Fall Soups and Stews – Photo Gallery | SAVEUR.
It is definitely that time of year when my attention (and perhaps yours) turns to warm, comforting meals like soups and stews. These make great tasting, nourishing meals that are perfect for you to make any time, like on the weekend to get ready to have for lunches or dinner during the week. Saveur Magazine has put together 60 soup and stew recipes so you can try just about anything that you like. Check it out!
I have been using a lot of ground turkey lately for different things. The price has been right for it at the supermarket or at BJ’s where I can buy large packages of it and try different things. I have used it before in chili, turkey burgers, meatballs and even on nachos but I realized that I hadn’t given a turkey meatloaf a try. I am something of a meatloaf nut and love different meatloaf recipes so I was happy to take a look and see what I c ould find for turkey meatloaf, but to be honest I wasn’t bowled over by any one recipe that I saw anywhere. I then decided I would just do it on my own and see how it would come as far as flavor. To me ground turkey is one of those meats that needs seasoning and moisture, so I ended up putting a few things together and came up with this particular recipe of my own.
Turkey Meatloaf
1 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (about 2 pieces of white bread, crusts removed)
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon ketchup
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon tomato paste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, add the vegetable oil and heat the oil until it is shimmering. Add the shallot and garlic and cook, stirring often, until the shallot has softened and is fragrant, about 2 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and allow the mixture to cool.
In a large bowl, add the bread crumbs and the milk and allow it to sit for about 5 minutes. Add the cooled vegetables, the egg, the ground turkey, the Worcestershire sauce, the 1/4 cup of ketchup, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Mix the ingredients together by hand until they are just blended. Form the mixture into a loaf and place the loaf in a baking pan or on a baking sheet. Mix the remaining ketchup and tomato paste together in a small bowl and spread over the top of the meatloaf to coat it well. Bake the meatloaf in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a thermometer inserted into the meatloaf registers 170 degrees. Remove the meatloaf from the pan to a platter and allow it to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
As is the case with any meatloaf, you can always add different ingredients that you like to give it some extra flavor. If you are going for something leaner, you could certainly add different vegetables, like grated carrots and onions. If you want a different flavor, try topping it with bacon or putting crumbled up cooked bacon into the meatloaf. You could also add a cup of mushrooms you have processed in the food processor to give the meatloaf another layer of flavor. There are a lot of things you can do, but this one was pretty basic and came out with really good flavor. We even made a little gravy out of some chicken stock and had it with the turkey and mashed potatoes. Of course, the turkey meatloaf is great for meatloaf sandwiches for lunch or dinner in the following days.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Sean has been asking me to make turkey for weeks, but until recently unless you bought a whole turkey around here you couldn’t really get anything at the price of turkey when the holidays are not coming around can be really high so I have been putting it off for a few weeks. Last week when I was shopping I noticed our Stop and Shop and a few turkey breast halves at a really reasonable price. They were about 3 pounds each and one of them easily provided enough for a meal for just the three of us, so I picked up two (one went right into the freezer for later use) and knew I would be able to satisfy Sean’s urge for turkey. As luck would have, the latest issue of Cook’s Country has an interesting recipe for turkey breast that I wanted to try that is called turkey in a pot with gravy.This recipe promises a moist bird with some really good gravy, so it was certainly worth a shot. The original recipe uses a whole turkey breast and I adjusted it down since I was only making a half, but I have posted the original recipe here if you want to try a whole one.
Turkey in a Pot with Gravy
1 (7-pound) bone-in whole turkey breast, wings discarded, trimmed
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
6 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups chicken broth
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 250 degrees. Using kitchen shears, trim any rib bones that extend beyond the underside of the turkey breast. If any backbone pieces are still attached to the underside of the turkey, remove them as well. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels and season it all over with salt and pepper.
Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven set over medium-high heat until the oil is just smoking. Add the turkey, skin side down, and cook until the breast is well browned, about 12 to 16 minutes, rolling it from side to side as needed to make for even browning. Transfer the turkey to a plate and set it aside. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the pot. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, thyme and bay leaf to the pot and cook until the vegetables are well browned, about 7 to 10 minutes.
Return the turkey and any accumulated juices to the pot, skin side up. Off the heat, place a large sheet of aluminum foil over the pot and press the edges to seal the foil, then cover the pot tightly with the lid. Transfer the pot to the oven and cook until the thickest part of the turkey breast registers 155 degrees on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the turkey, about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours.
