Turkey is such a versatile meat and delicious when served with vegetables such as carrots, leek, green beans, or cauliflower. 

Cut the turkey julienne. In a large, heavy, saucepan, melt the butter over medium high heat. Add the meat and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add the water and vegetable bouillon, carrots, leek, thyme, and cream. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer for about 2-4 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Mix the 2 tablespoons of flour with a little water and stir into the turkey and vegetable stew. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sauce has thickened. Serve with cooked rice.

     Cut the chicken breast in thin strips, place them in a bowl. Mix 1 Tbsp vegetable oil, freshly ground black pepper, half of the minced ginger and freshly chopped coriander; pour over the chicken, mix through, cover and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.

Prepare the vegetables. Trim and rinse the spring onions and cut into thick slices diagonally. Break off the tough ends of the asparagus, rinse and cut into 1 inch (ca. 3 cm) pieces. Trim, rinse and slice the mushrooms. Trim, rinse and cut the bock choy julienne.
Prepare the sauce by mixing the chicken stock, soy sauce, fish sauce, dry sherry and corn starch. Set aside.

Heat the wok and roast the almonds until lightly browned. Remove from the wok. Place the chicken in the wok, stir fry until the meat turns opaque, and push to the side. Heat the tablespoon of oil and stir fry the asparagus for 2 minutes; add the spring onions and stir through. Move the asparagus and onions to the side with the chicken. Place the mushrooms in the wok and cook for 3-4 minutes. Push all the ingredients into the sauce and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the bock choy and stir through until it is just wilted. Season with salt and pepper and place in a serving dish. Garnish with the roasted almonds and serve with boiled rice or noodles.

     Although this is not quite as complicated as the previous recipe, a helper or two could make this an easier recipe to prepare and add to the fun of the gourmet meal. The apple cider and white asparagus are the specialty in this recipe.

Tartlet Shells

Preheat oven to 400° F (200° C).

(You can buy these ready made and just heat them up before adding the filling.
Roll out the puff pastry to ca. 4 mm. Cut out 16 circles of 3 inches (8 cm). Divide the 16 rounds into two groups A and B. Cut a smaller inner circle out of 8 rounds (A) and set aside. Prick the base of the large rounds (B) with a fork, brush with the egg whites, and place the bands (A) on top. (this forms a ring and when you bake the puff pastry, the outer bands will puff and rise and form the cup shapes.)

Place all the puff pastry rounds on baking paper and bake at 400° F (200° C) for 10-15 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden.

Remove the leaves from the fresh tarragon and keep the stems for use later in the recipe.
With a potato peeler, peel the outer layers of the asparagus. Break off the tough lower part of the asparagus stems. Keep the asparagus peelings and broken off stems for later in this recipe.

Chicken and Asparagus

Wash and clean the chicken - remove the lungs and liver, etc. Cut the chicken into pieces by cutting away the legs and thighs, wings and neck and place in a large saucepan. Cut the breast away and set aside. Clean and wash the vegetables and cut them into smaller pieces and add them, the asparagus pieces, tarragon stems and peppercorns to the chicken pieces in the saucepan. Pour the apple cider into the saucepan and enough water to cover the chicken and vegetables. Bring to a boil, skimming the froth, reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 hours. After 2 hours, remove the legs and thighs, remove skin and cut into cubes. Sift the stock, remove the fat and boil until 4 cups (8 dl) remain. Cook the peeled asparagus spears until just tender in the chicken stock, and cut each spear into four pieces. Set the spear tips aside for garnishing.

*Bouquet garni - mixture of parsley, marjoram, tarragon, thyme, basil and chives

Apple Cider Syrup 

Put the honey in a small saucepan and over low heat let it caramelize. Add the apple vinegar and cook until it is of a syrup consistency. Add the chicken stock (4 Cups / 8 dl above)and cook until it is a syrup consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside

White Sauce 

Melt the butter, add the flour, stirring constantly and let it come to a foam. Slowly add the warm chicken stock. Set aside. Beat the egg yolks and whipping cream and add to the chicken stock (put a little of the chicken stock in the egg yolk mixture before adding it to the warm chicken stock for a creamier sauce) and simmer gently, stirring constantly until the sauce is thickened. 

Chicken Breast
In a small skillet, heat a little oil (ca. 1 tsp) and place the skin side of the chicken breast in the pan and cook over low heat for 10-12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let the breast rest for 10-15 minutes to finish cooking.

Chop most of the tarragon leaves, but reserve a few for garnishing. Heat the meat from the legs and thighs and the asparagus pieces in the white sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

On 8 large plates, fill the voul-a-vents (puff pastry forms) with the white sauce filling. Cut the chicken breasts into 16 slices. Place two slices of chicken breast over the filled pastry, top with the smaller puff pastry rounds and top with an asparagus tip and tarragon leaves. Pour a little of the apple cider syrup around the outside of each plate and serve immediately.