Well, last weekend I cooked up my turkey carcass.
I got a ton of broth and lots of meat was left on
it. I always cut most of the dark meat off the
legs, thighs, and wings to eat with my leftovers
(stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, whatever veggie).
I throw the bones with some meat on them into a bag
in the freezer. Then I remove the breast meat and
use some of it for sandwichs. I've discovered the
perfect turkey sandwich - my homemade crescent
dinner rolls sliced in half, add a slice of breast
meat, a slice of jelled cranberry sauce, and a generous
slathering of MW. You can hardly tell you're eating
white meat (blecch!). ;-) (When are turkey growers
going to wise up and raise birds with giant thighs and
tiny breasts? Honeysuckle Dark?) So, I ended up with
about 1/2 of a breast half to chop up for the stew, plus
all the meat that came off the carcass and joints. This
turned out really well. Tasted better than I even expected.
And a little different than I expected. I made a few changes
to the recipe as given below.

CARIBBEAN TURKEY STEW

2 lb. turkey thighs, skin removed
1 T. oil
3 cups onion thinly sliced
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
½ tsp. salt
¼ cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup turkey broth
1 16-oz. can stewed tomatoes, drained
1 16-oz. can black beans, drained
1 lb. butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
2 med. bananas, sliced
10 green onions, sliced
½ cup sweetened flaked coconut
1-2 limes, cut into wedges

In 5-quart saucepan, over medium-high heat, brown thighs in oil about 3
minutes per side. Remove and set aside. In same saucepan, saute onions
2-3 minutes or until translucent. Add red pepper, salt, coconut, broth,
tomatoes, black beans, squash, sweet potatoes, and turkey thighs. Bring
mixture to boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer 1¼-1½ hours, or until
turkey thighs register 180F-185F on meat thermometer inserted into
thickest portion. 10 minutes before serving, remove turkey thighs from
stew and strip meat from bones with fork; return meat strips to stew.
Heat throughout. To serve, spoon stew into bowls and garnish with
bananas, green onions, and coconut. Squeeze juice of lime over top.
Serves 6.

My changes: First I wanted to use up all the meat from
my bird so it had white meat as well as dark. Mostly white.
Also, the idea of the sweetened flaked coconut didn't appeal
to me. I thought about buying frozen grated coconut at the
Indian grocer but didn't think I'd care for the grittier
texture. So I decided to use good old canned coconut milk.
Man I love that stuff. So I dumped in a can of that. I also
had a lot more broth than it called for plus more meat. I
tried cooking the broth down but it was taking forever so I
just went with a brothier stew. I also added more tomatoes
(canned diced tomatoes) and an extra can of black beans as
I didn't think there were enough after putting in one can.

So, I used just regular onions instead of green. I'm less and
less fond of green onions as time goes on. I can eat them
but I don't really crave them. Well, I really goofed up
with the bananas. I didn't read the recipe carefully
and thought I was suppoes to put them in the stew and
cook them. I was thinking they may have meant plantains
where they said bananas and I considered getting plantains,
but it was too much trouble so I thought I'd just go with
the bananas add add them at the very end. Well, even that
was not a very good idea. They turned all gray and totally
disintegrated. I have to eat this stuff with my eyes closed!
;-) If only I had read the recipe more thoroughly I would
have seen that you're supposed to add the bananas as a
garnish when served. Oh, well. No matter, I'll do it
right next time. But it tastes wonderful. So, if you want
to make it I strongly advise reading the recipe carefully
before beginning. (Actually, in my defense, I had misplaced
the recipe and was sort of going from memory, albeit faulty,
when I started it on Sunday. I printed out another copy
of the recipe the next day at work but by then the damage
was done. However, I think it would be really good if
you did use plantains and cooked them in the stew. I'll
have to try it that way sometime.)

Of course, the thing that really makes it is the lime juice
squeezed onto each bowl when you serve it. It really makes
it superior and not just really good. I'll be eating it at
least through the weekend. I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm
surprised that it is not as sweet as I thought it might be.
What with the squash and yam and banana you would think
it would be a lot sweeter. But I'm glad it's not too sweet.
(Although, believe me, I generally don't have anything against
sweetness.)

And, the best thing is that it tastes so good I don't even
mind the damned white meat! ;-) It was a lot brothier than
what I think of as stew - more like a really chunky soup.
I guess you'd have to call it a "stoup" or "sew" (rhymes
with stew). ;-)

Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?