Turkey-and-Onion Paprikash

It's late.  I'm tired.  You're tired.  Let's keep this short and sweet.

Turkey-and-Onion Paprikash.  It's like stroganoff, but turkey.  And paprika.  Try it.  It's gooood.  Very good.  And quite fun to say.

Goodnight!

Recipe adapted from Everyday Food, September 2012
PREP TIME: 25 minutes        TOTAL TIME: 25 minutes       YIELD: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 pound turkey cutlets, halved horizontally
• Salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 4 roma tomatoes, diced small
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• Cooked egg noodles, for serving
• Dill, to sprinkle on top

Directions

1. Pat turkey dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.
2. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high. In batches, cook turkey until cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and tent loosely with foil.
3. Reduce heat to medium, then add onion, tomatoes, and remaining 2 tablespoons butter; cook until onion has softened and tomatoes have broken down, 6 minutes. Add paprika and cook 1 minute.
4. Add broth and cook, stirring, until slightly thickened, 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Return turkey to pan along with any accumulated juices. Sprinkle with dill and serve over noodles.

Cook's Note

This recipe works well with chicken cutlets as well.

COST: $11.43   COST PER SERVING: $2.85

Served with a side of cooked kale, about $3.00 per plate

Some Non-Stories and a Vegetable Frittata

This is normally the part where I tell you some story.  You know... I did this, thought that, and then BAM, here I am, eating what you see above.  But I don't have that today.  What I do have is a really great and EASY recipe that I love, and some pretty pictures to go along with it.  Or I could tell you about cutting open pig hearts with my students yesterday and all the blo---- ok, never mind.  Like I said, recipe and good pictures.  Sounds about right for today :)



This is one of those quick-fix meals that is super cheap as well.  Vegetarian to boot.  I like meat, don't get me wrong, but I like vegetables as well.  Speaking of vegetables...

Alright, quick story.  (This is me typing this, are you surprised?)

The other day I wrote on my blog about all that I had learned this year (which you totally read, right?  RIGHT?!), the very first one being that "veggies have flavor -- and it isn't Ranch".  And then later that night I saw that Google Translate had sent traffic to my blog so I clicked on in to find out what that was all about.  Basically someone in Brazil was reading my blog (Ha!  Caught you!) and needed it translated.  Super cool.  I am all over that.  Interested in seeing how well they did, I started reading through... Home = Casa, About = Sobre, so far so good.  And then I see #1 of what I learned:  "Vegetarians have flavor  -- and it isn't Ranch."  I am a cannibal and I didn't even know it!  HAHAHA! 

Ok, back to the recipe and pictures.  (Yes, this is how my brain works, and no, I do not have ADD.  My mind just runs in circles a lot.)

Four easy steps to make this frittata happen:

1) Cook onion and green beans over medium (with a tablespoon of olive oil) for 8 minutes.

2) Add tomatoes and cook again, 2 minutes.

3) Add egg/sour cream concoction.  Cook 2 minutes until the edges are set.

4) Put in oven on 425F for 8 minutes.

From start to finish, 20 minutes.  My kind of cooking!  My guess would be that it is probably yours, too.

Recipe taken from Everyday Food, March 2012

• Yield Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 8 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 medium red onion, diced medium
• 1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 tomato, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I did two.)
• 1 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and sour cream and season with salt and pepper. In a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium. Add onion and green beans and cook, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender, about 10 minutes. Add tomato, and season with salt and pepper. Add egg mixture and stir to combine. Sprinkle with Parmesan and cook, undisturbed, until edge is set, about 2 minutes.
2. Transfer skillet to upper rack in oven and bake until slightly puffed and almost set, about 8 minutes. Heat broiler and broil until cheese is browned and bubbling, about 1 minute. Run a rubber spatula around edge of frittata and transfer to a plate. Cut into wedges and serve with potatoes and garlic (which will be in another blog post, so just serve with whatever you would like).

Cost: $7.92                   Cost Per Serving (4) $1.98

Baking in Brazil -- Sour Cream Substitutes

Yesterday I posted the recipe for this:

but then I had friends in Brazil say, "How can I make that if I don't have this...?"

Well, I did a little digging around and I have some good info for you.

If you are needing sour cream for a recipe and do not have access to it (like those of you in Brazil), there are several different things you can use depending on what you are going to use it for.  Baking, dips, toppings... they all have their own ways to make a good substitute.

Substitute one of the following for each 1 cup of sour cream:

*I cannot remember if you can find buttermilk in Brazil.  But if you can't, have no fear.  It is super simple to "make".  I do it regularly so I don't have to waste money on something I will only use a little bit of before it goes bad.  The formula is easy --

1 cup regular milk + 1 tbsp. white vinegar + 5 minutes wait time = buttermilk

*If you are using yogurt, strain it through a cheese cloth first and then let sit in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Enjoy your chocolate-banana-bread or whatever else it is you are eating!

October Unprocessed: Sweet Find -- Sour Cream

Usually I go for Knudsen sour cream.  You know the kind -- the good kind. 

I had a recipe tonight that called for sour cream, and I thought, "Really, how many ingredients can sour cream have in it?  I can totally use it [even with the October Unprocessed challenge]."  (Yeah, that last part was that kind of thought that you think without words, more like "mdpaibdg" but your brain knows exactly what you are thinking even though no actual words were thought.  However, for you Dear Reader, I know you have enough on your plate without having to read my mind, so I clarified for you.)

Well, you wanna know the ingredients in sour cream? 

Ingredients: CULTURED PASTEURIZED GRADE A SKIM MILK AND MILK, DRIED CORN SYRUP, FOOD STARCH-MODIFIED, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF STARCH, ARTIFICIAL COLOR, CREAM**, MALTODEXTRIN, XANTHAN GUM, NATURAL FLAVOR, VITAMIN A PALMITATE. **TRIVIAL SOURCE OF FAT. CONTAINS: MILK.

I copied and pasted.  So there you have it.  No sour cream for me this month.  {Insert sad face here.}

Wait!  Not so fast!  Look what I found!

Yeah, that's right.  No artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, gums, starches, or stabilizers.  Normally I wouldn't go for fat free but they didn't have just regular.  Whatever.  The taste was good; fat free is never my favorite, but out of all the fat free sour creams I have ever tried, definitely the best.  Paulo thinks it tasted normal, no complaints.  And check out the ingredients list:

Ingredients: CULTURED PASTEURIZED GRADE A NONFAT MILK, VITAMIN D

Sweet!  I was able to enjoy that dollop of sour cream on the top of my food.  It just makes everything better, you know?

And at only a buck-99 at your local TJ's, it is a pretty good deal, too.   (You know, I honestly believe Trader Joe's needs to start paying me commission...)