Turkey Meatballs Stewed with Vegetables

I'm on a bit of a roll with "things that get simmered in some kind of sauce or sauce-adjacent mixture" at the moment. Eggs, fish, chops, meatballs... simple and straightforward, and usually just needs a judicious quantity of carbs to round out the meal. I see some take on spaetzle or noodles with these, but potatoes or rice would be just fine, or even some good crusty bread. Actually, how about Rye & Spelt Naan? That would be lovely!

 

4 servings

Make the Meatballs:

1 medium leek

1 medium carrot

2 cloves of garlic

500 grams (1 pound) ground turkey

1 large egg

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon rubbed savory or thyme

2 tablespoons barley or wheat flour

 

Wash, trim, and shred the leeks fairly finely. Peel and grate the carrots - you might as well do the ones that don't go into the meatballs at the same time, but keep them separated. Peel and mince the garlic. Put these in a mixing bowl with the remaining ingredients and mix well by hand. Form into 32 equal balls, putting them on a plate as you work. 

 

Prepare the Vegetables & Stew:

1 medium leek

1 medium carrot

4 cups chopped green or Savoy cabbage 

3 tablespoon mild vegetable oil

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons barley or wheat flour

2 cups unsalted chicken broth

salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

 

If you have not already, wash, trim, and shred the leek, and peel and grate the carrot. Wash, trim, and finely chop the cabbage. 

 

Heat half of the oil in a large skillet and cook the meatballs until browned on all sides. Remove them back to the plate (but WASH it while they are browning, duh). 

Heat the remaining oil, and add the vegetables. Cook over medium heat until softened and reduced in volume. Add the seasonings once they are going well, then mix in the flour. Once the flour is well mixed in with no remaining specks of white, slowly stir in the broth. Return the meatballs to the pan, nestled down into the vegetables, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through - it's a good idea to turn them halfway through. Serve at once.

Last year at this time I made Rye & Spelt Naan, which calls for Bread Spice.

Turkey & Wild Rice Porcupines

This is not so different from the traditional way of making "Porcupines", with ground beef and long-grained rice. You could revert to that, if you like, but in that case don't soak the rice. We really like the combination of turkey and wild rice, though; and it makes them a little lighter and healthier too. (At least, I for one should not be eating much white rice.)  

These are slow to make only for the baking time, and the time needed to soak the wild rice. The vegetables should be chopped finely, but the meatballs are otherwise very simple to assemble. After that they need little attention, just a long, slow cook that will smell delicious and keep your kitchen warm.

 

4 servings (16 to 24 meatballs)

2 hours - 40 minutes prep time

1/2 cup wild rice

1 small onion OR 2 medium shallots

1 or 2 cloves of garlic

1 medium carrot

3/4 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 

500 grams (1 pound) ground turkey

1 large egg

1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil

3 cups thin tomato sauce

Put a pot of water on to boil. Add the rice and boil for about 5 minutes, then turn off the stove, cover, and let soak for at least 20 minutes; 30 is better. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Meanwhile, peel and mince the onion or shallots. Peel and mince the garlic. Peel and grate the carrot. Put them all in a mixing bowl. Add the salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Add the ground turkey and egg. Drain the wild rice well, and add it. Mix everything well by hand. 

Oil a shallow baking pan which will hold the meatballs in a single layer with a small amount of space around them. Form the mixture into meatballs and place them in the prepared pan. If you tomato sauce is thick, thin it with a little water to make 3 cups total, and pour it evenly over the meatballs. Cover the pan, with its own lid if it has one, or with aluminum foil.

 

Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and turn the meatballs over. Return them to the oven and bake them for a further 30 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. 

Last year at this time I made Sweet Potato Pie.

Almost Whole Stuffed Cabbage

This sort of stuffed cabbage dish is typical of southern France, and I've seen it made with a variety of meats or with salmon. It is neither cabbage rolls, nor a whole stuffed cabbage, but something in between. 

 

As many leaves as reasonably can be removed from a cabbage are blanched and re-assembled with a meat filling to form what appears to be a whole cabbage. It is actually a very simple dish to make; the only challenges involve selecting a cooperative cabbage and finding a good vessel to cook it in. I've seen it kept in a fairly convincing cabbage shape, often helped with some kitchen twine to hold it together, or pressed into a cake in a round casserole. Savoy is plainly the cabbage of choice here; their leaves are thinner, more flexible, and more tender than other cabbages. 

You should certainly feel free to use whatever meatloaf type filling you like here, and to season it to your taste, although I can report that this one worked well and was enjoyed very much.

 

6 to 8 servings

1 hour 30 minutes - 30 minutes prep time

PLUS allow 10 minutes to rest

 

 

8 to 12 leaves from 1 large Savoy cabbage

1 medium onion

2 medium carrots

3 or 4 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil 

900 grams (2 pounds) ground beef OR mix of beef and other meat

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon rubbed thyme OR savory

1 teaspoon rubbed basil

1 teaspoon rubbed oregano

1/2 teaspoon Aleppo or similar hot pepper flakes

freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 large eggs

1 cup fine (quick cook) oatmeal

1 cup beef broth OR water

tomato sauce to serve (optional)

 

Put a large pot of water on to boil. Carefully remove 8 to 12 leaves from the cabbage, whole and undamaged. Trim the stems and shave them to be the same thickness as the rest of the leaf. When the water boils, add the cabbage leaves to it in 2 or 3 batches, and boil them for 5 minutes. Transfer them to a basin of cold water to cool as soon as they are done. Drain them well. 

 

This can be done up to a day in advance; wrap and keep cool until needed in that case. 

 

Peel and chop the onion. Peel and grate the carrots. Peel and mince the garlic. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the onions and carrots until softened, stirring frequently (just a few minutes). Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so, then transfer the vegetables to a mixing bowl to cool. 

 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

 

Add the meat and seasoning to the cooled vegetables. Break in the eggs and add the oatmeal. Mix by hand until completely blended. 

 

In a fairly deep round or oval baking pan (about 2 quarts/litres) which has been lightly oiled, place the largest 2 leaves so that they slightly overlap at the bottom but otherwise look like they are growing out of the centre of your pan. Place a patty of about 1/8th of the meat mixture over them. Place another 2 or 4 leaves over it in the same way, and top with more of the meat filling. Continue until all the leaves and meat filling are placed. Fold the leaves over the filling to create the appearance of a whole cabbage. Because my baking dish was oval and not round, I ran some string under the cabbage leaves before I started and used it to tie everything into shape. 

Pour the broth over the stuffed cabbage and bake it at 350°F for 1 hour. Let rest 10 minutes before serving. If you like, serve it with hot tomato sauce poured over it. 

Last year at this time I made Perfect Fluffy Scrambled Eggs.

Farserede Porrer - Danish "Stuffed" Leeks

This "traditional" Danish dish only dates back to the 1960s (as someone born at the beginning of that decade I refuse to consider that to be very long) but it has since become well-established. The simplest versions simply wrap the leeks in prepared sausage and bacon, but most call for home-seasoned ground pork and bread them in crumbs. I've put a little bacon on as a garnish, but it is not really required. (Although how can it even be Danish, if there isn't any bacon?) 

 

A thing I found amusing while researching this dish was the translation of the name. It gave Google Translate a fair bit of indigestion, because "farserede" means stuffed, but it has a literal meaning of "feathered". It took me a while to make the connection. Moreover, these are not leeks that are being stuffed with something, but leeks that are being stuffed into something, which is both linguistically and culinarily a bit peculiar. Results, however, are not peculiar but very tasty. This is a simple recipe that does not require many ingredients, but still manages to look quite sophisticated - always nice. 

Note what I say about cooking those leeks, and I find that even well-cooked whole leeks require steak knives.

 

4 servings

15 minutes initial preparation

45 minutes - 15 minutes prep time

 

Prepare the Leeks & Stuffing:

2 large or 4 small leeks 

500 grams (1 pound) lean ground pork (could use turkey)

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

a good scrape or 2 of nutmeg

2 tablespoons barley or other flour

1/3 cup milk

 

Put a pot of salted water on to boil, in which you will cook the prepared leeks. 

 

Trim and wash the leeks, and cut them into 4 logs of about 4" long, discarding the dark green top leaves, roots, and removing any outer leaves that seem tough or damaged. Boil them for 6 to 10 minutes, until tender when pierced with a fork. They will not get cooked much more than this, so they should be done to your liking. 

Meanwhile, put the pork into a mixing bowl with the remaining ingredients and mix, by hand, very well. The mixture should be quite smooth. Cover and keep refrigerated until needed. 

Drain the leeks thoroughly when done, let cool, cover, and keep refrigerated until needed. Both of these tasks can be done up to 24 hours in advance. 

Stuff & Bake the Leeks:

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used hemp meal)

4 slices bacon

parsley to garnish

 

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Very lightly oil a shallow baking pan which will hold the stuffed leeks (1.5 to 2 quarts).

 

Put a piece of parchment paper large enough to roll the leeks in on a clean, dry countertop. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of crumbs into a square about an inch wider than the leek pieces, and about 4" or 5" long. Take 1/4 of the sausage mixture and pat it into a rectangle about 2" longer than the leek pieces, and wide enough to encircle them; over the crumbs in other words. Place one leek piece on the sausage, and use the parchment paper to roll it up in a neat cylinder. Seal the meat around the ends of the leek; it should now be entirely encased in crumb-covered sausage. Roll it in a few more crumbs if there are bald spots. Place it in the oiled pan, and repeat with the remaining sausage mixture and leek pieces. 

 

Place one strip of bacon lengthwise over each leek. Bake the stuffed leeks for 30 minutes, until lightly browned and sizzling. Let rest 5 minutes before serving, garnished with parsley. 

Last year at this time I made Leek & Oyster Mushroom Lasagne.

Duck Pasties

If you thought cabbage rolls stretched a little bit of duck pretty far, how about these pasties? Again, if you are shy on the amount of duck meat needed, you can fry up a few slices of bacon with the onion. However, you should also be sure not to make too much filling - don't go over the quantities listed - as this amount will make 6 very stuffed pasties. Each one is a meal with just a bit of salad to keep it company. We ate some of the leftovers cold and re-heated some in a hot oven; they were delicious both ways. Just don't microwave them, as the pastry will go soggy, as it always does.

This is a real left-over busting meal. Or to put it another way, you need to cook your potatoes and rutabaga in advance. It's all in the perspective, I suppose. If you have a little good thick gravy left over a spoonful will help keep them moist, but it's not traditional to add it, as far as I know, and if you have any holes in the finished pasties, it will leak out. 

I actually used the buttermilk instead of cream to thin my egg yolk, since it was already out. It seemed to work just fine. We thought these were delightful, and I will likely make them again with leftover turkey, because I can see that working really well too. Or the traditional roast or braised beef, for that matter.

In the end, that one 6 pound duck fed the 3 of us as a roast dinner, followed by 2 meals of cabbage rolls for 2 of us, the 3 of for lunch, and it looks like Mr. Ferdzy and I will have one more round of pasties. I did throw in about a quarter pound of bacon to make it stretch, but still, FIVE* meals (12 servings), plus there is still a fair bit of duck stock in the fridge. I'd say we squeezed our money's worth out of that bird.

6 pasties

1 hour 15 minutes - 40 minutes prep time 

NOT including time to cool

 

 

 

Make the Pastry:

2 1/4 cups whole spelt flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cold unsalted butter

1/4 cup mild vegetable oil

1/4 cup buttermilk

the white of 1 large egg

 

Measure the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and mix. Grate in the butter, turning it to coat it in the flour. Add the oil, buttermilk, and egg white, and mix everything well, cutting it together with a pastry cutter or the side of a spoon. Once it is well blended but still with lumps of butter, pull it together to form a ball (by hand). Let rest for 20 minutes while you make the filling. 

Make the Filling & Finish:

1 small onion

1 teaspoon duck fat or other oil

1 1/2 cups diced cooked duck meat

3/4 cup diced cooked potato

3/4 cup diced cooked rutabaga

salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

extra whole spelt flour for rolling

up to 6 tablespoons leftover duck gravy OPTIONAL

1 large egg yolk

2 tablespoons light cream

Peel and dice the onion, and cook it in the fat or oil over medium heat until softened and translucent. Put it into a mixing bowl with the diced cooked duck, potato, and rutabaga. Season carefully with salt and generously with pepper. 

Preheat the oven to 400°F. 

Divide the dough evenly into 6 pieces. Dust a sheet of parchment paper with a little flour, and roll the first piece of dough out into a circle. Be sure that it is large enough to hold the filling. Put 1/6th of the filling on it, along with up to a tablespoon of leftover gravy, if you have it, and fold it over to close. Press sealed along the edges, then roll the edge up and press again to be sure to have a good seal. Lift the pasty onto a baking tray lined with another piece of parchment paper, leaving space for the rest.

Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough and filling. 

Bake the pasties for 15 minutes. Whisk the egg yolk and cream together. Brush the pasties with this mixture, then return them to the oven for a further 15 minutes of baking. Serve warm or at room temperature. If kept in the refrigerator, bring them out 20 minutes before serving to take the chill off them. They will also reheat well in the oven. 

*The mathematically astute will conclude, correctly, that Mr. Ferdzy and I were piggies with the pasties.

Last year at this time I made the tasty but perplexing Turkish Lentil & Potato Salad.

Brined Roast Turkey or Chicken

I have tried various brining recipes for turkey over the years, and I haven't liked any of them. I haven't liked the seasonings added, and I really didn't like the sugar or fruit juices that seems to be in most of them, even before I was supposed to abjure sugar. It turns out you don't need any of that stuff, though. All you need is salt and water.

In my opinion brining should also be done with a fairly light hand, by which I mean: not for too long. I'm saying up to 16 hours, but really, I don't recommend soaking your turkey for much longer than 12 hours, and 6 or 8 will be enough. It is far too easy to end up with a very salty turkey through over-brining.

I also don't think brining is necessarily a great technique for industrially farmed birds, which are already a little limp and soggy. You should especially never brine a turkey which has been "basted" with "butter" or indicates on the packaging that it has been in a salt solution (aka brine) already. For natural, free-range turkeys, though, the extra moistness and tenderness it provides is excellent.

I recently did a chicken this way, too. I did not brine it as long as the turkey, it being a smaller bird (somewhere between 6 and 7 pounds) but it came from a local farm (same one as the turkey in the photo) and I was a bit concerned that it had gotten an awful lot of fresh air and exercise. Brining it made it tender and delicious. Half the recipe of brine was enough for that mid-sized chicken.

Check your pan juices before you use them to make gravy. Hopefully, if you have avoided over-brining your bird they will be plenty salty but fine to use, especially if you cut them a little with unsalted stock. It's a good idea to have a back-up plan, though.


10 to 16 pounds
5 to 16 hours to brine
15 minutes per pound to roast

Brine the Turkey:
1 cup pickling or kosher salt
8 litres water
a 10 to 16 pound turkey 

Put the pickling salt into the water and heat it gently until dissolved. Stir regularly. It should not be hot when you use it to brine the turkey.

This should cover a 10 to 16 pound turkey, in a snug fitting vessel that will get the brine over it completely, which is what you must do. Once the turkey is covered, put it in the refrigerator. That's probably the hardest part of this recipe, and you should be sure to clear some space and make sure your container will fit, in advance. One suggestion I've heard that sounds useful is to put the brine and turkey in a roaster bag, seal it well, then keep it in a picnic cooler with ice.

Of course you can make more or less brine to cover a smaller or larger turkey (or chicken); just use the same proportions of salt and water. Remember that if you are starting with a frozen bird it must be completely thawed first, and that will take at least 2 days for a smaller turkey and 3 days for a larger one. Chickens will generally be thawed in 2 days.

Cook the Turkey:
When you are ready to proceed, remove the turkey from the brine and drain it very well. Pat the skin as dry as you can get it with paper towel, and then let it sit out in the air to further dry for about half an hour to an hour before it goes into the oven - wet, soggy skin will not get crisp and brown.

I have not stuffed a brined turkey, and now that that kind of unrestrained carb-fest is no longer on the diet, I guess I won't. You can though; just don't add any salt to it, and as ever, have your dressing ingredients chopped and prepared the night before but don't cook and assemble them until just before they are to go into the turkey, and they are not to go into the turkey until just before it goes into the oven. 

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Roast the turkey for 15 minutes per pound; allow 20 minutes if the bird has been stuffed OR if it is under 10 pounds. Cover loosely with foil (or the roaster lid, if possible) and let the turkey rest for 10 to 15 minutes before carving it.




Last year at this time I made Broccoli & Mushroom Pasties.

Ham & Cheese Stuffed Zucchini Roulades en Casserole

I've been seeing so many lovely pictures on Pinterest of casseroles made with decoratively rolled zucchini slices. So pretty! Ooo! And ahh! Naturally, I succumbed. Here's my report.

This is a fancy dish for company and not something you will want to whip up for an every day supper; there is no question about that. I read a lot of recipes for this kind of elaborately presented zucchini casserole, and very few of them attempted to even hint at the challenges that making this presents. Indeed, I saw the word "easy" a lot.

It isn't actually that it's terribly hard, or beyond the scope of beginning cooks; it's that there are definite things that you need to know that tend to go unsaid. First of all, forget making this if you haven't got a mandoline or other similar slicing machine. You really cannot slice the zucchini evenly and thinly enough without one.

Okay, fine; you are able to slice the zucchini. Next up, nobody mentions that in order to acquire the necessary number of nice, evenly sized pieces of zucchini, you will need to discard a lot of sides and ends. I suggest saving these pieces and frying them up for a Zucchini Vinaigrette to be eaten tomorrow; but you will need to start with close to 33% more zucchini than will actually go into the casserole.

Nobody mentions that as you roll up the zucchini with the fillings and put them in the casserole, they will speedily unroll themselves into a mess while you roll up the next piece. You will need to hold them in place... while rolling up the next piece. Three hands would be, well, handy. Good luck with that. I do have a solution, which is to have them all set up and ready to roll at once, but it requires a certain amount of counter space. In fact, I did them in two batches and jammed the first half into place with an empty cheese packet while I worked on the second round of rounds.

And finally, I have to conclude that while this was very pleasant and we enjoyed it, I'm not sure it's sufficiently amazing to justify the time and labour involved - mind you, Mom absolutely raved about how good it was. Possibly it helps not to know just how much work. Good quality ham and cheese will be important for its success. It would work very well as a party piece though, as all that work happens at the front end; after that it's just baking it and serving it. I imagine it could be assembled somewhat in advance and baked as needed.

And finally, be cautious with that mandoline. I managed to use it safely, and wash it safely, and put it away sa - no; there went 1/8th of my thumbnail and certain amount of skin. Oops! Be careful out there!

4 to 6 servings
2 hours - 1 hour prep time

Prepare the Zucchini & Make the Sauce:
1 kg (4 medium-large; 2 pounds) zucchini
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons barley OR other flour
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon rubbed savory OR thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 1/4 cups whole milk OR light cream
2 large eggs

Use a mandolin or meat slicer to slice the zucchini lengthwise into thin slices. Sprinkle salt on one side of each of them and let them drain for half an hour in a strainer, then pour boiling water over them, being sure they are all equally drenched, and drain very well. Pat them dry with paper towel. You should have somewhere around 28 to 32 slices.

Meanwhile, make the sauce: put the butter, flour, mustard, and seasoning into a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir well, until you have a thick paste that wants to form a single mass. Whisk in the milk, a little at a time, to form a smooth sauce. When it has thickened, remove it from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes. When it is cool enough not to cook the eggs as they are added, whisk them together then whisk them into the sauce.

Finish the Roulades & Bake:
300 grams (10 ounces) firm but melty cheese slices
250 grams (1/2 pound) sliced deli ham OR turkey
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup minced herbs
      - a selection from parsley, thyme, savory, basil, etc.

Use a shallow 1 1/2 quart/litre baking pan. Oil it well. Cut the cheese and ham slices into strips of about the same width as the zucchini slices.

Lay out the salted, blanched, and dried zucchini slices and sprinkle them with fresh herbs, which have been washed, trimmed, dried and minced. You could throw a little garlic in there if it seems appropriate. Top each slice of zucchini with a slice of ham or turkey and a slice of cheese, each of which should run about 2/3 to 3/4 the length of the zucchini slice; center them.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Roll up the prepared slices - I found it best to keep the cheese about 1" from the narrowest end of the zucchini slice, which was then folded over the cheese, and rolled from there. Place them in the prepared baking pan. You will need to crowd them together, and hold them in place as you add more in order to keep the earlier ones from unrolling. Once they are all in, there should be a sufficient number of rolls to fill the pan and hold each other up.

Ladle the sauce evenly over the prepared rolls. Bake the casserole for  
1 hour at 350°F. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Turkey-Quinoa Meatloaf

Meatloaf! Every so often the urge strikes. This was a very pleasant take on the theme, and in spite of the quantity of leftover Quinoa Pilaf that went into it, it did not seem to be full of fillers.  Being turkey, this is a milder meatloaf than many, and poultry seasoning seemed appropriate.

When I cook Quinoa Pilaf it makes enough for 2 meals for us. Sometimes I just reheat it, often I make it into a salad, but this was a good use for the second half too, and makes it less obvious that you are eating leftover quinoa.Lately I've been making the Quinoa Pilaf without the rutabaga called for in the recipe (just omit it) so you should too, for this.

4 to 6 servings
1 hour 45 minutes - 20 minutes prep time-
 - including rest time but not including tome to cook the pilaf

Prepare the Vegetables:
1 medium onion
1 medium carrot
3 - 4 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
2 teaspoons sweet Hungarian paprika
3/4 teaspoon salt

Peel and finely chop the onion. Peel and grate the carrot. Peel and mince the garlic.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrot, and cook, stirring regularly, until softened and reduced in volume a little. Mix in the garlic and seasonings and cook for another minute or two, then remove from the heat and let cool while you continue.

Finish the Meatloaf:
500 grams (1 pound, 2 ounces) ground turkey
1/2 recipe Quinoa Pilaf, rutabaga omitted, see notes above
1 large egg
1/4 cups tomato ketchup OR tomato sauce, optional

Lightly oil a large loaf pan and preheat the oven to 350°F.

Put the turkey, pilaf, and egg in a mixing bowl and mix; add the vegetables when they are cool enough to handle (and cool enough not to set the egg) and work them in thoroughly. Turn the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and smooth it out.

Bake for half an hour and then spread the ketchup or tomato sauce over the meatloaf, if you would like it. and return it to the oven.

Bake for 1 hour and 10 to 15 minutes in total, so another 40 to 45 minutes. Let rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

 



Last year at this time I made Mushroom & Wild Leek Soup. Kinda, sorta. 

Clay Pot Chicken - in the Romertopf

Clay Pot Chicken is a favourite dish of southern China, into Singapore and Malaysia. It is indeed traditionally cooked in a clay pot - just not one like this. Chinese clay pots were designed to cook over a charcoal fire, and the dish would subsequently pick up a bit of a smoky flavour. That's somewhat of a thing of the past though, since charcoal fires have gotten pretty rare. And in the mean time, I have this other clay pot... and it turns out that it works very well.

Of course we can't get lap cheong sausages anywhere within 2 hours of driving. However, it's amazing how well pepperettes do as a stand-in. Or maybe I'm just deluding myself? Do use the real thing if you can get it. 

4 servings
1 hour 30 minutes - 30 minutes prep time
PLUS 8 hours marinating time

Marinate the Chicken:
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon (2 or 3 cloves) finely grated garlic
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
4 medium (600 grams; 1.5 pounds) bone-in chicken thighs

Peel and grate the ginger and garlic. Mix it in a container sufficient to hold the chicken thighs with the soy sauce and rice vinegar.

De-bone the chicken thighs but leave the skin on. Cut each into 2 or 3 pieces. Mix them well into teh marinade, cover and refrigerate for 4 to 12 hours.

Start the Rice:
1 1/2 cups short-grain white rice
2 1/4 cups unsalted chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon salt

Soak the base and lid of the Romertopf in water for 20 to 30 minutes

Drain the Romertopf. Put the rice, salt, and chicken stock in the Romertopf, spreading the rice out evenly. Put it in the oven and turn the oven on to 375°F. Set the time for 30 minutes.

Finish the Dish:
6 to 8 medium shallots
125 grams (1/4 pound) fresh shiitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
2 lap cheong sausages OR 4 small turkey pepperettes
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 or 2 green onions

Peel and sliver the shallots. Remove and discard (you know what I mean) the stems from the shiitakes. Cut them in slices.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a medium skillet over high heat. Add the shallots and shiitakes and cook for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened and slightly browned in spots. Transfer them to a dish.

Heat the remaining oil in the skillet and add the chicken pieces, skin side down. Let as much marinade drain off them as possible as they get placed in the pan. Save the marinade, it's going in shortly but let the chicken brown for 3 or 4 minutes per side first. Add the sausages, give them a minute to be stirred down into the pan, then scrape in all the marinade. As soon as it boils up remove the pan from the stove.

Take the Romertopf out of the oven and remove the lid, with good thick mitts and being careful to place it on a dry and heat-proof surface. Gently mix in the vegetables, the chicken, and its sauce. Spread it all out evenly again, and cover with the lid. Return it to the oven for a further 20 to 30 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

To serve, drizzle the sesame oil and oyster sauce over the rice. Have the onions washed, trimmed, and finely chopped. Sprinkle them over the top as well. (A little cilantro is also commonly used, and can be added when it is in season.)




Last year at this time I made Taiwanese Noodles.

Turkey & Mushroom Stuffed Leeks

Our leek crop this year is looking very nice, in spite of the fact that leek moths showed up for the first time in the late summer. One day they were looking magnificent, and the next they started to look chewed, wilted, and tatty. Mr. Ferdzy dumped impressive quantities of diatomaceous earth over them a couple of times and they perked right up. It was impressive.

You want the biggest, fattest leeks you can get for this, and it would not hurt to have some extras and save the trimmings for some other use. Two will be sufficient, but it will be harder to get the perfect part of the leeks.

The trouble is that the closer to the outside of the leek, the tougher and stringier the leaves will be. But once you get too far in, the leaves become too small to roll. And even with careful selection of the leaves, it will be best to provide a pretty sharp knife when you serve them. This may explain why stuffed leeks are not a very common thing. They were really tasty though, and the filling was delicious. Ground turkey can be a bit dry but all the vegetables mixed into it kept it moist and gave it lots of flavour. 

4 to 8 servings
1 hour 45 minutes - 45 minutes prep time

Prepare the Vegetables:
2 to 4 large, fat leeks
6 cloves of garlic
1 large carrot, grated
125 grams (1/4 pound) button mushrooms
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil

Put a large pot of water on to boil Wash the leeks, trim off the root ends, and from the point where the leaves begin to branch off and turn dark green. Cut them into 4" or 5" pieces.  Boil them for 10 minutes, then carefully remove them to a strainer and rinse in cold water until cool. Drain well.

Meanwhile, peel and mince the garlic. Peel and grate the carrot. Clean and chop the mushrooms fairly finely.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet and cook the carrot and mushrooms over medium heat, stirring regularly, until softened and reduced in volume. Add the garlic and mix it in well. Cook for a minute longer then transfer the vegetables to a large mixing bowl and let cool.

Cut each leek lengthwise, with a very sharp knife, about 1/3 of the way through. Peel off the outer layers that are big enough to roll up. Once you get to the leaves that are too skinny to be rollable, set them aside. You need enough of the wide leek leaf rectangles to roll them up into 12 tubes, in sets of 2 or 3 leaves. Chop the leftover leek leaves up very finely and add them to the cooked vegetables in the mixing bowl.

Mix the Filling:
1 1/2 cups fine dry bread crumbs
500 grams (1 generous pound) lean ground turkey
1 large egg
1 teaspoon rubbed savory
1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Make and measure the crumbs, and add them to the mixing bowl. Add the ground turkey, egg, and seasonings. Mix well. I find this sort of mixture easiest to mix with my hands.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Take a set of prepared leek leaf rectangles, and place 1/2th of the filling, rolled into a tube shape, on it. Roll it up to re-form the shape of the leek. Place the stuffed leek section in a lightly-oiled shallow baking pan which will hold the 12 of them snugly. (I used an 8" x 10" lasagne pan.)

Repeat with the remaining 11 sets of leek leaves and filling.

Bake the Leek Rolls:
1/4 cup chicken stock
75 grams shiitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon corn starch or arrowroot
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Pour the chicken stock over the pan of stuffed leeks and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove and discard the stems from the shiitakes, and cut them into strips. Sauté them gently in the oil. If they look like they want to dry out or scorch rather than sauté, drizzle a little water over them to help them cook. 

When the leeks have baked for 30 minutes, spread the shiitakes over them. Mix the starch into the sour cream and dribble it over the leeks and mushrooms. Sprinkle the Parmesan evenly over the top and return the leeks to the oven for another 30 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.






Last year at this time I made Cranberry Meringue Pie. I suppose I should say that I made it again as written, and it worked perfectly!

Basque Chicken Terrine

Yes, it's basically a chicken meatloaf! 

It did not work out quite as I hoped, but the problem was mainly one of texture; I don't believe I chopped my chicken enough. So, be sure to chop the chicken fairly finely. It was certainly very flavourful and we enjoyed it very much.

We have arrived at a pivot in the seasons. The kitchen is still full of little heaps of peppers, but the tomatoes - at least the fresh ones - are gone. I pulled in the last of the basil in case of frost tonight, but there will be parsley until it snows. I have started pulling the first of the leeks and they are looking very good. Garden clean up continues apace. I have to say I am looking forward to finishing for the season.

8 to 10 servings
2 hours - 45 minutes prep time

Prepare the Vegetables:
1 small red pepper
1 small green pepper
1 medium leek
3 or 4 shallots
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves OR 1 teaspoon rubbed thyme
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil OR bacon fat
1/2 cup dried tomatoes, chopped a bit if necessary

Wash and core the peppers, and chop them finely. Wash and trim the leek, and chop it finely. Rinse it again and drain well. Peel and mince the shallots. Peel and mince the garlic.  Strip the thyme leaves from the stems and mince the leaves (discard stems).

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and add the peppers. Cook for a few minutes, until softened and slightly reduced in volume. Add the leek and shallots, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until they too are softened and reduced. Add the garlic, thyme, and tomatoes, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until everything is fairly well cooked and amalgamated. Set aside to cool.

Make the Terrine:
500 grams (1 pound) ground chicken OR turkey
500 grams (1 pound) skinless, boneless chicken meat
3 large eggs
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves OR parsley
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Put the ground chicken into a  mixing bowl. Chop the meat into fairly small pieces and mix it in. Add the eggs. Wash, dry and coarsely chop the basil or parsley (if using parsley, it can be chopped finer) and mix it in. Season with salt and pepper, and mix the ingredients very well. Pack them firmly into a 4" x 9" loaf pan or other similar pan.

Bake at 375°F for 1 hour up to 1 hour 15 minutes until the juices run clear. Let rest 10 minutes before serving, although it is also good served just warm or cold. 






Last year at this time I made Taco Joes.

Turkey Sorrel Rolls

These were lovely. Apparently there are stuffed sorrel rolls in Turkish and Balkan cooking, but it's a slightly different variety that is probably sturdier. The French sorrel leaves which I am growing were a bit delicate. Still, they held together well enough with gentle handling. Turkey went well with the mild flavours of the vegetables.

Serve these with rice, or bread, or as part of a selection of meze/tapas dishes.

4 to 8 servings (32 small rolls)
1 hour 15 minutes - 1  hour prep time

500 grams (1 pound) lean ground turkey (or chicken)
the finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon cumin seed
3/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 or 3 green onions
1 medium carrot
1 large egg
32 large sorrel leaves
1/3 cup thick yogurt
2 tablespoons finely minced chives or fresh dill
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Put the ground turkey or chicken in a mixing bowl; to it add the finely grated lemon zest. Grind the coriander and cumin seeds and add them, with the salt and pepper.

Trim and finely chop the green onions. Peel and finely grate the carrot. Add them to the meat, with the egg. Mix well until thoroughly combined.

Put a large shallow pot of water on to boil. Place a large shallow pot of cold water next to it. Dip a sorrel leaf into the boiling water for 5 to 10 seconds, until just wilted. Do not swish it around; it is important to not let it fold up on itself or you will have to spend time laying it out flat without breaking it. Dip it in the cold water as soon as it comes out of the boiling water, then lay it on a clean flat surface. Cut out the stem 2 or 3 inches up the leaf, leaving as much of the leaf as possible.

Put 1/32 of the meat mixture in the middle of the leaf. (I pat it down flat, cut it into eighths, then work with 1/8 of the mixture at a time, dividing that into quarters.) Wrap the sorrel leaf neatly around the meat filling, covering it completely. Set it aside on a plate while you complete dipping and filling the rest of the sorrel leaves.

Put a steamer on to boil. Meanwhile, arrange the rolls carefully over the bottom of the steamer insert in a single layer. When the water boils, steam them for 15 minutes.

Let cool to warm or room temperature. Serve them with yogurt, with the finely minced chives or dill added, and seasoned with salt and pepper.




Last year at this time I made Chervil or Other Herb Vinegar.

Sausage, Rutabaga, & Apple Pie

Here's another one inspired by an old cook book. As usual I forgot to note which one, but it was something English and mid to late 19th century as far as I can recall. It is pretty rare for me to pull out anything interesting from cook books of that era at this point, but this one caught my eye.

The filling ingredients are more or less as in the original, but they wanted you to put everything in in layers, which did not strike me as the best plan. This is actually my third attempt at this pie. I started off with leaving the rutabaga in chunks and pre-cooking the sausage, but that made them just things enclosed in a pie crust, rather than an actual pie. This final version is simpler and works better; always a pleasing combination.

Admittedly this is still a bit time consuming, but it is not difficult. Mostly you have to wait for the rutabaga and then the pie to cook. It would certainly make sense to use left-over mashed rutabaga for this. It was impressive that 4 cups of diced rutabaga cooked down to 2 cups mashed, but so it was; take note.

I am also quite taken with this pie crust. It is easy to work with, and ideal for savoury pies, being nicely sturdy without being heavy.

6 to 8 servings
2 hours 30 minutes - 1 hour prep time

  
Make the Pastry:
2 1/4 cups soft whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup mild vegetable oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg

Mix the flour and salt in a mixing bowl.

In another, smaller, bowl put the softened butter and mix in the oil, buttermilk, and egg. It need not be well mixed; just be sure the yolk is well broken up and the butter isn't in a single massive lump.

Mix the wet ingredients into the flour. Using your hands if required, form it into a ball of dough. You can press and turn it to get everything incorporated, but try not to overwork it. Cover with a cloth and set aside until needed. Do this once the rutabaga is on to boil.

Make the Filling & Finish the Pie:
4 cups diced rutabaga
3 or 4 shallots
500 grams (1 pound) raw breakfast sausage meat
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon caraway seed
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
plenty of freshly ground black pepper
2 large apples

Peel and dice the rutabaga, and put it in a pot with water to cover. Bring to a boil and boil gently for 40 minutes until tender. Drain it, mash it, and set it aside in a mixing bowl. Once mashed, there should about 2 cups of it. Let cool enough to handle

Peel and mince the shallots, and add them to the rutabaga. Peel the casings off the sausage meat, and crumble it in. Grind the coriander seed and add it, along with the pepper. Salt will depend on how salty the sausage is - in general sausage is quite salty. I added a little shake just to make sure everything was seasoned, and otherwise relied on the sausage to provide salt. Peel the apples or not, as you like. Core them and chop them, and add them to the bowl. Mix it all well - it is easiest to use your hands.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Divide the pastry into 2 uneven portions; 60% and 40%. Roll out the large piece on parchment paper with a little flour sprinkled over to avoid it sticking. When it is large, thin, and round enough, flip it into a 10" pie dish and peel off the parchment paper. Press it neatly into place. Clean and re-flour the parchment paper, and roll out the remaining pastry to fit the top.

Tip the filling into the prepared pie crust, and press it snug and slightly mounded in the middle. Cover it with the prepared pastry top, and seal it well around the edges. Poke holes in the top to let the steam escape.

Bake the pie for 1 hour and 10 to 15 minutes at 350°F, until nicely browned and bubbling. Let rest at least 15 minutes before serving it.

Taiwanese Noodles

First thing out of the garden - green onions! We have quite a few this spring as they did not die down properly last fall and we never picked them. You are unlikely to get any this early though, if you don't have them in your garden. Never mind, they are on their way.

This is usually made with pork but I had turkey, so that is what I used. Otherwise this is consistent with most of the recipes out there. I have to say if I make this again I will be inclined to add a little grated ginger and a handful of bean sprouts. Otherwise, this was a quick and easy dish.

There is no doubt a particular noodle used in Taiwan for this, but it is a wheat noodle and lots of people seem to just use a fine spaghetti, which is what I did.

2 servings
30 minutes prep time

Make the Sauce:
1 teaspoon 5-spice powder
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Mix all in a small bowl and set aside.

Make the Noodles & Topping:
225 grams (1/2 pound) dry noodles
2 or 3 shallots
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
6 to 8 green onions
225 grams (1/2 pound) fresh shiitake mushrooms
225 grams (1/2 pound) lean ground pork, turkey, or chicken
1 tablespoon bacon fat or mild vegetable oil

Put a pot of salted water on to boil to cook the noodles. They should be done at the same time as the topping, which will require 8 to 10 minutes in the pan. Time the noodles accordingly.

Peel and slice the shallots. Peel and mince the garlic, and set it aside by itself. Wash, trim, and chop the green onions, keeping the green and white parts separate. Remove and discard the stems of the shiitake mushrooms, and slice the caps.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the meat and brown it, breaking it up into small pieces. As soon as most raw spots are gone - 2 or 3 minutes - add the shallots and shiitakes. Cook, stirring frequently, until they are softened and reduced in volume, another 3 or 4 minutes. Mix in the garlic and the white parts of the green onions, and cook for another minute or so.

Drain the noodles and divide them between 2 large bowls.

Pour the sauce over the pan of meat, etc, and let it boil up. Stir in the remaining green onion tops, then divide the mixture over the 2 bowls of noodles, being careful to give each equal parts of the sauce as well as the meat, shiitakes, etc. Serve at once. 





Last year at this time I made Okonomiyaki... Waffles!

Gomel Style Cutlets

In my Russian cutlet research wanderings, I came across these Gomel Style cutlets. Gomel is a city in Belarus, about 200 kilometres north of Kiev. These are not nearly as well known as the cutlets of Kiev, but I have to say I liked them a lot.

Traditionally they seem to be made with very thinly pounded pork scallops, but many people do suggest making them with chicken. Since I can't be having with pounding pieces of meat, I used ground turkey. I did see some recipes out there calling for ground meat so I don't feel like I have gone too far astray.

The potato coating before they are fried are what make these really unique, although the mushroom and cheese filling is somewhat unusual as well. Some recipes called for these to be finished in the oven and some didn't; my experience was that it took long enough for the potato coating to cook in the pan that the cutlets were definitely done by the time the potatoes browned, so I didn't bother to bake them. I suspect they would be reasonably amenable to being kept warm in the oven if that is required though.

I found them a little nerve-wracking to form, but they came out much better than I expected. I'm giving fairly detailed instructions on how I did that. Once they were in the pan they pulled themselves together nicely. I suspect I'm going to try coating other things in grated potato and cooking them like this too - it worked really well.

3 to 6 servings
1 hour prep time

Make the Mushroom Filling:
100 grams (1/4 pound) mushrooms
2 medium shallots
2 teaspoons butter
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Clean, trim, and chop the mushrooms. Peel and mince the shallots.

Heat the butter in a small skillet, and cook them together until the shallots are softened and translucent, and the mushrooms are softened and slightly browned. Season with a little salt and pepper; keep in mind the cheese is quite salty. Transfer them to a small mixing bowl to cool. Grate the Parmesan and add it once the vegetables are cool.

Make the Cutlet Mixture:
1/2 small stale dinner roll (50 grams; 2 ounces)
1/4 cup milk or cream
350 grams (9 ounces) lean ground turkey, chicken OR pork
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon rubbed (dry) dill OR 2 teaspoons minced fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Crumble the roll into a mixing bowl, and pour the milk or cream over it. Let it soak until the cream is absorbed. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until smooth.

Coat the Cutlets & Fry Them:
1 large egg
about 1/2 cup barley or wheat flour
250 grams (1/2 pound) white potatoes
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil

Break the egg into a small bowl and whisk with a fork until smooth. Put the flour into another small bowl.

Wash the potatoes (peel them if you like, but you will need the weight above when peeled). Grate them coarsely. Season them with the salt and let them sit in a pile on the cutting board. Do not do this until you are ready to start forming the cutlets, or else the potato may turn dark as it sits.

Take one sixth of the cutlet mixture and form it into a flattened patty. Drop it into the bowl of flour. Take one sixth of the mushroom filling, and squeeze it until it holds together. Put it in the middle of the patty, and fold it up around the filling until it is covered - hold it in your hand and shape it. Once the filling is covered, roll the cutlet in the flour to evenly coat it. It will be round to ovoid in shape at this point. Roll it in the egg, allowing as much egg as is reasonable to drip off back into the bowl before rolling it in the pile of grated potatoes. Set it aside gently on a plate until you are ready to cook them.

When you have only 2 or 3 more cutlets to form, put 2 tablespoons of oil into a large skillet and start heating it over medium heat. Finish preparing the cutlets, then place them in the hot pan, not touching each other so far as is possible. Press the patties gently to ensure they are no thicker than 1" anywhere.

Cook for about 7 to 10 minutes per side, until the potatoes are nicely browned and the patties are firm. If the potato coating browns too quickly - or does not brown quickly enough - adjust the heat accordingly.

Let the cutlets rest for 5 minutes before serving them.





Last year at this time I made Rutabaga & Mushroom Soup. 

Turkey or Chicken Cutlets Cordon Bleu

I came up with the idea for these thinking they would be easier than classic Chicken Cordon Bleu, what with not having to mess about with getting the chicken evenly pounded thin in order to stuff it. (I'm also having a bit of an obsession with Russian-style chopped cutlets at the moment, so there's that too.)

The answer is maybe; these are a little delicate to handle. I've made them a couple of times and keep thinking I should try them with a bit less milk, but then they keep cooking up so nicely that I persist in putting in the amount listed. They may be somewhat sloppy when raw but they cook up to be tender and moist, and you can press them back into shape as soon as they go into the pan if they are inclined to go wobbly on you. In particular the ham and cheese need to be completely covered.

The flour I use to dip them is barley flour which I think gives a particularly nice grainy crust, but you can use regular wheat flour if you prefer. Sliced ham from the deli is fine, indeed much the easiest choice. If you use peameal bacon, be sure to sauté it before you use it to make sure it isn't sitting in the middle in a state of uncookedness.

6 servings
40 minutes prep time

1 stale dinner roll (100 grams; 3 or 4 ounces)
1/4 cup milk or cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon savory or other herb
1 large egg
500 grams (1 pound, plus) lean ground turkey or chicken
 1/2 cup flour
1 to 2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
100 grams (1/4 pound) Cheddar or other melty cheese
100 grams (1/4 pound) thinly sliced cooked ham or peameal bacon

Crumble the roll into a mixing bowl and soak it in the milk or cream. Season with the salt, pepper, and herb of your choice.

Once the milk is absorbed by the bread, break in the egg and mix it in. Mix in the ground turkey or chicken. This is a fairly wet mixture so be prepared for that.

Lay out a sheet of parchment paper and put the flour on a plate. Put the oil in a large skillet and heat it over medium heat.

Measure out half the mixture into 6 equal globs on the parchment paper, and form each of them into a neat, flat circle. Lay a bit of cheese and ham on each - they should be cut so that they cover the patty to within about 3/4" of the edge. Divide up the remaining mixture and form a small patty in your hand to go over each prepared cutlet on the parchment paper. Pat them sealed. One at a time, lift them with a large, thin lifter and put them in the plate of flour. Turn them to coat, or just lift and sprinkle some of the flour over the top until evenly coated. Lift out and place in the pan to cook.

Cook the cutlets for 5 to 6 minutes per side, until well browned. You may need to add a little more oil to the pan when you turn them. A spatter guard will avoid spatters and also help hold in the heat to cook them through. If you don't have one, put a lid on with just  little sliver of air to let the steam out.




Last year at this time I made Caramel Apple Pudding.

Creamy Turkey Soup with Wild Rice & Mushrooms

Okay, it's turkey time, or just about! I always think the best thing about turkey is the leftovers, and I know I am not alone in that. Here are some pretty deeelightful and soignée leftovers. Wild rice! Mushrooms! Cream! Hot dawg!

I mean, no hot dogs. C'mon; you know what I mean. Anyway, here is a lovely, easy (supposing you have cooked a turkey), and really quite substantial soup. Maybe some Stuffing Bread is all you need to make it a meal.

6 to 8 servings
1 hour assorted futzing to prepare rice and stock
1 hour to finish the soup

Advance Preparation - Cook the Wild Rice:
1/2 cup wild rice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
prepare 6 cups turkey stock, and 1 to 2 cups cooked turkey

As ever, it's easiest to cook that wild rice in the rice cooker: put in rice, salt, and water and turn it on. Take it out once the machine turns off. Or, do it the hard way: put said ingredients in an appropriate pot and bring to a boil on the stove. As soon as it boils, turn it down to very low and cook until the water is absorbed, about 45 minutes.

This soup presupposes you have the remains of a cooked turkey, and have covered the carcass thereof with water, and added bay leaves and veggie scraps, and simmered until there was stock. Likewise, a reasonable amount of cooked turkey was set aside for this purpose. Failing that you had better buy a turkey thigh and put it in water and simmer as above, until you have stock and cooked turkey. Strain the stock, being careful that it's the bones, etc, that are disposed of, and dice your cooked turkey into soup-sized pieces. Keep them separately in the fridge until needed.

All of this should certainly be done the day before. 

Finish the Soup:
1 or 2 stalks of celery (1 cup finely diced celeriac)
1 large leek
200 grams (1/2 pound) mushrooms
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons turkey or bacon fat
3 tablespoons flour
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon rubbed thyme or savory
2/3 cup sour cream

Put your pot of stock on to come up to a simmer again.

Wash, trim, and chop the celery. Wash, trim, and chop the leek. Clean, trim and slice the mushrooms.

Heat the fat in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Cook the celery and leeks in it until softened; about 5 minutes, with some stirring. Add the mushrooms and cook them down until reduced and softened, then add the garlic. Stir in well then sprinkle the flour and seasonings over the vegetables.

Mix that in and continue cooking until there are no signs of raw flour. Ladle in a bit of broth and mix it in to deglaze the pan (remove anything inclined to stick to it). Swish it all back into the pot of soup. Add the wild rice and the chopped turkey.

Simmer for another 10 minutes or so until the soup is slightly thickened. Add the sour cream and bring the soup back  up to steaming hot but do not let it simmer or it will curdle. Serve at once.




Last year at this time I made Rolled Spice Cookies.

Seasonal Ontario Food's Top Ten - Meat, Poultry & Fish Main Dishes

More main dishes, the meaty ones this time. In spite of how much I like vegetables I have to confess I could never be a vegetarian. I'm a little surprised to review things and see how much pork we eat, and I'm definitely shy on the fish recipes. I think that's because I am perfectly happy to eat it pretty plain. Judging by this list I also have a taste for the classic dishes, and braising is a favourite cooking technique. Sounds about right, I have to say.

And apparently meat dishes get put on my oval Chinese platters. Huh, okay.

Turkey Tourtière

This is actually mixed turkey and chicken tourtière, but I could not resist the alliteration, and you could replace the chicken with a piece of turkey, if you can get it.

It is sometimes said that tourtière is named for the passenger pigeons (known in French as tourtes) which once were very common in Canada. More realistically, it may be named for the dish in which it was baked and is related, linguistically at least, to tortes and tarts. Still, it seems very likely that the first tourtières of New France would have been made with tourtes more often than with pork or beef. I have read about early settlers (in Ontario) complaining about the ubiquity of passenger pigeon at the table; they were so numerous that people turned to them as food the way I turn to a bowl of spaghetti when other foods seem too complicated or time consuming.

Be that as it may, pork or a pork and beef combination is now the nearly universal filling for tourtières. I thought I would do something different though, and I can say I was very pleased with the results.

2 hours - 1 hour prep time
6 to 12 servings

Make the Pastry:
2 1/4 cups soft unbleached and/or whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lard or shortening
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 to 4 tablespoons water
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon cream

Measure the flour into a mixing bowl. I used half whole wheat and half unbleached flour. Add the salt and mix it in well, then add the lard and butter cut into thin slices or chunks. Use a pastry cutter to cut the fats in, until they are the size of a pea or smaller throughout. Break in the whole egg, and add the yolk from the second egg, keeping the second white aside in a small bowl.  Work the egg into the dough with a fork. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough is moist enough to come together as a ball. I find myself abandoning the fork at some point, and working it with my hands. Gently though; it should not be over-mixed and certainly not kneaded. Use as little water as you can.

When the dough has formed a ball, cover it with a tea towel (leave it in the mixing bowl) and set it aside in a cool place until wanted. Add the cream to the egg white, blend well, and set it aside too.

Make the Filling & Finish the Tourtière:
2 or 3 medium potatoes (300 grams; 10 ounces)
500 grams (1 pound) skin-on but boneless chicken thighs
1 medium onion
2 stalks celery
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
4 teaspoons poultry seasoning, salt omitted
3/4 teaspoon allspice berries, ground
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
500 grams (1 pound) lean ground turkey
2/3 cup fine bread crumbs

Wash the potatoes, trim them - indeed, peel them if you are so inclined - and cut them into small cubes. Put them in a pot with water to cover them well, and bring them to a boil. Boil them for 5 or 6 minutes then drain them and rinse them in cool water. Drain well and set aside.

Meanwhile, cut the skin and fat from the chicken, and chop it roughly. Put it in a large skillet and let it render over medium heat while you chop the chicken into pieces about the size of a teaspoon. Peel and chop the onion finely, and wash, trim, and chop the celery finely. Peel and mince the garlic.

When 2 to 4 tablespoons of fat have been rendered from the skins, remove the solids and discard them. Add the onion, celery, and drained potatoes to the pan and cook, stirring regularly, for about 10 minutes, until softened and very slightly browned. Add the chicken pieces and cook until white throughout. Sprinkle with the seasonings and the garlic, and cook for a minute or 2 more. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

While the filling cools, roll out about 60% of the dough on a sheet of parchment paper, sprinkled with a little flour. Fit it into a 9" pie plate, and peel off the paper.

Mix the ground turkey and bread crumbs into the filling, and place it into the prepared crust. Roll out the remaining pastry on the parchment and flip it onto the top of the tourtière. Pinch it sealed all around, and cut vent holes at intervals in the top crust. Brush it thoroughly with the reserved egg white and cream.

Bake the tourtière for 50 minutes until a deep golden colour. Best to do this on a tray; the pastry is very rich and may spatter grease. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving, although it is equally good warm or cold.




Last year at this time I made Squash Polenta.

Dirty Kasha

You need to be cooking some poultry in order to make this a thing to do; turkeys, chickens, and ducks generally all come with the giblets. Don't throw 'em away! Make dirty kasha.

This is, of course, the traditional Cajun recipe for dirty rice, minus the rice and with buckwheat instead. The robust nutty kasha really stands up to the flavour of the poultry giblets and makes an excellent substitute.

This doesn't make huge quantities. It would make a lunch dish for 2 along with a salad or cooked vegetable, or a side dish for 4 or more, especially if some of them turn up their noses at giblets... well, more for the rest of us.

2 to 4 servings
30 minutes prep time

Cook the Kasha:
1/2 cup toasted buckwheat (kasha)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Put 4 cups of water into a pot and bring it to a brisk boil. Add the toasted buckwheat kasha and the salt. Boil steadily for 15 minutes, then drain. 

Make the Dirty Kasha:
2 shallots
1 stalk of celery
1/4 of a red pepper
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons chicken, duck, turkey or bacon fat
1/2 teaspoon rubbed savory
1/2 teaspoon good paprika; with a little heat or smoked if liked
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
the giblets from 1 large turkey
OR 2 chickens OR 2 ducks

Meanwhile, peel and chop the shallots. Wash, trim and chop the celery. Core and chop the piece of red pepper. Peel and mince the garlic.

Heat the fat in a large skillet, and add the shallots, celery, and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until everything is softened and very slightly browned. Add the seasonings.

While the vegetables cook, chop the giblets finely. Use the heart and liver for sure, but decide how you feel about the crop - at the least it will have a tough, white side that must be cut off and discarded. If it seems soft it can be  used, but if it is at all hard to cut it will be unpleasantly tough - better to throw it in with bones when soup is made, and like a bone, discard it at the end.

Add the chopped meat to the pan when it is ready, and mix it in well. Let everything cook together, stirring frequently, until the meat is cooked through. Serve at once.