Creamy Parmesan Pasta with Turkey and Kale

Sophisticated enough for adults, reminiscent enough of mac-n-cheese for little ones. You can substitute chicken for the turkey if you like, but I like the turkey's somewhat more assertive flavor in this combination. I used lacinato kale, which worked nicely.

1 lb cut pasta (penne is good)
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 cups milk, warmed
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
Olive oil
5-6 cups finely chopped kale
1 1/2 cups diced cooked turkey
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt it, and cook the pasta. Drain and toss with a little oil.

While you heat water and cook the pasta, melt the butter in a Dutch oven or large saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour over it and whisk thoroughly to combine. Stir constantly with the whisk for 1-2 minutes, then gradually whisk in the warm milk until thoroughly combined. Ensure there are no lumps. Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium heat, then reduce and continue to simmer until it reaches about the consistency of heavy cream. Turn off the heat and stir in the Parmesan. Add salt and pepper to taste.

While the pasta and sauce cook, heat a little olive oil in a large skillet. Add the kale and saute until just tender. Stir in the turkey and saute until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the kale and turkey mixture to the sauce and combine well. Sauce the pasta and serve hot.

Serves 4-6.

Chipotle Turkey Chili

We had a big bird this year, and after finally stripping all the meat off the bones, I've got several meals worth of diced and shredded turkey meat in the freezer - perfect for soup, chili, casseroles, or pizza. Tonight we had this chili, where turkey plays a starring role but in a totally different context than the typical Thanksgiving fare.

Olive oil
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cups chopped tomatoes (canned or frozen is fine)
3-4 cups diced or shredded cooked turkey
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 -1 tsp chili powder
3 bell peppers, diced (any color(s))
1-2 cups cooked black beans
1-2 cups cooked kidney beans
Salt and pepper to taste
1 or more chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, seeded and minced
Shredded cheddar or jack cheese for topping (optional)

Heat a little olive oil in a soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the garlic and onion and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and turkey, then stir in the cumin, chili powder, peppers, and beans. Simmer until the vegetables are tender, or longer if desired. Stir in minced chipotle to taste, plus salt and pepper.

Serve hot. Top with cheese at the table if desired.

Serves about 6.

Smoky Turkey and Lentil Chili

Turkey goes really well with smoky, spicy flavors, making it a natural for chili. I tossed in lentils instead of the usual beans for a change of pace, and it worked well. This makes a nice big batch to feed a crowd, but feel free to halve it.

Olive oil
8-10 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium onions, diced
2 Tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp chili powder
4-6 cups chopped tomatoes (canned or frozen - thawed first)
1 1/2 cups lentils
About 3 cups water
4 cups shredded cooked turkey
3 bell peppers, diced (red or green)
2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced (or to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
Sour cream and/or shredded cheddar for topping (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the garlic and onion and saute over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the cumin and chili powder and saute for another minute or so to toast the spices. Add the tomatoes and their liquid, then the lentils and enough water to comfortably cover them. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until lentils are nearly tender, 20-25 minutes.

When the lentils are nearly tender, add the peppers and minced chipotles. Simmer until the peppers are tender, then add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot, topped with cheese or sour cream if desired. Serves 6-8.

Turkey and Arugula Pizza with Edam

And another one. Cold hardy greens like arugula are continuing to flourish in the garden. I like to use Chase Hill Farm's Dutch Gold cheese, which is essentially an Edam.

1 14-inch pizza crust
olive oil
4-6 oz. shredded or thinly sliced Edam
4-6 cups chopped fresh arugula (as much as you can/want to pile on)
1 1/2 cups shredded turkey
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lightly paint the pizza crust with olive oil.

Spread half the Edam over the oiled crust. Pile with arugula. Add the turkey and shallot, then a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Top with the remaining Edam.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the crust is done and cheese begins to brown.

Serves 3-4.

Turkey Pizza with Roasted Tomatoes and Blue Cheese

I seem to make a lot of pizza out of leftover turkey. Maybe it's because I just make a lot of pizza, maybe it's because it seems like a good way to transform it into something much less like Thanksgiving food. At any rate, here's another one - really delicious.

1 14-inch pizza crust
olive oil
2-3 oz. shredded mozzarella
1 1/2 cups chopped roasted tomatoes (thawed and drained if frozen)
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked turkey
2 oz. crumbled or chopped blue cheese
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lightly paint the pizza crust with olive oil.

