What to do with these uncooked turkey pieces

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velochic

Sous Chef
Joined
Sep 2, 2004
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874
Location
Midwest
So, I thought I was getting a turkey breast, but I must have misunderstood what the packaging said.

I opened the turkey breast on Thursday to cook it and it turned out that I had a bunch of small turkey breast PIECES that had been molded inside the packaging to look like a turkey breast.

I was so flustered about it that I didn't cook it... we just went out to eat. Okay no big deal.

But now I have 2 or 3 pounds of raw turkey breast pieces and I don't know what to do with it. I need to cook it off this weekend.

I'm going to brown some for Turkey Tetrazzini.

I'm going to pound some out for Turkey Scallopini.

What else... any other ideas? I can't refreeze it until I get it cooked. So, I'm looking for a couple of nice recipes that will freeze well.

ETA: The meat is boneless and skinless, btw.
 
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a teryaki marinade on the grill is a good idea.

same goes for viniagrette/herb marinades, then on the grill.

but they don't freeze well. i guess you could put them in bagies in the marinade, then freeze for grilling later.

cube them and make turkey chilli. or turkey bolognese.
 
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Thanks for the ideas, buckytom.

I can't grill, though. :(

I'm thinking a pasta casserole other than the Tetrazzini might work. I could dice up the meat very fine.

I have to work with ingredients from scratch (no sauces, etc. unless they are made from scratch). I'm particularly interested in casseroles. We don't/can't cook from canned or preserved ingredients.

Thanks!!!
 
I have a chicken casserole recipe that could easly be changed to turkey . . .

Cube and cook in VOO enough turkey to cover the bottom of your pan. Drain well and layer on the bottom of the pan. Lay a layer of Swiss cheese (your favorite) over the chicken. Generally one layer with some overlap is sufficient, but if you like it extra cheesey, add as much as you want. Then spread a layer of cream of chicken soup over the cheese. Then cover with a layer of previously prepared stuffing/dressing (boxed/canistered or homemade). Bake in a preheated, 350 degree F oven for about 30 minutes, or until the stuffing crisps and the sides start to bubble.

WARNING: You may want to place a catch pan under the casserole. This will slightly increase the cooking time, but greatly decrease the clean up time!

Serve with a side of veggies (I prefer corn, or maybe mixed) and there you go. A 9X13 pan of this is usually good for about 6 people or so, depending on portion size and additional dishes served.

:chef:
 
Don't fully understand your restrictions, but we love to make a turkey pot pie.

Or a turkey Caesar salad, or maybe turkey tacos, or can make a turkey Reuben sandwich.

Julienne the cooked turkey and make a sesame noodle Chinese type dish.

Or make a turkey salad with mayo and onion, celery, curry powder, garlic powder, some hot sauce (or cayenne), use your imagination.

Turkey crepes using a white sauce, can easily Google for many recipes. Think some sliced black olives would work well here.

Or just a turkey ala king served over toasted bread.

Just a few ideas, good luck and enjoy.
 
Think Chicken here, forget it`s Turkey, what would you do if it were Chicken?

maybe a fried rice? a Curry? wrap then in smoked ham with a slice of chili inside and oven bake? batter and deep fry? make Kievs?

Or buy a Cat, they always know what to do with it :)
 
auntdot said:
Don't fully understand your restrictions, but we love to make a turkey pot pie.

The restrictions are what is available (we don't have canned soups) and what I will cook with (we don't do processed food... which isn't much available here anyway). The US is all about canned, boxed, frozen, processed food. I'm just looking for scratch recipes.
 
YT2095 said:
Think Chicken here, forget it`s Turkey, what would you do if it were Chicken?

maybe a fried rice? a Curry? wrap then in smoked ham with a slice of chili inside and oven bake? batter and deep fry? make Kievs?

Or buy a Cat, they always know what to do with it :)

Good words! I like the Kiev idea. I'll have to try that. :)
 
Make turkey cutlets...they'll fly off the plate. Pound them out, dip in seasoned flour, then beaten egg & milk, then back in the flour and panfry.

Or just dip them in flour, brown in butter, and deglaze pan with Marsala wine, for Turkey Marsala.
 
velochic said:
...The US is all about canned, boxed, frozen, processed food. I'm just looking for scratch recipes.
As an American I would take exception to this, but unfortunately it is way too true for many Americans! Many of us do cook from scratch (I'll admit I do add canned mushroom soup or other things now and then, and I use a lot of canned tomatoes since I do not have my own garden yet and produce is very expensive in this area), but cooking is becoming a dying art in the U.S. We need to get it back!

:) Barbara
 
velochic said:
I'm an American, too. :)
So you know firsthand. :cool: The funny thing is, some of the processed foods that are supposed to make things faster and easier really don't. Someone gave me a box of Hamburger Helper once. It was more of a pain to make it than cooking from scratch would have been! And it was full of salt.

:) Barbara
 
Lately, I've had nothing but horrible experiences with hamburger helper. Tastes like salty glue. Bleck! Invariably gets burned on the bottom of the pan.

Not to mention, the only version of the stuff that PeppA buys is Beef Strongonoff, and since it contains dehydrated dairy products, sets my lactose intolerance off like there's no tomorrow.

I can make two versions of Beef Strogonoff, a quick one using just cream of mushroom soup, and one "from scratch". The "from scratch" version takes a little longer, tastes about the same as the version with cream of mushroom soup, but is satisfying to know EXACTLY what went into it. Also, it doesn't set my lactose intolerance off as badly.

This is probably half of the big difference between my style of cooking, and PeppA's style of cooking. I'm a "from scratch" type person, mainly because I'm concerned about salt content, and PeppA is a "out of the box/can/mix" type person.
 
Barbara L said:
So you know firsthand. :cool: The funny thing is, some of the processed foods that are supposed to make things faster and easier really don't. Someone gave me a box of Hamburger Helper once. It was more of a pain to make it than cooking from scratch would have been! And it was full of salt.

:) Barbara

You said it sister! I wonder sometimes if the overload on salt in these pre-packaged items lead to children not liking freshly made food. (I have a niece with children that will eat only McD's and boxed food.)
 
AllenOK said:
Lately, I've had nothing but horrible experiences with hamburger helper. Tastes like salty glue. Bleck! Invariably gets burned on the bottom of the pan.

Not to mention, the only version of the stuff that PeppA buys is Beef Strongonoff, and since it contains dehydrated dairy products, sets my lactose intolerance off like there's no tomorrow.

I can make two versions of Beef Strogonoff, a quick one using just cream of mushroom soup, and one "from scratch". The "from scratch" version takes a little longer, tastes about the same as the version with cream of mushroom soup, but is satisfying to know EXACTLY what went into it. Also, it doesn't set my lactose intolerance off as badly.

This is probably half of the big difference between my style of cooking, and PeppA's style of cooking. I'm a "from scratch" type person, mainly because I'm concerned about salt content, and PeppA is a "out of the box/can/mix" type person.

Like I said above, the salt content alone (not to mention other processed ingredients made from various plastics) is something to be concerned about. Who is PeppA? Your spouse/significant other?
 
I haven't read all the posts but I would poach what is left and use it in cooked dishes like pot pie, shepherd's pie, tetrazini, etc.
 

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