I could eat pasta with meat sauce every day.
One of my first posts was this basic meat sauce. I think it’s cute how I ended the recipe with “let it simmer for 10 minutes.” Ha! Like I have the willpower to not dig in immediately.
This Take Two Turkey Ragu with Whole Wheat Spaghetti has a little twist, and I don’t know why it seems so revolutionary to me, but it kind of blew my mind. The turkey in this sauce does not start as raw ground meat, as do most meat sauces I have made. This recipe, which I ripped from a Women’s Health magazine in 2009, uses leftover chopped roasted turkey. {“Take Two” – get it?} It’s so good though, that you should consider baking some seasoned turkey cutlets to make it on a regular basis, rather than waiting for Thanksgiving leftovers. That’s what I did here.
But this recipe is obviously a great way to use up any extra turkey that didn’t make the cut on Thanksgiving.
The recipe says it serves four. Um, ok. Not in this house (note: no one else lives in this house). Two at best, but it’s certainly easy enough to double for a group, or to freeze a serving or two.
I love this step for pasta dishes when it’s time to serve: mix the cooked pasta into a portion of the cooked sauce in the pot in which you cooked the sauce (or the pot in which you cooked the pasta). This will coat the pasta and distribute the flavor – which, in this dish, is unique but familiar at the same time. I’m thinking it’s the sage.
Then when you serve this dish, top the lightly coated pasta with more sauce as you portion it out.
Pasta is a treat for me. I try to limit my intake, but man I love it. I used whole wheat spaghetti in this recipe as an attempt to trim off a bit of the pasta guilt; you can also use this sauce to top spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles if you feel the same twinge.
But when I look at these photos, I don’t feel guilt at all. Just hunger.
I’m off to Nashville this afternoon with my Cooking Club for a girls’ weekend/field trip/eat-and-drink-fest – that should take care of this hunger feeling for the next few days. Follow along on Instagram!
- 1 carrot, peeled and roughly choped, then minced by pulsing in food processor
- 1 small sweet onion, roughly chopped, then minced by pulsing in food processor
- 2 t dried sage
- .5 t black pepper
- .25 t kosher salt salt
- .25 c dry white wine (like sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio)
- 1 - 1.5 c finely chopped roasted turkey (use leftovers or season and bake a few cutlets)
- .75 c low sodium chicken broth
- .5 c canned tomato puree (or crushed tomatoes)
- .5 c skim milk
- chopped flat parsley
- 2 servings of whole wheat spaghetti, prepared spaghetti squash, or zucchini noodles
- Heat a dutch oven or large sauce pan over medium-high heat. when the pot is hot, add a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, and let the oil get hot.
- Get our pasta started while you make the sauce.
- Swirl the oil around the pot, and add the carrot, onion, sage, pepper, and salt.
- Stir occasionally as it cooks, until the onion softens (about 3 minutes).
- Add the wine, and cook until it evaporates (about 3 minutes).
- Add the turkey, chicken broth, tomato puree, and milk. Reduce heat to low, and simmer and cook until it has the consistency you would like for your sauce - probably about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the parsley and cook for another minute or two.
- Remove half of the sauce from the pot and add the pasta. Stir to coat the pasta.
- Serve by portioning the coated pasta into pasta bowls, and top with additional sauce.
Have a great holiday weekend, and a wholehearted “Thank You for My Freedom” to our Veterans!
Adapted from: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/food/thanksgiving-recipes (stored also in PDF of magazine page on my computer for at least 6 years!)
Hat tip to MHH for the naming assist!
Tell me what you think!