Remove the pot from the oven and heat the broiler. Uncover the pot (be careful, the handles will be very hot as well as the lid) and brush the turkey with the melted butter. When the broiler is heated, return the pot to the oven and broil the turkey until the skin is golden brown, about 8 to 15 minutes, rotating the pot as needed for even browning. Remove the pot from the oven. Transfer the turkey to a carving board, tent the turkey loosely with foil, and allow it to rest while making the gravy.
Place the pot over medium-high heat, bring the contents to a boil and cook until almost all of the liquid has evaporated, about 8 to 15 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook until it is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook at a strong simmer, stirring often, until the gravy is thickened and measures about 2 cups, about 15 to 18 minutes. Strain the gravy through a fine-mesh strainer set over a medium saucepan; discard the solids. Season the gravy with salt and pepper to taste. Carve the turkey and re-warm the gravy, if needed, and serve it with the turkey.
Cooking the turkey at the low temperature in the oven after browning helps to ensure that you get a moister turkey in the end and then putting it under the broiler for a bit for some additional browning gives you great, crispy skin as well. The gravy had great flavor as well thanks to the concentration you get from letting all the liquid evaporate before you make your roux. Everything about it was perfect and of course we had some stuffing, mashed potatoes and vegetables for our little mini pre-Thanksgiving meal. There were even some leftovers after just making the half breast so we could have turkey sandwiches for lunch the next day (always a favorite of mine). I may do this again with the other half breast I have in the freezer.
That’s all I have for today, check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Very often when I make chili I only use ground turkey to do it. We like the flavor of the chili and there is less fat and grease to deal with during the cooking process. I was looking for a recipe that would be just a little bit different from the standard recipe I have been using for years for chili when I cam across this one at myrecipes.com. There are just some slight differences in this recipe from the one I normally use, but you can adapt this recipe to make it as hot or as mild as you would like.
Turkey Black Bean Chili
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 poblano chile, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground turkey
2 cans (28 ounces each) diced tomatoes
2 cans (15 ounces each) black beans, rinsed and drained
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons agave nectar or 2 teaspoons sugar
Juice of 1 lime
Kosher salt
Shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
Sour cream (optional)
Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. Saute the onion, bell pepper, poblano chile and the garlic, stirring often, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the ground turkey, increase the heat to high and cook, stirring often and breaking the meat into chunks until the meat is no longer pink, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Stir in the diced tomatoes, the black beans, tomato paste, chili powder, ground cumin and the agave nectar or sugar. Bring the chili to a boil, stirring often. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover, stirring occasionally, and cook until all the flavors are blended, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir in the lime juice. Check the seasonings and add kosher salt if desired or necessary. Serve the chili with shredded cheese and sour cream.
This recipe carries a little more heat to it than the one I had made in the past, thanks to the poblano pepper, but I really liked it and so did Michelle, who is the real chili lover in our family. You can always leave out the poblano if you prefer to have it a little milder. I used the sugar instead of the agave nectar because that is what I had on hand and it did help to cut down the acidity of the tomatoes. The lime juice really adds to the dish as well. I also seasoned the ground turkey before putting it in the chili with some Montreal chicken seasoning for some extra flavor because I find that ground turkey alone can be kind of bland, even in chili, but you can always season it in another manner if you choose or not at all and I think you will still get pretty good flavor out of this recipe. Of course, the flavor gets even better after a day or two and it has been great for lunches or even just as a snack with some tortilla chips.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
I have been on something of a turkey burger kick lately, wanting to try out different recipes that can bring flavor to a healthier alternative to the regular beef hamburgers. I have tried a few different things, and then I found this recipe at allrecipes.com for a very easy turkey burger that makes use of two things I really like on a burger – caramelized onions and a nice, spicy mayonnaise. The recipe itself can’t get much easier than this and you can make the mayo ahead of time so you have it ready to go when you put the burgers on the table.
