Popeye the Sailor Man Turkey Shepherd’s Pie

Today, I am cooking from home.  I want to use up some potatoes and spinach that are lying around, so I’m thinking something along the lines of a   You will quickly learn that I have a “dad” sense of humor and that I’m fairly lazy, because I don’t want to go to the all the way to the store four blocks away, I will just use what I have on-hand and give it a funny name.  Also, you’ll notice this recipe doesn’t include cooked carrots or corn kernels, my wife has threated my life requested that I never cook with them.  

Popeye the Sailor Man Turkey Shepherd’s Pie (get it, ‘cause of the spinach).

Ingredients

For the mashed potatoes:

·      4-5 medium russet potatoes

·      1 tablespoon of butter

·      ¼ cup low fat milk

·      1 teaspoon kosher salt

·      ½  teaspoon pepper

·      1/8 cup egg substitute

For the turkey filling:

·      2 tablespoons olive oil

·      1 cup chopped yellow onion

·      2 cloves minced garlic

·      1 ¼ lbs ground turkey

·      1 teaspoon kosher salt

·      ½ teaspoon pepper

·      2 tablespoons all purpose flour

·      ¼ cup red wine

·      1 cup chicken broth

·      2 tablespoons fresh rosemary chopped

·      2 teaspoons fresh thyme chopped

·      1 cup diced green beans

·      2 cups fresh chopped spinach

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel the potatoes and slice in half. Place them in an 8 to 10 inch cast iron skillet and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, over high heat, then, reduce the heat to medium to simmer. Cook until the potatoes are fork tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.  Drain the potatoes and put them in a bowl that will allow your potato masher to sit flat on the bottom (if you do not have a bowl that works use the skillet then transfer to a bowl.) Add the butter and start mashing. When the butter melts, then, add milk, salt, and pepper and continue mashing.  Once mashed to your liking, add the egg substitute and stir in until it is combined.

Add oil to the same cast iron skillet and put it back on the stove over medium high heat. Sauté the onions (I used about ¾ cup yellow and ¼ cup red). If you wanted to use carrots, you would add them with the onions.  Once the onions start changing color, add garlic, and stir. Let it all sauté for about one more minute. Add the turkey, salt and pepper, and cook for about 3-4 minutes. Once the turkey has browned sprinkle the meat with flour while stirring. Add the wine, chicken broth, rosemary, and thyme.  Stir the filling together and bring to a light boil. Once it is boiling reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes. Finally, add the green beans and simmer for five more minutes.  Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach. 

Level out the filling, and top with the mash potatoes – spreading it out as best you can to seal in the top and keep the gravy you just created from drying out. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top starts to browning.  Remove from oven and let stand for 15 minutes before serving. Seriously, you won’t want to, but you have to let it sit and cool a bit. Take it from a serial tongue burner.

Other variations/substitute:

·      Carrots, corn kernels and English peas for the green beans and spinach.  You want about a cup and a half total for the carrots, corn and peas – spinach shrinks down a lot!!

·      Worcestershire sauce for the wine

Dee’s Scalloped Potatoes Al Gratin

Dee’s Scalloped Potatoes Al Gratin

My mom makes great Scalloped Potatoes Al Gratin. I recently found out that it was actually my great-grandmother’s, Dee, recipe.  When I asked for the recipe, she told me she would share it as long as I promised not to get upset or angry with her. Cautiously, I agreed.

Dee’s Scalloped Potatoes Al Gratin (verbatim)

·      Onions

·      Bacon

·      Cream of celery

·      Milk

·      Salt

·      Pepper

·      Cheese

·      Potatoes

Sauté the onions, cook and crumble the bacon.  In a saucepan heat the cream of celery and milk to the right consistency add salt and pepper to taste.   Peel and slice the potatoes.  Put one layer of 1/3 of potatoes, spread 1/3 of each the bacon, cheese, onion and cream.  Then do it again 2 more times.  Baked covered for 45 minutes and uncovered for 45 minutes.

Then came my question, I’m sure you are all thinking it. How much? She smiled and said, “I told you would be mad.  Dee did it all by eye.” Oh the good ol’ days when moms just cooked by guess and by golly.

So here is my take on my great-grandmother Dee’s recipe. With measurements

·      1 large yellow onion diced

·      1 pound of bacon

·      1 (10.5 ounce) can of cream of celery

·      ¾ cup of milk

·      Salt to taste

·      Pepper to taste

·      1 pound of grated cheese (I use sharp cheddar)

·      3 pounds of russet potatoes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sauté the onions, set aside. Cook and crumble the bacon, set aside.

In a saucepan over medium heat, simmer the cream of celery and milk for about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stirring occasionally.

Peel the potatoes and slice them to about 1/8 inch thick. Layer 1/3 of potatoes, spread 1/3 of each the bacon, cheese, onion, and cream.  Then do it again two more times and leave the last bit of cheese off the top – we will put that on later.  Baked covered for 45 minutes and uncovered for 35 minutes. Add the remaining cheese and cook for 10 more minutes uncovered.  Let cool for 10 minutes.

We had a guest that did not eat pork so I left out the bacon in the small pan.

Well life is great if you have 2 ovens...... I only have one at work.  My oven was full with ham and corn bread so I went outside to use the BBQ.  I started early to find the right temperature.

