Leftover Turkey Empanadas

What to do with dry leftover turkey white meat and the last pie crust (a result of making one two-crust pie and one single-crust pie...



Turkey Empanadas

Ingredients:
- 1 cup turkey meat
- 1 pre-made 9" pie crust
- 2 tbs butter
- 2 tbs flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp sage
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- salt/pepper

1. Warm milk in microwave
2. Add butter and flour to a saucepan and cook on medium low heat stirring often
3. Whisk in warm milk and cook until it thickens (whisking often).
4. Season with nutmeg & sage
5. Add chopped turkey until warm. Set aside to cool.
6. Slice pie crust into quarters, then trim the corners to form circles.
7. Scoop turkey filling into pie crust circles and fold into semi circles. Pinch edges closed
8. Bake on a cookie sheet for 25 min at 350 degrees.

Risotto with Broccoli

After reading this article about a Broccoli Rabe with Parmesan, I wanted to try something similar (unfortunately, my grocery store doesn't sell broccoli rabe)...also, hearing Parmesan made me think of a creamy sauce, as opposed to the recipe's crispy texture.

Although I've done risotto from scratch before, this out of the box method was great, especially jazzed up with some garlicky broccoli and toasted garlic. I had to post the recipe so my roommate could copy it!

Ingredients:
- Frozen broccoli spears
- 4 cloves garlic
- olive oil
- salt/pepper to taste
- 1 box risotto (or homemade)
- Grated parmesan

1. Remove broccoli and place in microwaveable container. Cover with saran wrap and microwave on high for 3-4 min.
2. Finely chop garlic cloves and saute on med-low heat in 2-3 tbs of olive oil.
3. Remove broccoli, drain slightly, and chop into bite sized pieces (do not throw out the stalks!).
4. Add broccoli to garlic and cook 1-2 min in a saucepan. Season generously with salt & pepper. Remove broccoli and garlic and add 1 tbs oil to pan.
5. Cook risotto according to directions (in this case: Toast rice in oil for 1 minute or two. Then add 2 cups water & seasoning packet. Bring to a boil, then lower to simmering. Cook for 20 min, stirring occasionally. Once rice has absorbed liquid, remove from heat.)
6. Mix risotto with broccoli.
7. To finish, stir in 2-3 handfuls of grated Parmesan.

Tacos 2-ways

Ever since I got this serving platter, I've been wanting to make some tacos, so here they are...considering all of the preparation for each topping, these were relatively quick (since the chicken and shrimp cook so fast and didn't take too much marinating). I want to try these with a cheat...picking up cooked meat and salsas from Chipotle and preparing them nicely for a meal. I wonder if they would give you a burrito bowl with just meat?

Chicken Tacos
Ingredients:
- 2 boneless chicken breasts
- 1/2 packet McCormick's fajita seasoning
- 3 canned chipotle chiles (chopped)

1. Chop chicken into small cubes. Place in 1qt ziplock bag.
2. Add fajita seasoning and ancho chiles.
3. Seal bag and massage until seasoning is distributed. Leave in refrigerator to marinate (10-15 min).
4. Add chicken to pan and cook at high heat. 2 min. Turn chicken and add 2 tbs water. Lower heat and continue to cook 5 min.

Shrimp Tacos
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound shrimp (diced)
- 3-4 garlic cloves chopped
- juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime
- 2 tbs jalapeños chopped
- 3 tbs cilantro chopped
- 1tsp oil
- 1 tsp hot sauce
- salt/pepper

1. Add shrimp and marinade to ziplock bag.
2. Cook at high heat until shrimp are pink and warmed through.

Crema
Ingredients:
- 3tbs sour cream
- 1 tbs mayonnaise
- 4 tbs chopped cilantro
- juice of 1/2 lime
- salt/pepper to taste

1. Mix together and serve atop tacos

Prepare meat and toppings (crema, salsa, cheese, iceberg lettuce).
Heat tortillas (place 6 small corn tortillas in microwave safe plate. Top with a damp napkin. Heat 2 min)
Serve!

