Smoked turkey étouffée in the National Forest

Last night I got home late, and just had some hot dogs for dinner. This afternoon, I figured I’d give out a recipe for one of the big dinners I had on my camping trip. 

On Friday of 4th of July week I was camping in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, in the Hiawatha National Forest. I had my Michigan friends for dinner in my kitchen tent. Earlier that day I asked if anyone had any dinner requests. Sue mentioned that the crawfish étouffée we talked about in May sounded real good. Unfortunately, crawfish is hard to come by in Michigan. 

When I was at the grocery store, I saw some smoked turkey thighs and figured that I’d make an étouffée out of that. This seems to have been a big hit with everyone. Here’s how I made that.

2 smoked turkey thighs

1 quart of chicken broth

2 onions, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

3 stalks of celery, chopped

3/4 cup of peanut oil

3/4 cup of flour

Adobo seasoning

1 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. onion powder

2 cups of converted rice

4 cops of water

Preparation

Place the smoked turkey thighs in a pot, and add the chicken broth. Cover and let that simmer for an hour or two, to flavor the broth and soften up the turkey. While that is simmering, cut up the onions, peppers and celery, and have that ready to go.

When the turkey has simmered for at least an hour, remove the turkey from the broth, but save the broth. When the turkey is cool enough to handle, remove all the turkey meat from the bones, and chop it up. Have that near the stove as well.

Now it’s time to make the roux. Heat a dutch oven on the stove until hot. Add the peanut oil and the flour. Whisk that together over medium high heat. Continue whisking, don’t stop. You have to keep the flour/oil mixture moving so it doesn’t scorch. Continue whisking until the roux has the color of milk chocolate. 

Once the color is right, add the chopped vegetables, lower the heat, and stir, mixing the vegetables and flour. Let that cook a few minutes, and then add all the chicken broth. Stir that in. It should be somewhat thickened, but still a little thin. Add the chopped turkey, the thyme, oregano, garlic and onion powder. Give it a good sprinkling of adobo seasoning as well. Let that simmer, stirring often for at least a half hour, while you steam the rice.

Serving

We served our étouffée over steamed rice, along with grilled pork chops, potatoes, garlic bread stick, and lots of wine. It was the first meal I was able to cook on the camping trip, and everyone had a good time.