Monday, November 26, 2007

Leftovers! Number 2 - Spicy Turkey and Herb Pie

The idea for this leftover "repurposing" is based loosely on a recipe for Haitian Meat Patties, which are small patties typically made with chicken, beef, or cod encased in puff pastry. Alternatively, this is made of turkey, and baked in a pie crust (see recipe below).

Spicy Turkey Herb Pie
Source: Me!

leftover turkey (approx 3-5 cups), white and/or dark meat, picked off the bone
1 T oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 large shallot, chopped (or 2 small shallots)
1 cup broth or water
1 t salt (approx.)
1 t pepper (approx.)
1/2 cup parsley, chopped (approx.)
leaves from approx. 5-10 sprigs of thyme
1/8 - 1/4 t ground red pepper (start w/ 1/8, and add according to spiciness level desired)
1.5 T white vinegar

Sweat onions and shallots and garlic in the oil. Add the turkey, broth, salt, pepper, parsley and thyme. Simmer until the liquid reduces from the mixture, and the turkey starts to fall apart and gets kind of stringy. Add in vinegar. Add red pepper to taste. Turn off the heat, and let mixture cool slightly. The mixture should not have a lot of liquid in it, but should be moist enough so that it won't dry out in the pie. Prepare pie crust. Put mixture on top of uncooked bottom pie shell, cover and seal with the top pie shell. Poke some holes in the top with a fork. Bake at 375 for around 35 minutes (or, until your pie crust is done). You can also use a prepared pie crust from the refrigerator section.

Leftovers! Number 1 - Turkey Noodle Soup with Homemade Egg Noodles

This. Soup. Was. So. Yummy.

Too bad I don't have a recipe. :(

I made homemade egg noodles based on a recipe in my Joy of Cooking cookbook.

The soup itself is made from turkey stock (made from the carcass with some herbs and aromatics), salt, pepper, herbs (parsley, thyme, sage), celery, onion, and carrots. Simple but good!

Thanksgiving, 2007

This year was definately a year to give Thanks for! :) The first year in our house, our wedding, and spending lots of time with family. We're lucky!


We had a very low-key Thanksgiving - just the 4 of us... Me, G, Ronald and Csilla.


We definitely didn't go low key on the food, though. :)

Menu:
-Herb roasted turkey & gravy
-Mashed potatoes
-Spicy sausage, sage & onion dressing
-Mais Soufflee (Haitian Corn Soufflee)
-Diri Collet (Haitian rice and Beans)
-Spicy Cranberries in Pinot Noir
-Cranberry relish
-Green Salad
-Lemon Ginger Cheesecake

Spicy Beef Picadillo Bake

Quick-n-Easy Apple Spice Cake - Just like Aunt Sandy would like it!

I felt like a little apple spice cake, so I whipped this up since it was quick and easy.



Quick Apple Spice Cake
Source: Me!

1 cake mix of your choice (white, butter, or spice - I used classic butter or something like that...)
3/4 c applesauce
3 eggs
2t cinnamon
1t nutmug
1t cloves
1t cardamom
4 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly

Prepare pans and heat oven to 350. Bake at 350 until done. (I baked in my LeCruset apple shaped baker, and a small round cake layer pan... and, it took approx the same amount of time as the box indicated for a 2 layer cake.

Top with whipped cream, whipped topping, or ice cream.

Yum! :)

A Nestie Day in VA Wine Country....

Back in Mid-October, we had a DC Nestie Wine Tasting Get Together... it was lots of fun! We hit 5 wineries - so, by the end of the day I was pretty tipsy.

My faves:
Best Oyster Crackers - Hillsborough
Best Bottles I bought - Classic White from Loudoun Valley. I also enjoyed "Opal" from Hillsbourough Winery, and one of the whites from Breaux.

I wasn't too crazy about Doukenie Vineyard, or, any of the reds I tried. I think I needed some chocolate to go with the reds. :)

Pic - from L to right: EastSideFLuffy, CrazyDCBride (me!), MrsOmer, AnnapolisChick, eeclem, Oct15Bride (front), QueSrah (back)

Spicy Pineapple Pico-de-gallo

My coworker Hillary was kind enough to give me several yummy ripe tomatoes from the garden in her backyard - I was supposed to reciprocate with some apples, but by the time I remembered, they were not tasting very good.

Anyway, I was able to use the tomatoes she gave me in a nice spicy-but-alittle-sweet salsa - here's the recipe I concocted - Enjoy!


Spicy Tomato and Pinapple Pico-de-gallo
(measurements are approximate - spice to taste...)

4 tomatoes
1/2 chopped cilantro
1/2 of a white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalepeno peppers (deseeded and deveined) diced finely
1/2 of a 20 oz can petite pineapple chunks
1.5 t kosher salt (if using table salt, reduce the measurement)
juice of 1 lime
1/2 t sugar
1/4 t ground red pepper

Combine all in a bowl and refrigerate. Best if made at least a couple of hours in advance, so flavors can meld together. Serve with tortilla chips! (Duh!)

Csilla making Chicken Paprikash!

My sister-in-law, Csilla, rocks! :) For my birthday party, she made one of my all time favorite Hungarian dishes - Chicken Paprikash and Nokeddli dumplings. One of these days, I'll post the recipe - if I can remember how to make it!