Turkey Stew

It's 30 degrees and snowing here in Milwaukee, you know. We had rain, hail and strong wind today, too. So I have no qualms posting about turkey stew in April. If the weather is ridiculous where you live, say the hell with spring and make this.



I browned 3 pounds of turkey thighs* in a skillet. Then I cooked a big onion, some finey chopped celery and mushrooms until nice and golden, and sprinked in some sage. (You could certainly do without the mushrooms, but mine looked sad and lonely in the back of the fridge when I reached for the celery.)

I put everything in a Dutch oven, tossed in a bay leaf or two and couple sprigs of parsley, poured 1.5-2 cups of chicken stock over the whole thing and brought it to a boil. Then I reduced the heat to low and let the whole thing bubble peacefully for an hour. (I like simmering better than roasting, baking, broiling, grilling, boiling or poaching. There's something very comforting and satisfying about those little bubbles that pop up on the surface.)

A tossed in some roughly chopped carrots and half a rutabaga, cut into chunks. (I confess that I never tried a rutabaga before I made this. Not a bad root vegetable; tastes like something between a potato and a sweet potato. When I heated up the leftover the next day, I couldn't even tell the rutabago from a potato.) Then I simmered the stew for 30 or 45 minutes.

The stroke of brilliance was to serve this with mashed potatoes and rutabagas. I had half a rutabaga left over and I had to put to proper use! I peeled and boiled the root vegetable until tender but not too soft--rutabagas will take longer to cook than the potatoes--drained, then mashed with melted butter, milk, salt and pepper.

*Turkey thighs are relatively cheap, flavorful and work well with root vegetables.