Lemon Garlic Fish

Ingredients:
- Tilapia fillets
- 4-5 cloves garlic
- 3 lemons (juiced)
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
- 1 tbs capers
- 1/2 onion sliced
- 1 red bell pepper sliced
- Salt/Pepper
- Flour
- Rice
- fresh flat leaf parsley

1. Combine juice of 2 lemons, olive oil, salt, pepper and cajun seasoning and whip with a fork to emulsify.
2. Season fish fillets with salt and pepper and cover with marinade. Set aside.
3. Cook rice (bring equal parts rice/water to a boil, season with salt, pepper, 1 tbs olive oil, juice from one lemon. Cover and cook until liquid is absorbed 15-20 min).
4. Slice onion and bell pepper and cook in a skillet until softened. Remove from pan.
5. Reserving marinade, dredge fish fillets in flour.
6. Heat pan on high heat (adding more oil if necessary). Gently add fish fillets and cook for 2 min on each side.
7. Remove fish fillets from pan. Add peppers and onions and capers. Place fish fillets on top of pepper/onion mixture. Pour remaining marinade on top stirring to incorporate.
8. Lower heat and cook for 5-7 minutes, covered.
9. Remove rice from heat and stir in flat leaf parsley.
10. To serve, plate a few spoonfuls of rice. Top with fish fillet, cover with pepper/onion mixture. Garnish with flat leaf parsley.

Spaghetti with Chicken Ragu

I haven't blogged them yet, but after making spaghetti sauce and a thai noodle soup, I had some whole canned tomatoes and chicken thighs in the freezer...why not cook them up into a chicken tomato sauce for some pasta...



Like many poultry dishes, the key here is layering flavors.
Using the base of braised chicken thighs adds flavor to the tomato sauce. Here I used skinless, boneless chicken, while the fat from the skin and flavor from the bones would add a lot more flavor, here I went for a healthier style, especially paired with a hearty whole wheat pasta.

You can make this sauce your own. I love a good garlicky taste, so I added it two ways: First, simmering garlic with the onions will add a sharp garlicky bite to the sauce, second mixing in some roasted garlic to the cooking mixture add a mild, sweet flavor to the sauce.

If it's in season, I would recommend a few leaves of fresh basil as well, although it's fine without. Also, a sprig or two of fresh thyme.

Ingredients:
- 3skinless, boneless chicken thighs
- 12 cloves garlic (i prefer buying it already peeled)
- 4 diced
- 8 roasted (put garlic cloves into the center of a sheet of aluminum foil, add salt, a bit of olive oil, fold closed and heat in 350 degree oven for 15min, about until you smell the garlic cooking)
- 1/2 onion
- Wine (2-4 oz, of whatever you're drinking the meal with)
- salt/pepper
- 1 pinch red bell pepper flakes (more if you like it spicier)
- 1 pinch italian seasoning or oregano
- 1/2 can whole tomatoes & sauce
- whole wheat pasta
- parmesan cheese (i prefer shredded to grated as it adds a better bite of flavor)
- olive oil



1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees (you can do this while roasting the garlic). Season chicken thighs with salt/pepper. Cook for 2-3 min on each side in a med pan of olive oil.



2. Remove chicken and place on a sheet in the oven to finish.
3. Deglaze pan with a bit of wine, scraping off all of the cooked bits from the chicken. Heat for 4-5 min to cook off the alcohol.
4. Add chopped garlic and cook through 2 min.
5. Add onion and cook through until soft and translucent. Add 1 tsp of salt & 1/2 of pepper.
6. Add tomatoes (and sauce from can). Stir in together and crush tomatoes with a fork. Add red pepper flakes, herbs, and roasted garlic. Simmer on low-medium heat.
7. Put pasta on to boil in salted water and check chicken. It should be cooked through. Remove chicken and pour juices into simmering pasta sauce. Shred remaining chicken meat and add to pasta sauce.
8. Continue to simmer sauce until pasta is ready. Ladle 1/2c of pasta water into sauce. Strain pasta and add to sauce. Check for taste, if necessary, add salt/pepper.
9. Heat through and top off with parmesan cheese

Shrimp Avocado Salad

This dish is doubly inspired by Claire Robinson of 5 minute fix...1st off, No Cook Dinner, 2nd 5-ingredient Taco Night. With the way we've been sweltering in this NYC heat, this was the perfect cool bite for a hot summer night.

It's also a great, inexpensive use of shrimp, and a dish that would cost a lot in a restaurant, but is pretty affordable and goes a long way at home :)

Ingredients:
- 1 avocado (diced)
- 1/2 tomato (diced -- seeds and membrane removed)
- 1/2 lb shrimp (pre-cooked, frozen is fine)
- 1/4 jalapeno pepper (minced)
- 1 lime
- lemon pepper
- salt
- olive oil

1. Dice shrimp (cut each into 3 bite sized pieces) -- If frozen, rinse with cold water to thaw and let sit til unfrozen; squeeze out excess liquid.
2. Season shrimp with salt, lemon pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Set aside.
3. Chop avocado, tomato (removing seeds), jalapeno (the green skin only). Season with salt/pepper, squeeze 1/2 lime.
4. Add shrimp. Stir (or mash for a smoother salsa) and season to taste with lime salt/pepper.

