Al said Fredo is a Turkey from Tetrazzini~Doh!

     Can you guess what happened today? Actually the above photo would be the result of someone leaving a lot later than I did, today. Still not the choicest forecasts, but thank goodness, I got home before it started to get like this~

     Hey, it can happen, we live in New England. Forecasts, should be limited to being talked about two hours before the actual weather. At the last minute it can decide to thunder, and it did here in February, ( I missed it, I confused the lightning with the same precipitation on the movie "The Wolfman" that I was watching during said lightning storm. Can you believe that?, the closest to Surround Sound I will ever get, was a lightning storm in February in Vermont, and I missed it, thank God for Facebook though, I was informed ). This is Stephanie she likes weather related stories. She is in the wrong room, she needs to be two doors down on the right ~ The Office of Meteorology and Forecasting, not to be confused with the Office of Fortune Telling and Astrology, which you will need a password and a current parking validation. These offices can get so confusing!

     Stephanie has a nifty little app (hip for the long word~application) that sends "Up to the Minute" forecasts via her nifty little phone. When I am stressed, because I haven't worked a full 40 hour week since New Year's Eve, the last nugget of fortune telling, I need, is a forecast of how much crap, and I mean crap this time, is heading my way. Steph, do me a favor, delete that app, until next November 29th, and download this app, "Groundhog says What"?

     Hey, there she is probably checking the weather. Actually she is trying very hard to ignore the fact, that I am taking her picture. Big giveaway, the concentration!

     The above picture is all the ingredients for making a great warm, the soul meal. Turkey Tetrazzini, done right, it can make any belly happy! The supermarket can tailor your Tetrazzini.  If you are a white meat girl, look for turkey breasts~off the bone, most likely they will come without skin too. If you are a dark meat girl, look for the legs and thighs. Or combine the two types for a punch in the face of flavor. Supermarkets have just about anything you need, at just about anytime of the day.

     Egg noodles, delicately cooked and combined with the finest ingredients on the Earth.

     Heavy cream is more than just heavy, it is cream that with a little manipulation can become something fantastic, on so many levels.

     There she is, the liquid we call cream, and heavy cream, if you want to get technical. This is the catalyst for most classical dishes. I will not lie, I LOVE CREAM. This dish is very classical, and I will attempt to adhere to the rules of a true Alfredo Sauce. The last four photos were, egg noodles, diced red pepper, diced onions and sliced mushrooms. Good so far!!

     In the above saucepan is the precious turkey fat melting, waiting for the sweet onion, garlic, red pepper and mushrooms, cooking just a little, then following with the flour. Here is the rest

    

Turkey Tetrazzini

1 medium onion, diced

2 red bell peppers, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 12oz container fresh mushrooms, sliced~the above picture is canned, the only kind my kids will eat.

3 cups of cooked diced turkey

3/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, shredded

1 tsp dried thyme~or you can use 1 Tbs chopped thyme

pinch of ground nutmeg

a couple of shakes of Tabasco

3 ozs turkey fat

3 ozs flour

3 cups heavy cream

1 cup chicken stock

1egg yolk

2 Tbs sour cream

1 pound cooked wide egg noodles

salt and pepper to taste

In a pot, cook the egg noodles according to the package instructions, drain and set aside. Prep all vegetables. In a sauce pot melt the turkey fat, add the onions, red pepper, and garlic cook until the red peppers are softened. Add the flour and mix in, turn the heat to low, to prevent the flour from burning. Add 3 cups and 1 cup chicken stock to the saucepan and heat on medium low heat until the sauce has thickened. At this point I would add the canned mushrooms, or if using fresh mushrooms~I would cook them in a separate pan. Cooking mushrooms at a high heat causes them to release all their liquid (mushrooms are like mini sponges) and the liquid evaporates. When mushrooms are cooked, drain on paper towels and add to sauce. Add the Parmesan and whisk to melt. Combine the egg yolk and sour cream and mix well, whisk into your sauce~this was called, when I was in Culinary School, a final liaison. Basically a marriage of two wonderful things. This enriches the sauce, perhaps a bit more sinful~we all understand that. Season with thyme, pinch of nutmeg, couple of shakes of Tabasco, and  salt and pepper. Add the cooked diced turkey and let warm 5 more minutes, fold the sauce (all of it) in the noodles, adjust seasonings and prepare for YUM!

  Family: A social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space. ~Evan Esar

Tonight's forecast~Cold and Chance of Snow~Again!

     The biggest storm to hit the East Coast in many years, is about to unleash it's Holy Hello~Kitty. Frankly, I am not sure about you, but I have been flying by the seat of my pants!!!!

