A Women Game Changer Creates Spanakopita Burgers

Turkey Spanakopita Burger and Fries with Yogurt Dip

She's here!!! Born in Glen Falls, New York, Rachael Domenica Ray, grew up with restaurant-owning parents, who helped nurture her interest not only in everything related to food but also the business side. She must have sprung out of the womb with a gleaming smile and a positive attitude. Rachel worked as a manager at many different food companies, including the fresh foods department at Macy’s, and Mister Brown’s Pub at a popular hotel, The Sagamore, in upstate New York. You can find out everything you ever wanted to know about her life here on her website. Whether you love her or are a "hater" all of Rachel’s achievements have amounted to her not only becoming a household name, but acquiring an estimated net worth of millions in the double digits. Even if you have one foot heavily in the "hater" camp we all know who she is! For a small town girl, with no formal culinary training, this is quite an achievement! I wish I were Rachel Ray and had even a small amount of her ambition, or her lifestyle. It seems that if you fall under Oprah's radar, success is never far behind.

Personally I like her cooking style which reminds me of sitting down to a delicious meal at the kitchen table at home surrounded by all the people you love. She is my adopted "cousin" Rachel who can feed an army with whatever she has on hand and make it into something worthy. Nothing over the top gourmet, just simple every day food jazzed up a bit with funky names and sometimes "other worldly" flavour combinations, but the bones are there. She deserves to be taken seriously. Can you be a fan of a persons cookbooks and not their network shows?  As an aside, I am not over the top in love with the Food Network as a whole these days. If they bring any any more reality cooking shows to the table I may gag on a "wooden spoon":D Frank Zappa and Moon Unit may have something there:D

Nothing is more intimate, or more effective, than cooking and sharing meals together in our home kitchens. Afterall our lives revolve around food and family! A breeding ground for Rachael's warmth, energy, and boundless curiosity. She reaches scores of fans through her popular Food Network shows, bestselling cookbooks, her own line of cookware created by Meyer, knives by Furitechnics, signature food ingredients by Colavita and lifestyle magazine Everyday with Rachael Ray. In 2007, Rachael launched the Yum-o! organization, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking and in 2008 she partnered with Ainsworth Pet Nutrition to create a line of pet food of which all her proceeds are donated to organizations that help animals in need. I like a gal who gives back and is not all about the celebrity.

One of my favourite well-travelled bloggers Mary of One Perfect Bite invited bloggers to travel along on a culinary journey throughout the year. Gourmet Live brought out a list of the 50 most influential women in food...Fifty women game changers. Some are chefs, some are food writers, and some are women who are passionate about the creative process. You could certainly add or detract women from this list, but no matter what these women have all influenced us in one way or another. Being a woman and passionate about food myself I wanted to explore and join Mary on this journey and not only learn from the masters but recreate some of their dishes to better understand what has shaped and molded them into who they are today. In doing so I have learned more about myself, and have learned more than a few new recipes and techniques.

For 50 weeks we will experiment with dishes from each of the 50 influential women on "the list". Whether you agree or disagree with the authors chosen fifty and their order it will be an enjoyable and creative outlet to cook from the masters. Follow us on this journey while we take an in depth exploration of these women's lives and what has made them who they are. My cohorts for this adventure can be found below. If you would like to join in  please contact Mary. This is an informal event and you have the flexibility to follow along when you can. We will be posting every Friday.

What have we been up to this week for our 13th Game Changer:

Mary of One Perfect Bite - Mexican Lasagna
Val of More Than Burnt Toast -Turkey Spanakopita Burgers with Fries and Yogurt Dip.
Joanne of Eats Well With Others - Grilled Eggplant Subs with Mozzarella and Tomato Jam
Susan of The Spice Garden  - Crispy Curried Fried Chicken
Taryn of Have Kitchen, Will Feed  - Rachel's Sesame Soba
Heather of Girlichef  - Orange-Cashew Chicken
Miranda of Mangoes and Chutney -Red Wine and Blue Burgers
Jeanette at Jeanette's Healthy Living  - Tuna Marinara Sauce
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud - Tuna Noodle Casserole
Linda of There and Back Again - Macaroni and Cheddar Cheese
Amy of Beloved Green - Rachel's Oat Berry Bars
Linda of Ciao Chow Linda

Back to the Future....

