curry on and tally forth!

 

Sometimes, the best food you can make is something nice, simple, and hearty. I've been in a curry mood lately but didn't want the bold, spicy flavors of Indian curry. Instead, I wanted a milder, sweeter curry that my Dad often favors.

When he visited our house last time, he decided to bring over his favorite recipe that used popular Japanese curry blocks. With just a few ingredients, a little wait time, he instantly had dinner on the table. Wow! 

This is my take on his curry. I opted for ground turkey (since I had that in the fridge) and added a few more veggies to the mix. Also, since I wanted a dryer sauce, I went with a little less liquid to get the consistency I wanted. Enjoy! 

- - - o o o - - -

Japanese-Style Dry Turkey Curry

(Makes 3 to 4 servings)

1lbs ground turkey

1 cup finely diced potatoes

1 cup finely diced carrots

1 cup finely diced red onion

1/4 cup frozen corn

1/4 cup frozen peas

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp light agave syrup or honey

3-4 blocks S&B Golden Curry mix, mild

1 tsp everything seasoning

1 cup plus more turkey stock or broth

Salt & pepper, to taste

Heat butter in a large sauce pan until melted. Add half of potatoes, onions, and carrots. Cook until just softened. 

Add turkey to pan. Sprinkle on everything seasoning, agave or honey, and season with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Once the turkey start to brown, add the remaining potatoes, carrots, and onions. 

Cook mixture until the turkey is fully cooked and the added vegetables start to soften. Add blocks of curry mixture and stir until the blocks dissolve. Add turkey broth 1/4 cup at a time until desired consistency. Stir in corn and peas. 

Let cook for another 10 minutes, adding broth as needed to keep consistency, before serving.

for cozy winter days...

So, after a little bit of hiatus, I'm back!

Since it's been a while, I figured that I'd post with something warm and cozy for the winter months . . . a hearty turkey meatball soup! I found this recipe off Pinterest while I was looking for something to do with kale. Kale is one of those random ingredients that I occasionally buy but never really know what to do with. That's when looking for recipes come in handy. ^_^;

For the soup, I decided to add my own twist to it by including some dried pasta. Again, I wanted a really hearty soup and this was going to be used for more of a lunch/dinner type of entree. I also changed the taste profile...the cumin and the star anise seemed really weird to me so I omitted them in my soup.

All in all, the ending result was nice...savory and lemony, hearty and filling like I wanted it. Add a couple slices of toasted and buttered sourdough and his was the perfect good eats for a cold day. This does make a big pot of soup, so be prepared to have leftover for a couple of days! Enjoy!

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Lemony-Garlic Turkey Meatball Soup with Pasta and Kale
(adapted from The Holisitc Ingredient)

For the Meatballs:
1 lbs. ground turkey
2 tbsp bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped leeks, white part only
handful fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 tbsp dried mint leaves, crumbled
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp bottled minced garlic
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp olive oil
additional oil for cooking

For the Soup:
1 medium onion, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
5 peels of lemon
1 tbsp minced bottled garlic
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
12 cups (3 quarts) low sodium chicken broth
2 tsp fish sauce
1 (6.5oz) pkg dry cheese tortellini pasta
10-12 kale leaves, stems removes and torn into smaller pieces
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil for cooking

 
Make the Meatballs:
Combine all ingredients for meatballs and mix well until well incorporated.

Heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Roll mixture into small meatballs, size smaller than a ping-pong ball. Fry meatballs for 7-8 minutes, turning them throughout so they are golden-brown on all sides. Set aside on some paper towels to drain any excess oil.

Make the Soup:
Over medium-high heat, add some oil to a large soup pot. Once hot, add the onion, celery, carrot, and lemon peels. Saute for a few minutes, then add garlic, thyme, chicken broth, and fish sauce. Season with salt and pepper then bring to a boil.

