Cooking for one or two can be fun even if you end up with half empty cans of things. Next time, I’ll use the entire can of cream of mushroom soup and a bit more milk to end up with a creamy sauce.
Diced turkey breast (or a combination of white and dark meat), frozen green peas, green onion, cream of mushroom soup/milk, a dash of garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. Not much of a recipe.
Baked until the top was browned and the inside was hot and bubbly.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
I went easy on the Thanksgiving spread this year. (Okay, I was lazy and couldn’t be bothered doing much except the bare necessities.)
Although, I DID make some giblet gravy to serve over the mashed potatoes. The coleslaw was from a bagged mix and dessert ended up being an apple instead of the apple pie and vanilla ice cream I had planned on.
Filling and delicious with lots of leftovers ahead.
The website where I found the ‘for one’ cake recipes also has savoury dishes. Especially pasta dishes.
Like this Ham and Pea Alfredo for One … I made it with linguine
I improvised this Turkey Cutlet Parmigiana with a quick and easy marinara sauce and one of the cutlets from my freezer.
Turkey Cutlet Parmigiana for One
Turkey Cutlet Parmigiana for One
1 turkey cutlet
1/4 cup grated Mozzarella cheese
100 gm dry pasta, cooked according to package directions
Quick Marinara Sauce for One – enough to dress about 100 gm dried pasta
1 cup canned, diced tomatoes, with juice
1/2 tbsp butter or margarine
1/4-1/2 cup water, as needed
1/8 tsp minced onion
1/8 tsp dried oregano
pinch of garlic powder
salt to taste
fresh oregano (sprig) and 2-3 fresh basil leaves, torn (optional)
sugar, as needed
In a large saute pan, combine the tomatoes, butter, 1/4 cup water, onion, oregano and garlic. Bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer, cover the pan, and simmer for 10 minutes. Puree the tomato sauce.
Add the fresh herbs and a pinch or two of salt. Add more water if needed. Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes. taste and add sugar and salt, as needed.
Add the cooked pasta and toss in the sauce.
Push the pasta to one side of the pan. Add the turkey cutlet, sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top and put the lid on the pan. When the cutlet has warmed through and the cheese has melted, transfer to a serving plate. Garnish with fresh herbs.
PICTURE HEAVY: I totally forgot to post this until today. The turkey was thawed and cooked more than a month ago.
I finally got around to cooking one of the two turkeys in my freezer. Since it was bought frozen ($12 CDN for 12 lbs), it was thawed, broken down and cooked so that the results could be refrozen to extend their use and so that I wouldn’t be eating turkey for ten days straight. It was a lot of work over several days but the results were worth it, I think.
The traditional turkey plate – Roasted turkey breast, mashed potatoes with home made gravy, home made cranberry sauce and salad with sun-dried tomato dressing (by Kraft)
The Details
1. Breasts (boned out)
– one of the breasts and the two tenderloins were cut into 11 cutlets
– the second breast was seasoned with salt and pepper, drizzled with olive oil and roasted
Turkey cutlets
Roasted boneless turkey breast
2. Wings (barring the tips) separated into two, drumsticks
– marinated overnight in VHS honey garlic marinade and roasted
3. Thighs (boned out)
– ground up with trimmings from the turkey carcasse to produce 6 x ~95 gm patties
Turkey patty served on home made enriched buns
4. Carcass, along with the turkey neck and the heart
– turned into 22 cups of stock and ~400gm picked meat, 4 cups and about 100gm of the meat, plus the heart, were used for matzoh ball soup
5. Liver
– sliced, sauteed in butter and served on sourdough bread
Lately, I’ve taken to experimenting with various breads of the world … tortillas, fatayer, khachapuri. Not only are they tasty, but they’re filling and inexpensive and, by switching up the fillings, they’re rarely boring.
Gozleme are Turkish flat-breads, rolled very thinly, like burek or strudel dough, and then folded over or around greens (spinach or beet tops) and cheese (feta, cheddar or other hard melting cheeses), seasoned meat mixtures, sauteed mushrooms or even seasoned potatoes and then brushed with olive oil or clarified butter and sauteed in a pan.
The dough may be unleavened or leavened (yeast or baking powder) and the liquid used may be water, milk or yogurt.