Over four years of blogging I have found many wonderful recipes to share on these pages. Some from my own kitchen, some from your creative blogs and web sites, and some from well known celebrities and chefs. I have been feeling a little nostalgic and was browsing these very pages just the other day, creeping back to the very beginning in 2006 when More Than Burnt Toast was in it's infancy and no more than "knee high to grasshopper". We all have those stellar recipes from when we first started when we were lucky enough to find one comment and have maybe one reader; in my case even before I was taking photos of the dishes I prepared. My other motivation for reconnecting with the past is to create uniform formatting on this blog and this is a fun way for me to revisit past posts.

 So here are a few flashback recipes from the very first baby steps here at MTBT with...

  Caesar Salad with Crouton Collars

Cheese Topping for Baked Potatoes

Grilled Salmon Between Romaine Lettuce Leaves

Greek-Style Penne with Fresh Tomatoes, Feta and Dill

Baby Greens in Frico Cups

But on to the recipe. I can't tell you how many years this particular recipe has been on my "to try" list. Turkey or chicken burgers can tend to be dry, but with the addition of spinach and feta cheese these were moist and flavourful. I must admit that I used a Greek spice mix rather than the Montreal Steak Seasonings suggested but I am sure you can get away with either.

What did I learn this week... That I can embrace Rachel Ray and frozen french fries. Many "kitchen-phobes" have started cooking because of her.

**Turkey Spanakopita Burgers and Fries with Yogurt Dip**

• 1 package store-bought frozen french fries, any variety
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), plus some for drizzling
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 cloves garlic, 2 chopped, 1 crushed
• 1 red onion,  chopped
• 1 box frozen spinach (10 ounces), defrosted
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano, lightly crushed in the palm, divided
• 1/4 pound feta crumbles
• 1 1/3 pounds ground chicken or ground turkey breast (the average size of package)
• 1 tablespoon grill seasoning, such as McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning
• 1/3 English (seedless) cucumber, thinly sliced lengthwise, plus 1 small, 2-inch piece of cucumber, peeled, trimmed and chopped
• 2 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced lengthwise
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2-2 cups good quality plain yogurt (look for Greek yogurt)
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 cup arugula, coarsely chopped or shredded
• 4 crusty rolls, split 

Topping:

• 2 roasted red peppers, drained
• 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley (a generous handful)
• 1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives (about 10-12 olives)
• Hot pepper rings or pepperoncini (optional)

1. Pre-heat oven to directions on the package and bake fries until crisp.

 2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. To one side, add a little EVOO and a tablespoon of butter. When butter melts, add the chopped garlic and chopped red onion and cook for five minutes. Transfer the onions and garlic to a bowl to cool. Return pan to heat.

 3. Wring the defrosted spinach dry buy twisting it in a clean kitchen towel over your sink. Separate the spinach as you add it to the bowl with cool onions and garlic and season with one teaspoon of oregano. Add in feta crumbles, then chicken or turkey, grill seasoning and a drizzle of EVOO. Mix and form into four patties, 1-inch thick. Raise heat on pan to medium-high. Add patties and cook six minutes on each side.

 4. Season the sliced cucumbers and tomatoes with salt and pepper. Toast rolls, if you prefer.

 5. Place remaining chopped cucumber, the crushed clove of garlic, yogurt, one teaspoon oregano and juice of 1/2 lemon in a food processor. Add a little salt and process the sauce until smooth. Transfer to a small dish and serve with the fries as a dipping sauce. Rinse out the processor bowl and return to base.

 6. Place red peppers, parsley and olives in food processor, season with salt and pepper and process until a paste forms. Place cooked burgers on roll bottoms. Top the burgers with sliced cucumber, tomato, reserved red onions, shredded arugula and hot peppers, if using. Slather roll tops with red pepper and olive paste and serve with chips of choice.

Serves 4

You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author and or owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison.