Turkey Fricasse

Turkey Fricasse
From: gardentraveler

Inspired by my Puerto Rican friend's Pollo en fricasé, one of my favorite comfort foods. I made this one a ojo porciento, i.e. improvised, so amounts can vary to your taste. I used some ingredients you might not have and have listed easy substitutes.  It'll be very tasty any way you make it.

3 cubes of frozen sofrito* (or substitute a combination of :1/2 cup or so finely chopped onion, 2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced; generous handful of cilantro, minced)
3 cups or so of leftover turkey roughly chopped

1/4 of an 8 oz. jar of alcaparrado (olives, pimiento and capers; substitute stuffed olives)
1 envelope tropical sazón (available in the Hispanic section of your grocery; it often contains MSG, so watch out if you're sensitive to that; if you don't use this, add 1/3 or so more onion and garlic)
1 envelope Swanson's chicken flavor boost (or bouillon)
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
2 bay leaves
5 peppercorns
1 T balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. wine
3 yukon gold potatoes
10 or so baby carrots
1/2 cup frozen peas

Saute the sofrito or onion/garlic/cilantro in a bit of olive oil until fragrant.  Add turkey-wine and then add water just to cover.  Stir to ensure ingredients are mixed.

Cook over low heat for about an hour. Turkey will be softened and sauce should be reduced a bit.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  It should be a bit saltier than you want, since the potatoes and carrots will absorb quite a bit of salt.

Add potatoes and continue to simmer for about 20 minutes; potatoes should still be very firm.  Add carrots and simmer for another 10 minutes.  Add peas, stir thoroughly and remove from heat.

It will taste really good at this point, but if you have a reasonable amount of will power you should let it cool and refrigerate it overnight to let the flavors blend properly.

It tastes wonderful by itself, but Puerto Ricans serve it over rice. You can also add green pepper slices or a small jar of chopped red pimientos and a little bit of cayenne if you like.

 *Every few weeks, I make a simple sofrito, which is a finely ground mixture of onion, garlic and other herbs and vegetables that varies from country to country. In my case it's a mixture of onion, garlic and cilantro, chopped very finely in a food processor, frozen in an ice cube tray, and then stored in a ziploc bag; I also make cubes out of just onion and garlic. My great grandmother always kept a jar of ground onion and garlic in the fridge and started many recipes out by sauteing it in olive oil.

Easy Sweet N.O.T.* Biscuits

Easy Sweet N.O.T. Biscuits
From: swampbear

1/2 cup of cold butter or 1/2 cup margarine (if you must) cut into pieces
2 1/2 cups biscuit mix (notice how I cleverly say this generically as if no one would know what I really mean)
1 cup of canned (ick!) or cooked sweet N.O.T.
1/2 cup milk

Cut butter into biscuit mix until crumbly. One can do this with a fork or be like me and get in there with your hands. Do flour your hands first but y'all should already know to do that, right?

Combine the sweet N.O.T. and milk. Add to the biscuit mix, stirring with the fork just until moistened. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead 4 to 5 times. Again, or be like me and get in there with your hands. See hand flourin' comment above.

Pat or roll out the dough to 3/4 inch thickness and cut with 2-inch round biscuit cutter. Or just roll 'em out and press down with your hands like me. Again, see hand flourin' comment above.

Place on large ungreased cookie sheet bake at 450°F for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. I trust y'all read recipes before y'all start so this is the place I will mention you should have already turned your oven on to preheat. Y'all knew this though, right?

Thus endeth the cookin' lesson.

* For those not versed in MMP lingo: N.O.T. = potatoes

Dottygumdrop's Favourite Turkey Sandwich

Dottygumdrop's Favourite Turkey Sandwich
From: Dottygumdrop

No T-day for us, but I do have a favourite Turkey Sandwich recipe, which involves a ciabatta (or Turkish pide) roll, roast turkey, slatherings of real mayo, cranberry sauce, sliced brie cheese, sliced avocado and lettuce, seasoned with some sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. It is Teh YumTM!

Turkey Soup Method

Turkey Soup Method
From: Sigmagirl

Don't have a recipe, really; just a method: Take your turkey carcass and kind of crush it down to minimize the surface area, put it in your pot and barely cover with water. Add a cut-up onion or two (leave the skin on for color!) and a few cloves of garlic. Bring just to a boil and then reduce heat to barely simmer. Add salt and a few peppercorns, a bay leaf, some sage, thyme and rosemary (rosemary is a migraine trigger for me so I use very little, but I would use a couple of whole sprigs if I could). I cook it just at simmer for about two hours. Strain very well.
I like to add dehydrated vegetables like these because they keep all their color and vitamins, and they're just the right size. My produce market carries them. Maybe it's cheating, but the texture is great and if I used any bigger pieces, my husband would pick them out.

For noodles, I make the dough in my bread machine and put it through twice. We like them big and fat like dumplings. I use 50/50 all-purpose flour and semolina, and use about 1 egg per cup of flour. You just have to get the right consistency by trial and error, adding water a drip at a time. Then we put it through the pasta machine on a wide setting to make sheets and hand-cut the noodles.

If I have any broth left, it's turkey rice soup!