Thanksgiving Leftovers

Thanksgiving leftovers can be fun to eat.  I'm a casserole girl, so this Turkey pasta with asparagus and cheese casserole is one of my favorites.

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces Pastamore Italian Herb Penne pasta
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning blend, or to taste
• cooked asparagus, cut in 1-inch pieces, about 2 cups
• 3 cups diced cooked turkey
• 8 ounces shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup soft bread crumbs (or left over stuffing)
• 1 tablespoon melted butter

Directions: Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish. Heat oven to 350°. Cook pasta in boiling salt water following package directions. In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter; add bell pepper and sauté until tender. Add garlic and green onion; sauté for 1 minute longer. Stir in flour until well blended. Stir in chicken broth, cooking until thickened. Stir in milk; continue cooking, stirring frequently, until thickened and hot. Add seasonings, asparagus, and turkey; heat through. Stir in cheese and cook until melted. Stir in the cooked drained pasta and pour into the prepared baking dish. Toss bread crumbs with 1 tablespoon melted butter and sprinkle over top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
Serves 6 to 8. 

     This is delicious! Thank God for Thanksgiving Leftovers!

What does reduce by half mean?

  What does it mean when someone wants you to reduce the balsamic by half?  Cook books just expect you to know, right?  Well, I had to google this one.  Basically, reducing is a term that shows up in a lot of recipes, and apparently you're just supposed to know what it means — whether you've cooked much or not. Really, it just means to evaporate a portion of the liquid;  wine, stock, sauce, etc. Often you'll see a direction to reduce a sauce by some fraction, perhaps a half, so using your best judgment, you evaporate and evaporate until only half the original volume is left.  Reducing a liquid makes it thicker and intensifies the flavor.

MahiMahi Tacos

Recently, I was invited to a dinner party and heard the hosts were making "Tacos."  I would soon discover that my idea of tacos and the hosts idea of tacos were on two different planets. Before arriving my mouth was watering and my brain was thinking "spicy hamburger, quacamole, cheese, picante sauce, sour cream and iceberg lettuce....yum." Upon arrival, I was informed that we would be eating "Fish" tacos topped with cabbage and a picco de gallo salsa, my mouth went dry and my brain was thinking "hmmm, whose idea was this anyway, they must be on a diet!"  When the time came to eat the meal, I'll admit, I was a bit fearful of offending the hosts, so I did the "good guest" trick and...lied about how delicious it looked, as I took the smallest taco on the platter....not expecting to enjoy it much.  My first bite wasn't too bad, different.  I ended up eating 2 more "Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos" And I have to admit...they were downright delicious and a healthy way to eat.  I had to get the recipe.

http://www.pastamore.com/webcontent.cfm?pageID=46