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.

Etiquette Q&A - Friends Reciprocate

Q: I have a question. What if you have some really good friends that you love doing things with, but it seems that you are doing all of the calling/inviting?

A: Dear Friend,

Thank you for your comment/question to the earlier posting http://katherinechalkley.blogspot.com/2011/07/etiquette-q-invitation-reciprocation.html.

Your friends are not reciprocating, and as mentioned in my post, reciprocation exists in order to build relationships. Relationships take "two to tango" and cannot be one-sided with one party doing all of the inviting.

I sense that you are not OK with this situation (and most people also would not be OK with it) and wish for a more substantial relationship with your friends. There are several approaches that you might take to handle this lack of reciprocation (see http://www.hisocietyds.com/blog/2009/01/05/options-for-the-friend-who-extends/). However, from your question, it appears that you have already tried to ignore the problem and/or have settled to be bothered by this situation and silently stew. My preferred approach to most prolonged, sticky situations is to simply attack such cases head-on.

A good, old-fashioned heart-to-heart conversation with your friends in a gentle, well-mannered method and tone is the tactic that I recommend. Let them know how you feel. You might also consider explaining to them how important their friendship is to you and that you would hope that your friendship is important to them, too. Be straight-forward and uninhibited in asking for what you really feel would be the primary indicator to you that your friendship is valued: tell them that you would appreciate a casual invite out from each of them.

Friendship, like all forms of relationships, takes routine work and appropriate honesty. If a person is a true friend, s/he will take your feelings into consideration.

Etiquette Q&A - Invitation Reciprocation

Dear B-Reader,

Today's posting will begin a new series of responding to reader's etiquette questions. In this series, I will not only offer my opinions, but I will lean on the vast available knowledge in the etiquette community in order to offer as helpful of a response as possible. This is advice, and as such, you, B-Reader, may take it or leave it...but in the least, I am hopeful that you will consider it.

Q: I have an etiquette / protocol question for you. Here’s the timeline:

-Several weeks ago we invited some friends over for dinner. They had plans. We didn’t follow up / forgot / got busy / whatever.

-They invited us over for dinner on Tuesday. Yay fun.

When should we invite them again? How soon is “too soon” and “too late”?

A: Dear Dinner Guest,

Yours is actually a frequent predicament that many guests of parties and gatherings find themselves in, so do not worry, you are not alone in wondering how to approach this matter.

Etiquette suggests that all invitations to private dinners and intimate gatherings (excluding weddings, charity events, and galas) must be reciprocated in some form or fashion. Now, this is not tit for tat. Rather, it is a simple return of a gesture with another gesture. In your situation, you are more than welcome to return the dinner with a comparable dinner at your place. Or, you might consider inviting the couple to a movie or dinner out.

 In other settings, if you are not up to returning a gesture in a similar fashion as it was given to you (as in attending a large party at someone's home or cooking a gourmet meal), then offering the host/hostess out for drinks is just fine (see http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2584293/good_manners_you_should_reciprocate.html?cat=41). The point of invitation reciprocation is to continue to build a relationship with the original host/hostess.

Your question does delve a bit deeper in asking when is too soon or too late to reciprocate an invitation. To be honest, B-Reader, you stumped me for a moment. Fear not, I have a vast collection of references to turn to in such times, and they guided me to a great response. Emily Post's Etiquette (17th ed., p. 253) states "Nor is it necessary to reciprocate immediately. Generally, you should try to entertain the host or hosts of an intimate, at-home gathering within a couple of months." Again, the goal is to continue the momentum of building a relationship, so in your case, if you feel that the couple would enjoy spending time with you again in as soon as two-weeks, then that would be a reasonable time, as one does not want to appear desperate.

A good guest wants to build relationships and therefore s/he reciprocates all invitations to intimate events, and does so within two-weeks to three-month’s time frame. Reciprocation may take any form and is not required to be at the same level as the original event.