Turkey en Croute (Baked Turkey Dumplings)

Posted on Dec 13 in recipeby NikaPrint

In a fit of poorly guided frugality, I bought some ground turkey recently.

I have to mention that turkey is not my favorite food for one serious reason – if I eat roasted turkey two days in a row I become violently ill, an eruptive experience that is accompanied by unforgiving and deeply disturbing hallucinations.

Trust me that I am not exaggerating, I promise.

Early in our marriage, I warned my husband of my failing. He heard me, understood it on some vague level, promptly forgot.

One thanksgiving we celebrated at home with a turkey and then traveled the next day to relatives where we had more turkey. What followed put the fear of god into all my poor new relatives and made for an interesting story for all, except for me of course.

Ok, back to present day. The ground turkey lured me in with its low price and pink color.

It seduced me.

It lurked in my refrigerator for a day and then I threw myself at it, determined to do something to it that was:

• different
• not so turkey-ish
• not dry as such fatless flesh is bound to be
• frugal

What follows is what I came up with. It passed the taste testing of the family. It is certainly not haute cuisine and its only marginally good for you. It is filling and relatively inexpensive and also different (should you family be both adventurous and bored).

When a gravy is added, the outer “croute” (biscuit) softens and becomes very much like a dumpling layer – making this more like baked turkey dumplings, if you like.

If you make it, let me know how it came out!

Turkey en Croute (Baked Turkey Dumplings)

Ingredients

• Meatballs
• 2 pounds ground turkey
• 2 eggs (we use homegrown)
• 1/2 sleeve whole wheat saltines, crushed
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon Bell’s Seasoning
• 1 tablespoon Montreal Steak seasoning (salt & pepper & red peppers)
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh herbs (sage, rosemary, thyme)
• 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
• Prepared biscuit mix (like biscuick), enough to cover
• milk, enough for biscuit milk plus extra to loosen mix
• Sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions

Mix all the meatball ingredients well. Form golf ball sized balls. Saute in a small amount of oil.

Take meatballs out of pan when browned (but not fully cooked) and put aside to cool.

Turn on oven to 450 F (the temperature requested by biscuit directions)

Make up enough biscuit mix, made extra thin to allow coating of meat balls.

Coat each meatball with a layer of biscuit mix.

Bake the turkey dumplings until the outer biscuit layer is golden brown.

While the meat balls are baking make your sauce.

In the pan that you browned your meatballs is a layer of brown bits called “fond” which you will now use as the delicious base to your sauce.

Over medium heat, add the water and scrub up the brown bits. Add the butter, allow to melt. Add the milk. Bring to a light simmer. Pull from the heat and allow to cool a bit. Add sour cream to taste, enough to make it a thick rich sauce. Do not add the sour cream until the sauce has cooled a bit.

When you pour this sauce over the meatballs, as I mentioned before, the biscuit softens and becomes much more like a dumpling layer over the meat ball, quite moist.

If you want to add extra fat and flavor, put dollops of sour cream directly on the balls.

Enjoy!

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