OK, fine, so I made a 16 pound turkey last week and I still have tons of meat leftover. The sandwich thing is getting old in my house, so what can you do with all that extra bird that will excite your family?
A Brazilian friend of ours has made a similar dish to this for years and it’s SO delicious. I gave it a few weelicious tweaks, substituted turkey for chicken and presto, yummy Brazilian turkey polenta casserole.
This one dish meal is also perfect because is freezes beautifully, so you can make a small casserole for tonight and freeze another one for later. The carbohydrate (polenta), the vegetables and the protein (turkey) make this a well-rounded one-pot meal for dinner. And you deserve easy after days and days of cooking for Thanksgiving!
Brazilian Turkey Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup Red Bell Pepper, chopped
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 1 cup Okra, frozen or fresh
- 1 1/2 cup Turkey, cooked and chopped
- 1 tablespoon cilantro
- 1/4 cup chicken stock
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup Quick-Cook Polenta (also known as fine cornmeal)
- 1 teaspoon plus 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Heat the butter and oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and cook the bell pepper and onion for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
- Add the okra, turkey, cilantro and chicken stock. Cook until all the ingredients are heated through.
- Bring water and 1 teaspoon of the salt to a boil. Add the polenta in a slow stream and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook the polenta for 6-8 minutes or according to the package directions.
- In a deep casserole dish, place a layer of polenta and smooth the top.
- Place a layer of turkey mixture to cover polenta.
- Make another layer of polenta and then top with the remaining turkey mixture.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate and reheat in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until heated through.
- *If you can’t find quick-cook polenta, you can also make this recipe with fine cornmeal. Just note that the cooking time will increase to 30 minutes.
I don’t see why not but I would prefer making it 😉
Could pre-cooked polenta be cut and used for this? It sounds delicious!
Jenny Aug 13, 2012 – ..polenta is not hard to make, one part corn meal to two parts water or chicken broth ..simmer ’till fully cooekd. Yikes how lazy can you get when that is time intensive??
Nice to find out you back. And again by having an interesting posting.
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