Serve with Tortilla Chips.

Goes great with...Mojitos!

Chicken Italiano

Stuffed Chicken with Balsamic Glaze



Ingredients:
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Fresh mozzarella
- Basil leaves
- Sun-dried tomatoes (or tapenade)
- Dried Oregano
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Butter
- Salt/Pepper

- Toothpicks

1. Prep ingredients:
- Slice mozzarella (one thick slice per breast)
- Tear off 1-2 basil leaves (per breast)
- Slice 1 pat of butter (per breast)
- In a bowl, 2 tbs each salt, pepper, oregano
2. Slice straight down the length of the breast (cutting only half way). Slice sideways to create a pocket on each side.
3. Season inside and out with salt/pepper mixture
4. Insert pat of butter, leaves of basil, slice of mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes.
5. Stuff ingredients inside of pocket and pull chicken around to close hole. Secure with toothpicks.
6. Place chicken in an oven-proof pan and drizzle with olive oil.
7. Cook in 350 oven for 15 min, then drizzle each with balsamic vinegar.
8. Continue cooking for 10 min or until chicken is cooked (juices run clear)

Recipe Test -- Food and Wine

Omelet Soufflé

After months of reading Food & Wine magazine in passing, finally a recipe simple enough to try -- who says molecular gastronomy has to be tricky -- it was so fluffy not to mention fast (and a free arm workout beating the egg whites).

I substituted a sharp white cheddar for the gruyere.

Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot, of the food science blog ideasinfood.com, are beloved by chefs like Richard Blais for culinary innovations. Here, they share their method for creating a fluffy omelet from their new book, Ideas in Food.

1. 3 large eggs, separated
2. Pinch of sea salt
3. 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4. 1/2 cup shredded Gruyère cheese

1. Preheat the broiler and position a rack in the center of the oven. In a large bowl, using a whisk or a handheld electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
2. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the salt and one-fourth of the beaten egg whites. Fold the yolk mixture into the remaining beaten whites until no streaks remain.
3. In an 8-inch ovenproof skillet, melt the butter. Scrape the omelet mixture into the skillet and shake gently to evenly distribute the eggs. Sprinkle the cheese all over and transfer the skillet to the oven. Broil the omelet for about 3 minutes, until lightly browned and very puffy. Carefully slide the omelet onto a plate, folding it in half. Serve right away.

Chicken Stir-fry

Super delicious, quick and easy stirfry



Ingredients:
- 1-2 Chicken breasts (cut into strips)
- Chopped veggies:
I like 1/2 bell pepper (red and green), 1 head broccoli, carrots, snap peas
- 1/2 onion
- Soy-Vay Teriyaki Sauce
- Kikkoman stirfry seasoning mix (1/2 packet)
- 2c Jasmine Rice/4c water - oil and salt

Metal colander

1) Marinate chicken strips in Teriyaki sauce and set aside for 30 min.
2) Chop vegetables to bite size (2-3 cups of vegetables is a good amount) and set in a metal colander, covered with a large pot lid.
2) Slice onion into thin slices
3) Place colander over pot containing rice, water, oil, salt and bring to a boil.
4) Cook until veggies are softened. (Also, keep an eye on rice -- you can also steam veggies over an empty pot of boiling water)
5) Dissolve Stirfry seasoning mix in 1/2 c water, and toss with cooked veggies.
6) Heat oil in a large skillet and saute onion until softened. Add chicken strips, and a few tbs of marinate. Cook until chicken strips are cooked through (5-7 min)
7) Add chicken to large bowl with vegetables and toss.
8) Add mixture back to skillet and cook for an additional 2-3 min stirring to coat with sauce.
9) Serve stirfry on bed of white rice.

Crab-stuffed Chicken

In honor of HBO Sunday and the return of Treme, I decided to cook a dish with some New Orleans flair...while the must-taste list goes on for pages (Uptown Looter at Cooter Browns, Fried Shrimp PoBoy at Ramparts, Laura's Pralines, Crawfish Monica) the possible favorite would be the deep-fried crab-stuffed shrimps we ate at Jazz Fest, which sadly were not from a restaurant and thus can be found but 2 weeks a year...so with that in mind, I made some delicious chicken breasts so stuffed with crab they needed a handful of toothpicks to close.



