Homemade Turkey Stock and Thanksgiving Noodles

When I read how Cathy at Noble Pig gets her turkey stock ready weeks before the big day, I knew I'd stumbled onto something that was going to save me time and most importantly, my sanity on Thanksgiving. Getting gravy together from pan drippings is a total pain in the rear when you're also trying to carve a turkey, finish up the mashed potatoes, and deal with the rest of the general craziness that happens at meal time on Thanksgiving.

Turkey wings (drumsticks in this case because I wanted some dark meat for my noodles) are first oven roasted with vegetables and herbs, then covered with water and boiled until a very rich stock develops. The finished stock is gelatinous (think jello) after cooling in the fridge over night and skimmed of any fat collected on the surface.

The broth can then be stored in gallon freezer bags until needed. Is this a fabulous idea or what? I've already made two batches of this stock and I'm going to try to get one more in this week. Between the stuffing, noodles and gravy, I use a lot of this stuff for Thanksgiving.

While I wanted to give you the info on make-ahead stock, my main reason for this post is to share this great noodle recipe with you. I've finally found a way to incorporate some whole wheat flour into my noodle recipe and the end result is a wonderfully tender and flavorful noodle, and perfect to serve with your Thanksgiving dinner. And though you certainly can use any chicken/turkey stock to cook these noodles in, I highly recommend going the extra mile and making your own rich stock. It really does make for an impressive dish.

Egg Noodles

1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp salt
1/4-1/2 cup water

Whisk together the flours and the salt in bowl of stand mixer. Whisk egg and egg yolks together and add to flour. With dough hook attached, turn on mixer and combine the eggs and the flour. Start adding the water a little at a time until a cohesive dough ball forms. Use only as much water as you need to get it to this state.

On slow speed kneed dough for 7-8 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. You can also kneed this by hand on a floured surface for 10 minutes.

Cover dough and let rest for 10 minutes. Divide dough into four equal pieces.

OK, now here's where I cheat.

My Kitchen Aid mixer has a pasta attachment and it makes for easy and quick roll-out and cutting of the noodles. If you're rolling these out by hand, roll to 1/8" thickness then hang rolled dough over the backs of towel-covered chairs to dry for a bit while you're rolling out the remaining dough.

Cut noodles into desired size and return to the backs of the chairs to finish drying, or let dry on a towel on your countertop. I let mine dry for about an hour before putting them in gallon freezer bags and freezing them.

Creamy Thanksgiving Turkey Noodles (serves 8)

2 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 carrot, small dice
4 ounces mushrooms, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
6 cups turkey stock, preferably homemade
1/2 batch of the above noodles
1 cup diced turkey, reserved from the drumsticks
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

In large pot heat oil and butter. Add onion, carrot and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and saute until vegetables have softened, 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and saute for another minute or two. Sprinkle flour over vegetables and stir to cook flour for a minute or two. Add stock and bring to a boil, stirring until smooth and bubbling. Add noodles and when boiling resumes, reduce heat and simmer until noodles are tender, 10-12 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your noodles. Stir in reserved turkey and parsley.

Acorn Squash Stuffed With Quinoa And Sausage

Ah hah! You guys thought we were finished with the "squarsh" recipes for the year, didn't you? Well, you thought wrong! And you know what else? I still have a sweet dumpling squash that you're going to have to hear about before we can put a squash to the squash for 2009.

If you're not familiar with quinoa, allow me to give you a little information on this very nutritional whole grain. I'll start out with its pronunciation, keen-wah. By being able to pronounce it correctly, you'll be saved the embarrassment of walking up to a grocery store clerk and asking where they keep the quin-noah. Yeah, it really happened.

Quinoa is a grain that comes from the Andes Mountains of South America. It is still relatively unknown here in America but is gaining popularity because of its nutritional value. Considered a super food, quinoa has more protein than any other grain and is the only grain to contain all the essential amino acids, making it a complete protein. (That's great news for you vegetarians out there!) Quinoa is also high in fiber and low on the glycemic index, making it a wonderful food for helping keep blood sugar levels stable.

Before cooking, quinoa must be rinsed in cold water to remove the soapy saponin coating and then it's cooked similarly to rice. I chose to cook the quinoa for this recipe in chicken broth for further depth of flavor.

This recipe is written for one acorn squash. Double if using two squash.

Acorn Squash Stuffed With Quinoa And Sausage

For the squash:

Cut squash in half and remove seeds and any stringy pulp. Brush squash halves with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place squash halves, cut side up, on a baking sheet and add 1/4" of water to pan. Roast squash in 375 degree oven for 45-50 minutes, or until fork tender.

