For the last eight years, every Thanksgiving I have shared this extraordinary recipe. (If you're not interested in how I obtained it, scroll down now to the recipe. ) It's the perfect solution to left over Thanksgiving turkey.
And just so you'll know, from time-to-time when Patty and I are planning a dinner party, our guests who have been served Turkey Mornay before, will ask that it be the entree.
THE TURF GRILL'S FAMOUS TURKEY MORNAY
(Serves 4)
Dallas Realtor Bill Cherry
214 503-8563
THE STORY
For years and years, after I left Galveston for college, I frequently thought about the Turf Grill's Turkey Mornay. It cost about seventy-five cents back in the late '50s.
After a movie at the State or Martini, taking your date for the first time to the Turf for Turkey Mornay was the sure sign of an impeding love commitment.
For after all what more could a date want? The Turf Grill was below the famous Studio Lounge where Hollywood and Broadway stars entertained, and they, too, were frequently seen in the Turf eating the famous Turkey Mornay.
"Sinatra and Becall love the stuff," we'd tell our dates.
Some years back I asked both Slick and Gigolo Maceo, whose family had owned the Turf, if they would give me the recipe now that the Turf was closed and only a memory. Both of them told me that for some reason it had been lost and neither of them had it or knew where to get it. I knew they were telling the truth.
I thought about the irony that their restaurant's most famous recipe was lost. I told my mother the story.
She said,"I have it."
"No, I mean the Maceo recipe," I said back.
"That's the one I have," she said. She led the way down the hall toward her kitchen.
It turns out that in the mid-forties, another Maceo that everyone called Little Sam and who lived near us, had managed the Turf. One day when he and his wife, Delores, were visiting us, my mom told him how much we all liked Turkey Mornay. He told my mother that he'd give her the recipe, and he wrote it with a #2 pencil in the front of a zillion year old cookbook my grandmother had given her when she and my daddy married.
So when she and I got to the kitchen and opened the pantry where she kept her cookbooks, she pulled out the old book, opened it to the fly page, and then set it down on the kitchen table where I copied the recipe.
It might just be that until I started sharing this recipe a year or so ago, no one but my mother and I had it. And now you're getting ready to also.
THE INGREDIENTS
2 cup of flour
2 cup of unsalted butter (don=t use margarine)
1/4 cup of chopped yellow onion
1/8 cup chopped parsley
2 cup of chopped green onions including the green stems
2 cups of heavy cream (not half and half. Use whipping cream)
2 cups of good, dry white wine (Make certain it's a good quality otherwise it can make the sauce taste bitter)
1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
2 ounces of grated Swiss cheese
8 drained artichoke bottoms chopped very fine in a food processor
2 pound of fresh mushrooms sliced thickly
3 tablespoons of grated Romano cheese
DO NOT ADD ANY SALT
1 loaf of good French bread
1 lb of fresh steamed asparagus (don't overcook!)
THE PROCEDURE
In a 2 quart sauce pan melt the butter over a medium heat. Add the flour and keep stirring and cook it for about 5 minutes until it becomes a white roux.
Don't stop stirring while you're making the roux...not even for a moment. Stirring is what keeps a roux smooth and creamy.
Reduce the heat a bit, then add in the onions and mushrooms and cook another couple of minutes (don't brown the vegetables). Stir in the parsley and then start gradually adding the cream and allow the whole thing to get hot. Then add the wine, the white and cayenne peppers, and the artichokes, blending well and bringing the whole thing to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer for five minutes or so, then stir in the Swiss cheese, cover the pot, turn off the fire, and allow it to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. (I usually make the Mornay sauce a day or so in advance and keep it in the refrigerator until I'm ready to use it.) Never use a microwave to reheat Mornay sauce. Do it over a low heat in a pot on the stove and don't forget to stir it frequently during the process.
When you're ready to make the Turkey Mornay dish, cut the French bread loaf into slices about 3/4 inch thick. (Sometimes I cut the crust off of the bread, other times I don't....the Turf removed the crust) Baste them on one side with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle each with Romano cheese and then bake them in the oven on a cookie sheet (425 F) until they are dry and appear to be crisp, but not brown
Line each plate with the baked French bread slices, then put a layer of fresh steamed asparagus on top of the bread on each plate, add fresh sliced turkey on top of the asparagus, then a generous amount of the hot Mornay sauce. Sprinkle the top with Romano cheese.
Use the same sauce with boiled shrimp or lump crabmeat. Extraordinary!
Copyright 2000 - William S. Cherry
All rights reserved
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS
Our 44th Year Selling America!
214 503-8563
Comments(3)