Fresh, clean turkey to the full extent of your desire...

So, I'm assuming after reading about Planet Earth Diversified’s fresh, flavorful herbs you went out (or, hopefully, sat at your computer…) and ordered yourself a few to try. Now the question is, what, exactly, are you going to do with them before they start turning brown in your fridge (at least that’s what tends to happen to my herbs…did I really buy them a month ago…)? Well, I have a suggestion. While you’re experimenting with new local farms why not try a turkey from Heartland Harvest Farm; they are delicious and oh so good for the locavore in us all.

Heartland Harvest is a local, biodiverse, polycultured, multi-generational family farm run by James and Lorretta Showalter with their family. Their eight children all work on the farm and take pride in the fact that their “heart” is in the “land” as they work to produce a “harvest” of the best quality foods connecting you with your community, your farmer (and family) as well as the soil. Their turkeys are purchased as day-old poults from a local hatchery then cared for in a brooder house until they are old enough to move to pasture in a semi-free range model for two weeks. At eight weeks they enjoy true free-range life with sun, fresh air, grass, insects and non-GMO feed as well as a safe house to retreat to at night. The Showalter’s goal is to provide “each animal with abundant, fresh, clean pasture to the full extent of its desire.”

In my humble opinion, I believe that turkey is soo delicious that it shouldn’t be reserved for only special occasions and feast days…invite some friends over and carve up some happiness! Plus, turkey leftovers are maybe more dynamic than any food in the world. On top of all that, they’re on sale through Retail Relay right now!

Rowena Morrel from In The Kitchen Magazine generously sent me a few supremely helpful suggestions from her magazine about what to do with your left over turkey; these are my favorite tips and recipes:

Prepare the carcass for turkey stock to make soup before you finish cleaning up the kitchen. Pick the meat from the carcass and place in a big stockpot, cover with water, and add several cloves of garlic, diced onion, a few slices of fresh ginger, peppercorns, and an ounce of vinegar. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for at least 3-5 hours. Strain and discard solids; (I do not save the solids because all of the taste and nutrition is now in the stock) cool quickly over ice and refrigerate. Now you can freeze stock or make soup by adding diced onions, celery, and fresh herbs. Add rice or noodles and fresh vegetables and cook about 20 minutes. Add meat (meat from wings and neck prepared for stock as well as scraps from turkey dinner) and simmer 10 more minutes. Correct seasoning and serve or cool and refrigerate. Once again, if there are leftovers, cool the soup over ice and store in a shallow container, refrigerated as quickly as possible.

Turkey Mornay with Steamed Broccoli

Butter 4 ramekins. Sauté 1 lb fresh mushrooms (quartered). Steam 2 stalks broccoli (halved). Mornay sauce: Melt 3 T butter; stir in 3 T flour until smooth and cook until butter and flour froth. Take off heat; whip in 1 1/2 c milk to incorporate roux thoroughly. Return to heat and continue to whip adding 1/2 c Swiss cheese, salt and white pepper and a dash of freshly ground nutmeg. Place a half stalk steamed broccoli in bottom of each ramekin; add 1/2 c turkey (diced) and 1/4 portion of mushrooms. Top each with Mornay sauce and bake until bubbly. This may be made in large casserole or chafing dish for buffet services.

Straight from the expert’s mouth to your taste buds! Get one of these turkeys before they gobble off!!