Wild Turkey

This cookbook seems very fitting seeing how turkey may be the choice meal around Christmas time. In Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge after coming to his senses new the importance of a large bird amongst other things. Some might see the turkey as the cumbersome edible table centre piece of Christmas past. While organic, meatless, and gluten - free become Christmas present and future. How ever you set the holiday table and which ever holiday feast you provide, one does not have to be visited by three ghosts to make one giddy as a school girl or boy to know that turkey is the essential Christmas dinner staple. 

This is the only cookbook I have completely dedicated to turkey. Which is fine. It offers 10 chapters and the one chapter that will be most useful come December 26th will be Chapter 9 - Leftovers and Surprises. Of course there are the usual recipes that have been turkeyfied... Turkey Sloppy Joes, Turkey a la King, Turkey Chili, Turkey Goulash, Turkey Gumbo, Teriyaki Turkey and even Turkey Tacos. 

All those recipes aside the recipe I wanted to share with you... well the two recipes I wanted to share with you are the Turkey Walnut Stew and the Cranberry Orange Relish. 

Turkey Walnut Stew

---------------------------------- 

1 breast of turkey

1 medium onion, minced

1/4 cup butter

3 cups chicken or turkey stock (or water with bouillon cubes)

2 cups English walnuts

juice of 3 lemons

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Nuts are an excellent thickener. However feel free to use other nuts. Hickory nuts would be great. 

Grind the walnuts in the meat grinder or mortar and pestle. Cut the turkey breast into bite-size chunks. Sprinkle these with salt and pepper. Heat the butter in a skillet, and sauté the turkey pieces on both sides until lightly browned, then drain. Sauté the chopped onion for 3-4 minutes, then stir in the ground walnuts. Add the chicken or turkey stock, lemon juice, cinnamon, and a little salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring as you go. Reduce the heat, simmer, and stir for 10 minutes. Add the turkey pieces to the skillet of contents, cover, and simmer on very low heat for 40 minutes, stirring from time to time. Serve hot over fluffy rice. 

Cranberry Orange Sauce

-----------------------------------

16 ounces fresh or fresh-frozen cranberries

2 cups of sugar

1/2 cup blanched almonds, slivered

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons grated orange rind

Using a fine mesh, grate 2 teaspoons of orange peel from the outside, avoiding the inner white pith, which is bitter. Mix all the ingredients except the almonds in a saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the cranberries pop open. Remove from heat and skim the scum off the surface with a spoon. Stir in the almonds, pour into a serving container, and refrigerate until time to eat.

I am going to add a third recipe to share from the Wild Turkey cookbook and it is a basting  sauce in case you are looking for something different this holiday season.

Lemon Butter Basting Sauce 

---------------------------------------

1/2 cup butter

juice of 4 lemons

1 tablespoon Liquid Smoke*

1 tablespoon white-wine Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tablespoon salt

* Liquid Smoke is sold in a bottle at most grocery shops in the spice/baking aisle.

Melt butter in a sauce pan, and stir in the other ingredients.

Mix well but do not boil. Use to baste broiled or grilled turkey breast meat. 

Hope everyone is doing well. My finger is much better and I managed to get more Christmas baking done. Today, I will be jetting around E-town spreading holiday cheer as I share my holiday baking. - JW