook almost every recipe that stood out to me required the use of my broken oven (which may be the true impetus for my food doldrums).

Recipe #1 was recommended to me by a co-worker: tomato-basil feta turkey burgers. The "recipe" is very simple. But (believe it or not) I don't make real meat burgers very often, and I'm not sure I've ever used ground turkey (I fear lean meat. I have this idea that lean meat is too easy to dry out).


So...here it is: tomato-basil feta turkey burgers with smoked paprika (you can read Mark Bittmans' column from last week for this idea) aoili.

Around 1 lb ground turkey
1/2 container tomato-basil feta (I got mine at Giant Eagle)

Mix. Cook like a burger. I didn't think the turkey would shrink up because it's really lean, but it actually did. My burgers lost so much water, I felt like I was simmering them (my friend warned me about this).

Serve with smoked paprika aoili (a generous 1/3-1/2 cup mayo with 1 grated clove of garlic, a splash of lemon juice, and a healthy dose of smoked paprika) and lettace.


These were really good. I highly recommend them. I would make them for company. My sexy husband loved them (even though he dislikes feta). But were they different enough, inspired enough, to get me out of my doldrums? Not really...but almost! However, even if you don't try the turkey burgers, try the smoked paprika in something... anything... just smell it. It smells inspired. Perhaps it will be enough to get you out of your food doldrums.