Chicken Pot Pie

My five year old daughter has wanted to be a chef since she was three, she even asked Santa Claus for a cookbook this year. She loves to help my wife and I in the kitchen by coming up with meal ideas and thinking about what ingredients we should use. The other day she asked if we could make chicken pot pie, this post is from that inspiration.  

Here is my take on frozen vs. canned vs. fresh vegetables. I live in Southern California and have great access to fresh ingredients year-round – I’m lucky, I know.  If you have access to and time to prep fresh ingredients please do, if you are pressed for time, money or just plain lazy, frozen or canned vegetables are a good second choice. When it boils down to it (pun intended), veggies are veggies are veggies.  I change this recipe to use some local in-season items because they were available.  

Vegetables that I generally like and use in chicken pot pies:

• Potatoes
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Celery
• Yellow onions
• Green beans
• Canned corn
• Peas

Here is my easier chicken pot pie recipe. Later, I’ll share my grandmother’s pie crust, my chicken stock, and my cream of chicken recipes.

This is for the family, so it makes one pie.  I normally make two pies for the work family.

Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

2 potatoes cut into even bite-size pieces

1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed

2 carrots cut into even bite-size pieces

1 cup of broccoli cut into even bite-size pieces

6-8 ounces of green beans cut into even bite-size pieces(chopped should give you about 1 ½ cups)

1 small yellow onion, diced (chopped should give you about 1 ½ cup)

2 ribs of celery cut into even bite-size pieces

2 cans of cream of chicken (I like low fat, low sodium version)

2 unbaked store-bought pie crusts (9 inch) – told you this was easy

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Read the instructions for the pie crust.  Some crusts require you to remove them from the box and let them warm to room temperature.

In a saucepan on medium heat, add olive oil and potatoes.  Cook the potatoes until brown, only turn them as needed or it will mash them.  Once the potatoes are browned and cooked all the way through, about 20 minutes, place in a bowl.

Put the chicken in the same saucepan and add water until the chicken is covered.  Bring to a boil for 15 minutes.  Remove the chicken from the water, cube it and set aside in the bowl with the potatoes.

In the same saucepan, without water, over medium heat, cook the onions, carrots, and celery in olive oil until the onions are translucent and the carrots are fork tender.  Then add the broccoli, green beans and cream of chicken and cook for four minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Layout one crust onto a nine-inch pie pan and gently press against the sides.  Add the potatoes and the chicken, and then, add the cream of chicken and vegetables.  Put the second crust on the top of the pie. Using a fork, crimp the two crusts together. Cut the extra crust off and save. Cut 2-3 steam holes in the top of the crust.  Place in the oven for 30-45 minutes the crust should be golden brown.  Let the pie sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

Take the extra crust and divide into the number of people eating dinner.  Make little round pies with the edges raised.  Take your favorite jelly or jam and put a spoon full in.  Put into the oven for 20-30 minutes or until the crust is brown.  You now have little fruit pies for dessert.

Real-talk tips:

No one likes cleaning their oven, if they tell you they do, they are lying! Put aluminum foil under the pie pan in case some of your filling bubbles over.

When cutting onions put a little lemon juice or lime juice on the onion. This has helped me not tear up while cutting.

Turkey Quinoa Loaf

Turkey Quinoa Loaf

I love meatloaf, no, not Meatloaf, the singer/actor – although some of his stuff is cool – the comfort food of my childhood. My favorite “I’m not watching my calories” meatloaf is made with ground beef and pork and topped with bacon. Yeah, I know, my mouth is watering too. Considering I don’t have my teenage metabolism anymore, I made a few tweaks to a healthier recipe I found. The original recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of tomato paste and a glaze made with brown sugar. It sounds great, but I wanted to cut down on the sugar a bit. 

My pantry wasn’t stocked with one of those nifty tomato paste tubes – they are so amazing – and not wanting a whole can of paste to go to waste, I use ketchup.  Really a glaze on meatloaf is bit overkill for a weeknight dinner and I just skipped it all together. I work with five of the most honest “food critics” in the area, also known as firefighters. If dinner isn’t up to their standards, I hear about for the rest of the night. This dish though, everyone loved it.

Now, a few of you may have never have never heard of or eaten quinoa, it really is amazing – don’t be afraid of the unknown! Wikipedia gives this definition: “quinoa is a grain-like crop that is high in protein and gluten-free.” I’ve found it is really quite versatile. Look for more recipes featuring it soon.  You can usually find it at any grocery store with the other grains.

I like the quinoa in this recipe because it adds nutritional value and a nutty flavor that works really well with turkey.  Please give it a try before you turn up your nose….

Serves 6 firefighters

Ingredients;

• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1 cup water
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 (20 ounce) packages ground turkey
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 egg
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Bring the quinoa and the water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and let it simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed. Should take about 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.

2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

3. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion; cook and stir for about 5 minutes, until the onion has softened and turned translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Remove from heat to cool.

4. Stir the ground turkey, cooked quinoa, onions, ketchup, hot sauce, 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire, both eggs, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until well combined. The mixture will be very moist. Shape into a loaf and place on a foil lined baking sheet.

5. Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 50 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Let the meatloaf cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.