Kickin’ Turkey Burgers with Caramelized Onions and Spicy Sweet Mayo
For the Spicy Mayo:
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup coarse-grain mustard
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
Hot sauce, to taste
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
For the Turkey Burgers:
1 1/4 pounds ground turkey
1/2 onion, grated
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons barbecue sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon Montreal Chicken seasoning
1 teaspoon dry mesquite seasoning
For the Caramelized Onions:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, sliced
Hamburger buns, for serving
For the mayonnaise, combine the mayonnaise, coarse-grain mustard, honey, horseradish hot sauce and cayenne pepper in a bowl until it is well blended. Adjust seasoning with the hot sauce to suit your tastes. Cover the mayonnaise and refrigerate it until the burgers are ready.
For the turkey burgers, combine the ground turkey, grated onion, jalapeno pepper, barbecue sauce, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, Montreal Chicken seasoning and the mesquite seasoning together in a large bowl. Form the mixture into 5 or 6 patties.
For the caramelized onions, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet set over medium heat until it is shimmering. Add the sliced onions and cook and stir the onions until the onions have softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue cooking and stirring until the onions are very tender and dark brown, about 15 to 20 minutes more.
In a large skillet set over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and heat until it is shimmering. Add the turkey patties to the skillet and cook, turning them once, until they reach an internal temperature of 180 degrees when an instant-read thermometer is inserted into the middle of the burger, about 5 to 6 minutes per side. Serve the turkey burgers on the hamburger buns and top each burger with caramelized onions. Pass the spicy mayo around the table for additional topping.
You can always add any of your own favorite toppings to the burgers as well, such as any type of cheese, pickles, tomato, lettuce, bacon or anything that you might like. The spicy mayo turned out really well and added great flavor to the burgers. I have even used it on other sandwiches for topping it tastes great. The burger itself was moist and flavorful and had a really nice smoky taste with a hint of heat from the jalapeno and the mesquite seasoning. Of course, everyone in my house loves caramelized onions and that just made the burger even better for everyone. It’s definitely a great recipe to try when you want to jazz up your turkey burgers. The tropical slaw recipe from yesterday would quite nicely with these as a side dish.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Sean had been asking me to make turkey burgers one night for dinner because he really wanted to try them out. I figured it was a great alternative to ground beef and was happy to oblige, but I really needed to figure out how to get some great flavor into the turkey burgers. To me, ground turkey has a tendency to be somewhat flavorless unless you add something to it. I love to use it in chili and meatballs, so I really wanted to find a good combination of spices and vegetables to add to the burgers to make them great. I looked at a lot of recipes and really just ended up taking what I liked best from all of them and putting them together to make my own turkey burgers.
Turkey Burgers
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1 shallot, diced
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon McCormick’s Montreal Chicken seasoning
1/4 cup chicken broth
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Your favorite slices of cheese, optional
Hamburger rolls, for serving
Sliced red onion, for serving
Sliced pickles, for serving
Combine the ground turkey, diced shallot, egg yolk, chopped parsley, minced garlic, hot sauce and Montreal chicken seasoning with clean hands until everything is well blended but not overmixed. Add a little bit of the chicken broth at a time and mix it into the turkey mixture (you can add a little bit more if it seems like it needs more moisture). Shape the turkey mixture into 4 or 5 equally sized patties. Season both sides of the patties with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large skillet set over medium heat until the oil is shimmering. Place the patties into the skillet and cook the turkey burgers until they are golden brown and cooked all the way through, about 5 to 7 minutes per side. If you are using any cheese, place slices of cheese on the burgers and cover the skillet for 1 minute or until the cheese is completely melted. Transfer the burgers to a clean plate and serve, along with the hamburger rolls or buns, sliced red onion, pickles or any other accompaniments that you like with your burgers.
I think everyone was a little skeptical as to how flavorful these burgers would turn out, but I have to say that I thought they were great. The turkey burgers were moist and had great flavor. I think the seasonings and that little bit of chicken broth really helped to make a difference. Of course, the great thing about any type of burger is that you can always add whatever you like best to the mix and get the flavors you want. I think the little bit of heat from the hot sauce combined well with the shallots and garlic. You could easily add other vegetables to the mix instead, like grated carrot or some spinach and it would be very good.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
I took a few days off from blogging to get caught up on some work, but I didn’t forget about my last meatball recipe to share along the way. The classic Italian meatballs sure went a long way and we had them for 4 dinners and a few lunches as well, so we got a lot out of the $14.00 I spent on the ground turkey and turkey sausage. Not only do the meatballs taste great, but you have a lot of things to do with them, including this recipe that Giada di Laurentiis shared on the Food Network for turkey meatballs in a raspberry-balsamic barbecue sauce. Giada’s original recipe offers these up as mini meatballs to use for appetizers, but I changed it around slightly and used bigger meatballs and we had them for dinner when I made them.
