Love. Food. Cook.

Mom sent me home with a bunch of food just before I left for Portland a week ago.   I hauled home exactly 7 heads of iceberg lettuce, 1 large head of napa cabbage, 2 bags of baby bok choy, 6 large red BC apples, and a 3lb bag of seedless green grapes.

As I drove away from my parent’s house that evening I kicked myself for being diplomatic with my mother’s feelings.  Much more, she always manages to guilt me into taking a load of food home, darn it!  And every time this happens I think about what I’m going to say to Chris when I get home and he asks me again, “more food???” To which I would promptly reply in a very avoidant manner, “yes, more food”.

Once upon a time, Chris used to think my mother was being gracious and generous whenever I came home with a load of groceries… for the next month! Now, he has caught on and is more frustrated that he’ll be eating iceberg lettuce for the next 14 days straight.

*sigh* I can’t win, but at least I can cook.

Turkey Cabbage Pie
Yields 4 servings.

Cabbage
½ head of cabbage, shredded or sliced
5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
Juice of ½ a lemon
4 tsp light soy sauce
½ cup chicken broth
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp light cooking oil
Salt
Pepper

Turkey
3 lbs ground dark turkey meat
4 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp dried thyme
4 tbsp dried onion powder
2 tsp celery salt
3 tsp Dijon mustard
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp corn starch (optional)
½ cup water
2 tsp light cooking oil
Salt
Pepper

1 ½ cup of light ricotta cheese (optional)
4 sheets of phyllo pastry
Extra oil or melted butter for brushing

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

In a deep heavy bottomed pot, heat the oil, half the oregano and half the thyme until fragrant. Add the ground turkey and brown over high heat. Add onion powder, celery salt, mustard and chicken broth. Stir for another 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and mustard.  Stir until coated. Add salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.  In a separate small bowl, dissolve the corn starch in the water and stir into the turkey. Once a slightly thickened sauce has formed and coated the turkey, divide the turkey among 4 large ramekins or baking dishes. 

At this point, you can optionally spoon a layer of ricotta over the turkey.

In the same pot, heat the remainder of the oil and butter over high heat. Once the butter has dissolved, add the garlic and cook until fragrant and slightly browned on the edges.  Add the cabbage and toss until softened (about 2 minutes).  Add the soy sauce and chicken broth. Stir the cabbage until the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the lemon juice and toss. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and layer over top of the turkey evenly.

Roughly tear the sheets of phyllo into small sections and pile loosely on top of the cabbage layer. Make sure to cover all of the cabbage.  Brush the phyllo with a bit of oil or melted butter. Place the ramekins into the oven and bake for 25 minutes.  When finished, allow the pies to cool for 10 minutes before serving.