Progressive thanksgiving

Ever been to a progressive dinner, where you go to a different person's house for each course of the meal? Well we did a sort of progressive thanksgiving. Due to illness, our travel plans got cancelled at the last minute, and suddenly we had 4 days to ourselves, and we could cook whatever we wanted.

Thursday: big pot of soup
Friday: Turkey and stuffing
Saturday: pumpkin pie with a graham cracker crust
Sunday: Sweet potatoes and Apples and Corn Pudding
Monday: Pumpkin cookies

I've been in love with the Apricot Glazed Turkey from BitchinCamaro since the first time I had it, and each time i adapt it a little based on the ingredients I have on hand and how many people I need to feed. This year, it was just the two of us, so I vastly simplified the recipe.

This year's Apricot glazed turkey

two skinless turkey breast halves (or even better, one whole boneless one!)
olive oil
salt & pepper
Filling:
half an onion, diced
1/4 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup chopped pecans
4-6 oz feta cheese
3 tbsp chopped parsley
Glaze:
3/4 apricot jam

these instructions are for two breast halves. if you have a large whole breast, you'll figure it out. Mix all filling ingredient in a bowl. Season breasts all over with salt & pepper. Lay out skin side down (Yes, I know these are skinless breasts, but you know what side I'm talking about), and you'll see that one part is quite a bit larger than the other. with a very sharp knife, cut a pocket into the larger part. Stuff each pocket with as much filling. grease your baking dish with some olive oil, and lay one breast down, skin side down, pocket side up. place remaining filling on top, and very carefully lay second breast on top of this, skin side up, pocket side down. If some of the filling falls out, that's Ok, and if you have filling left over, just put it in the baking dish around the meat. Brush the Apricot jam all over the meat. Cover loosly with tin foil, and bake at 375 for about 75 minutes. Your baking time may be different depending on how much meat and filling you have. Let rest at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

And it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie! I was curious to try a graham cracker crust, hoping maybe it would have a little bit less butter in it than a traditional one-stick-of-butter crust that I usually make. Well, it had a little less butter. Not much.

Graham cracker crust for a 9" pie
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter
pinch of salt

whisk together crackers, sugar and salt. melt butter in the microwave and let cool a bit. mix it into the crumb mixture with a fork, and blend very well. With the back of a spoon, or your fingers, press the mixture into a pie plate. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, and let cool before filling with pie filling.

What's the recipe for sweet potatoes & apples? My husband guards that secret very carefully! all I know is that it has apples, sweet potatoes, brown sugar, butter and cinammon, and that it's delicious!

Adventures in Hummus, and Fried Turkey. Also, starring hot pepper flakes.

I love chickpeas. delicious hot or cold, they are full of nutrition, easily accessible, and cheap. Right out of the can, or mashed with garlic and salt into hummus, what's not to love?

Since I almost always have a can (ok, maybe a few cans) of chickpeas on hand, this recipe is especially easy. it's saucy, so make some rice or mash potatoes to go with it.

Chicken 'n Chickpeas, adapted from The Joy of Cooking

approx two pounds chicken parts, cut up (chop a thigh in half, or a breast in thirds)
1 tbsp butte
1 small onion, chopped
3-4 green onions, chopped
one 15oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup water or broth
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp ginger
salt & pepper
heaping 1/4 tsp cinnamon
generous pinch red pepper flakes
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

melt butter in very large skillet (i LOVE my new dutch oven!!). over medium-high heat, brown the chicken quickly on all sides, in multiple batches if you need to. remove the chicken, and add onions and green onions to pan, adding a bit more oil if you need to. cook until onions are tender, then add chickpeas and all spices (not the parsley). stir until well mixed, and add the chicken back in, stirring to coat. bring mixture to a boil, then cover and simmer until chicken is tender, 30-40 minutes. before serving stir in the parsley, and more salt/pepper if needed. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes. Your kitchen will smell like the best North African travel channel show while you are cooking this.

Hubby and I had no idea this dish would be so saucy, so after eating all the chicken and as much chickpeas as he could stomach, we were left with about a cup of sauce. I couldn't let it go to waste, and it did have all the required ingredients for hummus - chickpeas, garlic, oil, some salt, some spice. Into the blender it went!

Lesson learned: sometimes sauces just don't taste good all by themselves. No matter how tasty the bread or crackers or whatever. . . . my improv hummus is still sitting in the fridge, and next time i look at it, it's going in the trash. the hummus disaster was a big gross.

ahh, now on to my husband's favorite food ever: Schnitzel. raise your hand if you, like me, thought that schnitzle was some kind of pastry. Such a long word with so few vowels has got to be some kind of pastry, right? well, maybe it is somewhere, but the kind i'm talking about is made of turkey, and it's breaded, egged, breaded again, and fried. and I make a funky citrus spicy salsa to go with it.

