Summer Supper #4

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I am experimenting with some of the apps we "spoke" about in my last post, and I'll let you know what I think of them in a few days. In the meantime...

...today's summer supper recipe was a really big hit with my entire family (except Peach who said it was spicy -- and it was), but I really loved it the most. I could have eaten it until it came out my ears. Luckily, it's low in fat so I practically did! This is not really a summer supper in that it's not made on the grill, nor needs seasonal ingredients, but it is very light and I just know my family would leave the table unsatisfied in the winter when you just feel like you need a stouter fare. Paired with some yummy Asian Broccoli, this meal was very satisfying on a summer night, and I can't wait to have it again.

The recipe came from Taste of Home Cooking and the only change I made was to use all white turkey instead of chicken. It was very tasty. If you have little ones who don't like it spicy, like Peach, you can cut back on the Sriracha, or prepare a small quantity in a separate pan without the Sriracha.

Spicy Asian Lettuce Wraps

serves 4 to 6

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2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons ginger root, peeled and grated
1 1/2 lbs. ground chicken (or turkey)
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Sriracha
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 small can water chestnuts, chopped
1/3 cup chopped peanuts
1-2 heads butter lettuce

Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan, add onion and saute about 2 minutes, then add garlic and ginger root and saute another minute. Add ground chicken (turkey) to frying pan and break apart, then add soy sauce and Sriracha. Cook until the chicken (turkey) is brown and crumbling apart about 5 minutes.

While chicken (turkey) cooks, wash and chop cilantro. Remove the core end from lettuce and separate leaves. Chop peanuts and put in small bowl to serve at the table. When turkey is done, add chopped water chestnuts and chopped cilantro and cook 1-2 minutes more.

To serve: place turkey mixture on lettuce leaf, sprinkle with peanuts, and fold the leaf closed to make it easy to grab and eat. 

Source: Taste of Home Cooking

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Turkey Cutlets with Avocado Salsa

This dish was really as good as it looks. Doesn't it look good -- all those gorgeous colors together? I told you I was only going to share the heart healthy dishes that I would eat even if I was not watching my fats and cholesterol. This dish would be a keeper even if I could eat anything I wanted. The turkey breast is really just the canvas for the bright, yummy flavors of the salsa. It's tender, cooked quickly in a pan, and kids like it because it has no strong flavors. All my kids liked this which was kind of surprising to me. My high school boy ate three servings because there was plenty.

The recipe called for using turkey cutlets, but they are sort of impractical with a largish family. Instead I bought a package of two turkey tenderloins (the white breast meat, no bones) and sliced it crosswise into smallish cutlets. There was plenty and it was much less expensive than buying several packages of cutlets. I made the salsa as directed, except I used a whole avocado instead of a half. Since I was splitting it among five, I felt justified. Besides, Peach eats enough avocado for two people.

The recipe came from Women Heart's All Heart Family Cookbook. The nutritional information given with the recipe is no longer accurate with the use of the tenderloins and the extra half an avocado, but I will tell you that it had 5 g monounsaturated fat and 1 g. polyunsaturated fat, with a total of 8 g all together -- good numbers for a meat dish. The avocado, tomatoes, scallions and olive oil are all really good for you, too.

Turkey Cutlets and Avocado Salsa
serves 5-6

1 c. grape tomatoes, quartered
1 avocado, halved, pitted, and chopped
4 scallions, chopped
2 T. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
juice of half a lime
½ t. ground cumin
2 turkey tenderloins (about 1.5 pounds), cut crosswise
salt and black pepper

In a small bowl, combine the tomatoes, avocado, scallions, 1 T. olive oil, lime juice, and cumin. Salt to taste. Set aside.

The easiest way to chop an avocado: cut avocado in half; pull out the pit. With a knife, make a grid in the avocado by cutting into the flesh perpendicular to the skin, cutting all the way to the skin, but not through.

Then take a spoon and scoop out the flesh, running the spoon between the skin and the flesh.

Season the turkey pieces with the salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet with 1 T. oil and spread oil with a paper towel to coat the pan. Add half of the cutlets and cook, turning once, for 3 minutes, or until browned and no longer pink.


Remove to a plate and repeat with remaining cutlets. Top with the reserved avocado mixture.