For the stuffing:

1/2 cup quinoa cooked per package directions in chicken broth
1/2 cup dried cranberries (I tossed them in with the quinoa while it was cooking to soften them up a bit.)
1/2 lb. ground turkey sausage
1 TBSP olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper
1 TBSP all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tsp fresh sage, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup sunflower seed kernels
1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 TBSP parmesan cheese,grated

Brown turkey sausage in large skillet. Drain sausage and set aside.

Return skillet to stove and add olive oil. Add onion and celery and season with salt and pepper. Saute until onion is softened and translucent then add the garlic and saute for another minute or two. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and cook for a few minutes to ensure that flour loses its raw taste. Whisk in chicken broth and cook/stir until smooth and bubbly. Stir in sage, thyme and parsley and remove pan from heat. Add the sunflower kernels, the quinoa/cranberries, and the turkey sausage to the skillet, stirring to combine well.

Stir Panko and parmesan together in a small bowl.

Stuff each half of the acorn squash with the sausage/quinoa mixture. Sprinkle the tops with the Panko crumbs. Place squash back into oven for 10-15 minutes to heat through and brown the breadcrumbs.

Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to all who commented on my chocolate creme brulee post last Friday and to everyone who keeps coming back here to read my little blog. I used random.org to pick the winner of the Gold Canyon candle and the number 14 was chosen. The 14th comment came from Sherry, so congratulations Sherry! Please contact me with your mailing address so that I can ship your prize. My email address is listed in my profile.

Chipotle Sweet Potatoes (Food Processor Fridays)

With Thanksgiving rapidly approaching, it's time to start figuring out a new way to fix those sweet potatoes so you're not forced into making the same old teeth-rotting, marshmallow topped version you've always fallen back on in the past. (Are you catching the hint that I kind of don't care for marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes?)

For the life of me, I can't figure out why anyone would take an already sweet vegetable and make it even sweeter? Isn't that what pumpkin pie and dessert are for?

If you happen to share a similar frustration over the whole sweet potato casserole thingie, this recipe's for you. I've adapted this dish from a Bobby Flay recipe that I found on the Food Network, and its savory spiciness will have you shoving those marshmallows back into the hot chocolate where they belong.

I encountered one small problem with this recipe, which in the end actually made for its salvation, if that makes any sense. The original recipe is supposed to be similar to scalloped potatoes but I found the finished product entirely too soupy. It was delicious to be sure, but I had envisioned something with a thicker, creamier background. So after I took the potatoes out of the oven, I put them back in the food processor and made them into a sweet potato puree. Oh my.... delightfully creamy and with some smokey chipotle heat, this is my new favorite way to eat sweet potatoes. When I make this again I will skip the whole oven process and just simmer the sweet potatoes in the chipotle cream on the stove, but in the interest of Food Processor Fridays, I'll show you how it all went down here today.

Chipotle Sweet Potatoes (adapted from Bobby Flay at the Food Network)

3 small-medium sweet potatoes, peeled, then cut into pieces sized to fit the food processor
1 cup half & half
1 cup heavy cream
1 heaping TBSP chipotle pepper puree (see below)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 9 X 9 baking dish with cooking spray.

Insert slicing disc into food processor. Slice potatoes and remove to a separate bowl.

Insert metal blade into food processor. Place contents of one can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce into food processor.

Pulse until peppers are pureed. Add up to 1/2 cup water to aid in the process and scrape down bowl occasionally.

Place one heaping tablespoon of the chipotle puree into a medium mixing bowl. Reserve the rest for later use. I used an ice cube tray to freeze the puree into individual cubes, then placed them in a freezer bag and stored them in the freezer.

Add the half & half, cream, cumin and oregano to the reserved chipotle puree. Whisk to combine.

Layer a single layer of sweet potato slices in the bottom of the baking dish. Top with just enough of the cream mixture to lightly cover. Season with a little bit of salt and pepper and top with just a tablespoon or so of the shredded cheese. Repeat layers until ingredients are used.

Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until potatoes are fork tender.

Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving. Or continue on to make pureed sweet potatoes.

Return potatoes to the food processor, reserving liquid. Pulse potatoes to a smooth consistency, adding as much of the reserved liquid as needed to achieve desired creaminess.

Lemon-Oat Squares (Treats For Co-Irkers)

After all of their Halloween treats last Friday, I thought the co-irkers needed something just a little healthier this week, so we're going back to whole grained goodness with these lemon-oat squares. Don't get me wrong, there's still enough butter and sugar in them to satisfy your sweet-n-rich tooth, but at least you'll get some nutritional benefits from the oats and whole wheat flour. See how much I care about you?

