Recipe! Turkey with Sweet Potato Dumplings

In the spirit of the articles this week, the recipes I'm posting are also exploring the mental and emotional impact of food. This one in particular is, undoubtedly, a comfort food. Basically a one-pan meal (though I would recommend serving with a salad), this recipe goes together easily and contains all whole foods. It's healthy, warm, delicious and inviting, and it smells fantastic!



I adapted this one from the Whole Foods Market version, which uses white flour and only salt and pepper as spices (for shame!). Here at the Tranquil Kitchen we simply can't accept white flour as an answer and seasoning is a little heavy handed. Feel free to adjust and intuit your seasonings....I'm sure any number of combinations would work!



The taste tester's loved this, and considering the kind of weeks we've had lately...comfort was a welcome guest. We had most of an oven-roasted turkey left over from a previous meal, but you could easily use a rotisserie chicken or a turkey breast. If you don't have any whole wheat pastry flour, I am sure white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour would work just fine.



Enjoy!





Turkey with Sweet Potato Dumplings





2 T EVOO

2 yellow onions (small to medium)

4 cups (combined) carrots, celery, and corn, or whatever vegetables you prefer, chopped and raw or frozen

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

3 cups cooked shredded turkey

1 cup mashed sweet potato (1 3/4 lb sweet potato)

2 t baking soda

1 1/2 cups buttermilk*



Spices:

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/2 t sage

1 T dried parsley

1 T dried garlic



1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Heat the EVOO in a large skillet over medium-high heat, then add onions. Cook until onions are beginning to caramelize, then add other raw vegetables and all spices. If you are using frozen corn, add it when carrots are beginning to soften.



2. When vegetables are becoming tender, add 1/4 cup whole wheat flour and stir well. Allow to cook for two minutes before adding broth and stirring well again. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low, simmer mixture until it thickens; two or three minutes.



3. Stir in turkey and taste, adjust seasoning as necessary, then transfer mixture to a 9x13 baking dish. Set aside.



Dumplings:



1. In a medium or large bowl, gently combine 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour, sweet potatoes, baking soda, buttermilk, 1/2 t salt and 1/4 t pepper. Do not over-mix. Drop batter in 8 large spoonfuls over the turkey and vegetables, bake for 30-35 minutes or until dumplings begin to brown.



* You can use 1 1/2 cups milk with 1 T white vinegar in substitution for the buttermilk