Leftover Turkey Risotto

Every time I make risotto, it gets easier. The first time, I was all intimidated, envisioning centuries of Italian grandmothers ready to whack me with wooden spoons if I didn’t keep stirring in a clockwise (or was it counter-clockwise?) direction. Well, after making risotto for a while, the niceties get thrown out the window.

Here is the easy risotto recipe I made with the leftovers of the leftovers from Thanksgiving. All I had on hand was turkey, thyme, an onion and mushrooms. And a bit of Parmesan. That is vital. -- AnglophileLV

Leftover Turkey Risotto: serves 4

Ingredients:
1 can chicken stock
½ C white wine (or a generous dash, enough to reach all the risotto grains in the pan)
1 cup Arborio rice
Butter or olive oil
½ onion, chopped into small pieces
5-10 mushrooms
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 handful turkey bite-sized turkey chunks
½ cup parmesan
Turmeric (optional)

You’ll need 2 skillets for this operation, or one pot for the mushrooms and one skillet for the risotto.

1. Melt 1 Tb butter in the skillet. Add the onions and let them cook down. Add the Arborio rice and stir until it is more golden than white on LOW heat. This can take a while, but you don’t want the rice to burn. If you’re new to risotto, stir constantly. Otherwise, you can let it rest a bit while you’re doing other stuff and let instinct guide you.

2. Heat the chicken stock in the microwave for 2 minutes. Most recipes say to keep it boiling on the stove, but that uses another pot.

3. Add a generous dash of wine (about ½ cup) to the risotto. The wine releases the starches in the rice that will make it creamy later on. When the wine has soaked in, start adding the chicken stock little by little. Add some, wait until it soaks in, then add some more. Stir constantly, make sure the heat is low.

4. Melt butter in a small pot and add thickly chopped mushrooms. Let them sauté down a little, then add 1 tsp of the fresh thyme. Let sauté a little longer, and then add a dash of white wine. Toss in the turkey with the rest of the thyme and stir around.

5. Add the juice that’s accumulating in the mushroom pot to the risotto. 1 can of chicken broth isn’t quite enough, but this little bit of extra liquid seems to do the trick and marry the flavors rather well.

6. When the rice is creamy and not crunchy, add the parmesan, stir, and toss in the mushroom turkey mixture. Salt and pepper to taste (though I found that the chicken stock and parmesan were plenty salty enough).


This is a Wanderfood Wednesday post.

Lasagna

I really love lasagna. What there not to love? Gorgeous layers of cheese, meat, pasta...sorry, I think I zoned out for a bit there. I was gifted a cookbook with simple American recipes by my friend Bryan a few years ago when I had just started to cook. I was really wary of cooking Italian or anything "American" back then, but this book changed that. So, thanks Bryan.

Lasagna is generally made with some sort of ground meat. Of course, one could avoid the meat altogether and make it with veggies and cheese. I have yet to try that version out. Maybe when I finally take the plunge and turn vegetarian...

I'm using ground chicken in this recipe. I've used ground turkey before so anything works, really.


Ingredients (Serves 8, very easily)
1lb Ground chicken/meat
6 Garlic cloves, minced
1 Onion -finely chopped
1 Tspn Italian Seasoning
Salt to taste
Ricotta Cheese - about 1/2 of a 150z container (I didn't really measure. this depends on how much you put in. )- 1.5 cup
Mozarella - 4-6oz (Again, didn't measure but had an 8oz packet on hand)- Maybe 1.5 cups
Parmesean Cheese - 1/2 cup
Lasagna pasta - about 12 (cook according to directions on box)
Olive Oil - 1tbspn
Marinara (or any Pizza/Tomato) Sauce - 12 oz (give or take; I used store-bought)

Optional : Button Mushrooms (I had to finish a carton before it rotted)

Method:

1. Heat up the olive oil in a pan. To it add the onions and saute for about 3 mins. Add the garlic and italian seasoning. Saute until onions are translucent. Ensure you don't let the garlic burn. If adding mushrooms, add at this point. Also add salt.

