Curried Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

There’s a theory that if you talk about an upsetting experience you have, it helps to get your feelings out in the open and you can move on past the unpleasantness.

Welcome to my Thanksgiving.

Things for the celebratory evening at the Red Brick Ranchero were in place.

Food cooked beautifully, witness the pictures.

HOWSOMUCHEVER….when said food was served, it was not as it had presented itself.

The cranberries did not accept the gelatin that would make them stand up and be accounted for.


They refused same and, well, there you go.

Cranberry Soup.

If only they had let me know ahead of time.

I would have gotten out the bowls.

I found these the day after. Sort of forgot about them in the hystericalness that ensued.

The first turkey.

Looks are deceiving.

The second turkey.


I can’t talk about it.

I guess all I say is that it kind of seemed sacrilegious to stuff two turkeys in a huge pot and BOIL them to get them done.

Thank God my mother had brought a ham.

The turkeys came to a very creative end; involving wild and brown rice, garam masala and cumin, golden raisins and cilantro.

Warming, soothing, comforting.

There…I feel much better.

I can think about Christmas Eve dinner now.

　
Curried Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

4 cups cooked turkey breast and thigh meat, chopped coarsely
3 cups cook wild and brown rice mix (I used RiceSelect Royal Blend..it’s divine.)
Couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil
2 large leeks, trimmed, rinsed and coarsely chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
6 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
8 fat cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
Freshly ground black pepper and coarse salt to taste
6 cups chicken or turkey stock, heated
2 tbsp hot curry powder
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cayenne

Heat a large pot over medium high heat and add a couple swirls of extra virgin olive oil. When oil is wavy, add the leeks, green bell pepper and celery, stir to combine, reduce heat to medium and cover to sweat the veggies for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the garlic and seasonings and cook for five minutes. Add the turkey and cook five minutes. Add the hot chicken/turkey stock and stir.
Let this cook for about 25 minutes. Add the cooked rice mixture and let heat for about ten minutes.

Serve with chopped fresh cilantro, golden raisins, and sour cream or plain Greek yogurt.
Serves 4 generously.


Click here for a printable recipe.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Two Years Ago on Feeding Groom
　

Curried Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

Herbed Turkey Meatballs with Linguine and Homemade Tomato Sauce

Waxed paper is a wonderful invention. I don’t use it more than several times a year, but it is a big help in the kitchen. I bought waxed paper in 1993 from a restaurant supply company , 250 square feet and I still have over a half of a box left. I’ve wrapped Christmas ornaments in it, sandwiches, you name it, I have tried to use this box up. Why, you ask? So I can buy some more waxed paper.

Because every now and then I need it for this wonderful recipe. Herbed Turkey Meatballs with Linguine and Homemade Tomato Sauce. This is an easy recipe. I’m all about the easy part..and it’s delicious. It’s adapted from one in a great cookbook by Richard Sax and Marie Simmons called Lighter Quicker Better. Richard Sax is well known for his marvelous desserts, but this little cookbook is chocked full of great food ideas, including desserts, all done with a lighter touch but still taste great. And you’ll get to use your box of waxed paper!

There are so many tomato sauce recipes, if you have one you love that thickens up beautifully with great flavor, by all means use it with these meatballs. Here’s one of my favorites.

Tomato Sauce

Makes about 2-½ cups.

A couple of swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 fat garlic cloves, chopped
2-½ cups San Marzano tomatoes, chopped and reserve the juice (28 ounce can)
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 Turkish bay leaf
Pinch of dried Turkish oregano
Pinch of dried French thyme
¼ cup sun dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
Good splash of red wine
Small handful of fresh Italian parsley, chopped (about 3 tbsp)

Put a couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and when hot, add the onion. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add herbs and bay leaf and when well mixed add the garlic and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes and bring to boil over medium high heat, uncovered, until it’s reduced to a thick sauce. Takes about 25 minutes. Stir often. Remove bay leaf. Season to taste and add the parsley right before you put it in the pan with the meatballs.

Herbed Turkey Meatballs

1 pound ground turkey
2 fat garlic cloves, minced
2-3 tbsp chopped Italian parsley
¼ tsp dried French thyme
¼ tsp dried Turkish oregano
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
A couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil

Mix turkey with garlic, Italian parsley and herbs. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Make 1 inch meatballs and put on a plate lined with, you guessed it, waxed paper. Refrigerate for about a half an hour.

