Turkey with Turnip and Pear

My CSA challenge has really been a challenge.  I have to say that the true challenge came when I was confronted with turnips ... and turnips ... and turnips.  They came with every shipment.  I had more turnips than I knew what to do with.  The reason for my situation came not only due to the number of turnips, but also from the fact that I have rarely cooked with the root vegetable.  

Sure, I could have boiled them, pureed them into a smooth nothingness, and, voila, an alternative to mashed potatoes or with mashed potatoes.  And only that.  I have never cooked with turnips.  So I needed to come up with another use for them.   So, I did what I often do and that is to consult the Internet.  I searched for various recipes for turnips. There a lot of recipes, as there are for pretty much any ingredient.  However, there was one recipe that caught my eye, because it called for a combination of ingredients which appealed to my stomach ... turnips and pears.  The recipe was from Bon Appetit, but I decided to give it my own twist.

The twist involved combining the turnips and pears with turkey, which works on so many levels. Turkey is a very good protein to work with because its its flavor is complementary to so many fruits, vegetables and starches.  This goes well beyond cranberries and potatoes.  Both the turnips and the pears paired very well with the turkey.  For this dish, I used a turkey thigh, rather than the breast or cutlets.  The reason is the preparation.  Given the top of the stove treatment, which involves higher heat over a shorter period of time, the added fat content in the turkey thighs helped to keep the meat moist.

This was a very good dish for turnips, and a great alternative to simply mashing them like potatoes.  While my plating still needs some work, this is the type of dish that I think could look fancy enough to appear on restaurant menus.  

TURKEY WITH TURNIP AND PEAR

Adapted from recipe by Bon Appetit

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 turkey thigh, about 1 1/2 pounds, cut into

     four even sized pieces

Kosher Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 medium pear, peeled, cored and chopped

1 medium turnip, peeled and chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 teaspooin fresh thyme leaves, plus more for serving

1/2 cup salted, roasted macadamia nuts, chopped

Directions:

1.  Brown the chicken.  Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.   Season turkey with salt and pepper and cook, skin side down, until skin is browned and crisp 10-12 minutes.  Transfer turkey to a plate.

2. Prepare the sauce.  Heat remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in same skillet over medium high heat.  Add onion, pear, turnip and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring ocassionally until pear and turnip are soft and starting to turn golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.  Carefully add wine and thyme, then return chicken to skillet, skin side up.  Cook until wine is almost completely evaporated and turkey is cooked through, about 8-10 minutes.

3.  Complete the dish.  Plate the dish and serve topped with macadamia nuts.

ENJOY!

Baby Chef: Pear Puree

Several months ago, I announced a new part to Chef Bolek, which coincided with a major change in the lives of my beautiful Angel and myself.  We were welcoming a new addition to our family, a baby Chef Bolek.  I pledged early on to make baby food for our little guy once he was ready to eat something more than breast milk or formula.

Well, he has reached that point and, even with our very busy schedules, we have managed to make our own baby food.  The focus has been organic fruits and vegetables.  To this point, our little guy has eaten pea puree, sweet potato puree and peach puree.  At first, he did not care for the peas, which was obvious from the many funny faces that he made when he ate them.  He eventually came around and eats his peas.   It was also clear that our little guy did not like sweet potatoes; and, to this date, he has not changed his mind.  But, our little guy loves his peaches, which he eats with delight.

Our latest recipe -- and the first of the Baby Chef recipes for Chef Bolek is a pear puree.  This puree could be made with Bartlett, Anjou or Bosc pears.  Given that pears are in season right now, I bought four good sized, organic Bartlett pears and got to work.

The great thing about baby food recipes is that they are very easy to make.  It is important to make sure everything you use (including your hands) is very clean.  It is also important to make sure that the food is "clean" as well.  This means that the food is either organic (meaning that pesticides are not used) or, if organic food is too expensive or unavailable, that the food is washed thoroughly.

PEAR PUREE

Recipe adapted from from  

The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet, page 29

Ingredients:

4 pears, washed, peeled and quartered

1 to 2 cups of water (if using the stovetop method)

Directions:

1.  In a microwave.  Place the pears on a plate.  Microwave the pears for 5 minutes each or until soft.  Allow the pears to cool, then blend them for about 30 seconds or until the pear is completely pureed.

