Crock Pot Turkey in Cream Sauce & Sesame Green Beans with Browned Butter

The Date: 22 November 2011

The Occasion: Crock pot dinners are just so nice. Turkey this week because it's almost Thanksgiving!

The Recipe: The turkey recipe is from this recipe book. Just so happened a Taste of Home reader from Pottstown, Pennsylvania submitted this recipe! The beans recipe is from this book.

How it Went: This might be my new go-to crock pot recipe. We loved it. Extremely easy, but tasted absolutely wonderful. You do have to allow time to make the cream sauce (which was more like gravy) after the meal is done in the crock pot, but it's not a lot of extra work. Just a little extra time. Also, I used a "Zesty Italian" turkey tenderloin. So I don't know how this would taste with a regular one.

The beans were great too. I've made them before and I forgot how easy it was to make steamed vegetables actually interesting. This is one good way to jazz up veggies for dinner. The butter means it's certainly not your healthiest option, but it's tasty. I made it with sesame seeds, the recipe calls for pine nuts, and I think almonds would also be delicious. Try whatever you have on hand that's crunchy! 

What You Need:
Turkey Tenderloin
white wine or chicken broth
onion
garlic clove
bay leaf
rosemary
black pepper
cornstarch
milk
salt
fresh green beans
sesame seeds, almonds, or pine nuts
butter

Your Turn:
In the crock pot, combine

• 3/4 C white wine or chicken broth
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 bay leaf

Combine 1 tsp dried rosemary and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Rub over 1 turkey tenderloin. (Mine was Shady Brook Farms brand from Giant and it was 1.85 lb. The recipe calls for 3 tenderloins, each 3/4 lb. Since I used the smaller piece of meat, I've halved all the other ingredients in the recipe for my version.) If you're using an already-marinated turkey tenderloin, like I did, you can probably skip this step. But what harm have rosemary and pepper ever done to a recipe?

Add the turkey to the crock pot. Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours (or longer, if necessary).

When you get home from work (or otherwise return to your kitchen), snap the ends off 1 lb of fresh green beans and snap them in half. Rinse well.

Boil 1 inch of water, then drop the beans in and cover. Let simmer for about 10 minutes, until beans are somewhat tender.

In the meantime, remove the turkey from the crock pot and set it aside. Pour the juices from the crock pot into a saucepan.

Combine 1 and 1/2 T cornstarch, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 C milk or cream. Add this to the cooking juices. Bring to a boil, then cook and stir a few minutes until thickened. Turn it off and let it sit there while you do the next few steps. If your beans are done, drain the water and transfer them to a serving bowl.

Melt 2 T butter in a small skillet over low heat.

Add either 2 T pine nuts or 1 T sesame seeds or 1 T slivered almonds.

Stir constantly until butter is golden brown. Toss with the green beans.

Serve turkey with cream sauce on top and beans on the side.

So delicious. The turkey just melts in your mouth!