Fesa alle Mandorle - Turkey Breast with Almonds

I've been craving turkey a lot lately. Not sure if it's the Christmas leftover shortage I experienced this year or a greater need for protein with all the working out I've been doing... But anyway, it's been well over a month now that I'm just craving turkey. So I skimmed through the turkey section of SS and sadly nixed the oh-so-enticing Turkey Stuffed with Brussels Sprouts (ooh!) and the Turkey Stuffed with Chestnuts (aah!) and selected the clearly much more low key Turkey Breast with Almonds. (Side note: most full turkey recipes in SS call for a 6 1/2 pound turkey - do turkeys even come that small in the US?! I swear, I've never seen smaller than a 10-pounder).

This recipe won because the ingredient list (minus the turkey breast) was all included in my CSA box that week or already in my pantry and it took around a half hour till eating time. And while it turned out tasty (and somewhat satisfied my turkey needs), it was definitely a stranger recipe and didn't look all that photo (please note the evidence above, not entirely blamed on my sad old camera and lack of photography skills).

The recipe wasn't too complicated: I melted some butter in a deep pan and cooked a chopped onion, a chopped carrot and a chopped celery stalk for around five minutes over low heat. I then placed two turkey breast steaks on top of the vegetables and cooked until it started to colour. The recipe said to cook it until browned, but the steaks didn't ever quite turn brown. I wonder if the low heat was to blame for that?

I seasoned the lot with salt and pepper then turned up the heat to medium, added five tablespoons of white wine and cooked it till it evaporated. I then covered the pot and let it cook over low heat for another ten minutes. Here's where it gets interesting: while the turkey was cooking, I took a half cup of blanched almonds and simmered them with 3/4 cup of milk and a tablespoon of brandy for about 15 minutes then transferred this mixture to the food processor and attempted to purée it. I say attempted because the texture was more mealy than purée like. It's possible the almonds needed to cook longer, but since I only had time as a reference point (and not texture), I don't know for sure if this was the correct texture.

Lastly, I poured the almond sauce over the turkey and let it simmer for a few minutes before serving. The taste was very good, but the presentation and the texture were a bit less than appealing, so it makes it hard to judge the recipe. I might have to try to make the almond sauce again and see if I can come up with a better visual/texture result. Though I don't, those other turkey recipes are sounding awfully tempting now.


Tasty Factor: C+ Ease of Preparation: B- (fair amount of chopping and use of food processor) Modifications: No. Though it seems I should have... I just don't know what would have helped.

Finocchi alla Diavolo - Devil's Fennel

Yet again, I find myself drawn to a recipe by its name. Sure, I chose it because I had fennel and was trying to figure out what to do with it. Sure, this recipe made sense because all the other ingredients were in my pantry. But let's face it, I probably wouldn't have made the recipe if it were merely called Fennel with Anchovies. Or Fishy Fennel. (On second thought, it's distinctly possible that I would have decided that Fishy Fennel was just amusing enough to make the cut... Who knows?)

The point is, Devil's Fennel is what I chose to make. I'd like to point out for you fish-haters out there that the anchovies in this recipe are quite mild and completely disintegrate and disappear into a tasty savory sauce. Fishy, it is not... Rather, faintly reminiscent of the sea. I personally was hoping for a bit more of an anchovy pungency, but I'd imagine that could be obtained by simply increasing the quantity of anchovies in the recipe.

The recipe is easy: chop about four anchovies and then sauté them in some olive oil. The recipe calls for a scant half cup, but I used quite a bit less - about a quarter cup. I then mashed the anchovies into the oil until they are uniformly disintegrated and mixed into the oil. Then I added four fennel bulbs, trimmed and cut into wedges. I drizzled on top a teaspoon of Dijon mustard mixed with a tablespoon of white wine vinegar and sprinkled with salt and pepper, then covered the lot and cooked over very low heat for about 15 minutes, until the fennel was tender.

I then removed the fennel into a serving dish and added the juice of one lemon to the remaining cooking juices. I cooked the juices, stirring them until they thickened slightly then poured them over the fennel.

The fennel tasted great - I love slow cooking it in this fashion... It becomes tender with a lovely mild flavour. The sauce was very tasty and suited the fennel very well. I didn't miss the extra olive oil - the recipe says to add a little water to the pot if necessary, but it didn't seem to be. I don't know how devilish the dish felt, though I've come to realize that "alla diavola" usually means a bit spicy.

Tasty Factor: A Ease of Preparation: A Modifications: Yes. I halved the olive oil and in the future may double the anchovies.

PS. Sadly, the photo sucks. I'm still working through some dishes that predate my new camera. Can't wait to start improving the photo quality!!

Coniglio in Umido - Stewed Rabbit

Continuing my ongoing love affair with rabbit, I decided to attempt another recipe from that chapter. Actually, that's only partially true. I did enjoy that first rabbit recipe very much and was looking forward to making another one, but what really prompted me to cook another rabbit so soon after the first was the message I received from my friend Robert: "YOU HAD RABBIT WITHOUT ME?!?!!!! I LOVE RABBIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Now, to be honest, I wasn't even sure how he knew that we'd had rabbit several days before, so my first reaction was to ask how he knew, suspecting my husband of spilling the beans. Turns out I actually have friends who read this blog - who knew?! (Hi Robert!)

So I did what any normal easily bullied cook would do: I offered to have him over for rabbit. A mere four days later, I returned to my local butcher and bought a rabbit. This time, I decided to cook up this stewed rabbit. The instructions were really short and simple and now that I had the rabbit sectioning part down*, I knew dinner would fall into place nicely and I even selected a couple of other silver spoon recipes to go with it (such as the tasty artichokes aglio e olio).

I cooked the rabbit pieces in some olive oil until nicely browned, added a chopped garlic clove, some chopped thyme and parsley and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Then I added a cup of white wine (a dry-ish pinot grigio) and cooked it until the liquid was mostly evaporated. I added a can of chopped and peeled tomatoes and cooked the lot over low heat for a bit over an hour.

The result was delicious! The rabbit was a bit juicier than its precedent (the oven roasted one) although the flavours were not quite as exciting, just solidly good. Very tasty recipe though not over-the-top exciting. Sorry the photo isn't the best, but on the plus side, I've got exciting news! I bought a new camera and hope to have lovely new photos to share in the near future...

Tasty Factor: A- Ease of Preparation: A- Modifications: None.
(The preparation gets an A- only because of the rabbit chopping bit, otherwise, it was really easy.)

*Not really, but I am improving dramatically! I just need a few more times to practice.