Neighba' Flava' Part 1! Recipe: Turkey Tamale Pie

Dear B-Reader,

It is actually pretty often that I stare at my refrigerator-freezer-pantry and wonder where I am going to find the time and energy to plan, prepare, and finally enjoy a home-cooked meal.

Pretty positive that I am not alone in this thought. Just peruse pins on Pinterest...it's agog with freezer-friendly meals, crock pot dishes, and three-ingredient cuisine (don't get me started...future blog posting). Whenever I offer to bring dinner to a friend, it usually only takes a small nudge for the friend to accept the gesture...because we all need a help working through the "what's for dinner" question. So, in the spirit of sharing, let me go over the following short-cuts I have been practicing in meal planning:

Every two weeks, I thumb through my fave cookbooks and recipe binders in order to locate the meals that I want to make over the next two weeks. My goal is to make dinner 3/4 of the time, so I pull out 10 recipes. Critical: I do not plan on more than 10 meals, as every time that I stray too far overboard, I end up with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy and stray into take-out land.

1. So that I am able to easily recall my meal plans for the two-week period, I make a small stack of the selected recipes (cards, copies of the cookbook pages), bind them with a binder clip, and place them on my go-to bowl on the kitchen counter. Then, after I have made a particular recipe, I place it in the back of the stack and work from the front.
2. Within the 10 recipes, I try to make two soups (one per week) and two new recipes that I have not yet tackled, which leaves six recipes from my old tried-and-true stash.
3. I also like to plan on one of the 10 meals being doubled; I can either store the extra into my freezer for future kitchen black hole moments...or be neighborly and give a friend a meal.

The next task is actually the hardest: determining the ingredients. I go through the list of recipes, categorizing the ingredients into their various grocery aisles (e.g., produce, meat, baking supplies), using the All Out of List. Then I try to tally up the total number of items I will need. It is pretty amazing how many carrots a family of two can go through in 10 recipes! The final part of this task is taking inventory of my current refrigerator-freezer-pantry in order to subtract from my list the items which I already have on-hand. I also take a looksee at the herb garden to assess the fresh yields (which really make all the difference in every recipe).


Laura Bond Fresh (L) and Chalkaholic (R) in London.
Spending our time together instead of a grocery queue. :)
 

The easiest step is a British trick my once mentee, Laura Bond Fresch, has recently taught me: online grocery shop. I have found a store in Houston which delivers to my home at a time that I specify, calls ahead, and even brings the sacks of goods to my kitchen counter! The online site saves my shopping lists so that the next time I need to order, I can simply add to or subtract from my previous lists. For those of you in the H-town area, check out Rice Epicurean. Although the service has a fee, it is nominal for the time that it saves me on those uber-busy weeks. The key is to use the online shopping for ingredients and staples of the kitchen that will be consumed within the two week time period, not laundry and household supplies.

Once I have my ingredients in-stock in my kitchen, then it is time to get to work.

1. I like to divide up my meats into one-dish servings (1/2 lb), wrap in parchment paper, and place into freezer bags into the freezer for easy use in the future. Just thaw overnight in refrigerator.
2. While dividing, I place snackable items into single serving portions in one large pantry container. I just grab and go when on the run and in need of a healthier option than a Snickers.
3. I also wash fruit and leave room-temperature-friendly fruits out on the counter for another easy grab and go. The wussy refrigerator variety calls for a bit more TLC, so I rinse and then place into reusable containers. I find that when the fruit is washed and ready to go, the it actually gets consumed! Imagine that!

Last week, my neighbors helped out my family with dinner when we were pressed for time. I will be sure to get Carrie's sliders recipe and post that for you later, as they were very delicious! This week, I am returning the favor with Turkey Tamale Pie. Want to go all Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood with me? Then double this recipe!

Pie is Good, Pie with Friend is Betta',
Chalkaholic

Turkey Tamale Pie: one for me, and one to share.



 

Turkey Tamale Pie

From Katherine M. Chalkley

This dish serves four. Refrigerates nicely for several days of leftovers. If time permits, make ahead and refrigerate one-half-day in advance in order to blend the flavors well. A nice topping for the dish is shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream dollop, guacamole, or picante sauce.

For the meat filling

Vegetable oil

½ lb ground turkey

½ lb ground beef

2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped

1 large tomato, diced

1 (one) 4.5 ounce can green chiles, diced

½ bag fresh spinach

1 Tbsp cumin powder

1 Tbsp garlic powder

1Tbsp chili powder

6 – 12 drops (to taste) Tabasco sauce

¼ - ½ cup beef broth, unsalted

 Salt and pepper to taste

1 Tbsp water plus 1 Tbsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In sauté pan, coat bottom of pan with veg oil and heat until just gleaming. Add ground turkey and beef, mashing with fork until well mixed with one another. Cook ground meats until all pink coloring is removed. Drain meat mixture of oil and excess water.