Once boiling, add the dried tortellini. Continue cooking until tortellini is al-dente. Reduce heat to medium, add the meatballs, cover and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Prepare the kale and add to the soup, stirring through, then cover and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat then add the lemon juice. Stir and season with additional salt and pepper as needed. Let sit for 5 minutes off heat before serving.

Makes about 8 to 10 servings.

leftover remix: asian turkey noodle soup!

I wanted to do something interesting with our leftover turkey but I'm torn. We're getting down to the last of it and I'm undecided whether or not to make it into some kind of casserole. It'll be easy to do and I'm sure there are billions of casserole recipes out there to try. Heck, even I've got a casserole recipe in my repertoire!

But I want to make something interesting out of it!

Call it vanity, but I kind of wanted to make something that was totally opposite of what the thanksgiving turkey originally tasted like. I wanted to change it's taste profile so that it would turn into some kind of wonderful. Lo, and behold, I got my inspiration!

Enter "Year of the Fish". I was in the mood for a fairytale and this movie intrigued me. So I settled in and watched it on Amazon (besides, who doesn't love a Cinderella story?). Well, there was a scene in the movie where they were eating soup and suddenly it hit me . . . let's make a turkey ramen!!

That got my juices flowing so right after the movie, I got to searching for a basic asian soup. I didn't want it to be too complicated; just simple and classic ingredients. I ended up using a recipe from Martha Stewart, of all people. I'm not really a big fan of hers, but I found that this was exactly the kind of soup I was looking for.

This turned out exactly how I wanted it to. It was your basic broth, heavy on the ginger, and with the unmistakable hint of turkey. I wanted this to primarily be a ramen-esque type of soup so there's more noodle than meat. Why rice noodles? Because that's what I had on hand. Next time, I would probably go with an egg noodle since i prefer that to the taste of the rice ones. Other than that, I thought this experiment turned out pretty good!

---- o o o o ---- 

Scallion-Ginger Broth with Turkey and Rice Noodles
(slightly adapted from Martha Stewart)

1 tsp vegetable oil
4 scallions, chopped with white and green parts divided
1-inch piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minched
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 (4.5oz) ramen-size block of rice noodles
1/4 cup matchstick carrots
1/4 cup lightly shredded turkey

 
In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high. Add scallion whites, ginger, and garlic; cook, stirring, until scallions begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add broth and fish sauce. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and cook until flavors are blended, about 5 minutes. Add carrots, rice noodles, and turkey then continue simmering until noodles are done. Garnish with additional carrots and scallion greens.

leftover remix: turkey enchiladas!

The hubby and I were looking forward to turkey day this year. Man, oh, man, the good thing about people not eating the turkey was having so much leftovers! Why? to make turkey enchiladas, of course! This dish is soooo freakin' tasty and is a great alternative to casserole or sandwiches.

For Thanksgiving this year, the hubby decided to forgo the usual canned cranberry sauce and decided to make a huge batch of cranberry salsa. We made this salsa last year when we experimented making enchiladas using our usual recipe. Since he didn't have a high tolerance for spicy heat, we opted for pablano peppers for a milder salsa to keep the flavor or chiles but without the mouth-burning heat of jalapenos. Turns out, that was a great idea!

You would think that the Mexican flavors of the enchilada would clash against the festive flavors of cranberry and turkey. In actuality, it actually blends together with the turkey and the tart cranberry salsa is perfect with the pablano and cilantro. If Thanksgiving had a Latin version, this would be it!

I can see a pattern developing here, lol. Right when I started packing up the turkey, he asked whether of not we were going to have enchiladas the next few days. I can see why he loves it so much. Not only is this good, but it's so festive looking on a plate! Heck, even on sad paper plates, this looks super tasty! Huzzah for leftover turkey!

