Turkey turkey... Recipe madness!
So Thanksgiving was a feast of the sences as usual... I'm posting my recipes for your enjoyment!
Preparation time: About 5 hours.
Ingredients
* 1 turkey, approx. 15 lbs.*
* Juice of a lemon
* Salt and pepper
* Olive oil or melted butter
* 1/2 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
* Tops and bottoms of a bunch of celery
* 2 carrots
* Parsley
* Sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme
* Need help figuring out how big a turkey to get? Butterball has a turkey calculator that helps you figure out just how many pounds you need. In general, plan for:
12-15 lb turkey for 10-12 people
15-18 lb turkey for 14-16 people
18-22 lb turkey for 20-22 people
Method
1 To start, if the turkey has been refrigerated, bring it to room temperature before cooking. Keep it in its plastic wrapping until you are ready to cook it. While in the refrigerator, and or while you are bringing it to room temp, have the bird resting in a pan, so that if the plastic covering leaks for any reason, you are confining the juices to the pan. If you get a frozen turkey, you will need to defrost it in the refrigerator for several days first. Allow approximately 5 hours of defrosting for every pound. So, if you have a 15 pound turkey, it will take about 75 hours to defrost it in the refrigerator, or around 3 days.
Handle a raw turkey with the same amount of caution as when you handle raw chicken - use a separate cutting board and utensils to avoid contaminating other foods. Wash you hands with soap before touching anything else in the kitchen. Use paper towels to clean up.
Remove the neck and giblets (heart, gizzard, liver). Use the heart and gizzard for making stock for the stuffing. The neck can be cooked along side the turkey or saved for turkey soup.
Note that if your turkey comes with a plastic piece holding the legs together, check the instructions on the turkey's package. Most likely you do not need to remove those plastic ties for cooking (unless you plan to cook your turkey at a very high temperature). If you remove the plastic ties, you will need to use kitchen string to tie the legs together.
2 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3 Wash out the turkey with water. Pull out any remaining feather stubs in the turkey skin. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels. Lather the inside of the cavity with the juice of half a lemon. Take a small handful of salt and rub all over the inside of the turkey.
In this method of cooking a turkey, we don't make the stuffing in the turkey because doing so adds too much to the cooking time. For flavor, put in inside the turkey a half a yellow onion, peeled and quartered, a bunch of parsley, a couple of carrots, and some tops and bottoms of celery. You may need to cap the body cavity with some aluminum foil so that the stuffing doesn't easily fall out. Close up the turkey cavity with either string (not nylon string!) or metal skewers. Make sure that the turkey's legs are tied together, held close to the body, and tie a string around the turkey body to hold the wings in close.
The neck cavity can be stuffed with parsley and tied closed with thin skewers and string.
5 Rub either melted butter or olive oil all over the outside of the turkey. Sprinkle salt generously all over the outside of the turkey (or have had it soaking in salt-water brine before starting this process). Sprinkle pepper over the turkey.
6 Place turkey BREAST DOWN on the bottom of a rack over a sturdy roasting pan big enough to catch all the drippings. This is the main difference between the way mom makes turkey and everyone else. Cooking the turkey breast down means the skin over the breast will not get so brown. However, all of the juices from the cooking turkey will fall down into the breast while cooking. And the resulting bird will have the most succulent turkey breast imaginable.
Add several sprigs of fresh (if possible) thyme and rosemary to the outside of the turkey.
7 Chop up the turkey giblets (gizzard, heart, liver). Put into a small saucepan, cover with water, add salt. Bring to simmer for an hour or so to help make stock for the stuffing (see stuffing recipe).
8 Put the turkey in the oven. Check the cooking directions on the turkey packaging. Gourmet turkeys often don't take as long to cook. With the turkeys mom gets, she recommends cooking time of about 15 minutes for every pound. For the 15 lb turkey, start the cooking at 400 F for the first 1/2 hour. Then reduce the heat to 350 F for the next 2 hours. Then reduce the heat further to 225 F for the next hour to hour and a half.
