Cheesy Biscuit Turkey Pot Pie

Here's a really excellent way to use up two types of leftovers...Thanksgiving turkey and last night's Baked Potato Soup.

First off, let me just say that the turkey I used for this dish was from Thanksgiving, but Michael had frozen it on Friday. I did not use turkey that was just hangin' out in the fridge for over a week for this dish!

Secondly, this is one of those double 2DG wins! I used last night's Baked Potato Soup in the filling for this dish.

Here's how it went...
Similarly to last night's soup, I cooked some chopped carrots, onions and celery in 3 T butter for about 10 minutes to soften them.  I added some chopped fresh parsley, rosemary and oregano from the garden while the veggies were cooking. Then I sprinkled about 1/4 c. flour on them and stirring constantly, cooked the mix for about 2 minutes. I gradually stirred in 2 c. chicken/turkey stock combined into a nice gravy. then I added about a cup of last night's soup, and stirred it and let it thicken up. While that was simmering, I chopped up the remaining turkey and got about 3 - 4 cups out of it. This got added to the filling, along with a few handsful of frozen peas. Let the bubble away while the oven preheats and you work on the cheese biscuits.

If you don't have buttermilk on hand, make your own "sour milk" by putting 1 Tblsp vinegar or lemon juice (I used lemon juice) to a cup, and fill the cup with milk. Stir and set aside for about 5 minutes so it can "sour". Meanwhile, combine 2 c. flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Add 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese and 1/4 c. parmesan cheese and toss to coat cheese mix with flour mix. Dice 3/4 stick of cold butter and combine with flour/cheese mix, using pastry knife or fingertips until mix is course.

Before you add the sour milk to the flour, get your filling into your baking dishes. I managed to get 3 good sized individual servings and 1 deep dish pie plate out of mine. When that's done and you're ready to put them in the oven, go back and finish the biscuit dough. I recommend this because the acid in the sour milk will activate the leavening power of the baking powder and soda, so I always wait until the last possible second to add the milk to the mix, since I don't want all the rising power of my biscuits to be used up before I even get them in the oven.

To finish the biscuit dough, add the sour milk to the flour/cheese mix and stir until just combined and a loose dough forms. Drop the dough by spoonsful (I use an ice cream scoop) onto the fillings in the dishes.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 35 - 40 minutes until the biscuits are nice and brown. I rotated mine front to back and top to bottom after 20 minutes to ensure even baking.

Mike asked me to make a few individual pies so he could give them to his grandmother and 2 friends, so I did that and also made a bigger one for the two of us. I filled all of the dishes at the same time, using a big ladle, to make sure I'd have them all relatively even. I also did all the biscuits at the same time too, to make sure they were all fairly even.

If you have any leftover cranberry relish, serve it up with this!

Enjoy!

Pasta Primavera with Chicken Sausage

Tuesday I was jonesing for some pasta. I've cut back on carbs since the beginning of the year. Not totally doing the Atkins thing, but cut way back on 'em. So since we were getting another produce delivery from Orlando Organics on Wednesday, I decided to use up all the remnants of our produce and use a half box of whole wheat penne on the shelf. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I went to the grocery store and actually only bought TWO things! I got some of Publix's Greenwise Mild Chicken Italian Sausage and a grated cheese blend with Romano, Parmesan and Asiago.
First, I browned the sausage on all sides in a cast iron skillet. When that was done, I took it out and using the same skillet, browned some chopped onion, garlic, bell pepper, all sprinkled with salt, in olive oil. Put in some chopped carrot and parsnips. When they were somewhat cooked, I sprinkled about a tablespoon of flour over the whole thing and mixed it in to make a little bit of a roux. Then in went some frozen chicken stock. I sliced the cooled sausage, which was mostly cooked, but not quite thoroughly, and put that back in the skillet with the veggies and stock.
While the sausage was cooling, I put on a pot of water for the penne. Salted it. When it boiled, I put in the half box of penne and cooked it for a minute less than the box said. When it's done, save some of the pasta water. You can use it to add a little juice to the sauce if necessary. Drain the pasta and put it back in the pot.
Dump the veggie/sausage/sauce in with the pasta, and toss. Add some of the pasta water if it's too dry. Sprinke on some of the grated cheese blend, salt and pepper to taste, and serve!
Enjoy!
-J

Turkey Mushroom Veggie Risotto

I actually made this earlier in the week, Tuesday, I think, but haven't had time to post this. The base for this was on Simply Recipes, but I added some more stuff to it. Oh, about the rice...I picked up a short grained rice at the grocery store for about 77 cents. I compared this to the special "risotto rice" that I saw that was priced much much higher, and it looked the same to me! It works just fine for risotto. And you need to know, risotto is a very "mindful" dish! You will need to give it almost constant attention, and I use the time to "meditate" a little bit! Hee hee...