Spread the mozzarella over the pizza crust. Strew with roasted tomatoes and turkey, then sprinkle with blue cheese. Sprinkle the shallot over everything, then add a little salt and pepper.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until crust is done and cheese begins to brown.

Serves 3-4.

Easy Slow Cooker Turkey Stew

Simple, easy, and in season. (And not that different from Slow Cooker Chicken Stew.) Assemble it in ten minutes in the morning, then enjoy at night after a busy day or when you want to spend time wrapping gifts or baking cookies instead of making dinner.

3 cups shredded cooked turkey (frozen is fine)
3 medium potatoes, cubed
3 medium carrots, sliced in 1/4-inch rounds
1 large onion, finely chopped
Water and/or stock (turkey if you have it, otherwise chicken)
Salt and pepper to taste
Sprig of sage or thyme (optional)

Place the turkey, potatoes, carrots, and onion in the slow cooker and add enough water or stock to cover. Add some salt and pepper, and the sage or thyme of using. Cook on Low for 7-9 hours. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

Serves 4-6.

Pizza with Kale, Turkey, and Cheddar

Another use for some of that remaining turkey. We had enough left for me to put away a few packets of shredded turkey in the freezer for future use, a nice treat.

1 14-inch pizza crust
olive oil
3 cups chopped kale
2-3 oz. shredded mozzarella
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked turkey
1 medium shallot, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 oz. shredded sharp cheddar

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lightly paint the pizza crust with olive oil.

Heat some more olive oil in a medium skillet, then saute the kale until tender, about 5 minutes.

Spread the mozzarella over the pizza crust, then add the kale, turkey, and minced shallot. Top with cheddar. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the crust is done and the cheese begins to brown.

Serves 3-4.

Ideas for Leftover Turkey

Most people, myself included, don't cook much turkey except at the holidays and thus don't have an army of recipes for the leftovers. Here are some ideas, when you get tired of pot pie and soup.

1. add turkey to a classic Waldorf salad
2. substitute turkey for beef in chili (use shredded turkey); turkey marries surprisingly well with Mexican and Southwestern flavors
3. pasta with cream sauce, turkey, and bacon or mushrooms
4. turkey quesadillas - turkey goes well with sharp cheddar and spice
5. turkey salad (a la chicken salad) with blue cheese and pears

Got some other good ideas? Share them in the comments!

Turkey Soup with Porcini-Garlic Broth

A slightly different but still easy twist on turkey soup. Use turkey stock if you made some.

1/4 cup dried porcini pieces
water and/or stock (turkey or chicken)
olive oil
8-10 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium carrots, sliced
3-4 cups shredded cooked turkey
1/2 lb cut pasta (rotini is nice)
1/4 cup marsala
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a little water and pour enough over the porcini pieces to just cover them. Mince the mushrooms when they are nice and soft and be sure to reserve the soaking liquid.

While the mushroom soak, heat some olive oil in a soup pot, then add the garlic and saute over medium-high heat for 2 minutes or so. Add the garlic, carrots, and several cups of water or stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the turkey and pasta and boil until the pasta is tender, about 10 more minutes. Add the marsala and salt and pepper to taste.

Serves about 6.

Roasted Heritage Turkey

I know, I know, about a week too late with this recipe, right? But I wanted to test it again this year to be sure it was really good, since last year was my first heritage turkey ever. There's nothing revolutionary here, but it has yielded excellent, succulent results two years running, so try it with your Christmas turkey (if you have one) or save it for next year. I've never tried this on a small turkey, so I can't vouch for how well it would work on a smaller bird. Our turkey this year was 20 pounds, for a crowd of 16 and some good leftovers.

1 14+ lb heritage turkey
1-2 apples, quartered
2 small onions, quartered
6-8 cloves garlic, whole (no need to peel)
Several sprigs of sage
1/4 cup butter, softened
Salt and pepper

If needed, thaw the turkey over 2-3 days in the refrigerator. Remove from the fridge about 2 hours before you plan to cook it, so it can warm up a bit.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and remove all racks except for the very bottom one.

Place the turkey breast side up on a rack in a large roasting pan. Using your hands, generously coat the inside of the turkey with salt and pepper. Stuff the main cavity and the neck cavity with the apples, onions, garlic, and sage. Using cooking twine and/or turkey skewers, close up the cavities and tie the turkey's legs together. Use skewers to secure the wing tips to the body (to help prevent over cooking of the wings). Rub all exposed turkey skin with the butter, then sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.

