Avocado & Turkey in Onion Fire Balls

Here's a new take on a classic campfire meal, and perfect for the Summer grill.  The secret ingredient is California Avocados.  Okay, so avocados aren't so secret.  In fact, this July 4th more than 96 million pounds of avocados will be consumed in the United States. I'll be doing my part, that's for sure.

 

Combining the avocado with ground turkey and seasonings is the big whamo, the secret ammo in these Onion Fire Balls.  The velvety avocado chunks replace any need for more processed ways of adding moisture to ground turkey.  There's no need for mayonnaise or oils.  Adding fresh tarragon, kosher salt and cracked pepper and a dash of soy sauce (or Worcestershire) and the optional minced peppers give the turkey meat robust flavor.  Then, if that's not enough, it gets hugged together by an onion layer and grilled inside a foil wrapper that holds in all the smokey juices.  Wowza - that's just good! It's

also naturally Gluten Free, Grain free and low in the bad fats.

Gotcha Covered: Pork/Turkey/Wild Mushroom in Thyme Pastry - Daring Cooks December

Whether your family is you and your room-mate OR enough kids to make up your own sports team, this Pork/Turkey/Wild Mushroom en croute (wrapped in pastry) is a great GO-TO dish. It's very economical, it looks far more difficult that it actually is, the thyme-encrusted pastry covering gives you moist slices and it freezes well. Quick, go pull out the ingredients; I'll wait.


The 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online.

The mandatory part of this challenge was cooking something inside of pastry. Well, no one has to twist my arm to cover ANY food in a golden, butter dotted, flaky pastry shell.
There has been so much rain here in California that my usual trip to the Farmer's Market (where I could buy a great piece of fresh Salmon) was postponed. I decided to add to my challenge by using ingredients that I already had in the house; Ground Turkey, Ground Pork, a few Wild Mushrooms from last Farmer's Market, and some onions were really the foundation.

Then, since I'm always developing party fare for my Artisanal Catering biz; I also turned this recipe into some very popular tiny pies for appetizers. The meat is cooked and once it's covered in pastry I just put those bad boys in the freezer. I brought them to a Holiday Party last night and they were gone before I got back with a pair of tongs for serving them.
The basic directions after cooking the meat filling (Recipe below), and chilling the Short Crust Pastry (recipe below) is:















1) Roll out 1/2 of the pastry to a long rectangle approx. 12x6 inches
2) Roll out the second half of the pastry to a long rectangle approx. 13x7 inches
3) Mound the meat filling on the 12x6 inch pastry, leaving about 1 1/2 inches around the edges
4) Cover the filling with the larger rectangle pastry and trim with shears or a knife to just inside the edges.
















5) Roll the edges over and crimp with a fork.
6 Use the scraps to cut our decorations to your liking
7) Prick the pastry shell all over with a fork, and brush with a mixture of 1 egg beaten with 1 Tbls. water.
8) Bake in the oven at 350F for 40 minutes (turning pan once for even browning)
9) Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting slices.

Turkey/Pork/Wild Mushroom en Croute
(Short Crust pastry; see below)

1/2 lb. ground pork
1 lb. ground turkey
8 oz. mixed Wild Mushrooms (wood ears work well, baby bells, etc.)
1 small onion chopped
2 clove garlic minced
2 Tbls. Soy Sauce
1 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
1 1/2 cups shredded Emmental Cheese/ Gruyere/ or other mild cheese
1 egg
2 Tbls. olive oil
Salt/Pepper

In a large skillet, cook the onions and garlic on low until they are tender. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. Remove these from the skillet and hold. In the same pan, cook the pork on Med/High until browned and crumbled. Add the turkey and continue cooking for about 3-4 minutes. Drain the meats and add them to the onion/garlic/mushroom mixture in the skillet, again. Also add the Soy Sauce, Red Pepper flakes, the egg and cheese. Stir to combine and taste for seasoning. Let cool before using in the pastry.

Shortcrust pastry
Ingredients:
450 gr (15.8 ounces or 3.2 cups ) of plain all purpose flour
200 gr ( 7 ounce) cold butter

(ADDITION - 1 Tbls. Fresh Thyme leaves)
pinch of salt

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in the salt, (and thyme) then add 2-3 tbsp of water and mix to a firm dough. Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface. Wrap in cling film and chill while preparing the filling or for about 1 hour.

