One pan, 25 minutes all you need for Bowtie Turkey with Cabbage

If you are looking for a healthy dinner that uses just one pan and arrives at the dinner table quickly, look no further.

I love cabbage in its various forms, both cooked and chopped up in slaws. There are months when I make about a quart of slaw that ends up as a side salad with my dinner every night for a week.

Recently, I wanted to get dinner on the table quickly with the least mess possible and tripped across a recipe by Yvonne Ruperti, who lives in Singapore. Her recipe: “Quick One Pot Hungarian Chicken and Noodles with Cabbage” caught my attention.

I read through Ruperti’s recipe and liked what I saw, especially the pasta being cooked in the pan with everything else.

Usually, recipes that include pasta require the pasta to be cooked separately, drained, and then mixed with the remaining ingredients. If it’s a casserole, which this is not, the recipe requires coating the inside of a casserole dish with oil before transferring the mixture and then baking it for 45 minutes. Those casseroles, like my Nan’s Tuna Casserole, are worth the effort and the cleanup if I have the time, which I didn’t.

Ruperti’s recipe required a single pan for everything; count me in. She used egg noodles, which I did not have. My gluten-free bowties (rice pasta) held the possibility of making a dandy substitute. The fresh head of cabbage and package of organic ground turkey in my refrigerator and caraway seeds in my pantry made it clear I should give this a try.

Ruperti’s recipe stated that it would take just 25 minutes to make. I was slightly skeptical, but began dicing onions and slicing cabbage anyway.

Ruperti used butter to sauté the onions; I went with olive oil. Once the onions softened, I added the caraway seeds, and their aroma immediately filled my kitchen. Next, in went the ground turkey. Once it lost its pink color, I added the cabbage, which nearly overfilled my pan. Once the cabbage began to cook down, I added chicken broth, salt, pepper, and dried parsley. When that began to simmer, I stirred in the bowties, making sure they were submerged. On went the cover, and 9 minutes later, everything was ready to go.

My bowties and cabbage are headed to my dinner table in a little over 25 minutes. Not bad. To my surprise, the bowtie pasta was perfectly cooked, and the starch it threw off thickened the broth. What more could you ask for?

If you are looking for a quick and tasty dinner, give this a try.

• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at 1leanwizard@gmail.com.

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One Pan Bowtie Turkey with Cabbage

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, ends trimmed, peeled, and chopped

2 teaspoons Kosher salt, divided

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1 pound ground turkey or chicken (organic, preferred)

1 small head green cabbage (about 1.5 pounds), quartered, cored, and chopped

1½ cups chicken broth, organic preferred

5 ounces organic, brown rice, gluten-free, bowtie (farfalle) pasta

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons dried parsley

Add the olive oil to a large, deep skillet and place over medium heat. When the oil begins shimmering, add onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until onions are soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Stir in caraway seeds and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add ground turkey (or chicken) and cook, stirring and breaking up with the edge of a spatula until no longer pink, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Stir in cabbage and, while stirring occasionally, cook until wilted (it will shrink down), about 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, the second teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of black pepper, and the dried parsley. Bring to a simmer. Add and nestle bowties in, making sure they are submerged. Cover and gently simmer, stirring occasionally, until bowties are cooked al dente, about 8 to 9 minutes.

Remove from heat, taste, adjust seasoning and serve.

Optional: When the bowties are cooked and ready to serve, ⅓ cup sour cream may be stirred in.

Serves four.

Nutrition values per serving (not including the optional sour cream): 425 calories (34.6% from fat), 16.3 g fat (2.9 g saturated fat), 41 g carbohydrates (35 net carbs), 7.4 g sugars, 6.4 g fiber, 30.2 g protein, 70 mg cholesterol, 880 mg sodium. SaltSense: Reducing the added Kosher salt to 1 teaspoon reduces the sodium per serving to 600 milligrams. Using no-salt-added chicken broth further reduces the sodium per serving to 394 milligrams.

— Based on a recipe by Yvonne Ruperti.