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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Turkey Tetrazzini




Yes, we have the mushroom lovers and the mushroom haters in our family.  You probably do too.  For some reason mushrooms elicit some pretty strong reactions from both sides.  Seems like folks tend to love them or hate them.  Very little middle ground.  The haters can scope out one of those little, teeny, tiny flecks of mushroom in Campbell's cream of mushroom soup.  ZAP!  It's banished to the edge of the plate.  My brother, John, is married to a mushroom hater.  He, however is a mushroom lover.  So, whenever he can, he gets a mushroom fix.  I helped him on Christmas.  You see, the family meal after the stockings and brunch and presents and naps is turkey tetrazzini.  He always has to make it with a cream sauce, turkey and spaghetti.  Even though John could probably make poop taste good, turkey tetrazzini without mushrooms is kinda boring in my book.  So, I volunteered to bring a pan of tetrazzini - the real deal with lots of mushrooms and some other goodies.  John made a pan of his.  About half the crew ate his and half ate mine.  It was fun to see a couple of mushroom deprived folks - John included - who thoroughly enjoyed having the kicked up version.  LOL - so as I was typing that last sentence I missed the k on kicked and ended up with icked - exactly what the other half probably thought of my tetrazzini!

I pulled out about a dozen recipes for our leftover turkey.   Guess what?  Connie asked for more tetrazzini.  Last night while I was fixing our Eggnog Monte Cristos for dinner and our Meridian Hills Special Salad for today's lunch, I fixed the sauce for tonight's tetrazzini.  Good thing too since we'll be lucky to get home from the office by 8:00.  How true.  The tetrazzini's in the oven as I type this at 8:43 pm...  Here's how we make it:

Turkey Tetrazzini

Ingredients:
1/2pound spaghetti, cooked until al dente and drained
2 c cooked and cubed turkey
1 4 oz jar pimento
1/2 c chopped black olives (ripe olives to some of you)
16 oz sliced baby bellas
1/4 c dry sherry
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c grated parmesan or romano cheese

Saute the mushrooms in a small amount of olive oil. 



When they're nice and brown, pour in the sherry.  Then, add the mushroom soup, black olives and pimento. 



If we're doing this just for us, we use the lowfat mushroom soup. If it's for company, it's the full fat version.  Mix the sauce and turkey. 



Put the cooked spaghetti in an oven proof baking dish,



MIx in the turkey and sauce mixture, then top with the grated cheese



and bake at 400 for about 20-30 minutes or until it's bubbling.

2 comments:

whatsfordinneracrossstatelines said...

I would eat the mushroom variety. We have the same house, me and my husband love them, the girls won't touch them. You had a good idea to make both versions. Great for a weeknight when you are so busy too! Hoping you have a Happy New Years!
-Gina-

Monet said...

I would chose the mushroom variety too. But I have several members of my family that won't go near the fungi. It was smart for you to make both versions. I would have to do this in my family. Thank you so much for sharing with me. I hope you and your family have a happy New Year!