For best results make sure the butter is very cold.

ALSO for your enjoyment; I'm including the generous recipe for the Salmon that we could use on Daring Cooks this month. If you enjoy cooking and experimenting with culinaria; think about joining the Daring Kitchens. It keeps your skills growing and you meet a lot of fabulous folks online who like having fun and challenging themselves in the kitchen.

Salmon en croute:
Ingredients
Mascarpone or creamcheese 5.2 ounces/150 gr
Watercress, rocket (arugula) and spinach - 0.6 cup/4.2 ounces/120 gr
Shortcrust pastry - 17.6 ounces, 500 gr. Use a butterversion such as Jus-rol which is frozen or dorset pastry. or... make your own!
Salmon fillet (skinless)- 17.6 ounce/500 gr
egg - 1 medium sized

Directions:
1.Heat the oven to 200°C/390 F. Put the mascarpone or cream cheese in a food processor with the watercress, spinach and rocket and whizz the lot until you have a creamy green puree. Season well.
2. Roll the pastry out so you can wrap the salmon in it completely (approx. 2-3 mm thick) and lay it on a buttered or oiled baking sheet (it will hang over the edges). Put the salmon in the middle. If it has a thinner tail end, tuck it under. Spoon half of the watercress mixture onto the salmon. Now fold the pastry over into a neat parcel (the join will be at the top, so trim the edge neatly), making sure you don’t have any thick lumps of pastry as these won’t cook through properly. Trim off any excess as you need to. Make 3 neat cuts in the pastry to allow steam to escape and make some decorations with the off-cuts to disguise the join if you like. Brush with the egg glaze.
3. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and browned. To test wether the salmon is cooked, push a sharp knife through one of the cuts into the flesh, wait for 3 seconds then test it against the inside of your wrist; if it is hot, the salmon is cooked. Serve with the rest of the watercress puree as a sauce.

Some video tutorials to watch:
Rolling out pastry
Making shortcrust pastry
Making salmon en croute

Also check out the website of BBC Good Food as it has tons of information and other video tutorials as well

Left-Over Left-Overs for #LetsLunch

Let me tell you what I did with my left-over Turkey and fixin's from Thanksgiving: We reheated and ate a complete Thanksgiving meal all over again. I know, I know - if the Macy's Day parade was the day AFTER the holiday I could've been a one-ton float that needed cable and six people to pull it down the street. However; life is about balance for me. So, I used the "left-over left-overs" to create a healthy Curry Turkey SALAD.

CURRY TURKEY SALAD ON MACHE

Ok, so it has a tiny spoonful of mayonnaise (you could use yogurt). Let's face it, compared to the day before, I'm starving myself.

CURRY TURKEY SALAD ON MACHE:
1 cup of chopped, cooked turkey
1 TBLS curry powder (even better if you toast it in a skillet for a moment before using)
1 TBLS (or to your palate) Dijon Mustard (don't use any less flavorful mustard - you need the ummph)
1 TBLS (or less) of Mayonaise (home-made is best, but organic is good)
a dash of olive oil
a handful of grapes
a sprinkling of chopped nuts
a sprinkling of blu cheese
Mache (or mixed baby or arugula would be great)

1) First mix the curry, mustard and mayonaise together; then toss the turkey in to the mix. If you like it a little smoother, add the dash of olive oil.
2) Add the grapes and adjust seasoning.
3) If you like your greens dressed, try just a sprinkling of olive oil and balsamic or leave dry. Mound them on the plate. Add a scoop of the Turkey Curry Salad to the center.
4) Sprinkle with nuts and cheese.
5) I also sprinkled a little bit of toasted left-over dressing (don't judge, I'm weak).

I served this to my husband and teenage son and they loved it. I had to laugh, though, because my husband thought it was the "Salad before the meal". I think he's still sitting at the table waiting.

This posting was another wonderful idea by Cheryl at A Tiger In The Kitchen for our Twitter group called #LetsLunch. Every month or so a few of us (click on these: Cowgirl Chef, A Tiger In The Kitchen, for other delightful leftover ideas) post together as a kinda Virtual-Lunch. You are welcome to join us by posting or by following. Just let me know in the comments, or on twitter: @ShowFoodChef.