Any ideas for a dinner mixing asparagus and ground turkey?

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Hi guys! I'm new to the forum and am enjoying reading it all so far, so I thought you folk may be able to give me some new ideas from time to time.

So looking in my crisper, I see asparagus that needs to be eaten ASAP and then there's some ground turkey that'll only last two more days. I'm cooking for two and have about 300'ish grams (about 10 oz) of turkey.

Thoughts? Ideas? I'd like to make something interesting, but have no idea how to combine those two in any way, shape, or form. I'm a relative cooking newbie, so overly complicated probably won't work well either. I have most standard goodies on hand (onions, garlic, etc) and there's a grocery store minutes away for anything that I'm lacking.

Thanks for any ideas anyone has!
 
I feel a pasta dish coming on!

Brown the turkey until it loses pink color and drain.

Cook your choice of pasta (fettucine would be good) in boiling salted water (like the sea) until just flexible, and add the asparagus to the boiling water. Once the asparagus is crisp tender and the pasta al dente, drain, saving 2 cups or so of pasta water.

In a large skillet, melt 3 tbls butter. Sweat 2 tsps diced garlic (fresh or from a jar) until soft. Add 3 tbls flour, and blend thoroughly. Remove from heat and add 3 cups whole milk, a little at a time, whisking as you go.

Return skillet to med/high heat, and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture starts to bubble. Reduce heat to medium, and cook, constantly stirring, until thickened. Add 2 ozs cream cheese and 1 cup (or more) freshly grated parmesan. Season with salt, white pepper, and a grating of nutmeg.

Add cooked turkey and stir well. Add sliced mushrooms and pimentoes if you wish. Toss in drained pasta and asparagus.

Put in large baking dish, top with buttered bread crumbs and more grated parmesan.

Put 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, untill hot and bubbly.
Serve with crusty bread.

*NOTE: You could also substitute cream of mushroom soup for the white sauce to save time. Simply nuke soup with a litle milk and the cheeses, and proceed from there. It won't be the same, but it will still be good.
 
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Wow, that sounds good!

I may opt for the mushroom soup option because I have some good low fat mushroom soup and I failed to mention that I'm watching what I eat extremely carefully and would have a hard time justifying all that whole cream + all that cheese.

I'll make it work, though. I may modify to something along these lines:

Whole wheat pasta, whole wheat flour, low fat cream cheese, may use mix of low fat cheddar with the parmesan, whole wheat bread crumbs and all will be delicious!

Awesome, thanks Constance, that's fantastic sounding!
 
I feel a pasta dish coming on!
My thoughts exactly! yours looks great...
Also: ground turkey sauteed in olive oil with onion and garlic. spice with ground fenel seed and chili flakes, add a sauteed green like baby spinach or broccoli rabe, toss with linguini and parmesan cheese!
 
Trim and marinate the asparagus in Italian salad dressing (Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette works well also). Set aside. Mix the ground turkey with a little bit of the contents of an onion soup packet. Form into patties. Set aside while you fire up a grill. Grill the patties until done (but not bone-dry). Grill the asparagus over the hottest part of the fire to sear the stalks lightly, but not to burn them.

Serve the patties on whole-wheat buns, toasted, with plenty of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, and the spread of your choice. Low-fat cheese would be nice as well.
 
Turkey burgers topped with sauteed onions & mushrooms, bleu cheese and asparagus, dijon on the roll - with a side of fries... & extra 'sparagus in a salad w lettuce, tomatoes -- whatever you got. Or a turkey pita/gyro with tzatiki (sp), lettuce, tomatoes & 'sparagus.
 
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There's some good ideas here - this is probably more than you asked for but what the heck - it doesn't hurt to suggest - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - does it? :LOL: :blush:

I make these thin-ish turkey burgers. I use lots of pineapple juice, teriyaki sauce, fresh minced garlic, fresh minced ginger, finely diced spring onion, chopped water chestnuts, salt and pepper. This mixture is VERY wet but not to worry - they will end up juicy. I just mix everything and form into fairly thin-ish patties so they grill quickly and don't dry out.

