The humble turkey. I've seen them in the wild, and I've seen them in zoos around the world. Beautiful feathers, ornery attitudes, goofy sounds. $3.79 for a ground pound and a quarter at Smart and Final.
The mainstay in my house over the past year at least has been turkey stewed with veggies. Hell, half the reason I haven't restarted this blog is most meals I cook are just stewed turkey. (And I think the only reader is my mother.) But lest we take for granted the turkey, symbol of plenty, humble in price and rich in flavor, I should put forth the recipe.
2.5 lb ground turkey (85%, 93%, or 97% fat free)
3 heads baby boc choy, soaked to remove sand
2 heads broccoli
1 head garlic
1 yellow onion
2 tbs peanut oil
2 tbs olive oil
1 jar of pasta sauce with as few ingredients as possible (optional)
Simmer the turkey in a big frying pan with a bit of peanut oil. I start with the lid on while I chop the veggies. Chop anything green and robust into maybe 2cm pieces. Add the veggies on top of the turkey and cover with a big glass lid. This way the simmering turkey juices steam the veggies for you. Eventually I ladle the veggies and any excess fluid into a stew pot and uncover the turkey so it browns in the pan. Meanwhile I chop the onions and garlic.
When its well cooked and browned (this often takes like a half hour from the start), move the turkey into the stewpot and put it on low. In the now-vacated frying pan, simmer the onions and garlic with olive oil but just for a couple minutes. I like the onions weakened and sweet but I want the garlic still very strongly-flavored. When its smelling awesome, add the oily garlic and onions to the stewpot, stir, and add the optional jar of pasta sauce. I often buy a bunch of Classico sauces when they're on sale at Vons. Let this sit on low for about twenty minutes. Then put it in glass canning jars and sit outside to cool, and finally put it in the fridge.
Amir and I used to eat this over pasta, back when we'd use about a 1:1 ratio of pasta sauce to other ingredients. Eventually we just started adding so much turkey and veg that we neglected the pasta entirely.
Serving suggestions:
Just now I had it this way; NorthOfTheBorder;
microwave 1 cup of stew for 2 minutes
top with cold Queso Fresco, black olives, and half an avocado
devour while your boyfriend plays guitar for you (optional)
Amir's favorite;
Spoon heated stew onto toasted whole grain bread with spicy russian mustard
GarlicTown;
spoon into pita bread liberally spread with thoum arabic garlic sauce (we get ours at Al Wazir on Hollywood)
Dainty Delight;
layer over arrugalla and heirloom tomato slices on toasted sourdough english muffins
(I haven't actually tried this but it sounds AWESOME right now)
MindBlower;
mix with wholegrain rotini pasta
Hungry Darling?;
Cook some rotini pasta when the turkey is stewing. Grate parmesan cheese into the stew. When the stew has been on for a while (or even if its been off and sitting for an hour) ladle alternating layers of turkey stew and pasta into a bread loaf pan. Grate parmesan and smokey gouda on top. Broil in the toaster oven. Offer to boyfriend when he gets back from a long night of martial arts training (optional).
Recipe alterations:
Use 85% turkey (occasionally on sale for $3/3lb at Vons) and don't add any oil. Set some turkey fluid aside for the garlic/onion step.
Other veg winners:
hard squashes, zucchini, celery, carrots
Hit and miss:
peppers, dark greens (kale/chard), yellow squash