2. To the above, add the minced meat. Saute until cooked and begins to brown.

3. Add tomato sauce (marinara) to the pan and bring to a boil. You sauce is now done.

To assemble lasagna, use an appropriate baking utensil and
(i) thin layer of the sauce.
(ii) layer of pasta noodles
(iii) ricotta and mozarella on top of noodles.
(iv) sauce on top of the cheeses
(v) back to (ii) and repeat.

(vi) the last layer should be a layer of pasta noodles. top this off with a generous layer of pamesean cheese.

Baking instructions:
Set oven to 425 and pre-heat for about 5 minutes. Cover your work of layered art and cook for 10 minutes. Then remove the covering and bake for another 10 mins or until the top is a nice golden brown.

That's it! Serve with salad and garlic bread!


excuse the crappy picture again. I really need to get used to my camera.

Nuclear 'Sheek' Kababs

I went to the store to get some Chicken breast meat but instead walked out with minced turkey meat. Since I was out of Lasagna ingredients (my go-to recipe for minced meat), I decided to try out an Indian buffet favourite: Sheek kabab.

Sheek or Shish? that is the question. According to wikitionary, sheek implies minced meat and shish implies cubed pieces of meat. I like Nuclear Kababs. My brother gave them this name because of their intense aroma.

I also want to pay homage to two of my companions in the kitchen that I lost over this recipe. Lousy companions, but companions none the less: My knives.



Ingredients:

1 Lb of minced meat (I use either turkey or chicken; lean meat works)
1 medium onion finely chopped
1/2" ginger finely chopped (use your grater)
6-8 garlic cloves finely chopped (you may want to lower the amount of garlic)
Lime/Lemon juice of 1
Vegetable Oil-1.5 tbspn
about 1.5 tbspn water with saffron (can omit)
Fresh green chillies (I used serrano) - 2-4 depending on how hot you like your food.
Salt
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder- a pinch
Red chilli powder - 1/2tsp
Corriander powder - 3/4tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2tsp

Optional: Fresh Cilantro/Corriander leaves

Method:

1. In a utensil, add all of your ingredients except the meat, oil, and saffron water. mix and taste to check if you want more spices or salt.

2. Next add the rest of your ingredients and mix thoroughly.

3. Let it marinate in the fridge for anywhere from an hour to 6 hours.

4. Make them into shapes you are familiar with (sphere in my case) and fire up your grill and grill 'em! Or, since I'm lame I just pan-grilled them in a non-stick pan. Since I had already used oil in the mix, I didn't bother oiling the pan before cooking them. They will release liquid as they cook. Cook on one side for about 5-7 mins until it starts browning and then flip and let other side brown as well.

5. Serve with grilled onions, lemon wedges, warm pita, saffron flavored basmati rice, and a yoghurt sauce (Yoghurt + some fresh minced garlic + salt) .

The Famous After Thanksgiving Sandwich

The Famous After Thanksgiving Sandwich

The only thing better than Thanksgiving Dinner is the sandwich made from the leftovers the day after. In my family, the TG sandwich has been taken to epic proportions, and through trial and error has been honed to perfection. The challenge of the sandwich is that it tends to be dry, so employing all means to make the interior moist between two slices of crisply toasted bread is vital. This recipe is meant to be altered depending on what you have on hand, but there are a few necessaries: bread, white cheese (muenster/white cheddar/swiss etc.), and honey mustard or Dijon.

Here's what I had on hand: turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing, bourbon pecan sweet potatoes.

Step 1: Use the toaster oven to toast the bread with the cheese on one side and the mustard on the other. Toast until the bread is golden and the cheese melty-bubbly.

Step 2: Heat the ingredients you plan to use, like the stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes and turkey in the microwave.

Step 3: Use about 1 Tb sweet potatoes like a spread on the honey mustard side of the bread. Press the turkey into the cheese side of bread so it sticks (you don't want your sandwich falling apart, so the potatoes and cheese act as anchors for loose ingredients).

Step 4: Press 3 spoonfuls of stuffing lightly into the sweet potato spread.

Step 5: Top the stuffing with 2 spoonfuls of cranberry sauce spread out, and top the turkey with 1-2 spoonfuls of gravy.

Now slap the two sides of the sandwich together and enjoy!


-AnglophileLV