I used: Turkey Broth I made from our Thanksgiving turkey, veggie stock I had in the freezer, a chopped onion, and sage I had on hand, leftover sliced portabello mushrooms, a zucchini I had in the fridge that I needed to use, chopped, some leftover creamed spinach that I made for a pot luck dinner on Monday, most of the remaining turkey in the fridge, and some grated parmesan cheese.


I mixed 2 c of Turkey Broth, 1 c. of veggie broth, and 2 c. of water and heated this to a boil. Turn this down and keep it at a simmer. You want the liquid to be hot when you add it to the rice.

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a big skillet until it stops foaming a litte. Add onion and about a cup of sliced mushrooms to the butter. Salt them a little and let them sweat until the onions are translucent. Add 3 cloves of garlic, minced, about a Tbsp of fresh sage, and 1 1/2 cups of short grained rice. Stir it a few times and let it cook for about 2 - 3 minutes.

You will now add the stock slowly, a little at a time. I use a ladle that holds a half a cup, so I know how much I'm putting in. First add a cup of the hot stock. Stir it with a wooden spoon until most of the liquid is absorbed. Get used to doing this. You'll be doing it for quite a while!

When most of that liquid has been absorbed, add another half cup of hot stock. Stir again until the rice absorbs most of the stock. The short grained rice will release starch as it cooks, and this will make the dish nice and thick and creamy. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

When you get about halfway thru the 5 cups of stock, you can start adding some of the additional veggies you have on hand. At this point, I added the chopped zuchini. Stir stir stir, again until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add another ladle of stock and stir some more. When you've got about a cup of stock left, add the chopped turkey and a half cup of stock. Stir until it's mostly absorbed. I added the last 1/2 c. of stock and stirred that until it was absorbed. Then I added the rest of the creamed spinach, about  a cup, and stirred that in until it was heated thru. This thickens it up a lot!

Toss in a good sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese, and if you want, about a Tblsp. of butter, but that's not really necessary for this risotto, even though I think finishing with butter is a LAW of risotto making! Stir it in and marvel at the creaminess.

Serve and enjoy!
-J

ps...no pix of this one, sorry! And be sure to sample this when you're almost out of stock. You want to check the rice to make sure it's cooked enough. If you run out of stock and feel you need more, heat up some water before adding it a ladle full at a time.

Chicken stock

If it's Sunday, and I don't have a million other things to do or places to go, and we happen to be out of stock, I love making stock! We've used up all the chicken stock we had in the freezer, and it's a beautiful fall day in central Florida (highs in the low-mid 80s), and I don't have to be anywhere at all, so there is stock on the stove. It makes my little 2nd day gourmetish heart smile to use this stuff up!

OK,  I admit. We use a LOT of stock. I make chicken, vegetable and beef stock. We use it in gravies, sauces, casseroles, rice, prima vera, even egg drop soup! In fact, we're out of veggie stock too, so I'll be making more of that fairly soon too.

Whenever we have chicken, whether it's fried, wings, rotisserie, whatever, I always throw the bones and the "extra bits" in a freezer bag and put them in the freezer. When we're out of frozen stock or I have 1 or 2 full bags of bits, it's time to make more.

Get your biggest pot and a collander. I put the goods in the collander so that when it's time to remove the bits from the stock, it's really easy. No fishing required! Put the collander in your stock pot. Dump most of your chicken bits in the collander. Grab some leftover raw onion and toss that in on top of the chicken. Get those inner stalks of celery you weren't going to use for anything else. Also get the leafy tops or the big tough bottoms you weren't going to use either. Put them in with the chicken and onion. Got baby carrots or regular carrots taking up space in the produce drawer? In they go. Now put in the rest of the chicken bits. Add some salt and pepper.

Pour enough water over the bits and pieces in the collander to come about halfway up the stock pot. You can pick up the collander to see how much water you've got in there. I tend to over fill the pot and then when it comes to a boil it runs over a bit. If that happens to you, no big deal, just wipe it up as best you can and clean it up later.