You'll find the lemon flavoring in these a little more subtle than in classic lemon bars and it pairs very well with the sweet, nutty flavor of the oats.

Lemon-Oat Squares (from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking)

Crust:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
2/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, ground for 30 seconds in a food processor
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 TBSP orange juice

Filling:

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1-2 TBSP finely grated lemon zest
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13 inch pan.

To prepare the crust: Beat the butter, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl until smooth. Add the rolled oats, ground oats, flour and orange juice, mixing to combine. The mixture will start to clump; as soon as it starts to look cohesive, stop mixing.

Sprinkle half of the mixture (about 2 generous cups) into the prepared pan. Press it into the bottom of the pan, patting the crumbs firmly to make a smooth layer.

To prepare the filling: Whisk the condensed milk, lemon zest and lemon juice in a small bowl, stirring until smooth and thickened. Spread the filling over the crust in the pan. Sprinkle the remaining crust mixture evenly on top of the filling.

Bake until light, golden brown, 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and set on a rack to cool. After about 10 minutes, loosen the edges of the squares with a knife. Refrigerate overnight, covered, before cutting and serving.

Poolish Baguettes (BBA Challenge)

As I continue baking my way through Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice I can't help but wonder how many of us are still participating in the BBA Challenge. Our group started out with over 200 bread bakers, but recently it seems that many have fallen by the wayside. I realize that some have chosen to work at a slower pace and that's wonderful, but I'm even starting to wonder if our leader Nicole is still active in the challenge. Nicole.... are you still with us?

This week I tackled the poolish baguette recipe. Poolish is just a sponge consisting of flour, water and yeast made the day before the final bread dough is mixed together. Confession time. I was due to feed my sourdough starter, so instead of mixing up a poolish I just used part of my starter. I figured it had to be very similar to a poolish and I don't think any texture or flavor of the finished product was compromised. The only difference I noted was that I had to use a few more tablespoons of water than was directed to get the final dough to come together properly.

My biggest thrill regarding this particular bread? I got to use my new baguette pan... and I love it! No more juggling fully proofed loaves onto a peel and then onto the baking stone. And just look at the neat texture on the bottom of the loaf. Isn't that awesome?

The crumb could have been just a little more open, but I thought the taste was divine. And I keep thinking as I get more practice I may even get this scoring business down pat one day. At this point however, I still stink at it...LOL!

Next week it's Portuguese sweet bread. I'm thinking some spinach dip is also going to have to be made to go with that delicious bread.

Steel Cut Oatmeal and POM Wonderful Muffins

When the folks at POM Wonderful asked me if I'd like to try their 100% pomegranate juice I was more than happy to oblige. (You all know how I love freebies!) I'm not a huge juice drinker, mostly because I find most fruit juices too sweet, but I found POM Wonderful's tartness quite refreshing and a nice change of pace from the sweetness of orange, apple and grape juice. I don't think hubby was quite as impressed as I was, but then he's more of a Hawaiian Punch kind of guy.

You can visit POM Wonderful's website to learn more about the nutritional value of pomegranate juice, but I feel its biggest nutritional claim to fame is its high level of antioxidants that help protect the body from free-radical damage, a major factor in aging and chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer.

I decided to try to find a way to incorporate POM Wonderful in a muffin recipe. We haven't had steel cut oatmeal muffins for quite awhile, so I thought it might be interesting to actually cook the oats in POM Wonderful and then add them to my muffin batter. I used 12 ounces of POM and 12 ounces of water, a pinch of salt, and 1/2 cup of steel cut oats, cooked them for 30 minutes, then cooled them overnight in the fridge. There was probably about a half cup leftover after adding the required amount to the recipe. You could sweeten the leftovers with whatever type sweetener you like and have them reheated for breakfast.

Steel Cut Oatmeal and POM Wonderful Muffins

1 1/2 cups cooked, cooled steel cut oatmeal (see above)
1 large egg
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup brown sugar Splenda (or 1 1/3 cup regular brown sugar)
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.

Whisk together the egg, oil, yogurt, brown sugar and vanilla. Stir in the oatmeal. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly to combine.

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin wells. Bake for 24-26 minutes. Cool muffin tin on cooling rack for 5 minutes before removing muffins to rack to cool completely.

These muffins are deliciously moist and filled with hunger-sating fiber. You can expect one of these and a glass of milk (or juice!) to get you from breakfast to lunch with no problem.

Other than receiving the complementary bottles of POM Wonderful, I received no compensation for reviewing this product and am in no way affiliated with the POM Wonderful company.