     I know that, the Superintendent of the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union is on board with me. Hey! there is going to be a lull, I can't answer the present question. I am not sure what is going to happen at 8am February 2nd, GROUNDHOG DAY!!!! Ha!!!!, if that isn't a kick in the seat, I am not sure what else is. Sweet Dreams Puxatawney Phil, see you in 8 weeks. What's funnier is that

someone, somewhere thought that looking to a rodent for the weather forecast was sane choice, and then someone agreed to it. Am I the only one that sees the insanity in that?

     You can't plan every step in life, and you certainly can not plan for a blizzard, that already had crippled Chicago. This storm has dropped one to two inches a hour of snow, and has grounded 6,000 flights, one of which is my boss Barb, who is in Baltimore, Maryland, with her daughter and newly minted grandson LCK.  No one can plan for this. I can say, we all saw it coming!!, we listened to the stories.

     This is the satellite image of the massive storm, that covers much of the United States on February 1st. I for one can say, unequivocally, Hurray!!!! Thank you Mother Nature for yet, your 3rd day of NO WORK, all in one single month. Super, hope Spring is super FREAKING GREEN! I am counting on you Mother Nature to blind me with your brilliance!, or drown me with the run-off. I think the latter is more or less where we are heading.

     OK, I need to regroup because, I might be coming across as a little hostile right now. But for crutches sake, really?, really?, where else can the snow go? I understand the Connecticut River can take some?, but....hmmm what? If my son can snowboard in our own front yard, we might qualify as an epic winter here in little ole' Brattleboro, Vermont.  I might want to take a nap.

   OK, I finally got the car, to rival all cars I ever have possessed. It is a Chevy Equinox and for my small stature, Hallelujah!!! finally, a car I can handle. I am no longer worried about the blind spot, and how the anti-lock brakes were not in my opinion, safe!!! I don't know how many winter mornings I drove to work in the Envoy and realized it is no safer than a snowboard. Sorry GMC. You need to cater to short people more!!! BTW, the anti-lock brake thingy in the Envoy~in my (humble) opinion not IN THE LEAST BIT SAFE!!!! sorry, I guess I needed to be an average of 5'4" to drive an Envoy. A bit of a smudge for the Envoy in the little people venue. Just sayin~~~~

     When it is cold, I love to make warm dishes like potpies. It encompasses everything that warms the soul.  If you have everything on hand, like I have, it can be a great Winter meal.

Working in New England, I have access to some REALLY killer ingredients from local vendors. From start to finish, this is a dish that even Grandma would be proud of. Food is not that insurmountable, if you understand that it is just food. If it is a miserable bomb, so what, start over. If it is a hit, congratulations remember what you did. Food is food subject to interpretation at any time. A good dish is 85% percent a raw belief that you can do it, and the remaining 15% the actual recipe. Obviously if you are a home cook, you most likely will not attempt a Vidalia Onion Foam. Myself being a chef, I could attempt such a thing. It is in my opinion foo-foo food.

     The beauty of supermarkets is, you have everything at your fingertips, from dried mango to jarred kimchi, wasabi peas, canned collard greens, maple peanut butter, spicy pork rinds, green tea diet ginger ale and carb smart ice cream.

Homestyle Turkey Pot pies

makes 8 mini pies (6")

3 cups carrots, peeled and rough chopped

3 cups rough chopped celery

3 cups rough chopped Vidalia onions, or any sweet onion available

1 tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

3 ozs solidified turkey fat (that you saved from roasting turkeys)

3ozs flour

4 cups turkey stock

4 cups diced turkey

1 Tbs heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste.

The Crust

3 cups flour

1/4 plus a wee pinch of salt

9 ozs cold butter

1 tsp dried basil

1 1/2 tsps butcher grind black pepper

9 to 11 Tbs cold water

     In a standing mixer combine the flour, salt, thyme and black pepper give it a little mix. Cut the cold butter in and mix with the paddle until the mixture resembles corn meal, the butter will not be entirely incorporated. Add the cold water a few tablespoons at a time, until the dough comes together. Wrap and set aside. In a sauce pan melt the turkey fat and add the mirepoix (fancy name for:carrots,celery, onions) add the thyme and bay leaf at this time and saute until the carrots are softened. Add the flour and cook for a few minutes on low heat. Add the turkey stock and simmer as the carrots continue to cook and the sauce has thickened. Add the heavy cream (the fat factor, yum!!) and mix in. Season with salt and pepper remove bay leaf, give a victory stir and you are ready to go. Fill the mini pie tins with two scoops of filling, full but not overflowing.. Roll out the pie dough to about 8 to 9 inch circle, lay over the filling and fold under the extra at the edge of the pie tin, crimp or give it your own flair, snip a steam hole at the top. Brush with egg wash (egg+water) and bake in a 375-400F oven until golden brown and enjoy.

Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat. ~Author Unknown