Turn the burner to high heat until it comes to a boil, then turn it down and simmer for about an hour. I like to stir things around once in a while, turning things up from the bottom just to make sure everybody gets some time in the spa. Enjoy that lovely smell wafting thru the house!!!

We have some great herbs growing in pots out on the patio, so while the stock is cooking, I'm going shopping in our own herb garden! Whoo! I cut some parsley, some thyme, some sage and some rosemary. After giving them a good wash, I tie them together with some kitchen string, making a "bouquet garni" and set them aside. Don't put them in yet!!

After about an hour, remove the collander and place it to drain in a small bowl or pie pan. After it's drained, you can add the stock in the bowl back to the pot. At this point, I like to turn up the heat and vigorously boil the stock for a while to let it cook down and condense some. Use your judgement as to how much you want it to cook down. The longer you let it go, the stronger and richer the flavor but you may need to use some extra water later when you use the stock in your recipes.

When you're satisfied with how condensed your stock is, turn off the heat. Now drop in your bundle of herbs and let the stock sit for a while. You don't want to put the herbs in while you're cooking the stock at high boil or the poor little guys will be destroyed and the flavor won't have a chance to develop. Just let the whole thing cool. The residual heat will be enough for the herbs.

Once it's cool, take out the bouquet garni and set it aside. Strain your stock into a medium sized bowl. Now put your little herb bundle back in and place a paper towel over the top. Put the bowl in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight to really let everything blend together and devlop flavor. When you're ready to use or freeze the stock, remove the paper towel, which will help you to remove the chicken fat that has risen to the top of the stock.

Use the stock as you'd like, either now or put it in the freezer for later. I like to freeze my stock in plastic ice trays so that they're easy to use later. Ladle the stock into your ice trays and put them in the freezer overnight. Label a freezer bag with Chicken Stock the date,put in the frozen stock cubes and stash in the freezer for another day. In this pic, I'm using 2 cups of the stock in the brown rice we're having for dinner. The rest is freezer-bound.

Enjoy!

-J

Seafood bisque

I finally got around to using up the assorted shellfish shells I'd frozen over the past several months. I had shells from shrimp, crabs, clams and mussels tucked away and intended to make bisque when I had the time. I must say, this did take most of the afternoon, but man was it worth it! And the aroma! I got hungrier and hungrier as the afternoon went on, just smelling the stock! And that was only the first part...

Thanks to Elise at SimplyRecipes, I had a great shellfish stock from which to build the bisque. In fact, this seafood bisque is based on her Crab Bisque recipe with some slight modifications.


I put the shells into a pot and covered them with about another inch of cold water. Gently heat them to just below a boil, then let them not quite simmer for about an hour. I turned it down and let it keep warm until I was ready to continue.

Add some onion, celery, carrot, parsley, thyme and bay leaf, white wine vinegar, about 2 Tbsp. tomato paste and some smoked peppercorns. Let that go for 30 - 45 mins. Let this cool for quite a while. Strain and set aside.

Brown about a third cup of shallots and some garlic and mushrooms in 2 Tbsp butter in the stockpot. When translucent, work in 2T tomato paste and 1/4 cup white rice. Let the rice brown for a minute or two. Add some white wine vinegar and the reserved 4 cups of seafood stock from earlier. Stir. Let this go for about 25 - 30 mins.

Add a can of minced clams with the juice. Stir to combine. Gently put in a pound of fresh mussels. Be sure to check them first to make sure they're all closed up tight. Almost as soon as you put them in, they'll start to open up. Let them simmer for about 5 - 6 minutes, then when they seem to be just about all opened up, remove the soup from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes.

Remove the mussels from the soup. Set them aside.
CAREFULLY add the soup to a blender (do this in batches if necessary) and blend until smooth. You can also use a stick blender for this but be careful with the hot liquid. When smooth, put back in the soup pot. Slowly add about a cup and a half of half and half or cream, whisking as  you pour it in.

Taste and season as needed. I used a tiny bit of Old Bay Seasoning in mine. A touch of nutmeg would be a good alternative.

Remove the meat from about half of the mussels. (Be sure to DISCARD any that do not open up.) Put some of the meat in the serving bowls and ladle bisque over it, or put it in the soup pot with the bisque. Either way, after the bisque is in the bowl, add some of the whole mussels in the shell to each serving. Garnish with croutons.

Just in case we wanted to add it, I put some Old Bay and some hot sauce out on the table when we were ready to eat. I am proud to say that neither of us added a thing to this delicious bisque!

Enjoy!