Sunday, April 29, 2012

Ground Turkey Enchiladas & Dirty Rice

One catch of buying in bulk is figuring out different ways of preparing the food.  I came up with a quick and easy version of enchiladas that turned out very tasty.  In addition, I used the leftover turkey that didn't make it into the enchiladas to make dirty rice, which of course, goes great with the enchiladas and practically anything else.  Bear in mind, I'm cooking for two here so you'll have to adjust your quantities. 

Seasoned Ground Turkey
1/2 package ground turkey
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp anchou chili powder

Brown the ground turkey until thoroughly cooked through. Stir in the seasonings then add the onion and cook until translucent.  Follow the enchilada sauce package instructions on building and cooking the enchiladas.  My favorite sauce is from Frontera (of Rick Bayless).  I roll a little bit of cheese inside each tortilla with the meat, and use less sprinkled on top over the whole casserole. 

Dirty Rice
1/2 cup seasoned ground turkey
1 tsp chicken base (Better Than Bouillon)
1/4 large onion, finely chopped (leftover from the ground turkey)
2 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Cook the onion until translucent, then add the seasoned ground turkey, water, and chicken base.  Once the chicken base dissolves, add the rice.  My rice had been in the refrigerator from a previous meal so I had to take care to break up the clumps, which was easily done once it had time to sit in the turkey mix.  Stir in the ground pepper and cover until all the liquid is absorbed into the rice.  I like to stir the rice a few times to be sure the rice doesn't overcook on the bottom.  If you have any leftover rice, try topping it with an egg cooked over easy.  Yumm...

Since I'm only cooking for two, I used the other half of the ground turkey package to roll into meatballs, which I'll post once we try them and only if they're any good!