Turkey Schnitzel, adapted from Faye Levy's 1,000 Jewish Recipes
approx 1 1/4 lbs turkey slices, about 1/4" thick (feel free to pound 'em thin)
salt
pepper
paprika
good pinch hot pepper flakes
1 cup matzoh meal (or a little more)
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil

Season turkey slices with salt, pepper, paprika and hot pepper flakes. You will need 2 large plates, and one good sized bowl. in the bowl, beat the eggs. On each plate, put about 1/2 cup matzoh meal. for each turkey slice, dip it in the first plate of matzoh meal, pressing so the meal sticks. then dip gently into egg, then dip in the second plate of matzoh meal, again pressing so the meal sticks. after all your slices are prepped, heat the oil in a very large heavy bottomed skillet. you need enough oil to cover the botton of the pan, and slosh around a little. We're not going to deep fry the turkey, but we're not shallow frying it either. somewhere in between. Get the heat cranked up, and very gently slip a few turkey slices into the pan. Fry about 2 minutes each side, or until cooked and golden brown.

While one person is frying, the other person can make this insanely easy crazy sharp relish, also inspired by a recipe from the same cookbook:

Caper Lemon salsa
1 lemon
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 tsp dried oregano
pinch of salt
3 tbsp capers, rinsed
good pinch hot pepper flakes
splash olive oil
few tbsp chopped parsley

peel the lemon, and using a sharp knife, get as much white pith off as you can. Chop the lemon flesh, removing any seeds and stringy pithy bits. Add lemon to bowl with onion. add all other ingrediends, and mix well. let sit 5 or 10 minutes before eating.

sharp as hell on it's own, this salsa went incredibly well with the turkey schnitzel. No clue as to why they played together so well, but they did, and it was awesome.

thanksgiving after action report, part I: The Turkey

i love thanksgiving. I get to hang out in my happy kitchen and play with food, all day long. I'm sure plenty of people would see that as drudgery, boring, dumb, waste of time, etc, but I see it as therapy.

What I'm so proud of this year is that a)nearly everything I cooked was a new recipe for me, and b)dude, I pulled a raw turkey apart! my late grandfather the butcher would be proud.

the menu:
Bacon wrapped Turkey roulade with figs, cranberries, feta and apricots, adapted from Bitchincamero
Barbara Kingsolver's Corn Pudding
Scalloped Potatoes
Zucchini sauteed with greenbeans
Stuffing

as there were only two of us, this was plenty of food.

Can I please tell you about my raw turkey adventures? How i wish i had photos, because this was totally cool, and totally gross. Ok, so the recipe called for a butterflied turkey breast. I had a whole turkey breast, with breast bone, ribs, and all (no wings or legs). where in my little kitchen was I going to rip this thing apart? a ha! in the sink! nice and big, and easy to clean.

First, the skin came off. pretty easy, actually. while flipping the bird over, I heard a few audible crunches. that would be the itty bitty ribs. ick. back to the top of the bird. There were some breaks in the breast meat, and slipping my fingertips in there, the top layer came clean away on a seam, (breast meat, slipping my fingertips in? sounds dirty) leaving the tenderloins underneath and still attached to the breastbone. keep in mind, i haven't even touched the knife yet. this is all finger tearing. so I've got the rib cage with tenderloins still attached, and big hunks of breastmeat attached at one seam, almost looking like overly heavy wings. ripping gently with the knife (finally!), the breast meat came away from the breastbone/rib area. breasts in hand (still sounds dirty), the carcass went into the freezer for future soup making use.

while "debreasting" the poor tasty bird, i'd seperated the tenderloin from the breast, so not so much butterflying was going to be happening (it should really be attached if you're going to butterfly), so I just pounded the things between some saran wrap a few times. now it's time to make it pretty!