For my first attempt, I decided on a simple recipe in which the dough is made with self-raising/rising flour, yogurt and a bit of salt. For the filling, I just used some grated cheddar.
The dough was a bit wetter than I expected but I resisted adding additional flour and used as little flour as possible to do the kneading. The results were successful … a smooth, silky dough that was fairly easy to roll out to the size called for (20-25 cm/8-10 inches).
The only problem was the cooking temperature. Knowing my stove, I was leery about cooking the flatbread over medium-high heat, so I turned the heat down to medium. Even after only one minute, in my cast iron frying pan, the flat-bread was almost charred black, so I decided to cook the rest of the flat-breads over medium-LOW heat, for 1-2 minutes per side, until they were golden.
I also played around with the shaping and found that the simplest method, a circle of dough half covered with the filling and folded over into a half moon was the most successful as the more elaborate folded rectangle or square packets ended up with the thicker (multi-layered) side not frying in the time expected and resulted in an underdone/gummy flatbread.
I had tucked away some turkey leftovers (turkey gravy, diced breast meat and roasted carcass) at Thanksgiving and decided to finally clear them out of my freezer.
The cream of turkey rice soup came about because I inadvertently let my turkey stock boil (company came, I THOUGHT I had turned off the heat and covered the pot to let it cool). An attempt to clarify the approximately two liters of stock by adding a single beaten egg white, boiling and straining through cheese cloth … did NOT work.
Before and After “Clarifying” Stock
I added some leftover mushroom gravy made with the turkey stock, to a large saucepan, about 4 cups of stock, 1/4 cups of raw long grain rice and a few veggies. No actual cream or potatoes were used.
Not pretty, but delicious.
Turkey Pot Pie with a lard pastry crust
Parts of the world need rain but here, in south-western Ontario, we’ve had rain 4 out of the last 5 days, including this weekend. A bit of sun would be greatly appreciated. Since I have lots of food in the freezer, I decided to take a break from cooking … though I did want to use up the last few leaves of kale in my crisper, and some of the sweet peppers I bought on sale (4-pack for $1.88) since areas were getting ‘soft’. The carrots are getting a bit tired too. And, for a change of pace, I soaked some white quinoa to add to the soup in place of rice, potatoes or pasta/noodles.
The result, a Veggie, Turkey and Quinoa soup with the tiny bit of turkey breast left in the fridge after eating it for most of the past week.
If you have some diced tomatoes (canned or fresh) or marinara sauce, you can add that to the soup as well. I just had some tomato paste, so, with that, dried thyme and chicken stock, I made this delicious soup.
Work lunches need bread and since I prefer buns, I made a batch of yeast dough and played with the shaping. Some of it ended up as kaiser rolls (~70 gm) and the rest … well, with Halloween and Thanksgiving (US) ahead, and the Canadian one behind, I shaped some of the dough into pretty little pumpkins (~50 gm) with a whole clove for a stem. For a bit of texture/nutrition/fun, I added a cup of finely ground and sifted rolled oats in the dough in place of a cup of all purpose flour.
Rolled Oats Flour Bread
Rolled Oats/Ground Oatmeal Bread – makes ~840 gms of dough
1 cup milk, scalded
2 tbsp butter
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp sugar, divided
1/4 cup warm water
4 cups flour (1 cup rolled oats, fine ground and ~3 cups AP flour), divided
1 tsp salt
Scald the milk in a pyrex measuring cup in the microwave. Stir in the butter and let cool until just barely warm.
In a small bowl, combine the warm water and 1 tsp out of the total sugar. Stir in or sprinkle on the dry yeast. Let sit in a warm place to proof until the yeast is nice and foamy (5-10 min).
In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of the finely ground rolled oats, 1 cup of the flour and the salt.
Whisk in the warm milk mixture and the proofed yeast. Beat well with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth batter. Gradually stir in the rest of the flour, starting with about 1/3 of a cup at a time, until it’s too thick to stir and forms a ball around your wooden spoon.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, using part of the reserved flour. Knead for about 10 minutes. Cover with the mixing bowl, and let rest for about 5 min. Continue kneading for another 5 minutes until you have a firm but supple dough. Shape the dough into a round ball.