If you want the breast to be browned as well, you can turn over the bird for the last 15-20 minutes of cooking, at an oven temp of 300°F. (Oven must be at least 250°F for browning to occur.) Note that if you do this, you will have a higher risk of overcooking the turkey breast. We never worry about browning the breast.
Start taking temperature readings with a meat thermometer, inserted deep into the thickest part of the turkey breast and thigh, a half hour before the turkey should be done. The dark meat in the thigh should be about 175 F. The white meat in the breast should be 160 F to 165 F. If you don't have a meat thermometer, spear the breast with a knife. The turkey juices should be clear, not pink.
9 Once you remove the turkey from the oven, let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Turn the turkey breast side up to carve it. (See Epicurious video on carving a turkey.)
Making Turkey Gravy
Scrape all the drippings off of the bottom of the roasting pan. Pour drippings into a smaller skillet. Ladle off excess fat with a gravy spoon and save for possible use later. In a separate small bowl take a quarter cup of corn starch and add just enough water to dissolve the corn starch. Beat cornstarch with a spoon to remove lumps. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the drippings, stirring constantly. You may not end up using all of the cornstarch mixture. Only add as much as you need to get the desired thickness. Allow time for the cornstarch to thicken the gravy. Add salt, pepper, sage, thyme, or other seasonings to taste.
Sweet Potato Caserole
8 average size sweet potatoes
1tbsp. vanilla
3-5 tbsp. sugar (to taste)
1/2 stick butter
1/4 tsp. cinnamon to taste
1/4 - 1 tsp. nutmeg to taste
1/4 c. orange juice to taste
Marshmallows (lg. or miniature)Cinnamon sugar (opt.)Boil (or bake) sweet potatoes until done. Remove peeling from HOT POTATOES and mash well, removing all strings. Add all ingredients but marshmallows and cinnamon sugar; mix well. Spray or grease lightly Pyrex or Corning dish. Put a layer of potatoes, layer of marshmallows until filled. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar for added flavor. Bake about 350 degrees until HOT. Remove from oven and put marshmallows on top. Place again in oven to brown lightly. Serves 10 to 12.You may add 1 cup scalded homogenized milk to potato mixture. Orange extract may be used instead of orange juice. It is stronger in taste so add carefully to taste.
Green Bean Caserole
2 cans green beans
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 can french fried onions
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 pinch course ground pepper
1/4 tsp salt
Combine all ingredients except the french fried onions, and place in a caserole dish in the microwave for 2 min. sprinkle french fried onions on top, and serve.
Wild rice with mushrooms
2 boxes instant wild/white rice
1 can mushrooms
1 small yellow onion
1 shallot
Make wild/white rice according to package instructions, in a separate pan saute` the mushrooms, thinly sliced shallot, and yellow onion.
Combine ingredients, serve and enjoy.
Stuffing
24 hazelnuts opened and crushed
1 shallot thinly sliced
1 carrot pealed and trimmed
1 celery stalk
Turkey giblets/ turkey neck
1 box dried bread crumbs
Boil in a sauce pan the giblets and turkey neck in enough water to cover meats, once the water has boiled down to 1/2 cup remove pieces, put flame on low, and add shallot slivers. Use pealer on carrot and make carrot into thin peals, chop peals into managable pieces, and add to stock. Dice celery finely and also add to stock, along with hazelnuts. Simmer until all ingredients are tender. Turn off heat.
Add bread crubs until consistancy has been obtained.
David, my parents and I has an amazing time filled with fun and laughter. We sat down and watched
Hell Boy 2... (for the 2nd time for David and me) and before dinner I requested that we all name things we were thankful for this year. It was a beautiful night.
After my parents left we talked with Davids Mother, and brothers via Skype for a bit, and discussed Christmas plans. I'll be spending Christmas with Davids Family this year ( which will be weird for me, since I've never spent a Christmas away from my Mother)
At the moment we are drinking Piot Grigio and playing WOW with Alan (Davids Brother) via Skype... it's relaxing, and I'm so happy. I can't believe my life is this good sometimes.