Add to meat in sauté pan the basil, tomato, chiles, and spinach. Cook for a few minutes or until spinach is wilted (do not overcook).

Add to mixture in sauté pan all of the seasonings (cumin, garlic, chili, Tabasco) and the beef broth. Cook for one minute or until fragrant. With small spoon, taste mixture. If it needs salt and pepper, combine and use sparingly.

In a small bowl, combine water and cornstarch in order to form watery paste. Pour paste into mixture in sauté pan, stir and cook for one minute in order to thicken sauce. Turn off stove and set aside meat mixture to cool slightly while you make the topping.

For the cornbread topping

2 cups stone ground cornmeal (I like to use Bob’s Red Mill)

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

8 tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp sugar

2 eggs

1 cup beef broth, unsalted

½ of can (15 ounce can) whole kernel corn, unsalted

½ cup (one stick) butter, unsalted, melted

In large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Stir until blended. Set aside.

In second large bowl, combine eggs, beef broth, corn, and melted butter. Beat well.

Add to the cornmeal mixture the egg mixture, being careful to not overbeat. Beat until just blended. Set aside for 5 minutes in order to allow all ingredients to settle (promotes baking).

In deep pie dish, add to the bottom the reserved meat mixture. Cover the meat with cornbread mixture until about ½ an inch from the rim of the pie dish. If there is extra cornbread mixture, why not make cornbread muffins? Place filled pie dish atop baking sheet in order to catch any run-off during baking.

Bake dish in preheated (425) oven for 20 minutes or until cornbread is a golden brown or is showing slight cracks in the crust. Do not overcook the cornbread, as nobody enjoys dry, crunchy cornbread. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

One-Year-Old Party and Recipe: Salads in Phyllo Shells

Dear B-Reader,

My little niece Clara is now a one-year-old! This past weekend, fifty of the family's closest friends and relatives celebrated with my sister and brother-in-law at their lovely home. It was a triumph, with Clara successfully smashing her confetti cake and coating herself in pink frosting!

In our family's typical party-fashion, the food was a joint-effort, which I highly recommend to any of you party-throwers: divide and conquer! As the person of the hour was a young child, we steered clear of any items that she would not be able to consume (e.g., nuts) and focused on some of her fave cheese and fruit cuisine. Miss Independent likes to feed herself these days, so foods were "finger" foods.

Here is a select list of the items served which would be great for any party, regardless of the age of the "child!"

• Drinks: lemonade with floating lemon wheels, iced tea, beer and wine for the adults
• Dips: fresh guacamole, ranch dressing, chile con carne (queso with ground sausage; warmed in crock pot)
• Tortilla chips for dipping
• Vegetable sticks
• Cheddar cheese cubes
• Fruit kabobs with marshmallow tips
• Chicken salad with apples and shrimp remoulade salad in phyllo shells
• Meat balls (warmed in crock pot)
• Cupcakes with buttercream frosting

A few party-prep words from this foodie:

1. Always prepare more food than you believe that your guests will eat. Set aside about 1/4 of what you have prepared into the refrigerator or a cooler set aside from the party. If you begin to run low, just bring out your secret stash. If your guests only eat what the original portion, then you are in luck...your next meal is already ready for you (especially great to have pre-made food available for you and your clean up crew after the crowd departs).
2. Take advantage of make-ahead items. For this party, that would be the cheese cubes, salads, cupcakes. For the cupcakes, make three days in advance, leave unfrosted, and place into air-tight container at room temperature. For the cupcake frosting, make up to 10 days in advance and place into air-tight container in refrigerator; the day of the party, bring frosting to room temperature and then whip in electric mixer for five minutes in order to reincorporate air. Frost cupcakes two hours in advance of party and leave at room temperature.
3. If you are pressed for time or are not yet ready to make all items from scratch, then pick and choose only a few key items to make homemade; the rest can be substituted with packaged solutions. For this party, a lemonade mix could be perked up with freshly-cut lemon wheels; meat balls are available in your grocer's frozen section and could be topped with an easy, homemade BBQ sauce (mustard, ketchup, garlic powder, dried onions, brown sugar); use a cake boxed mix for the cupcakes and simply top with Martha Stewart's fab, homemade frosting for that gourmet flare.

Now, a make-ahead half-scratch half-store bought recipe that you, B-Reader, can take to your next event!