Roast the turkey at 450 for 30 minutes. The skin should be nicely browned. Then turn the oven temperature down to 350 degrees and cover the turkey loosely with aluminum foil (do not tuck the foil all the way down over the pan - just cover most of the breast and legs and leave the sides of the foil loose). Roast for another 2 hours, then check the internal temperature by sticking an instant read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh, without touching bone. The turkey is done when the temperature reaches at least 165 degrees. If the turkey is not done yet, roast for another 30 minutes; repeat as needed. (My 20 lb turkey took 3 hours from start to finish.)

When the turkey is done, remove it from the oven. Carefully tilt it up so the juices can run out of the cavity into the pan, then remove the turkey to a platter and let it rest for at least 30 minutes (cover with a towel or two if you like, to keep it warmer). Use the pan juices to make gravy.

Pizza with Turkey, Spinach, and Cheddar

Yes, still working through the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers...but I have to say, this pizza was delicious and not all that reminiscent of the holiday. The spinach and cilantro came from our CSA. If you would like to punch up the flavor some more, you could add a minced chipotle in adobo sauce while sauteing the greens.

1 14-inch pizza crust
olive oil
2-3 cups spinach, stemmed
3/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
3-4 oz. shredded sharp cheddar
1 cup shredded cooked turkey
Salt and pepper to taste
Chili powder

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lightly paint the crust with olive oil.

Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet and quickly saute the spinach and cilantro, just until wilted (less than a minute). Remove from heat.

Spread about two-thirds of the cheddar on the pizza crust. Top with the spinach mixture and the turkey. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chili powder to taste. Top with remaining cheese.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until the crust is done but still a little soft and the cheese begins to brown.

Serves 3-4.

Post-Thanksgiving Turkey Pot Pie

After a couple meals of leftovers that were exact repeats of the big feast, it was time for a meal of leftovers that at least took a different form. This pot pie made a big dent in what remained in the fridge--though now we'll also be eating leftover pot pie for another day. I love dishes like this because they are so flexible - throw in whatever seems plausible.

Turkey pot pie with biscuit top

In this case, I managed to use leftover turkey (of course), green beans that had been thawed but didn't make it onto the table, the remaining gravy, the remaining parsley potatoes, and some carrots leftover from the crudite platter. Oh, and the leftover pastry dough from the pies. To that, I added some onion and celeriac. The results were great and made the leftovers feel at least somewhat like something new.

Since the whole point of this is to use up whatever you have, it seems silly to give a precise recipe. Basically, you just want to combine cooked vegetables with shredded turkey and either leftover gravy or a quick sauce (make a roux, add milk or stock and simmer, stirring, until gravy-like). I added a little dried sage, figuring it would go well with the seasonings already present. Then top with either pastry dough (rolled out to 1/8-inch thick) or a biscuit dough. You could even use leftover mashed potatoes, for a dish halfway between a pot pie and a shepherd's pie. Bake at 375 for around 30 minutes, until the pot pie is bubbly and the crust is golden brown and cooked through.

Heritage Turkey for Thanksgiving

We just reserved a heritage turkey for Thanksgiving. If you're interested in doing likewise, it's definitely not too early to do so. A number of farms in Western Mass grow small numbers of heritage breed birds for just this purpose. We reserved ours from Wells Tavern Farm, which is just off route 2 in Shelburne. You can check CISA's database for others--just type "turkey" into the "Find it locally..." search box.

I have never had heritage turkey before, but I have heard that it is a gustatory experience worth having, juicy and supremely flavorful. Here's one good reason to look forward to November!

Pizza with Turkey, Sweet Potatoes, and Blue Cheese

Another use for leftover turkey!  Plus, of course, local sweet potatoes and cheese.  Some caramelized onions wouldn't go amiss here, though they would add an extra step in the preparation.

1 14-inch pizza crust

1/2 - 3/4 cup tomato sauce 

1 cup cooked sliced sweet potato

1 cup shredded cooked turkey

2-3 oz. crumbled blue cheese of your choice (Berkshire Blue, perhaps)

4-6 oz. shredded mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Paint the unbaked pizza crust lightly with olive oil, using a pastry brush or your fingers (if using a pre-baked crust, no need).  Spread tomato sauce over the crust, then top with sweet potato, turkey, and blue cheese.  Sprinkle mozzarella over everything.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, until crust is cooked and cheese starts to brown.

Serves 3-4.