Preparation time: About 5 hours.
Ingredients
* 1 turkey, approx. 15 lbs.*
* Juice of a lemon
* Salt and pepper
* Olive oil or melted butter
* 1/2 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
* Tops and bottoms of a bunch of celery
* 2 carrots
* Parsley
* Sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme
* Need help figuring out how big a turkey to get? Butterball has a turkey calculator that helps you figure out just how many pounds you need. In general, plan for:
12-15 lb turkey for 10-12 people
15-18 lb turkey for 14-16 people
18-22 lb turkey for 20-22 people
Method
1 To start, if the turkey has been refrigerated, bring it to room temperature before cooking. Keep it in its plastic wrapping until you are ready to cook it. While in the refrigerator, and or while you are bringing it to room temp, have the bird resting in a pan, so that if the plastic covering leaks for any reason, you are confining the juices to the pan. If you get a frozen turkey, you will need to defrost it in the refrigerator for several days first. Allow approximately 5 hours of defrosting for every pound. So, if you have a 15 pound turkey, it will take about 75 hours to defrost it in the refrigerator, or around 3 days.
Handle a raw turkey with the same amount of caution as when you handle raw chicken - use a separate cutting board and utensils to avoid contaminating other foods. Wash you hands with soap before touching anything else in the kitchen. Use paper towels to clean up.
Remove the neck and giblets (heart, gizzard, liver). Use the heart and gizzard for making stock for the stuffing. The neck can be cooked along side the turkey or saved for turkey soup.
Note that if your turkey comes with a plastic piece holding the legs together, check the instructions on the turkey's package. Most likely you do not need to remove those plastic ties for cooking (unless you plan to cook your turkey at a very high temperature). If you remove the plastic ties, you will need to use kitchen string to tie the legs together.
2 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3 Wash out the turkey with water. Pull out any remaining feather stubs in the turkey skin. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels. Lather the inside of the cavity with the juice of half a lemon. Take a small handful of salt and rub all over the inside of the turkey.
In this method of cooking a turkey, we don't make the stuffing in the turkey because doing so adds too much to the cooking time. For flavor, put in inside the turkey a half a yellow onion, peeled and quartered, a bunch of parsley, a couple of carrots, and some tops and bottoms of celery. You may need to cap the body cavity with some aluminum foil so that the stuffing doesn't easily fall out. Close up the turkey cavity with either string (not nylon string!) or metal skewers. Make sure that the turkey's legs are tied together, held close to the body, and tie a string around the turkey body to hold the wings in close.
The neck cavity can be stuffed with parsley and tied closed with thin skewers and string.
5 Rub either melted butter or olive oil all over the outside of the turkey. Sprinkle salt generously all over the outside of the turkey (or have had it soaking in salt-water brine before starting this process). Sprinkle pepper over the turkey.
6 Place turkey BREAST DOWN on the bottom of a rack over a sturdy roasting pan big enough to catch all the drippings. This is the main difference between the way mom makes turkey and everyone else. Cooking the turkey breast down means the skin over the breast will not get so brown. However, all of the juices from the cooking turkey will fall down into the breast while cooking. And the resulting bird will have the most succulent turkey breast imaginable.
Add several sprigs of fresh (if possible) thyme and rosemary to the outside of the turkey.
7 Chop up the turkey giblets (gizzard, heart, liver). Put into a small saucepan, cover with water, add salt. Bring to simmer for an hour or so to help make stock for the stuffing (see stuffing recipe).
8 Put the turkey in the oven. Check the cooking directions on the turkey packaging. Gourmet turkeys often don't take as long to cook. With the turkeys mom gets, she recommends cooking time of about 15 minutes for every pound. For the 15 lb turkey, start the cooking at 400 F for the first 1/2 hour. Then reduce the heat to 350 F for the next 2 hours. Then reduce the heat further to 225 F for the next hour to hour and a half.