Turkey Meatballs with Raspberry-Balsamic Barbecue Sauce
2 cups frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed
3/4 cup ketchup
2/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
3 tablespoons packed golden brown sugar
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black
Zest of 1 small lemon
24 to 36 Classic Italian Turkey Meatballs
For the barbecue sauce: In a food processor or blender, blend together the raspberries, ketchup, raspberry jam, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, salt, pepper and lemon zest until the mixture is smooth. Pour the sauce into a heavy medium saucepan. Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium heat. Cook the sauce until it is slightly thickened, about 6 to 7 minutes. Place the meatballs in the saucepan with the sauce and cook over medium heat until the meatballs have cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the meatballs and sauce into a serving bowl and serve.
As I said, Giada makes her smaller to use as an appetizer and threads them on skewers with mango and radicchio, which would make a very nice appetizer if you want to put some out for a party or buffet. I think they worked just as well as a meal on their own over some rice. The sauce had a combination of the sweetness of the raspberries from the jam and the fruit with a bit of barbecue sauce flavor from the ketchup, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. It was a very nice sauce that tasted great, though I would recommend if you are not a fan of raspberry seeds you really try to find seedless jam to use. Overall, I think it was a pretty good dish and we made this one and some of the turkey meatballs in a simple turkey gravy as well over rice or noodles to finish up the meatballs.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. I have some new things to share that aren’t meatballs so I’ll be posting some new stuff next time out I think everyone will enjoy. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
You would think we would have gotten sick of meatballs by now, wouldn’t you? Surprisingly enough we managed to keep on with our meatball theme this week, using another recipe from Giada di Laurentiis that makes use of the classic Italian turkey meatballs I made earlier in the week. For this recipe, just like the one yesterday for meatball paninis, we kept it very easy and decided to go the pizza route. This one is for pizza Bianca, which is a white pie without any red sauce, perfect for those who may not like the acidity or flavor of tomato sauce. You can use some of the meatballs from the original recipe that have not been put into sauce, or just take some of the sauced meatballs and cut them up if you want just a hint of the sauce flavor. In either case, it is a very flavorful pizza.
Pizza Bianca with Kale and Turkey Meatballs
For the Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic, smashed and peeled
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the Pizza:
Extra-virgin olive oil, for oiling the baking sheet and for drizzling
One 1-pound ball pizza dough (store-bought or homemade, such as Food Processor Pizza Dough), at room temperature
3/4 cup coarsely grated mozzarella
8 Classic Italian Turkey Meatballs, halved
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
2 medium leaves kale, ribs removed, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
For the sauce: In a heavy small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and stir constantly for 1 minute. Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly. Add the nutmeg, bay leaf and garlic. Whisk the mixture over medium heat until the mixture thickens to sauce consistency and is smooth, about 2 to 5 minutes. Stir in the salt and pepper.
Remove and discard the bay leaf and the garlic.
For the pizza: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Oil a heavy nonstick 16- by 10-inch baking sheet with olive oil.
Using your fingers, spread the dough over the prepared baking sheet into a rectangle shape. Drizzle the dough with olive oil. Spoon the sauce on top and spread the sauce evenly across the dough, leaving a 1-inch border around the dough. Sprinkle the mozzarella on top. Arrange the meatballs, cut-side down, on top of the mozzarella and sauce. Sprinkle the pizza with the Parmesan cheese. Bake the pizza for 15 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and add the kale in an even layer on top of the meatballs. Drizzle the kale with olive oil and sprinkle the top with salt. Bake the pizza until the kale is crispy, about 10 minutes longer.
Cut the pizza into squares and serve.
One thing I did differently with this recipe, since I did not have any kale on hand, was that I used some spinach instead. Sean and Michelle both like spinach better anyway so this worked well for us, but if you really want the kale I would think it would turn out nice and crispy and taste great on the pizza. Everyone loved this pizza, not just because of the meatballs but because of the white sauce as well. The sauce had just that hint of nutmeg to give it a really unique flavor and it just seemed to go really well with the meatballs and spinach. Sean asked that I make this one again and maybe try another pizza combination with the sauce from this recipe, which sounded like a good idea to me.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
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