Bacon Wrapped Turkey Roulade (adapted from Bitchincamero.

two turkey breasts, pounded, weighing about 2 lbs each. (If you can get one giant one, that's even better, but i had two smallish ones)
6 cups water mixed with 1/4 cup salt

Brine the turkey in the salt water for about an hour. while it's brining, do the next steps:
Into a skillet over medium heat, add
2-3 tbsp butter.
when melted, add
1 onion, sliced finely
2 shallots, sliced finely
Let carmelize for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. you want them to get brown. if they start to stick/burn, add more oil, or lower the temp. when carmelized, add
2-3 tbsp water
3/4 cups chopped dried figs (found in the baking area of the grocery store)
stirring often, carmelize figs for another 10 minutes. Everything will get brown and sticky. This is good.

remove turkey from brine, discard brine, rinse turkey, then wrap in paper towels to absorb remaining water.

preheat the oven to 325. have ready:
greased foil lined rimmed cookie sheet
unrimmed cookie sheet
butcher's twine, cut into 8 peices, each about 8-10 inches long (trust me, don't skip this step!)
salt & pepper
your carmelized onion/fig mixture in a bowl
20 slices bacon (I used turkey bacon, but pork bacon would probably work better)
6-8oz feta cheese
about a 1/2 cup cranberries (I used frozen, worked great)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup apricot jam

on the unrimmed cookie sheet, lie down for pieces of butchers twine. put 8 slices of bacon on top, going the same direction. the bacon slices should over lap slightly. put one turkey breast on top of the bacon, crosswise (you want the bacon to wrap around the breast when you roll it up), and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle, but don't skimp. put half the onion mixture evenly on the breast. now put some cranberries, feta, and pecans down. with the help of a friend, roll the breast over the filling, and pulling the bacon around. use two more slices of bacon to cover the gap over the crease. tie with butchers twine, stuff in any stuffing that fell out. Put stuffed breast on the foiled greased rimmed cookie sheet, seam side down. slather half the apricot jam over the bacon.

now do the same with the other breast. this is the messiest thing i've done in a long time. It was even messier than ripping the turkey apart in the sink.

Once your breasts are prepared, and well slathered in apricot jam (damn, that sounds dirty!) pop into the oven for one and a half hours. remove from oven, and let sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting twine off and slicing.

I would absolutely make this again. the one mistake that I made was neglecting to line my rimmed baking sheet with tin foil. any jam that dripped off the turkey burnt to the pan, and i had to soak the thing 3 times to get the burntness off. next time, I will use foil!!!

gobble gobble, continued.

we just finished our last bits of leftovers. so i suppose i can give you my top secret thanksgiving recipes.

turkey with orange and garlic

you need:
a roasting turkey of any size, it must still have it's skin!
1 orange
a few cloves of garlic, sliced very thin. the bigger your turkey, the more garlic you will want.
salt & pepper
olive oil
herbs de provence

mix olive oil, salt & pepper and herbs in a small bowl. cut the orange in half. thinly slice one half, and cut the other into wedges. roll back the skin of the turkey, and brush the flesh with half of your olive oil mixture. lay orange and garlic slices on the flesh, and roll the skin back on top of all that. brush the rest of the olive oil on top of the skin, and stuff with oranges, and fresh herbs, if you have them. follow normal turkey cooking directions.


sweet potatoes and apples
this is my husbands recipe, and i hope i got it right!

3 or 4 baking apples - gala, fuji, golden delicious
1 large, and 1 small can of sweet potatoes in water
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp cinnamon
3 tbsp brown sugar


slice the apples into 1/4" thick slices. cut large chunks of sweet potatoes in half. preheat oven to 350, and use a deep, oven safe bowl (we have a glass bowl that is perfect for this!). the bottom layer should be sweet potatoes, then do a layer of apple slices. then dot with butter, and sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. keep making layers of sweet potatoes, apples, butter, cinnamon/sugar until you run out of ingredietns, or reach the top of the bowl. depending on your bowl or baking dish, you may need more or less butter, cinnamon, or brown sugar. cover with tin foil, and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until apples are tender.


garlic roasted potatoes

3 lbs new potatoes, scrubbed and wedged
olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper
1 tbp rosemary
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 chopped fresh parsley

preheat oven to 375. put potatoes and olive oil in a zip-lock bag, and shake to cover the potatoes with oil. put the potato wedges in a single layer on a greased baking dish, and bake for 25 minutes. while they are cooking, put some oil in a sauce pan, and sautee the garlic. as soon as the garlic starts to burn, remove from the heat. when garlic has cooled, add rosemary, lemon juice, salt and pepper and parsley. if the mixture seems to dry, add a little more olive oil. before serving, toss potatoes and garlic mixture in a big bowl. it's yummy.


snow peas sauteed with red onion, tomatoes and mint

1/3 cup olive oil
1 to 2 lbs snow peas
half a red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 cup water
salt & pepper
3 tbsp mint
pinch of sugar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar

in a large soup pot, heat the oil, then saute the onions, stirring occasionally. after a few minutes, add the garlic. then stir in the snow peas. stir in the sun dried and fresh tomatoes, and water, and bring mixture to a boil. season with some salt and pepper. cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. add mint and sugar, cook for one minute. then add vinegar.