Heat olive oil in large non stick skillet on medium high heat. Brown the meatballs for about 5-7 minutes. Shake the pan often to roll them around and get them evenly browned. Add the tomato sauce and cover and simmer til meatballs are done and sauce is heated. Add chopped fresh parsley

Serve with linguine, freshly ground Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and a garnish of chopped fresh Italian parsley.

Serves 3 generously.

Herbed Turkey Meatballs with Linguine and Homemade Tomato Sauce

Ms. Bird's Big Adventure

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I got this feeling most definitely from my dad. Pops loved Thanksgiving because of the Radio City Rockettes. He LOVED them. He’d always have a glass
Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry and watch the Macy’s Parade. Nothing like a bunch of women in tights kicking their legs in the air got him going better. “Oh, that’s marvelous!“ he drawl in his deep Southern voice. “ That’s just marvelous.“ .

I love Thanksgiving because of the food. I love getting up early and watching the parade and cooking the food and dancing with the Rockettes. Makes it more fun to cook if you‘re dancing. Bon Appetit outdid themselves this year with their pick and choose Thanksgiving feasts. I handed the magazine to Groom in October and said, You pick it. We’ll cook it. He chose well. Pancetta Sage Roast Turkey. Brussels Sprouts Hash with Caramelized Shallots, Roast Fingerling Potatoes on Piperade, Cranberry Apple Relish, Three Mushroom Stuffing with Rosemary Olive Bread. Other contributions to the meal included Apple Cranberry Pie and Pecan Pie for dessert, brought from Athens, Ga with a disclaimer…but they were divine…along with Roasted Pears and Crème Fraiche. My brother brought 2006 Alvarinho Trahadura from Portugal to have with dinner along with the usual Louis Tete Beaujolais Villages, what I like to call the House Red around here. And of course, Sister Shubert stayed up all night baking the rolls for us. Paramedics were on call in case we fell out during the meal.

Plumgood arrived Tuesday with Ms Bird, a beautiful 16 pound Bell and Evans all natural turkey. And did she come to a good end. The turkey was a standout. The diced pancetta and fresh herbs and garlic and shallots whooshed together in the Cuisinart and then spread in the cavity of the turkey plus you get your fingers between the meat of the bird and the skin and rub this butter all over it…I was this bird’s best friend by the time I finished rubbing this butter all over it. I don’t have a turkey rack but I managed to improvise with an old trick of my mothers…I cut up carrots, celery, onion, fennel and parsnips and put it in the bottom of the pan and set Ms. Bird on top. Then added two cups or so of turkey stock the recipe called for. She cooked exactly 3 hours at 325 degrees and I basted her with the juices from the pan.

I have a list of words, mostly to do with cooking, that I can’t stand. They make me crazy. Moist heads the list. Always has. That is an awful word. Your mouth looks weird when you say it. Of course, I haven’t come up with anything as descriptive as it yet, but that doesn’t mean I won't. I hate to use a word that I am not fond of when I describe Ms. Bird…but the M word is what she was. Moist and tender…two days later…still moist.

Now Ms. Bird fed our family of 10 quite well Thanksgiving night. Since then, she has fed us sandwiches, stand up snacks in front of the fridge, she has made turkey stock, but last night she came to a fine end as Turkey Chili by none other than the King of the Stockpot, Groom.
Topped with a bit of crème fraiche because….well, she deserves crème fraiche. And it is even better on the second day.

Turkey Chili

An off the cuff recipe.
One left over turkey, covered with water and a big onion, carrot, celery, parsnip, parsley stems thrown in for good measure. Bring to boil and let it rock for an hour or so to get good turkey stock.
Take out of stock pot and remove all meat from bones and chop. Put in Dutch oven with kidney beans, black beans,, cannellini beans and several cans of diced tomatoes. Season to taste with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Tbsp ancho chili powder and tablespoon of chipotle chili powder. Let cook an hour and serve topped with crème fraiche.

A noble outcome for a fine bird.

Ms. Bird's Big Adventure