Ingredients:
- 2-4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2-3 oz fresh Crabmeat (per breast)
- 1/2 c diced onion
- 2 tbs white wine
- 2 tbs lemon juice
- 1/2c breadcrumbs
- 1 tbs softened butter
- salt/pepper
- Italian seasoning

Sauce:
- 1/4c white wine
- 2 tbs butter
- 1 tsp flour

Wooden toothpicks


1) Pre-heat oven to 375.
2) Prepare stuffing: Saute onion until softened. Add to bowl. Add in crabmeat, wine, lemon, and breadcrumbs and mix well.
3) Prepare chicken breasts: Placing palm on the chicken, slice through the middle, but not all the way through, so that sides of chicken breasts open like a book.
4) Lay open and season with salt, pepper, and italian seasoning
5) Rub inside with softened butter.
6) Scoop a generous mound of stuffing into center of each chicken breast, then roll outside ends in to form a roll. Secure opening with toothpicks (criss-crossing two to hold).
7) Heat skillet with butter and olive oil and place chicken toothpick side up in pan. Cook for 2-4 min.
8) Turn chicken over and transfer chicken to baking pan and cook in oven 45min-1hr.
9) Add butter, flour, white wine to saucepan (which chicken was cooked in)
10) Cook until mixture forms a smooth sauce. Serve atop chicken.

Chickie Chickie Parm Parm

Parks & Rec's Tom Haverford explains his food slang: "Zerts are what i call desserts, tre-tres are entrees... I call cakes big ol' cookies, I call noodles long-ass rice. Fried chicken is fry-fry chicky-chick, chicken parm is chicky-chicky parm-parm."

OK, I see a trend of featuring Parks & Recreation cast members and in particular Aziz Ansari, but c'mon, Chicken Parm is classic and delish. The key to making this batch come out sooo good was definitely secret ingredient: Panko breadcrumbs. It sounds silly, but they really made all the difference!



Ingredients:
- 1 pkg thin chicken cutlets - about 4 (obviously you can just slice chicken breasts yourself, or pound them out...but if they already sell that at the market like this, why not just pick up a pack?)
- 1 bottle tomato sauce - warmed or room temperature (I use Classico)
- 1 container shredded Parmesan cheese (never the powdered stuff)
- 1 8oz pkg shredded mozzarella (or two if your friends like to eat it plain while you cook)
- Italian flavored Panko breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs beaten
- Flour
- Olive oil
- Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (for easy clean up) and place in oven to heat up.
2. Prepare batter stations, fill 3 shallow trays with the following (or use can use plates):
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1c flour (seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic)
- 1 1/2c panko breadcrumbs mixed with two handfuls of shredded parmesan
2. Season chicken cutlets with a bit of salt/pepper
3. Dip chicken first in egg (wiping off excess), next coat in flour until cutlet is dry to the touch, finally in breadcrumbs (you may need to sprinkle a handful on top and press into the chicken to get it to really stick)
4. Coat skillet with olive oil (be generous) and heat (med/high)
5. Place chicken in (2 at a time) and cook until golden brown on both sides (about 2-3 min each).
6. Remove from heat and place chicken on cookie sheet in oven. (repeat with all chicken)
7. Remove cookie sheet and spoon a generous amount of tomato sauce on each cutlet, cover with mozzarella cheese.
8. Place chicken back in oven until cheese is bubbly and browned.
9. Serve with spaghetti and garlic bread.

Hash Browns

Love these, and with a few quick techniques, I can whip up a batch in around 30 min, which honestly is at the far end of how long Brunch should take to cook.

Ingredients:
- 4 red skinned potatoes (these are way more filling than they look, so this will make 3, or two large, servings)
- 1/2 onion
- 1/4c bell pepper (diced)
- butter
- salt
- garlic powder
- oil

Toppings:
- Sour Cream
- Scallions

1. Wash potatoes and chop into quarters. Put them in a small pot and fill just until covered with cold water. Add 2 tbs salt and bring to a boil (10-12 min).
2. Once boiling, lower heat and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until fork tender. (You can taste them as they cook, they should be well cooked, but not mushy).
3. Once cooked, remove from heat and rinse with cold water.
4. Cut potatoes into 1/4" slices. Set aside.
5. In a large flat pan, heat 4 tbs oil.
6. Saute onions and bell peppers until peppers are soft and onions are browned. (You may need to set the onions aside as the peppers continue to cook)
7. Once cooked, season with salt & garlic powder, turn up heat and add potatoes (drizzle with extra oil).
8. Toss potatoes around to ensure they are well mixed with onions & peppers and cook turning periodically until potatoes have a sear on all sides and are crispy and brown.
9. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder.
10. Serve with ketchup, sour cream, chopped scallions.