Turkey | Adventures in Thyme

Meatballs with options for everyone at your party

March 7, 2016 by Dan Leave a Comment

Turkey Meatballs in a Cream Sauce

With summer gatherings on the horizon, we’re sharing an easy dish that lets your guests decide what they want to eat. Turkey meatballs, sides of pasta and rice, a few sauces and your guests can mix and match their way to foodie heaven.

We’ll start with the meatballs, but if you are making sauces from scratch, you will want to make those first and then cook the meatballs.

For the meatballs, you need:

1 cup Rolled Oats
2 sprigs Rosemary
2 sprigs Oregano
1 teaspoon Salt

2 pounds lean ground Turkey
1 Egg, lightly beaten

Olive oil

1 cup red wine
32 oz. Beef Stock

Combine the first 4 ingredients in your food processor and pulse until the oatmeal has the consistency of course corn meal and the herbs are finely chopped. Place the turkey in a large bowl, add the dry ingredients and then the beaten egg. Combine with a fork, but do not over work the meat. You want it tender, not dense.

Add enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of your large skillet. Heat over medium heat until the skillet and oil are hot. Use a small scoop to make your meatballs. This will give you nice, even meatballs and they will be small enough to cook evenly. Place some meatballs in your hot skillet. Do not pack the meatballs into the skillet, give them a little room. Brown on 3 or 4 sides. Remove the browned meatballs from the pan and add another set. Don’t worry that they aren’t cooked through, we’ll take care of that once they are all browned.

Return all of your meatballs to your hot skillet. Add 1 cup of red wine and 4 cups of beef stock. Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer for 20 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through.

Serve over noodles or rice with whatever sauces your guests enjoy. This makes 4 to 6 servings.

Here are a couple of ideas for sauces. You can also use the Teriyaki sauce we made here. If you are rushed for time, pick up some of your favorite sauces at the grocery store and doctor them to suit your taste. Your guests don’t need to know you didn’t slave over them for hours.

Simple, Quick Red Sauce

Quick red sauce

1 29 oz. can Tomato Sauce
1 14.5 oz. can diced Tomatoes
1 or 2 sprigs Rosemary
1 or 2 sprigs Oregano
1 tablespoon Honey
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
2 fresh Basil Leaves

Remove the leaves from the herbs and chop finely. Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pot, bring to a boil, turn down to low and let simmer at least half an hour.

To serve, place some noodles in a small skillet, add a few meatballs and a little sauce. Gently stir or toss to combine over medium low heat. Add a little sauce over the top after you plate the meatballs and noodles.

Easy “Cream” Sauce

1 1/2 cups of the liquid from the simmering meatballs
3/4 cup tofu based Sour Cream
1 or 2 teaspoons of Corn Starch
Herbs, salt and pepper to taste

This sauce goes together very quickly. Make it just before you are ready to serve the meatballs.

Take 1 1/2 cups of the liquid from your simmering meatballs and place it in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add the tofu based sour cream (or if you want, real sour cream). Stir to combine. Take a little of this liquid and place it in a bowl. Add a teaspoon of corn starch and mix well. Return this mixture to your pan. Stir while it comes to a boil. If you want it thicker, repeat with another teaspoon of corn starch.

To serve, place the meatballs on a bed of noodles or rice and spoon some sauce over the top.

Feel free to add onion, garlic or whatever other spices and herbs you and your guests enjoy.

Turkey Meatballs in a Red Sauce

Lasagna Rolls

October 22, 2015 by Ginger Leave a Comment

Lasagna Rollups, rolling

So many times when confronted with cooking a meal for family I can’t ask “What do I want to eat?” because I know that not every can or will eat what I want to eat. Instead I have to ask the question “What am I willing to eat?”. Tonight’s spin on lasagna helps alleviate some of that issue. With a little extra time, and a nice selection of fillings not only can you achieve dinnertime bliss but you might get the kids involved with helping make dinner too. So let’s get cooking!

Please keep in mind that this recipe is really more of an example, to show you how you can cook for a number of people with varying tastes. Change out any of my ingredients for ones you like better:

1 box of Lasagna Noodles – cooked just before al dente
1 lb fried Turkey “burger” meat
8 oz of goat cheese Feta
1 egg
5 0z of shredded Spinach (I used 1/2 of a frozen box of spinach)
caramelized Onions & Mushrooms
shredded Pecorino
finely chopped fresh herbs: Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram
Olive Oil
Marinara Sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and prepare a tall sided baking dish – as pictured below, your lasagna noodles will be standing upright, you’ll need the sides of the dish to be taller than the rolled noodles. Pour enough marinara into the dish to cover the bottom and keep the noodles from sticking.

I seasoned and fried the turkey meat, and in a separate pan caramelized onions and mushrooms. In a bowl I mixed the feta cheese, spinach, egg, 1/2 cup of pecorino, about two tablespoons of the herbs (combined) and about a tablespoon of olive oil.

When all your ingredients are getting close to done, cook your lasagna noodles to just before al dente. They will cook more in the oven so you don’t want to boil them to al dente.

Now’s the time to individualize the rolls. Lay out a lasagna noodle and place a thin layer of the spinach mixture as a base, then for the meat lover’s pasta roll add a couple spoonfuls of turkey and gently roll it up carefully placing it into the baking dish. Lay out a 2nd lasagna noodle, add a layer of spinach mixture, and for the veggie lover’s selection add a layer of the onion & mushroom mixture. These are thin layers, too much and rolling will be difficult and much of the layers will actually fall out of the roll, so be conservative with the layers until you get a feel for the quantity needed.

That’s really it, keep making noodles to match who wants what combination of filling. When ready spoon marinara over the top of each noodle to add some moisture. Cook about 30 minutes and bingo – dinner for everyone!

Enjoy!

Lasagna Rollups

Turkey Noodle Casserole

December 5, 2014 by Dan Leave a Comment

Turkey Noodle Casserole

With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas on the horizon, the nagging question is: “What to do with the left over turkey?” This versatile bird can easily adapt to any occasion, even the humble leftover dinner. Here’s a lovely dish tailor made for an overlooked drumstick or those turkey bits left behind on the serving tray.

12 oz Pasta (pick your favorite kind and cook in salted water until still a little chewy, retain some of the water)

1/2 cup chopped Carrots
1/2 cup chopped Celery
1/2 cup chopped Onion
2 tablespoons Butter
2 tablespoons Flour
2 cups Chicken Stock
4 oz. Chevre (or other soft white cheese)
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1/2 cup water from cooking your pasta
2 cups Turkey cut into bite sized pieces
salt and pepper to taste

Butter a 9×13 baking dish and set aside. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large skillet melt your butter over medium low heat. When the butter is melted add the carrots, celery and onion and cook until the onion is translucent. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flour over the vegetables in the pan and stir to coat evenly and combine with the butter. Cook stirring gently 4 to 5 minutes. Don’t let it stick to the bottom of the pan or it will burn. Add 2 cups chicken stock a little at a time, stirring to combine well before adding more. Let this simmer for a few minutes until it starts to thicken. Add the pasta and stir well, then add the turkey, cheese and sour cream. Stir to combine well and melt the cheese. Taste the mixture at this point and add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the mixture into your 9×13 baking dish and bake 30 to 40 minutes. The top will brown a little and the casserole will be bubbly.

For another possibility, use shredded cheddar cheese and ham in place of the chevre and turkey. Add the cheese and sour cream before the pasta and ham and stir until the cheese melts and combines with the sauce. Then add the pasta and ham. Cook as above.

Enjoy