Add a couple of tsp of vegetable oil to a large bowl, place the ball of dough into the bowl and roll around several times to coat the ball of dough. Cover with a sheet of plastic wrap or a damp towel (so the surface doesn’t dry out) and place in a warm place to rise until doubled, about 45 min. An electric oven with just the light on works well.
Preheat the oven to 400 deg F.
Shaping:
I cut the dough in half (>400 gms each), and shaped one half into 8 (~50 gm) pumpkin rolls and the other half into 6 (~70 gm) kaiser rolls. I let the rolls proof for about 30 minutes in a warm place, covered, then brushed the top with a whole egg beaten well with 1 tbsp of cold water, and then baked the rolls until well browned (15-20 min) and cooked through.
Let cool on wire rack.
For Pigs in Blankets:
300 gms of dough was rolled out into a 6 inch by 12 inch rectangle and cut across the short side into 1 inch strips and then wrapped around each Jumbo hot dog. The wrapped sausages were placed on a baking sheet and baked, unglazed, for 15-18 min, until the top was a golden brown and the bottom was firm and lightly golden as well.
Tasty sandwiches sometimes need a spread, like mayonnaise, and since I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store, I made a batch of blender mayonnaise. It failed on the first try, so I poured the oily mixture into a measuring cup, added a 3rd egg yolk, a squirt of French’s mustard and a bit of lemon juice back to the blender cup and then slowly poured in the failed oil mixture while my immersion blender was running again. Success. (Every once in a while I get a mayo fail, but I never throw it away. It’s worth adding another egg yolk or 2 to get a thick creamy mayo. In fact, it may have been a bit TOO thick.)
There was one red pepper in my 4-pack, so while my oven was still hot from baking the rolls, I cut it up, brushed some oil over the top, put the pepper on a lined baking sheet and then placed the sheet under the broiler to blister and turn black in places. Peeled and added to a batch of hummus, it made for another great sandwich spread or dip for veggies or pita breads.
Red Pepper Hummus
PS: I made dessert, too, but I’ll save that for a separate post.
And, of course, dessert … cream puffs. I didn’t bother with any icing sugar etc. Just dived in.
PS: I made cranberry sauce but forgot to serve it with the meal. I’ll show you what I’m going to do with the rest of it later.
Turkey is something that I only cook a couple of times a year. Not because I don’t like it but because I buy a frozen 12-14 lb turkey, when it’s on sale, and for a single person, using up leftovers is even more challenging than for small families since I have to cook it all at once.
Turkey thawed and ready for butchering
Spatch-cocking is a good way to cut down on uneven turkey roasting. And removing the legs means when the breast is done, you can take it out of the oven, cover with foil and continue roasting the legs until they’re done.
Turkey Breast – nice and moist, 2 hrs at 350 deg F
Drumsticks
Turkey Thighs – skinned, de-boned, cut into big chunks and ground up in a food processor while still slightly frozen … or at least chilly
Turkey Tacos – Half a diced onion was sauteed in oil and/or schmaltz (chicken fat), then the ground turkey meat (~710 gm) was added and cooked until no longer pink. I added 1 tbsp of taco seasoning for every 454 g of meat and cooked it all for a few more minutes. The cooked meat mixture can be used for taco bowls or lettuce wraps.
Just a quick info dump for those who aren’t familiar with chowders. A chowder is a hearty potato based soup which is often thickened with a flour roux and/or milk or cream.
For healthier alternatives, a puree of corn kernels or potatoes may be a good substitute thickener. Mixed seafood, fish or clams are seen in some versions, and there’s nothing as tasty as a chicken or turkey chowder with a decidedly southwestern or Tex-Mex twist with the addition of diced green chiles or a prepared chile verde. Ham and potato chowders are a great choice for meat lovers while for vegetarians, a vegetable stock base and the addition of roasted corn, sweet red peppers and even mushrooms, satisfy.
NOTE: For other chowders I’ve made in the past, search the ‘chowder’ tag in LJ and for ‘chowder’ in the search bar at the bottom of the page in WordPress.
I set aside three bbq roasted corn on the cob a while ago and, after cutting off the kernels, added the cobs to the pot along with a mix of chicken and turkey carcasses and made a very flavourful stock for the base of this chowder.
