Pulled 5-Spice-Smoked Turkey with Ginger and Lime Carrots and Ramp Mashed Potatoes
Oh, the single life and the joys of dealing with leftovers! I had another smoked turkey breast steak left over which had to be used up this evening and was pondering what I could do with it all the way home from the office. I had a great plan all lined up by the time I got home- but as so often is the case, the minute I walked into the kitchen I began to do something completely different!
I grew to really like the "pulled meat" dishes in the States, the way the meat becomes so tender that it just falls apart... it is pretty delicious! And that is all fine if you have a couple of hours to spare... but if you haven't (like me), stick around and I will tell you how I did it!
The turkey breast was already precooked, which of course gave me a big advantage- but let's face it- we often have leftover meat from previous meals- and this is a cool way to make use of it. I tore the meat into smaller pieces and re-fried it in a dry pan, with a generous sprinkle of 5- spice powder and some finely cut spring onion. I gently fried and tossed the meat so that all sides became golden and brown. I then added a handful of finely-chopped fresh marjoram, some chopped garlic, a cup of orange juice, a splash of soy sauce and reduced the heat to a simmer. And whilst the meat got even more tender, I started working on the mashed potato and carrots...
The mashed potatoes were the easiest part of the meal- they were just regular mash to which I added some ramp pesto that I made in the Springtime- which incredibly was still good! As soon as the potatoes were boiled, I drained them and returned them to the pan and to the stove, with a tablespoon or so of the ramp pesto and a handful of fresh, finely chopped parsley. I added a cupful of milk, a little salt and pepper and a nice grating of nutmeg- and then mashed everything down to a nice purée. The ramps give the potato a nice mild flavor of garlic and onion, which goes really well with the milk and nutmeg and which also goes well with the spicy meat!
The carrots were finely chopped into a julienne and then sautéed with a little finely grated ginger- I added the juice of a lime, salt and pepper and reduced the heat to a gently simmer whilst turning my attention back to the meat.
I put the now hot and tender meat into a Ziploc bag and gave it a good bashing with a rolling pin, then fetched it out of the bag, and using 2 forks, pulled the meat apart into juicy fine shreds... and a whole different dish was born! Time to dish it up and to enjoy! It really was that easy to make and finished in around 30 minutes... pretty good going, eh?
Your dish looks absolutely delicious, yummy
ReplyDeleteThank You Food Lover- glad you like it! ;-)
ReplyDelete