Thursday’s Culinary Adventure IV

 

 

It’s that time again!!!  Tonight, on Thursday’s Culinary Adventure

Can you believe it??!!  So, so adorable.  How could I not make it?  Well, I’ll tell you:

I took the idea for this recipe from the Taste of Home’s Halloween Food and Fun.  The original recipe calls for a pork roast, however we don’t eat much pig in our house, so I switched it to turkey breasts instead.  Feel free to follow the same recipe with a pork loin if you’d prefer.

You will need, a package of phyllo dough, dijon mustard, heavy cream, butter, an apple, dried thyme, and turkey breasts. (Again, or pork.)

First, put the turkey breasts on a cookie sheet and broil them until they are starting to turn brownish white on top.

Mix 1/4 cup Dijon mustard with 3/4 cup heavy cream, and bring to a boil.  Turn down heat and simmer 5-10 minutes.  Stir in 1/4 tsp. Thyme.

Spread mixture on top of chicken breasts, reserving a little for dipping.

Melt 3 Tb. butter.

Get out a sheet of phyllo dough and (GENTLY!) unfold in onto the counter. Brush it with the melted butter, and put another sheet on top.

Continue this pattern until you have a stack of four sheets.

Time out for a quick letter to phyllo dough.

Dear Phyllo Dough,

I hate you.  Why do you have to be like that?  Come on now!  The Office is starting in an hour, and Joseph is hungry!  The rest of you is going IN THE TRASH!!!

Glares and feelings of hatred,

Caitlin 

Man!  This stuff is HARD to work with! (for me.)  It is very thin, delicate, flaky.  The instructions say to keep the unused phyllo dough covered with a damp towel and saran wrap while you are working with the other sheets.  What?!  STRESSFUL!  The longer I took, the more and more brittle the sheets were!  I may have even yelled at Brian to “Turn off that stupid music toy!!!  It’s stressing me out!”  Obviously, it was the phyllo dough, and not the toy that was my problem.  Sorry Brian.

Here is me stressed out at the phyllo dough.

Anywhoo, disregard that outburst as we continue on with our recipe.

Place the Turkey Breast at the end of the phyllo sheets, and wrap it on up, tucking the ends under.

Now, take a new phyllo sheet, brush it with butter, and put another one on top.  Using a pizza cutter, cut into thin strips.

Wrap the thin strips around the turkey breast, saving a few.

Cut a square chunk out of your apple.  Keep in mind that this will be the head, so it should be somewhat proportionate to the body.  Wrap the remaining strips around the apple chunk, and position it next to the body.

You will not actually be eating the apple portion.  I know, a bit disappointing.  But, it is all in the presentation, people!!

Okay, I have a confession to make.  I actually only made ONE of the turkey breasts into a mummy.  The other one I did this to:

It was taking WAAY too long and I was hungry!

Pop it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until you are tired of checking on it. 

The phyllo dough will brown up really fast, but don’t panic (I did!  That’s why I was so tired from checking on it every 30 seconds!).  The browning seems to happen fast at first and then slow down considerably.

Voila!  Your Yummy Mummy!  AWWW!! Isn’t it cute???!!

Taste Testers Say:

Caitlin

(note the blanket.  It’s COOOOOLD!!! tonight!)

Brian

(I know, hard to read.  Imagine being married to this hard-to-read face.  What is he thinking???  I always just assume that he is thinking how funny and adorable I am.  In this case though, I think he is thinking “so-so.”)

Summary:  Meh…not so much.  Just aright for me.  Pretty rich, and I am VERY picky about my meat, so very rarely do I cook a turkey/chicken breast whole, without dissecting it for veins and fat. (Anal, I know.)  I started imagining all of the things that were in it, and I was done.  Brian liked it at first, but then thought that it was too rich.  Maybe it would be better with pork?

SOOOO cute though!!!!!  Great for a party!  (Especially if you have lots of other food that they can eat.)

Grade: C+

but Presentation: A+

(I ate cold cereal for dinner instead.)