Turkey In Sour Cream & Dill Sauce

This is the way my mom always cooked rabbit.  Rabbit was served for New Year almost every year, alongside Salade Olivier, Carp in Tomato Sauce, Beet Salad With Prunes, Green Apple & Celeriac Salad, etc. My family (not me) has very rocky relationship with rabbit as food, so if you are anything like them, I suggest you to try this with less adorable animal, such as turkey or chicken.

It is very quick, especially if you don’t have to deal with dividing up rabbit, but rather only have to cube the turkey or chicken thighs.  Most importantly, it’s absolutely delicious.  Sour cream and dill are one of those powerful duos that are meant to be together and do wonders in the world.  You know, like cinnamon and apples, like  chocolate chips and cookies, like cold ice cream and a warm cobbler, like Proctor and Gamble, like Ginger and Fred, like Wozniak and Jobs, like Annie and Daddy Warbucks … you get the picture.

The general premise of the method is: chop, season, drench in flour, brown in a skillet, add a bit of stock or wine to deglaze, stir, add sour cream, a bit of water or stock, garlic and lots of dill, simmer covered until done. Open, stir again, add remaining dill for a splash of color and serve. All of this within some 30 minutes from chop to eat. Need I say more?

For a side dish I cheated and used a vegetable portion of Mallorca Grouper recipe, cooked in a Dutch oven. Very easy. It gave us a green side (we are on an “eat-green-something-with-every-meal” challenge this month), loaded with vitamins and flavor, but light on fats, since turkey already had a nice rich creamy sauce.  That’s all folks.  I urge you to try this.

If you are not squeamish about eating adorable animals, definitely try it with rabbit.  For those who haven’t tried rabbit — it tastes like very tender chicken breast with just a slight hint of gaminess and substance, which makes is a lot more interesting flavor-wise.

Funny that, I happen to have a rabbit in the fridge right now, but I am saving for a different recipe, which is originally supposed to be made with chicken. The irony!

Turkey In Sour Cream & Dill Sauce

• 2 lbs of turkey boneless, skinless thigh, cut into 1″ cubes, or a rabbit divided into bite size portions
• 2 tbsp flour seasoned
• salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 2 generous tbsp butter for browning
• 1 cup white wine or chicken stock, divided in half
• 1 cup full fat sour cream
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 very generous bunch of fresh dill weed, chopped

1. Cut up the meat, season liberally with salt and pepper, set aside for about 10 minutes.
2. Sprinkle flour over the meat pieces and turn to coat all over.
3. Melt butter in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium/high heat, until lightly brown and bubbly.
4. Drop the meat pieces into the butter and brown on all sides until golden and no raw sides are showing anywhere.
5. Add 1/2 cup of wine or stock and scrape the bottom of the skillet with a spatula to deglaze. Stir well.
6. When the wine is almost out, add the remaining wine or stock, sour cream, garlic, and all but a handful of chopped dill. Stir very well until smooth and creamy. Reduce heat to simmer. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.
7. Cover snugly and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until meat is tender.
8. Add remaining dill, stir once and serve.

Best served over creamy mashed potatoes, home made noodles or plain rice.  We served ours with a green side, which was borrowed from this recipe. I basically prepared it all the way up to the layering with fish and baking process.