Thursday, December 3, 2015

Turkey a la King

I had never made Turkey a la King before.

I don't know why I've never made it, maybe because there was always plenty of gravy to make turkey biscuit pie or turkey and rice or turkey and dumplings????

Whatever the reason, his head or his shoes, He stood there on Christmas Eve, hating the Whos...

OOOOPS!!!!

Wrong story!

Back to Sunday! My son-in-law Jon loves turkey a la king and this year they can't go to Minnesota for the holidays, so I wanted to do something just nice for him. He's such a good, caring man.

He loved it! Homemade biscuits and homemade cream sauce, and he was so happy! :) And that was the best part of all, seeing Jon smile.

And making fun of him, just a little!!!

So this is the recipe and it was super easy:

Turkey a la King

4 cups cubed turkey
2 cups mixed veggies


For sauce:
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup flour
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste, a dash of nutmeg works well here, too, if desired.

Melt butter, mix with flour to make "roux" then whisk in chicken broth. Heat to thicken. Add milk and cream and seasoning. Heat. Add turkey and veggies. Heat over medium heat, stirring so bottom doesn't burn, just long enough to heat everything through.

I made homemade biscuits to go with this, but egg noodles are wonderful... or croissants, or packaged biscuits. Honestly, the sauce was so delightfully delicious, no one will care what form of carb-crazy deliciousness you serve this on, they'll just eat too much and be grateful!

And for the first time in several years (I am so ashamed to admit this!!!) I actually had my act together enough to have the Advent wreath ready for the first Sunday of Advent... It's simple and sweet, the way I like Advent to be. A time of cool stillness, waiting...


Simple food, simple times, simple faith....

And another cute kid!

Do you love the shirtless child in late November? :)

And here is what the Turkey ala King looked like since my camera was giving me agita while I worked this week! And I'm not even Italian!!!


And Grandpa bought Vanilla Holiday Nog for the kids.... He is now their favorite, which doesn't seem fair, right? Since I'm the cooker and baker and story teller? One jug of deliciousness upped his status exponentially!

Kids are easily bought! But I did save them a big box from Kohls so they can turn it into a ROCKET SHIP!!!!!

Because you can never have too many rocket ships!

Ruth Logan Herne loves the holidays, she goes a little wild with twinkle lights and loves egg nog, she bakes way too many cookies and then eats them, and then can't fit into her jeans.... But she shares cookies, too, so that makes it mostly all right! You can find her hawking her books and sharing her joy on facebook or stop by her website and blog to see what's going on... She loves company, and coffee. When the two are mixed together, everyone's happy!

10 comments:

  1. I've always heard of chicken (turkey) a la king, but had no idea what it really was! LOL So it's basically turkey and veggie gravy. I know I'll love that!! But I won't be making biscuits homemade since they always turn out flat and hard enough to hurt someone if you threw one at them. :)

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    1. Missy, I hear you! Mine were a little flat, I think I should have rolled the dough thicker, like an inch instead of 1/2 inch. But they tasted good! And who cares if the biscuits are homemade??? This was such a good, delicious, simple meal and everyone loved it. The meaty cream sauce was just wonderful!

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  2. I'd never had chicken/turkey a la king until college. They served it in little puffed pastry cups that were kept warm under the lights until you assembled the meal. I thought it was DELICIOUS (and immediately wondered about the calorie content because I was young and silly).
    Funny about the shirtlessness. My two youngest were running around without their shirts and I just went in to tuck their blankets around them since thy both wanted to go to bed shirtless!

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    1. Virginia, most of the recipes showed the pastry cups! I've got some for holiday desserts, too, so I considered it, but Jon's memory was biscuits so we went big!!! I made Phyllo once and decided when it came to pastry sheets and cups, I'd buy it because it's a pain to make and their versions are mighty good!

      My boys were almost always shirtless. And running outside in shorts and long sleeves in winter. Boys are the weirdest creatures. They tend to run hot... but not Eli, and he's thin and narrow like Grandpa, so I wonder if body type has something to do with temperature preferences?

      And how blessed to tuck little ones into bed. That's such a wonderful feeling, to make it to the end of the day and everyone survived! Go you!!!

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  3. I'm like you with the advent wreath, I can never quite believe it's really the first Sunday in advent until it's the Monday after. :-) And funny about the shirtless boy wonder -- made me shiver just looking at him. Notice I'm not commenting on the turkey a la king? No vegetarianing this one unless it's using tofurkey which is truly hideous and despicable and I shudder to think about that slime. No amount of gravy could mask that wretched taste. Ugh. So I'll stick with pasta for supper tonight.

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    1. You know, Kav, we used to make creamed peas. My mother loved them... so that would work, just using veggie broth (and maybe adding onion and garlic to the sauce to flavor boost it...) and then using more veggies! Zucchini, asparagus, or a bag of the cauliflower/broccoli/carrots blend! I bet that would be awesome!

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  4. My mom used to make turkey a la king all the time after Thanksgiving. Yours looks yummy.

    The secret to fluffy biscuits is add a couple more tablespoons of butter or Crisco (whichever you use) That makes them light a fluffy.

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    1. Sandra I'll try that! I want to make biscuits like the ones in the Loveless Cafe outside of Nashville... Annie Loveless' s recipe is amazing. They're more like dinner rolls, but they get away with calling them biscuits and almost worth the cost of a flight!

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  5. I made turkey a la king once, but it was a no go with the family.

    Yes, they're veggie haters. Unless the veggies are plain and in their own little spot on the plate.

    Or in soup.

    But right there mixed in with the turkey, where you can see every green and orange gravy covered bit? No way!

    I raised Cretans. :)

    I love T a la K though. I'll have to try your recipe!

    And kudos to you for making Jon's favorite dish.

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    1. Well, we love Jon even though he cheers for the stinkin' Twins when they're playing the Yankees.

      No one's perfect. :)

      I hear you on this, we had some folks here who refused to let things touch... Most have grown out of it, but I do recall the interesting conversations around the table. And under the table. And possible slamming of doors. And threatened starvation. ;)

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