The Great Turkey Challenge, Day Three: Turkey Bake with Dill

Sometimes you find things don’t always look picture perfect, and that’s the only thing that stops you from posting about them. Taste is there, texture is there, but the looks are just not reflecting this, no matter what you do. When this happens, I just write down the recipe, but don’t post pictures.

But the truth is, things like this happen every day, and while some pictures may not be blog worthy, they represent more or less accurately the daily toils, and they are a huge part of the kitchen chronicles.

I figured, we are smack in the middle of the Turkey Challenge, so no matter what I do with that turkey must be posted, else it will be cheating. So there we go.

Today’s feature is a spin on one of my earlier recipes posted on grouprecipes.com a while back. I liked it well enough to post a couple of years ago, and I thought it would be nice to give it another try.  I made several modifications to it, however, to adjust for turkey dryness and also give it much needed flavor boost.  The result was quite nice, and while it may not win a beauty pageant, it will do just fine in the talent competition, so to speak.

One more thing to add — dill acted here as a serious flavor enhancer. Dill is one of my most favorite herbs, and often combined with minced garlic, it can take your soup, casserole or even a batch of good ‘ole mashed potatoes from ho-hum to gourmet in a snap.

Here is the What and How for this batch:

Turkey Bake with Dill

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and grated
• 3/4 cup chopped celery stalks
• 2 cups precooked turkey breast meat, diced
• 2-3 sprigs thyme
• 1/2 cup white wine or chicken stock
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 medium potatoes with skins, grated
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup fresh dill chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan (I used raw milk Parmigiano Reggiano)

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions, carrots and celery until translucent and fragrant, for about 3-4 minutes.

Add turkey meat and thyme, cook for another 3-4 minutes, stirring.

Add wine, scrape the bottom of the skillet to deglaze, and cook until  wine is almost gone.

Add milk and sour cream, stir well until smooth. Remove from heat, discard thyme sprigs.

Add potatoes and almost all of the dill at this time, reserving 1-2 tbsp of dill

Add all the spices and season to taste.

Beat the eggs and stir them into the mixture, one at a time.

Heat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9 x 13 casserole dish or a suitable size pan (I used a 10″ cast iron skillet). Fold the mixture into the pan and smooth over with a wooden spoon.

Bake for about 35 minutes, until nicely browned. It’s not supposed to be spongy like a cake, but rather fluffy and moist like a casserole.

Sprinkle with Parmesan and remaining dill, and bake for another 5 minutes or so.  Serve hot.