---- o o o o ---- 

Turkey Enchiladas with Cranberry Salsa
(adapted from Laura's Best Recipes and Food Network)

For the Salsa:
1 (12.oz) bag fresh cranberries, divided
1 cup sugar
zest from a large orange
2 tbsp water
1/2 pablano pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp honey
2 tbsp chopped cilantro

For the Enchiladas:
extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ancho chile powder
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups turkey broth
handful chopped cilantro leaves
2 (14.oz) cans green or red enchilada sauce
3 cups shredded turkey
3 rounded tbsp chopped green chiles
6 large flour or corn tortillas
1 to 2 cups Mexican cheese blend
salt and pepper, to state

light sour cream
chopped tomatoes
finely chopped romaine lettuce
shredded cheese blend

 
Make the salsa:
Empty bag of cranberries into saucepan and reserving 1 1/2 cups to a small bowl. Add sugar, zest, and water to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves and cranberries are soft, about 10 minutes. Increase the heat to medium and cook until the cranberries burst, about 12 minutes.

Reduce heat to low and stir in 1/2 cup reserved cranberries. Add sugar, then salt and pepper to taste.

Chop remaining 1 cup cranberries in a food processor and add to cranberry sauce. Stir in pablano pepper, lime juice, honey, and salt. Let cool to room temperature then stir in cilantro. Set aside.

Make the enchiladas:
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and ancho chile powder then cook for a further minute. Sprinkle on flour and stir to ensure flour doesn't burn.

Gradually add stock to make a sauce. Continue stirring over low simmer until flour cooks and liquid thickens. Add green chiles, chopped cilantro, and shredded turkey. Stir in 2 tbsp of enchilada sauce and continue to cook until slightly thickened. Remove from heat. Mixture should be thick, but not runny.

Take a large foil-lined baking pan and lightly coat with cooking spray. Cover the bottom of the pan with a light layer of enchilada sauce. Take a tortilla and briefly toast both sides on a griddle pan. Put a scoop (about 1/2 a cup) of the shredded turkey mix on top of the tortilla. Fold the tortilla over the filling and roll like a cigar to enclose it. Place the rolled tortilla in the baking dish and repeat for the remaining tortillas.

With the remaining enchilada sauce, pour in between and over tortillas then top with shredded cheese. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until bubbly and cheese has melted. Serve topped with lettuce, tomato, and sour cream with cranberry salsa on the side.

turkey part deux: wine-ing it up!

This year's Thanksgiving turned out waaaaaay less stressful than last year's over-achievement. I had written just a little blurb of what happened, but in reality, I was freaking out about how much to feed six people. Although that's really not something to panic about, I was really unsure of how much food to prepare since I had a skewed sense of portioning: during Thanksgiving, my parents make at LEAST seven dishes to feed their moderate family of SIX.

Turkey, bourbon ham, lumpia, rice, stuffing, meatballs . . . it was a labor of love that my mom and dad always looked forward to indulging during this time of year. What did that translate to? Feasting for days, of course! But when I applied that to last years cooking, I found people hardly ate at all. To my disappointment, my guests were too drunk to even enjoy (or appreciate) the veggie and cracker platter I put together for them to snack on.

On times like these, I miss my friends in San Diego. *sigh* I could always count on them to not only imbibe, but also to feast!

So this year, I decided that MY turkey day was going to focus on AFTER entertainment was over. I made food that me and the hubby were going to enjoy afterwards and didn't really care who was coming to dinner. . .

And wouldn't you know it . . . if the people from last year were too drunk to eat, these people were too full to eat! What the HECK!?! I never really understood why people eat before going to someone else's house to EAT. Isn't that the point of going to dinner? To EAT?! I was irked when the people we invited finally left . . . The point of making so much food was in order for them to enjoy it and they didn't even eat at all.

Ugh . . . Maybe it's a cultural thing.

My mother always taught me that if you went to someone's house, you had a plateful of food to satisfy hunger, but not gluttony. In other words, enjoy what was being served to you but not to the point where you were eating the whole banquet table. Even the parties that my aunties or uncles used to throw when I was younger had people enjoying food throughout the night until only a few dishes remained. People nibbled because food was prepared to be nibbled on. Isn't that what people are supposed to do if there's food set out for you to eat?