If you want the breast to be browned as well, you can turn over the bird for the last 15-20 minutes of cooking, at an oven temp of 300°F. (Oven must be at least 250°F for browning to occur.) Note that if you do this, you will have a higher risk of overcooking the turkey breast. We never worry about browning the breast.
Start taking temperature readings with a meat thermometer, inserted deep into the thickest part of the turkey breast and thigh, a half hour before the turkey should be done. The dark meat in the thigh should be about 175 F. The white meat in the breast should be 160 F to 165 F. If you don't have a meat thermometer, spear the breast with a knife. The turkey juices should be clear, not pink.
9 Once you remove the turkey from the oven, let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Turn the turkey breast side up to carve it. (See Epicurious video on carving a turkey.)
Making Turkey Gravy
Scrape all the drippings off of the bottom of the roasting pan. Pour drippings into a smaller skillet. Ladle off excess fat with a gravy spoon and save for possible use later. In a separate small bowl take a quarter cup of corn starch and add just enough water to dissolve the corn starch. Beat cornstarch with a spoon to remove lumps. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the drippings, stirring constantly. You may not end up using all of the cornstarch mixture. Only add as much as you need to get the desired thickness. Allow time for the cornstarch to thicken the gravy. Add salt, pepper, sage, thyme, or other seasonings to taste.
Sweet Potato Caserole
8 average size sweet potatoes
1tbsp. vanilla
3-5 tbsp. sugar (to taste)
1/2 stick butter
1/4 tsp. cinnamon to taste
1/4 - 1 tsp. nutmeg to taste
1/4 c. orange juice to taste
Marshmallows (lg. or miniature)Cinnamon sugar (opt.)Boil (or bake) sweet potatoes until done. Remove peeling from HOT POTATOES and mash well, removing all strings. Add all ingredients but marshmallows and cinnamon sugar; mix well. Spray or grease lightly Pyrex or Corning dish. Put a layer of potatoes, layer of marshmallows until filled. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar for added flavor. Bake about 350 degrees until HOT. Remove from oven and put marshmallows on top. Place again in oven to brown lightly. Serves 10 to 12.You may add 1 cup scalded homogenized milk to potato mixture. Orange extract may be used instead of orange juice. It is stronger in taste so add carefully to taste.
Green Bean Caserole
2 cans green beans
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 can french fried onions
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 pinch course ground pepper
1/4 tsp salt
Combine all ingredients except the french fried onions, and place in a caserole dish in the microwave for 2 min. sprinkle french fried onions on top, and serve.
Wild rice with mushrooms
2 boxes instant wild/white rice
1 can mushrooms
1 small yellow onion
1 shallot
Make wild/white rice according to package instructions, in a separate pan saute` the mushrooms, thinly sliced shallot, and yellow onion.
Combine ingredients, serve and enjoy.
Stuffing
24 hazelnuts opened and crushed
1 shallot thinly sliced
1 carrot pealed and trimmed
1 celery stalk
Turkey giblets/ turkey neck
1 box dried bread crumbs
Boil in a sauce pan the giblets and turkey neck in enough water to cover meats, once the water has boiled down to 1/2 cup remove pieces, put flame on low, and add shallot slivers. Use pealer on carrot and make carrot into thin peals, chop peals into managable pieces, and add to stock. Dice celery finely and also add to stock, along with hazelnuts. Simmer until all ingredients are tender. Turn off heat.
Add bread crubs until consistancy has been obtained.
David, my parents and I has an amazing time filled with fun and laughter. We sat down and watched
Hell Boy 2... (for the 2nd time for David and me) and before dinner I requested that we all name things we were thankful for this year. It was a beautiful night.
After my parents left we talked with Davids Mother, and brothers via Skype for a bit, and discussed Christmas plans. I'll be spending Christmas with Davids Family this year ( which will be weird for me, since I've never spent a Christmas away from my Mother)
At the moment we are drinking Piot Grigio and playing WOW with Alan (Davids Brother) via Skype... it's relaxing, and I'm so happy. I can't believe my life is this good sometimes.