Served with Peppered Couscous and Cumin Roasted Cauliflower.

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Original recipe can be seen here. Source: Women Heart's All Heart Family Cookbook

Creole Shrimp and Sausage Stew

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One of my favorite lines in Julie & Julia was when Julie says she read somewhere that it's a show of poor manners to say "Yum" while you're eating. And then she bites into a pork chop and says, "Yum." I laughed because I do that all the time -- such a boor I am.

I'm afraid we had a show of really poor manners the night I made this stew dish, because there were many "yums" all around the table. It was a five thumbs-up meal -- absolutely no complaints. This is a mildly spicy dish, (but not too spicy for any of us, including the kids) with the spice coming mostly from the canned tomatoes and chilies, and the Tony Chachere's I added. I found the recipe at myrecipes.com, and followed it pretty closely, but with a few changes. I am posting it as I made it. I served mine over white rice, but brown would be nice if your gang will eat it.

Creole Shrimp and Sausage Stew
serves 6 to 8

2 T. olive oil
1 c. chopped bell pepper (I used half red/half green)
2 c. sliced turkey smoked sausage (I used Butterball and I used the entire package -- just a little over 2 cups)
2 large cloves garlic, crushed or minced
small can chicken broth
1 t. Tony Chachere's
1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chilies, undrained (I used Rotel)
1 lb. peeled and deveined medium shrimp
1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained


Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan. Add bell pepper, sausage, and garlic to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until bell pepper is tender, stirring occasionally. Add broth, spices, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Stir in shrimp and beans; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 6 minutes or until shrimp are done. Serve over rice.

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Source: Adapted from myrecipes.com

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Turkey Marsala

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"Anything" Marsala is one of Doug's favorite dishes. On the rare occasion that we find ourselves in an Italian restaurant, that's usually what he orders. But, since we rarely find ourselves in an Italian restaurant, I make this dish at home. It's a very quick fix, and since I use turkey breast tenderloins, it's fairly low in fat (but high in flavor). The turkey breast tenderloin is a little pricey, but there is no waste and the pasta is inexpensive, so overall it's not an expensive dinner. I served 6 of us, with two pieces leftover, with $9 worth of turkey breast. All-in-all the dinner was around $2.10 per person (not counting the bottle of Marsala that I already had). You could make this dish with chicken breasts or pork loin, as well, so use what's on sale.

Sorry -- not a great shot, the wolves were circling.

Turkey Marsala

1½ lbs. turkey breast tenderloin, sliced in 1/2-inch slices
1/2 c. flour
1 t. salt
ground pepper to taste
3 T. olive oil
3 T. butter
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 cup chicken broth
½ cup marsala, sherry or Madeira wine
1 T. lemon juice


Mix flour and salt and pepper on a plate.
Pound turkey to about 1/4-inches and coat both sides with flour; shake off excess.
Set aside. Heat oven to 225 degrees F.
Heat olive oil in skillet over med. high heat.
Cook turkey in batches, turning once, until golden brown
and cooked through, about 3 minutes.
Remove from pan.
Place on an oven-proof platter in warm oven.
Add butter to pan and saute mushrooms, until softened, about 5 minutes.
Stir in broth and wine.
Turn heat to high and cook until liquid is reduced by half, about 12 minutes.
Stir in lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
Return turkey to pan and warm through. Serve with pasta.

Serves 6

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About Turkey

I failed to mention a few things in my post about turkey. Some people buy a fresh turkey, some people buy a fresh, free-range, organic turkey, some people buy a frozen turkey. I buy frozen. I've tried others and, for my family, it's not worth the price of the others. We are more of a side dish family and, while we enjoy the turkey, it's not a big deal. That said, I'll tell you that I even buy the cheapest frozen turkey I can find (you free-range, organic people probably just clicked away forever!). For the past four or five years, I have purchased the Giant Eagle brand frozen turkey. I make friends with the butchers in my grocery stores and it pays. The butcher at GE has told me that Honeysuckle White packages their turkeys. Same turkey, different wrapper. I've never been disappointed. It's moist and tasty. I guess my point is, don't make a decision based on label.