Leftover Turkey

Wondering what to do with leftover turkey?  Soup is one obvious answer, of course, but there's no need to limit yourself to the standard turkey/carrots/celery/onions/rice formula (at least, that's the standard formula I grew up with!), tasty as it is.  Why not try a curried version?  My mother-in-law made a fantastic chicken and rice soup a month or so ago with apples, fennel, basmati rice, and curry powder.  Or try shredded turkey in chili, maybe with lentils and white beans for something a little different.  Pot pie is always a good option.  Or how about pizza with tomato sauce, turkey, gorgonzola, and sliced onion?

Veggie Pot Pie

There is something so satisfying about pot pie on a chilly night. This vegetarian version is chock full of in-season root vegetables, and of course you can use local dairy products as well.  Instead of a pastry crust, I like to make it with a tangy yogurt-based biscuit topping.  Skip the pepper if you don't have any frozen.  And, of course, you can always add some turkey or chicken if you like (a good use for some of those Thanksgiving leftovers in a few days!).

Filling
1 Tbsp butter
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium potatoes, cubed
4-5 small turnips or rutabaga, cubed (about 2-3 cups)
1 large carrot, in ¼-inch rounds
1 green pepper, diced (from the freezer!)
1 Tbsp dried parsley or 1/4 cup frozen
1-2 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2-3 Tbsp white flour
¾ cup milk, room temperature

Crust
1 ½ cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup plain yogurt
¼ cup milk

Preheat the oven to 425˚. Oil a 2-quart casserole dish.

Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the garlic and onions and sauté until the onions begin to turn translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the potatoes, turnips, and carrots and sauté over medium heat, stirring often, until tender, about 8-10 minutes. Add a little water if necessary to keep from sticking to the pan. Add the pepper and continue to sauté until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Add the parsley, tarragon, salt, and pepper, and stir.

Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and mix thoroughly. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the milk and stir continuously until the mixture thickens. Add a bit more milk if desired.

While the vegetables are cooking, make the dough for the crust. Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a medium bowl. Add the yogurt and mix until well blended. Add milk gradually until the dough becomes fairly easily spreadable.

Pour the vegetable mixture into the dish. Spread the dough over the top of the vegetables.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is cooked through and the pot pie is bubbly.

Serves 4-6.

Variations:
1. Add tofu, chicken, or turkey.
2. Substitute 2 tsp dried oregano and 1-2 tsp dried thyme for the parsley and tarragon.

Local Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is coming right up, and what a great time to focus on local foods! By definition and tradition, the meal is all about what's in season in Massachusetts. I'll post some good recipes here as the holiday approaches. In the meantime, this would be a good time to order your turkey from Diemand Farm. I know you can do this at Fosters in Greenfield, and I imagine other places as well.

Local Meat

My friend Tess wants to know about local meat sources--and the good news is, there are several good ones around here! I was a vegetarian for more than ten years until I got pregnant with my son and decided I needed more protein. With all the great sources of local, sustainably raised meat in Western Mass, the decision was much easier to start eating it again. Here are our favorites--definitely not an all-inclusive list, and I am sure there are others we don't know about.

Wheelview Farm in Shelburne sells grass-fed beef through Green Fields Market and also their farm store. It's worth a drive up to their farm, which has some stunning views and where you can see the cows for yourself. They have the hairy Scottish highlanders and also Banded Galloways. You can help yourself to what you want out of the freezer and leave your money in the box with a note saying what you bought. They also have an Open Farm Day (or weekend) every June.

Crabapple Farm in Chesterfield sells grass-fed beef and lamb at the Greenfield Farmers Market (along with eggs if you get there early enough). I don't know if they also sell directly from the farm or not.

Bostrom's Farm in Greenfield sells grass-fed beef and pork products. They have recently been at the Greenfield Farmers Market, but they also sell directly from the farm.

Not Your Ordinary Farm in Guilford, VT sells pork products through the Greenfield Farmers Co-op. We love their sausage in particular--they make many different kinds.

Green Fields Market has eggs from a variety of local producers, as well as some local meats (and many other local products).

Diemand Farms in Wendell does eggs and turkey. I'm not sure what else. Their products are pretty widely available in grocery stores. We have pre-ordered Thanksgiving turkey from them at Fosters. They are a bigger operation than the others farms listed. We have been meaning to go over there and check out the farm.

Songline Emu Farm in Gill sells emu meat through Green Fields Market. Maybe also at the farm, I don't know. Ground emu has a texture and flavor similar to beef but with a nutritional profile more like other poultry.