Turkey Rolls

I was first introduced to this recipe several years ago by a caterer at an event.  Intrigued, I asked for the recipe and I received it.  There were just three ingredients: deli turkey slices, an instant stuffing mix, and turkey gravy.

The first time I recreated this recipe at home, I used some name brand deli turkey slices, Stove Top Stuffing (tm), and jarred turkey dressing.  It was good, but rather salty for our tastes.

The second time I made it, I sought out lower sodium turkey slices and low-sodium Stove Top Stuffing (tm).  That was much more palatable.


It has been years since I have made this dish.

Why?

Because I no longer use processed foods in this house.
No Stove Top Stuffing (tm) with its gazillion ingredients, most of which are unpronounceable.
And no more jarred turkey dressing with its chicken fat ingredients that I cannot have.

So if we are to have this dish, I will be making it the old fashioned way.

But is it any more difficult?

The ingredients for "real" turkey rolls are:

Castle Wood deli turkey slices

1 /2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup diced onion

1 rib diced celery

1/4 teaspoon dried Herbes de Provence

 2 cups dry cornbread stuffing crumbles

1 cup water

1 cup turkey stock

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Saute the onion and celery in the olive oil over medium-high heat until translucent.  Add the Herbes de Provence and the cornbread.

Add the water and stir until combined.  Take off the heat.

Place a bit of the mixture into a turkey slice and roll tightly.  Place into a baking dish.  Continue until all the cornbread mixture is used.

Make the dressing:  Melt the butter and the flour together.  Allow the flour to "cook" so that it loses the raw flavor.  Keep stirring.  Do not walk away!  Add the turkey stock and simmer until it is reduced down to a nice consistency.  Salt to taste*.

*I never salt my stocks when I make them as I never know what I will be using them for later.  This way, I can better control the sodium levels of my foods.

Pour the gravy over the turkey rolls and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Was this more difficult?  Not really.  The "stove top dressing that I made only took about seven minutes to make and only had six ingredients, not counting the ingredients that were in the cornbread.  It only took a couple of minutes to make the gravy, so no big deal there, either.

But here is the big kicker: The original recipe had 1,300 milligrams of sodium per serving.

 I was able to reduce that to 1, 140 milligrams.

However, the homemade version only has 760 milligrams of sodium per serving .

And that is just one small benefit of eating homemade foods, my friends.

 

And how good was this?

This good.

This very good.

Christmas Dinner

What better way to celebrate Christmas with the family than with a festive holiday dinner?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

I even found a new recipe to foist on, er present to my dear family.

I happen to like stuffing.

And after much internal debate, I finally decided that I do call dressing stuffing even though I never stuff a bird with the stuff.

*

Now where was I again?

Dang, these tangents are tough on an old girl.

Oh yes, Sausage Stuffing (please note that I made a half recipe this time around knowing that my husband and the Foodie Daughter are really not into stuffing).

Here we have my mise en place:

5 cups dry bread cubes

1/2 pound breakfast sausage

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup chopped celery, including the leaves

1/2 tablespoon poultry seasoning

1/2 teaspoon dried sage, crumbled (or 1/2 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped)

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

dash freshly ground black pepper

1 cup turkey stock*

*Go ahead and use chicken stock if you are "normal" and not allergic to chicken.

The herbs and seasonings were tossed with the bread cubes.

The oven was preheated to 350 degrees.

After the breakfast sausage had been sauteed and removed to drain on a paper towel,

the pan was wiped out and the butter, celery and onion were added.

These cooked over medium-low heat for 5 to 7 minutes or until the veggies were soft.

The veggies in the butter were added to the bread cube mixture.




And then the sausage was added.

The turkey stock was stirred in until all was coated.

This then went into a greased 9"x9" pan.

The recipe directions stated that the pan was to be tightly covered with foil and placed in the oven for 25 minutes.

Then the foil was to be removed and the stuffing was to be broiled for 5 minutes.

As I was using a glass pan and had another dish in the oven, I opted to simply raise the temperature of the oven.

Let's move on to the main course, shall we?

My husband brought home a fully cooked smoked turkey from work.

This turkey, from Burge's, is meant to be served cold or room temperature, so that meant that all I had to do was carve the thing.

Done!

Bonus:

I was able to set aside an entire breast for a dish for New Year's Eve

and I have an entire turkey carcass for stock making.

And dinner is served:

the turkey, sausage stuffing and roasted green beans with bacon.

A wine slushie was a fine accompaniment to this festive dinner.

The sausage was good,

but I think this would have been better if the foil had been left off for perhaps 15 minutes,

rather than just 5.

*

The ratings?

Considering that the husband and the Foodie Daughter really don't like stuffing that much, they gave this dish 3 and 3-1/2 stars respectively.

The Foodie Boyfriend and I each gave this 4-1/2 stars.

I think the bread to sausage ratio could be raised to make it an even better dish - along with crisping the top a bit more.

But it was still good and it was Christmas and we are a family.

What more could we want?

Again, that's what I thought.

Reinventing Dinner

Last weekend I found a rather forlorn box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix hiding in the back of my pantry. What to do with this pre-packaged mix? I know; let's make corn bread.

The directions call for milk and an egg. So of course I add some chopped bacon, onion and frozen corn.

The first step is to make the batter according to package directions.

Meanwhile, I fry the bacon and chop the onion.

Now I add the onion, corn and the cooked bacon and the bacon joos (credit Sandra Lee for that misnomer).


I pour the mix into a greased 8 X 8 inch baking dish. Then I grate some sharp cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top. Bake according to package directions.

Looks good.

This is a nice change of pace for us.

Fast forward a week:

Oh joy. Look what I woke up to this morning. If you click on the picture, you will see a couple of visitors on my deck railing. I think they are happy that I finally got around to putting out the bird feeders.

Here's a blue jay. Fortunately the other birds don't let the blue jays bully them around too much.

Now, let's re-purpose the leftover corn bread. Today I'll make stuffing (or dressing). Here I have green onion, an egg, bread slices, the corn bread, black pepper, salt, frozen homemade croutons (including the remaining focaccia), celery and fresh sage.

I later added another egg and defrosted a cup of homemade turkey consomme. One teaspoon of dried Herbes de Provence also join in the party.

I spread out the bread and croutons on a baking sheet and pop in a 250 degree oven for a few minutes.

After several minutes I add the chopped celery, chopped green onion and chopped sage. This goes back in the oven for about 15 minutes longer.

Mix all together so that the bread is thoroughly moistened.

Spread the stuffing in a greased baking dish. Since I am also making meatloaf, I bake this at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Just about perfect.

Now I'm hungry.

Hmph. Will you look at my lone dinner companion? My daughter, who had requested the meatloaf, quickly ate and ran back upstairs. I guess I will cut her a bit of slack since she has a migraine today (but only a little, because I also have a migraine today). My husband said I could talk to him - right before he got up from the table and left the room. So that leaves just me and the cat. And he's eyeing my plate. "Please, Mommy, may I lick your plate now?"