2.  On a stove.  Heat the water in a saucepan until it begins to boil.  Add the pear to the water, reduce heat and simmer the pears for about 10 minutes or until they are soft.  Remove the pears from the water and let them cool.  Reserve the water.  Puree the pears until they reach the desired consistency.  You can use some of the reserved water to achieve that consistency.

ENJOY!

Spinach, Pear and Kerrygold Salad with Sweet Dressing

Recently, I made Carrot Soup with Coriander, Curry, Ginger and Chives for my Angel and I needed something else to make it a meal.  Clare has been craving salads, so I decided to prepare a salad for her.  I looked through the three pregnancy books that I have but there were no salads that captured my attention at that time.  So, I turned to the Internet, surfing pregnancy websites for a good, healthy salad. 

I came across a recipe for Spinach, Pear and Gruyere Salad with Sweet Dressing.  The recipe appeared on several pregnancy websites and it caught my attention because of the accompanying description.  "This recipe is especially for pregnant and breastfeeding women...."  I thought I could not go wrong with this recipe.  

It is a good thing, however, that I do not simply place blind trust in things I find on the Internet.  I check the labels of everything that goes into a dish for my beautiful Angel.  And, when I checked the label for Gruyere cheese, I discovered that it is unpasteurized.  It appears that much of Gruyere cheese is unpasteurized. One of the most fundamental dietary principles is that pregnant women should not eat unpasteurized cheese, because of the dangers of listeriosis.  I quickly "86'd" the Gruyere cheese and substituted it with a pasteurized cheese, namely Kerrygold Irish Cheddar.  That worked out well, because Clare really likes Kerrygold.  

SPINACH, PEAR AND KERRYGOLD SALAD WITH SWEET DRESSING

Recipe adapted from Kid's Health

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the salad):

8 cups of raw spinach

2 medium pears, sliced thin and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 ounces of Kerrygold Irish Cheddar

4 tablespoons of walnuts

Freshly ground pepper

Ingredients (for the dressing):

2 tablespoons of canola oil

2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

Directions:

1.  Prepare the salad.  Wash and dry the spinach, tear into smaller pieces if necessary, and place in a large bowl.  Add the sliced pear.  

2.  Prepare the dressing.  Whisk the canola oil, apple cider vinegar and maple syrup.  Heat in a microwave safe container for 30 seconds.

3.  Finish the salad.  Toss the spinach and pears with the warm dressing.  Garnish with the sliced Kerrygold cheese, walnuts and freshly ground pepper.  

ENJOY!

Oysters with Champagne, Anjou Pear and Pink Peppercorns

This recipe is still a work in progress.  It was a last minute recipe that I thought of while staring at a bin full of ice ... and Chincoteague oysters.  I have previously posted recipes for mignonettes, which are generally a "sauce" of vinegar and shallots with additional ingredients.  In the place of vinegar, I used Champagne.  Rather than shallots, I thought of pairing an Anjou pear and a little spice kick with pink peppercorns.

Champagne and pepper pair well with oysters.  Pears are a little more of a stretch.  However, it was still worth the experiment.  As it turns out, the pear gets a little lost in the taste of the oysters. The Champagne and peppercorns work well, providing some tartness and spice to the briny flavor of the oysters. A little experimentation with flavors that worked well, but not as well as some of the mignonettes that I have done in the past.

Even though the recipe was not a complete success, I decided to still post it so that I can go back and work on it a little more.

OYSTERS WITH CHAMPAGNE, ANJOU PEAR

AND PINK PEPPERCORNS

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 2

Ingredients:
12 oysters, shucked
1/2 Anjou pear, skinned, de-seeded and diced
1/2 cup of Champagne
Reunion Pink Peppercorns

Directions:

1.  Prepare the mignonette.  Add the pear and the champagne to a bowl.  Let the pear sit in the champagne for about ten or fifteen minutes.  

2.  Plate the dish.  Spoon a little of the pear and champagne over the oysters.  Add a couple pink peppercorns.  Serve immediately.

ENJOY!