Another thing. We have several drumstick lovers, mostly the kids. They used to fight over the two drumsticks, and it was usually a waste because the drumsticks on large turkeys are so huge. We would draw straws over who got them and then the winners would take three bites and be done. And then, of course, no one else wants to eat it. Now, I buy a package of turkey drumsticks and roast them for the last hour or so that the turkey's in. So, now we have five or six drumsticks at every Thanksgiving dinner.

Roast Turkey

When I posted my menu yesterday, I said that all my recipes were tried and true. Well, I guess that's not exactly true this year, but I am posting how I normally roast a turkey, so I can honestly say I didn't lie. This year I've decided to try this recipe. And while it's not really very different from what I normally do, I've never done cheesecloth before. Since I have a smaller crowd this year, I decided to give it a go. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Normally, here is how I roast a turkey, and while this looks long and complicated, it's not. It's easy breezy. I've done this for at least eight Thanksgivings in a row, plus Christmases, and I can honestly tell you that the hardest part is figuring out then the sucker's done.

photo borrowed from notebookmagazine.com
I wish I could say that mine is this perfect.

Roast Turkey and Giblet Gravy

Wash the turkey with plain water (if it was frozen, give it at least a week to thaw -- that means it should be in your fridge today). Pat dry with paper towels.

Remove the parts bag from inside the cavity. Reserve for later.

Place him on a rack in a large roasting pan. Stuff his clean cavity with a large quartered onion, several 3-inch long pieces of celery and a half dozen peeled garlic cloves**. If his legs are not tied together, tie them with some cooking twine. You could get fancy and really truss him up, but I find tying his legs together is fine. If you want to eat your wings, truss him up (otherwise the wings get too done. No one eats ours, so I don't care).

Rub his skin (breast and legs) with softened butter (about 6 tablespoons for a 15 lb. turkey). Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Pour 1 to 2 cups vegetable broth in the bottom of the roaster. Roast at 400 degrees F. for 45 minutes. Turn oven down to 325 degrees F. and roast until done (here's a good timetable), basting every 30 minutes to one hour with the broth in the stovetop cooking liquid (I'll get to that in a minute). If the turkey starts to brown on the outer edges, tent a piece of foil over the top.

I have never been able to cook a turkey in the amount of time recommended. It always takes longer. Maybe because I baste every 30 minutes. If you baste, you need to allow more time (because the oven temp drops each time you open the door). I usually allow at least an hour longer than recommended.

For the stovetop cooking liquid (ultimately for gravy), take the extra parts (including the neck) and put them in a pan of water (about 5 or 6 cups). Salt and pepper and bring to a boil; cover and simmer on low while the turkey cooks, adding more water or chicken, turkey or vegetable broth as needed. Use this liquid to baste the turkey.

For gravy:
Now, my mom always makes the Thanksgiving gravy (even though I can make a perfectly good gravy). And, the recipe for gravy really depends on how much broth you have at the end. But, I'll give you a rough recipe -- to be adjusted for your own broth.

Strain stovetop cooking liquid, reserving the "parts." After you remove the turkey from the roaster, strain the liquid from the bottom into the stovetop cooking liquid, removing the greasy liquid on top. Heat to a simmer. Dissolve several tablespoons (this depends on how much liquid you have from your turkey -- start with 3 or 4 tablespoons) flour into about 1 c. cold water -- stir until smooth. Stir flour mixture into hot cooking liquid and stir with a whisk. Bring to a simmer and if gravy is not thick enough, repeat with more flour and cold water, a little at a time, until desired thickness is achieved. Be sure to bring it to a boil each time you add flour water, as thickening will not occur until gravy boils. Taste and season with salt and pepper and onion powder if needed. The key to no lumps is adding cold liquid to hot liquid -- never the same temp.

If you want giblet gravy -- cut the cooked parts up into tiny (I mean tiny) pieces, including the neck meat, and add it to the finished gravy. If this grosses you out, no giblets.



**I do not stuff the turkey. I would never be able to eat it if I did, because I would never be confident that it was completely cooked. Since I can barely get the turkey cooked completely, imagine if it were stuffed. I know some people cook their turkey all day just to get the stuffing done, but that seems as though it would result in dry turkey. I'd rather just cook the stuffing in a casserole.