Basic Corn Chowder – serves 6-8
1 tbsp vegetable oil
6 cups vegetable stock, flavoured with corn cobs (or 4 cups of vegetable stock and 2 cups of milk, half and half or whipping cream)
3 cups roasted corn kernels, cut off the cob
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 medium carrot, peeled and finely diced (optional)
3-4 medium, potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-3/4 inch cubes
salt and pepper to taste, start with 1 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of ground black pepper and adjust at the end
Flour Slurry
2 tbsp flour and 1/4 cup of cold water
Combine the flour and water in a small jar with a lid and shake until you get a smooth mixture.
Making the Chowder
In a large saute pan, over medium heat, saute the diced onion in the vegetable oil until it’s translucent. Add the diced celery and continue sauteing for a few more minutes until the onion just begins to get some colour around the edges but does not brown.
Add the diced potatoes, stock, corn kernels, thyme and salt and pepper to the pot, cover with a lid and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
Add the slurry to the pot and continue to simmer for at least 5 minutes until the chowder is thickened. Taste and adjust for seasonings.
Serve.
Chowder Variations: For a chicken/turkey version, use a chicken or mixed poultry stock and add the shredded meat of choice (1-2 cups) along with the potatoes.
For a bacon version, use bacon fat instead of vegetable oil to saute the onions. Add about 1/2 cup of chopped crispy bacon to the pot of chowder just before serving and stir in to distribute evenly. If you prefer your bacon crunchy, sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of the bacon over each bowl as a last minute garnish.
COOKING TIP: Soup can be thickened at the BEGINNING of the cooking process by making a roux of equal parts oil/butter and flour and then adding the liquid. During the cooking process, the soup gradually thickens so care must be taken to stir to the bottom of the soup pot in case the flour settles and scorches. Or, it may be thickened at the END by adding a slurry of flour and cold water, mixed or shaken together in a small jar until no lumps remain, to the pot of soup, and letting it cook together for another 5-10 minutes until thickened. Another way to thicken soup, at the end of the cooking process, is to combine equal amounts of flour and softened butter to form a kind of paste (beurre manie or ‘kneaded butter’) and then add lumps of this mixture to the soup, stirring well so it dissolves and gradually thickens the soup.
Eight cups of corn and turkey chowder for the freezer
The answer is .. you don’t.
At least, if I do, it’s very rare these days.
Dim sum, sushi and Red Lobster are my only dining out treats, but even they are quite rare … a few times a year.
Let’s do the math of dining out in comparison to cooking at home.
The last time I went out for AYCE sushi, I spent $17 and change. And that didn’t include a $3 tip.
In comparison, I spent $10 ($14 regular price with a 30% discount 30%) on a smoked picnic shoulder ham, and another $7 for a package of 4 fresh, skinless, bone in chicken breasts. Sometimes you can find boneless chicken breasts on deep discount.
After boiling the ham, I ended up with 18 cups of broth. I used half of the broth to make 11 cups/servings of ham and bean soup. I used 2 cups of diced cooked ham in the soup and still had enough ham left over for eight generous servings for other meals.
As to the chicken breasts, which were big enough to serve two people each if just simply breaded and baked, the possible usages are plentiful. Another option is turning the meat into breaded cutlets or chicken fillets.
Admittedly, chicken and pork are the most inexpensive proteins available … $2 – 2.50 a pound. Fish and seafood are a lot pricier. And a premium steak. The savings of cooking at home aren’t as obvious, but it’s still cheaper than dining out … two meals in for the price of one meal in a restaurant.
Every time I get tempted to dine out, I do the math.
Although, being frugal in my grocery shopping means that I CAN afford to treat myself occasionally.
What’s your favourite dining out treat? Do you eat out as much as you used to 5 yrs ago, 10?
ETA: I spent $18 on this name brand (Butterball) turkey bought frozen for $1.49 a pound. Lots of breast meat, thighs turned into a spicy Indian curry dish, roasted wings and drumsticks, turkey and rice soup, giblet and rice dressing, delicious gravy and the carcass will end up in a big pot turkey stock.
Cooking is Fun ... Really!! 