Party on,
Chalkaholic

Chicken Salad with Apples and

Shrimp Remoulade Salad in Phyllo Shells

From Katherine M. Chalkley

Each recipe yields 60 appetizers; plan on each guest eating 2 – 3 shells. Salads may be made up to 2 days in advance of serving if stored in air-tight container and refrigerated. If preparing for a meal, then use larger phyllo shells (e.g., Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry) and fill with 1/2 cup salad.

For the Phyllo Shells

4 (four) 15-count packages of frozen, premade mini phyllo shells (found in grocer’s freezer beside pie crusts)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place shells on baking sheet; it is okay to have them close together, as they will not expand. Bake for 3 – 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes minimum prior to filling. The shells may sit on counter, covered with tea towel, for several hours.

For the Chicken Salad with Apples

1 (one) 2-lb bag of frozen chicken breast tenders (boneless, skinless)

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

1 – 2 cups mayonnaise

4 Granny Smith apples

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place chicken tenders on baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes before handling.

Shred chicken with two forks, with one fork – secure piece of chicken, with other fork – pull chicken in one direction. Set aside shredded chicken.

In large bowl, add mayonnaise.

Core apples and cut into bite-sized chunks (1/2 inch). Add apples to bowl with mayonnaise. Stir well in order to coat all apple chunks (prevents discoloring).

Add to bowl shredded chicken, about ½ a cup at a time in order to evenly fold chicken into mayonnaise mix.

Chill salad mixture for 30 minutes or more. Just prior to serving, pile 1 – 2 Tbsp of chicken salad into each phyllo shell. Serve immediately.

 

For the Shrimp Remoulade Salad

2 lbs of refrigerated, pre-cooked, peeled, deveined shrimp (found in grocer’s fresh seafood section)

½ of one onion white, diced

Olive oil

2 Tbsp fresh tarragon (leaves only, discard stems)

1 Tbsp dried fennel seeds, crushed

2 lemons, juiced

1 – 2 cups mayonnaise

1 Bell pepper, diced

1 Tbsp capers, drained and rinsed

1 tsp anchovy paste

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

Chop shrimp into bite-sized chunks. Set aside.

In sauté pan, heat olive oil until just gleaming. Add onion and tarragon. Sauté for five minutes or until onions are tender. Set onion mixture aside to cool for five minutes.

While onions are sautéing, add remaining ingredients into large bowl. Mix with large spatula in order to combine well.

Add to mixture the onions. Stir well.

Add to mixture the shrimp. Gently fold.

Chill salad mixture for 30 minutes or more. Just prior to serving, pile 1 – 2 Tbsp of shrimp salad into each phyllo shell. Serve immediately.

Katherine Marple

Dear B-Reader,

The gale that blew through H-town this past weekend took with it my home's AT&T UVerse connection. No internet. No cable. No problem. Jeff dusted off our DVD collection, and we sat back last night to a feature presentation of one of our absolute favorites, Mario Puzo's The Godfather. Epic, tragic, and full of what I crave in a good plot -- murder.

Not your first impression of me, eh, B-Reader? Consider me the preppy version of Agatha Christie's Jane Marple. Whereas Jane knits, I compost; whereas Jane rides the trolley, I drive a VW beetle convertible; whereas Jane sips tea, I savor cappuccino. Now really, dear, don't you agree that there is nothing better than a good, old fashioned, vengeful murder in the summertime? Jane does.

Which brings me to my newest fixation -- the Nook by Barnes and Noble. Don't start putting words into my fingers, B-Reader. I'm not the picture of an avid reader. I leave that role to my sister, brother, well, the whole bloodline (I wonder if Mr. Dewey Decimal System is a distant relative?). In fact, I am the metaphorical black sheep of the family when it comes to being a book worm. No slithering around in dusty old books for this prep.

But, what I do love is a great gadget. Clean lines, simplicity, and multifunctional -- those are features that will engage me.

With the Nook, I'm able to read a bit of book A, with the built-in e-dictionary quickly highlight and define a bloody British word that's been driving me barmy, surf the internet, return to reading book A until the suspense is too much to handle, pre-order the next book in the series and save it to my library, read a bit of book B before determining to dive back into finish the murder scene of book A. I can do all of this before you can say Bob's your uncle! Blimey! Oh, and later in the day when my eyes are just too tired to read fine print without squinting and risking premature crows feet, I can increase the font size to extra-extra large! Brilliant!

Speaking of the Nook, I really should stop typing on the blog and get back to my read. Murders don't solve themselves, you know.

Cheerio!





* See the resemblance?