stuffing . . . .

i cheated. i used stovetop. doctored it with sauteed celery and mushrooms. it was awesome. i think i'll make more tonight.

not much doing in 2 weeks.

it's spring, which means 1) mad planning for passover (starts tomorrow, and the cooking marathon starts today), 2) it's warm enough to finally go outside and prep my lame porch garden and 3)springtime means job is kicking my ass for the next 2 months. ahh, the joys of spring!

you'd think i'd gotten a lot of reading done in the last 2 weeks. tons of reviews up, tons of reading. . . yummy brains to eat. you'd think wrongly, because what mostly happened was me picking up a book, reading 30 pages, losing interest, then doing it again. wash, rinse, repeat. i am starving for intellectual intercourse. and lunch. i'm also hungry for lunch.

but i did finally finish Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow. holy crap. read this. go buy a copy right now. and mix yourself a strong drink when you get to the end. when i got to the end, i was sitting on the sofa, and Mike was on the 'puter. i had to tell him "don't look over here, cuz i'm at the end of this book, and i'm crying. so don't look over here". Basics of the book: we pick up a radio transmission from an alien planet, the mission borrows some spiffy asteroid mining technology to get a group of humans there at near light speed. we get there, we meet the aliens, and most of them die. parts of the story are told as a flashback by the sole survivor, a Jesuit priest. and did i mention the mission was organized and paid for by the Church? if i ever meet Mrs Russell, i'm going to ask her how many nights she couldn't sleep because of the pain and shock her characters went through. She must have gone through a lot of that with them. All authors are given the opportunity to play God - to help their characters, hurt them, answer thier prayers, or not. even if you're not into scifi or fiction, read this book just for the dialogue. it's got the best damn dialogue i have ever come across. ever. We're trying to discuss this as our reading club book over at Sci Fi Haven by the way. Stop over there, otherwise i'm going to write another 20 paragraphs about this book.

also just finished Anthony William's Scales. hhmmm.... how to put this? i will be polite and tactful in my official online reviews. after those reviews have been put submitted and possibly published at my haunts, i will then post my real thoughts here. if i can't be honest on my own blog, what is the point of having one? i am under NO requirements to be polite in my own god damn backyard. but on the other hand, i don't want the give the author a heart attack.

i've got myself so psyched up, i'm actually excited for the responses. i'm sure they won't all be positive. to be continined.


mmmm...... fooooodddd..... and i've had nothing but coffee so far this morning, so i'm starving. so many yummy passover recipes, what to choose?

this is the big turkey i make when i host a seder. i think i stole it from one of Giada's thanksgiving cooking shows. she's such a babe. and this is easy.

again, so easy, you'll laugh.

you'll need:
a big turkey or chicken, or one of those stuffable turkey breasts.
1 large onion
1 lemon
2 oranges
1/2 tsp of black pepper
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 thyme
1 - 2 tsp of the following, depending on your tastes, and how big the turkey is: rosemary, basil, parsley, herbs de provence, paprika. can be dried or freshly chopped/ground.
a few fresh sprigs of rosemary, a few fresh basil leaves.
3-4 cloves garlic, 2 should be minced, the other(s) cut in half.
3-4 tbsp olive oil

for the onion and lemon, cut them in half. cut one half into wedges, and the other slice thinly. cut one orange into wedges, and slice the other one. the skin should stay on the lemon and orange.

on your turkey, roll the skin back as far as possible. you don't want to tear it, but your going to be seasoning between the skin at the flesh, so just carefully roll it back.

in a bowl, blend the olive oil with the dried/chopped herbs, salt and pepper, and minced garlic. using your hands, or a brush, brush this all over the flesh of the turkey. in places where you didn't pull skin back, like legs, brush it over the skin. leave a little left in the bowl. put the sliced orange onion and lemon on the flesh, then roll the skin back, covering the herbs, citrus, and onion. any remaining herbs and oil should be brushed over the skin. the more oil thats on the skin, the browner and crunchier it will be later.

stuff the cavity with the wedges of citrus and onion, and any fresh sprigs and herb leaves you have. you'll have to use toothpicks to keep the cavity closed. cover with tinfoil, and follow your mom's turkey cooking directions, or the ones on the packaging for the turkey you bought (you did read it before you pitched it, right?).

3 or so hours later, you'll have a juicy delish main course. perfect for Passover, Thanskgiving, and probably Easter too.

alright, i'm off to find lunch and write reviews.