"Eat Down the Fridge" - Turkey Curry Pasta

As the subtitle to my blog indicates, I've given myself provision to chat about "other food stuff" outside of pressure cooker and smoker cooker, and this is my first blog of that sort.

For those of you who know me, you know that my husband and I currently go between two cities as a result of work. As it turns out, when I'm not in our permanent location, I'm without the pressure cooker and the smoker. So it's a good thing I have the "other food stuff" provision, for times like this when I'm in Ottawa, Canada.

I was having a look at the Food and Think blog, and apparently there is a new challenge out there right now to "Eat Down the Fridge" from March 9 - 15. Even though its March 8th, I figured I should attempt this call to action given that I'm in Ottawa sans pressure cooker and smoker, haven't grocery shopped, and always enjoy a food challenge. Game on!

I actually had to go through my cupboards and fridge to reacquaint myself as I haven't been here for well over a month. It was then that I realized, that this really will be a challenge as I'm missing lots of basic food stuff (I don't even have a head of garlic on hand - yikes! Isn't that mandatory).

After some careful perusing of the cupboards and fridge, I decided on a turkey curry sauce that I used to make when I was in university. So this automatically tells you that this recipe is several years old, is suitable for the budget conscious, and may not be an authentic cuisine type of dish. But, as I remembered it, it was delicious.

I started with two sorry onions that were pushing past their prime. I normally wouldn't want to show this picture, but really wanted everyone to appreciate that I truly am eating down not only the fridge, but pantry, and cupboards and anything edible in view.

After scrapping the bad parts, I did have enough to meet the needs of this dish. I then chopped up some carrots that were in rough, but not nearly as rough shape.

I sautéed the onions in a bit of olive oil. Once they were translucent I add the carrots and some water. From there I added ground turkey and sautéed until it cooked through. Then I added curry, cumin, kosher salt, some heat in the form or red pepper flakes, and a can of Italian tomato paste. I stirred to mix through and let simmer. After tasting, it was good, but needed something more. I had my husband do a taste test and he thought more tomato would do the trick.

I didn't have more tomato, and I knew he meant that rich tomato flavour. Another visit to my pantry wielded a jar of sundried tomato pesto. Perfect. I knew it would add that extra kick.

The end result was surprisingly delicious. Even better than I remembered from my university days.


We served over whole wheat pasta. I'm not always a fan of whole wheat pasta (some things are just better with regular pasta), but this dish lends itself is the perfect complement.

Turkey Curry Pasta
1 onion chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup water
1 lb ground turkey
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tbsp cumin
1/2 tbsp kosher salt
1 can tomato paste (small)
1/2 small jar sundried tomato pesto

Heat your pan with the olive oil. Saute the onion until translucent. Add the water and carrot and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the ground turkey and stir until cooked through. Add the remaining ingredients. Mix and let simmer, stirring frequently, for 15 - 30 minutes.