But enough of me whining. I'm just glad we didn't make anything else!

Speaking of whining, I decided to use wine for this year's turkey. I was tempted to use the apple-citrus brine from before, but I like the idea of having an ever-changing Thanksgiving turkey each year. So for this one, I decided to go with a white wine brine. I like that it's different from the orange and apple infused flavors that's popular around this time of year and instead uses plain ol' lemon for the citrus.

Another winning thing about the recipe was the fact that it didn't have a bajillion things to make the flavor profile. It was simple and sweet, and almost a no-brainer. :) I changed a few things based on what I had on hand and scaled down the recipe to fit my dinky nine pound turkey. Also, in order to speed up the process, I used ice instead of water courtesy of the automatic ice machine in my fridge (win!).

Oh, and did I mention that this was a pre-brined turkey? I made the mistake of brining one last year and it turned a tad bit salty (like ALMOST too salty). This year, I learned from my mistake and cut the salt called for in half. It still resulted in a slightly salty turkey, but then again, it might be due to the fact that it was sitting in brine for three to four days. It was still edible, but not like last year. As a precaution, I've halved the salt even further in the recipe below . . . just in case.

Despite that fact, this turkey turned out lovely. I paired it with a compound butter that mimicked the flavor profile to boost all the lovely flavors going on in the recipe. It was awesome. It was tasty. And there were so much leftovers for me to play with afterwords! Ha ha, suckers! Stupid guests . . . That's your loss!

---- o o o o ---- 

White Wine Turkey Brine (for pre-brined turkeys)
(adapted from Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen)

2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup kosher salt
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp whole black peppercorn
1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 bunch poultry bouquet (sage, rosemary, thyme)
2 cups white wine
1 large onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed but left in skins
1 large lemon, sliced
1 tbsp white vinegar
4 to 5 cups ice
8.5 to 9 lbs turkey, giblets and neck removed

 
Bring the stock, salt, bay leaves, peppercorns, mustard seeds, and poultry bouquet to boil. Stir until salt is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour in the wine, then add the onion, garlic, lemon, and vinegar. Stir in enough ice to cool mixture.

Place turkey in a large enough container to allow for bird to be fully submerged. Ladle some of the brine into container. Slowly lower in the turkey and continue to add brine until turkey is covered, making sure to stuff the cavity with a handful of herbs, onion, and lemon.

Close container and refrigerate for at least 24 hours up to 3 days. Remove turkey from the brine the night before cooking, pat dry, and place on a baking sheet in the refrigerator uncovered overnight. Bring turkey to room temperature before using a compound butter for roasting, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

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Herbed Compound Butter with Lemon and Garlic
(makes enough for a 10.lbs turkey)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large sprig sage
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig thyme
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp onion powder
zest of half a lemon
pinch of kosher salt
pinch of fresh ground pepper

 
Rough chop sage and mince together rosemary and thyme. Add to butter. Add garlic, onion powder, zest, salt, and pepper. Mix until well combined then refrigerate for at least overnight before use. Bring to room temperature before applying to turkey.

To use compound butter:
When compound butter is at room temperature, position turkey on roasting rack. Carefully separate the skin from the breasts of the turkey. Spread butter over breast meat under skin until a thin layer forms. Slather additional butter onto the remaining areas of the turkey, as well as the inside cavity. Discard any leftover butter.

Loosely place some celery, carrot, and onion in the cavity of the turkey. Roast at 475F degrees for the first 30 minutes then at 325F for the remainder of the cooking time (fyi: an almost 9.lbs turkey takes around 3 hours to cook at this temperature). If skin starts to brown too quickly, cover problem areas with foil to prevent burning.

Cook to 155F degrees then let rest for at least 30 minutes. Bird will continue to cook and should reach a safe internal temperature of 165F degrees.