Ground Meat Doesn't Have to Always be made into Burgers...

or meatloaf, or meatballs, or tartare for that matter.  One of my fondest memories of food is the dinners that I've had with my family over sauteed ground beef, cooked with a bag of frozen veggies and a pot of rice.  Sounds pretty simple right?  It is... good... simple... and comforting. 

The way I remember my parents cooking the beef was easy... ground beef sauteed in a little oil with garlic and onions... then you drop in a bag of your favorite mixed frozen veggies.  The bag of mixed veggies always had lima beans in it, which was always what I picked out. 

I make versions of this meal now, what my partner calls "A La Mode".  (I have no idea where he came up with that, but that's what he has always called it.)  I've gotten a little bit healthier with it, subbing out the ground beef for ground turkey.  And I've gotten a little more fancy with it.    I've made it Latin style, with cilantro and black beans.  I've made it Asian style, with ginger and sesame oil.  I've even made it as a topping for a baked potato with a simple splash of Worcestershire sauce.  But today's version, curried.

Not everyone is into curry.  I get that.  But why not step out of the box every once in a while, right?  So... here we go!!!!

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground turkey
2 peeled potatoes, cubed
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of chicken stock
1 cup of frozen peas
1 cup of frozen peppers (Trader Joe's has a great bag that has 3 different colors called Melange a trois)
4 tablespoons of curry powder
1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon of granulated garlic
1 tablespoon of dried onion
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of paprika
1 tablespoon of dried cilantro
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Here's the ingredients

Saute the ground turkey in the bottom of a hard bottomed stock pot in the olive oil.  Once brown, add your potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic and onions and let sweat.  Add in the cup of chicken stock and all of your seasonsings, cover and allow to simmer until carrots and potatoes are fork tender. 

Getting our simmer on.

 

 

Once the veggies are fork tender, add your frozen veggies and let simmer for another 5 minutes.  The thing about frozen veggies is that there is a fine line between simply defrosting them and boiling them within an inch of their lives.  5 minutes should be enough time to bring them back to life.

Frozen veggies coming back to life

This is time to check your seasonings and your consistency.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  You should also have a decently thick curry sauce in your pot too.  If you've done this just right, your sauce should coat the back of a spoon thinly.

And there you have it!  Ground turkey curry.  Serve it over nice hot rice... and it's the perfect comfort meal for a cold night.  Even better... it's done pretty quick...

Try it out!

Onward and upward...

-Vince