Waste not, want not

 

White chili with turkey

I did something this year I haven’t done in a long time. In a fit of domesticity, I simmered the turkey carcass, at least as much of it as would fit in my biggest pot. (Remember tiny kitchen.) I had to give up on the breastbone. It was simply too big.

Jordan and Christian didn’t want to “mess” with it—his words. But it has been simmering in their kitchen for two nights now. On Saturday, I added the last of a bit of celery, a cut onion that had been in the fridge I don’t know how long, and some of the baby carrots Jordan puts in Jacob’s salad. Started it in the cottage but had a problem—my hot plate automatically shuts off every 30 minutes. Cooking something all day is an exercise in getting up and restarting the thing. Cooking it overnight is impossible. So the pot went into the house and simmered for two nights. This morning, Jordan asked what to do with it and I asked her to bring it out to me.

When I simmer a turkey, I don’t want the meat and vegetables that have cooked that long. To me, they get soggy and tasteless, so I strained them out and got three good-sized icebox containers and two small ones of a rich, good broth. But as I discarded those scraps of meat, I thought guiltily about people for whom that would be a feast. For many of us, this is a season of plenty, and we tend to put out of our minds those that may hunger. I’m not sure what form of outreach will come from that aha! moment on my part. Certainly not to save those scraps for someone or some animal, but perhaps an extra donation to the Food Bank or through my church to the Presbyterian Night Shelter. But that waste really hit home with me, and I’ll act on it.

It was surely a weekend of plenty around here. We took a break from turkey and had a fresh salmon filet Saturday and real beef bourguignon last night—you know, made with sirloin rather than hamburger. Jordan wanted to make an occasion out of the first night of Advent, so we splurged on dinner. But she discovered that prep work for the bourguignon was more than she expected. The final result was worth it. Today at lunch I made the leftover salmon into a delicious salad that Jordan and I shared. Tonight it’s back to turkey—in white chili.

Food seems to surround us at this time of the year. I have the makings of cranberry/apricot chutney and cranberry cake. I’ll try to talk Jordan into another cheeseball. Before we know it, it will be time to think about Christmas dinner. Jordan is already talking about plans. Apparently, there is one of the coveted Greenwood smoked turkeys in the freezer—gotten just before the turkey plant burned. So I don’t know if we’ll have a roast turkey also or a small ham or what.

Not at all related to turkeys, but I want to give a shout-out to my colleague Judith Copek, whose mystery, Murder in the Northwoods, debuts tomorrow as a Kindle e-book. The opening line of the blurb is terrific: “She’s into high tech. He’s into homicide.” Can’t you just hear the tension, danger and romance both, crackling? Judy has been hit with a triple whammy of health problems, one of which is shingles. Having just survived a bout with shingles, I send her all my sympathy, and I know she may not be up to marketing her book widely. So I want to help. Check it out here: Murder in the North Woods - Kindle edition by Copek, Judith. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Happy reading. It’s a cold night. Perfect for getting lost in a Northwoods mystery. While the woods are cold and dangerous, you can be cozy and safe reading about it at home.