Now, here's what I'm thinking - if you grate some of that asparagus into this mixture it may be pretty interesting - cooking a bit first might be required.

These patties are a "turn once only" thing. They are fairly fragile. They are very tasty though. If you make the patty roughly 1/2 inch I'd cook on medium for about 7 minutes per side (then check).

Another option would be to serve the patties, along with the asparagus and veggies of choice in a salad of baby romaine with a reduced balsamic vinegar as the dressing - no fat there. If a different dressing is desired there's lots of low-fat options. One using lemon and some of that pineapple juice might be good or lemon and fresh orange juice. I also make one using mandarin oranges then using that juice, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, Splenda, small amount of white onion, poppy seeds as a dressing (I usually make this in a blender until it JUST turns whitish).
 
Okay, so I decided to go with Constance's idea (first come, first serve, I guess! :LOL:) I decided not to worry too much about the fat content and what not, as I'm on a "week off" anyhow and have still been watching things pretty closely, but can afford to let go for a meal here and there...here's what I ended up doing:

Browned the turkey with some onion (we have those little mini white onions, so I just used one of those, I tried to wait for it to caramelize but I think I put the turkey in too early, oh well, just a different flavour)...

Made a regular linguini (no fettucini open right now for some reason - much less whole wheat, oh well) as described, throwing in the asparagus at the appropriate time...out of curiosity - why save the two cups of pasta water? I didn't do this because I couldn't see where they'd fit in anywhere below...

I sweat some garlic in EVOO, tossed in the can of mushroom soup, then about a can of water (got pretty runny)...then I threw a wack of parmesan probably well over a cup) and a little over 2 oz of low fat cream cheese...was missing nutmeg so I just left that out...

Followed everything else and now it's all in the oven (I hope it's supposed to be uncovered!)...should be ready in about 15 - 20. Instead of buttered bread crumbs, I just used bread crumbs and sprayed (liberally) them with Becel butter flavoured spray - hope that works out alright...

I'll serve them with fresh whole wheat buns and that'll be that! It smells good, so I'm looking forward to it!

THANK YOU EVERYONE! I'm sure I'll have these ingredients around again and now have LOTS of things to try!

Constance said:
I feel a pasta dish coming on!

Brown the turkey until it loses pink color and drain.

Cook your choice of pasta (fettucine would be good) in boiling salted water (like the sea) until just flexible, and add the asparagus to the boiling water. Once the asparagus is crisp tender and the pasta al dente, drain, saving 2 cups or so of pasta water.

In a large skillet, melt 3 tbls butter. Sweat 2 tsps diced garlic (fresh or from a jar) until soft. Add 3 tbls flour, and blend thoroughly. Remove from heat and add 3 cups whole milk, a little at a time, whisking as you go.

Return skillet to med/high heat, and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture starts to bubble. Reduce heat to medium, and cook, constantly stirring, until thickened. Add 2 ozs cream cheese and 1 cup (or more) freshly grated parmesan. Season with salt, white pepper, and a grating of nutmeg.

Add cooked turkey and stir well. Add sliced mushrooms and pimentoes if you wish. Toss in drained pasta and asparagus.

Put in large baking dish, top with buttered bread crumbs and more grated parmesan.

Put 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, untill hot and bubbly.
Serve with crusty bread.

*NOTE: You could also substitute cream of mushroom soup for the white sauce to save time. Simply nuke soup with a litle milk and the cheeses, and proceed from there. It won't be the same, but it will still be good.
 
So the verdict? I used way too many breadcrumbs and I probably overcooked the asparagus before putting it in the oven, but other than that, it's STELLAR.

Oh yeah, and I think I should have probably chopped up the asparagus a bit first as well, because now it's a bit harder to deal with.

Fantastic, thanks Constance (and others!)
 
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