My First Turkey!

This Thanksgiving, we had some family come in from California, bringing our total number in the house up to seven!  Because we had so many people and we were bringing them to our friend's house that day, we decided to have more than one turkey--three to be exact.  And I was panicky.  I mean, this was the first time I'd ever made a turkey.  I mean, my mom was always the one who made the turkey!  And this was one of the few times I hadn't been home for Thanksgiving. 

So, in my search for easy turkey recipes, I stumbled upon this one on Jes' blog, Bleu Dress and Dress Blues.  It's a brined turkey recipe that she'd found and apparently, it's an Emeril recipe.  No wonder it turned out soooooo good!  It was tender and juicy and just plain delicious.  Although the process was time-consuming, I'm going to be making my turkey this way for years to come. 

For the brine:

5 gallon bucket

1 cup salt

1 cup brown sugar

2 oranges, quartered

2 lemons, quartered

6 sprigs thyme

4 sprigs rosemary

1 (10 to 12-pound) turkey

Dissolve the salt and sugar in 2 gallons of cold water. Add the oranges, lemons, thyme, and rosemary. (Note: if you have a larger turkey and need more brine than this, use 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup brown sugar for every gallon of water. You want to be able to submerge the entire turkey in the solution)

Remove everything from the cavity of the turkey. Rinse the turkey inside and out under cold running water. Soak the turkey in the brine, covered and refrigerated, for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

For making the turkey:

1 large orange, cut into 1/8ths

4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

Salt and pepper

1 large yellow onion, cut into 1/8ths

1 stalk celery, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 large carrot, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs thyme

2 sprigs rosemary

1/2 bunch sage

3 or 4 sprigs parsley

1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken or turkey stock, for basting

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse well under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels both inside and out. Place turkey, breast side up, in a large, heavy roasting pan. Rub breast side with orange segments and rub on all sides with the butter, stuffing some underneath the skin. Season lightly inside and out with salt and pepper. Stuff the turkey with the onion, remaining orange, celery, carrot, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, sage and parsley. Loosely tie the drumsticks together with kitchen string. Roast the turkey, uncovered, breast side down for 1 hour.

Remove from the oven, turn, and baste with 1/2 cup chicken or turkey stock. Continue roasting with the breast side up until an instant-read meat thermometer registers 165 degrees F when inserted into the largest section of thigh (avoiding the bone), about 2 3/4 to 3 hours total cooking time. Baste the turkey once every hour with 1/2 to 3/4 cup chicken or turkey stock.

Remove from the oven and place on a platter. Tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Note: All of El Paso was out of rosemary, sage and thyme. So I substituted with the dried herbs and placed them in some cheese cloth and then put that in the brining solution/turkey.

For the gravy:

4 cups turkey broth (from the roasting pan)

1 cup dry white wine

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pour the reserved turkey pan juices into a glass-measuring cup and skim off the fat. Place the roasting pan on 2 stove top burners over medium heat add the pan juice and 1 cup turkey broth and the white wine to the pan, and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the remaining 3 cup of broth and bring to a simmer, then transfer to a measuring cup. In a large heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium high heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, to make a light roux. Add the hot stock, whisking constantly, then simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes.

I'm mainly making this post so that I have this recipe saved somewhere.  I'll be thinking about having this turkey again for the next year, it was so delicious!  And thanks to Jes for sharing this recipe.  I am eternally grateful!

Cherry Tomato Spaghetti with Toasted Pine Nuts

I haven't been in much of a blogging mood lately--for this blog and my other one.  And I have done some cooking and I just need to get caught up.  I even considered just stopping this cooking blog altogether, seeing how inconsistent I am with it.  Not to mention, we're on the verge of a big military move to Germany and we'll be on leave for a good month and a half...which means no cooking or baking until after we get settled in (we'll be in Germany after the New Year.  But my husband told me to keep it up.  So I will! 

Everyone pretty much knows that I'm a pasta fan.  This particular dish is very similar to the Ribbon Pasta with Tomato, Dill and Ricotta recipe that I posted a while back, and is just as terrific, if not better.  Believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever made a dish with pine nuts in it.  I love how nicely they pair with garlic and fresh cherry tomatoes.  This pasta is very light, but hearty.  And I'm definitely going to make it again.  I'm a huge fettucine fan, so I substituted that in for the spaghetti.  And I think that the colors of the pasta make a for a nice contrast against the vibrant red of the cherry tomatoes.

Cherry Tomato Spaghetti with Toasted Pine Nuts

from Cooking Light

2 (1-ounce) slices sandwich bread

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 teaspoon garlic powder, divided

3 cups red cherry tomatoes

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

8 ounces uncooked spaghetti

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1.  Place bread in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1 cup. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons oil and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder; pulse to combine.

2.  Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add breadcrumb mixture to pan; cook 2 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove from pan; set aside.

3.  Heat 1 teaspoon oil in pan. Add tomatoes to pan; cook for 3 minutes or until tomatoes begin to wrinkle. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and garlic; cook 30 seconds. Cover; reduce heat to low.

4.  Cook pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat. Add pasta, remaining 2 teaspoons oil, basil, pine nuts, salt, and pepper to tomato mixture, stirring to combine. Toss pasta with breadcrumbs; serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Beef Lettuce Wraps

Believe it or not, I have been doing a lot of cooking, I just haven't had time to post what I've been making for dinner lately.  Sorry about that!

I actually made these beef lettuce wraps last night and ummm....they were fantastic.  Both my hubby and I felt like we were eating out at a Vietnamese restaurant--one of our favorites.  The beef is marinated in a brown sugar/lime/fish sauce that is a perfect complement to the mint and cilantro that it's rolled up with.  And it was a very light meal...from Cooking Light, of course!

This is something I'd definitely make for a crowd...either as an appetizer or a main dish.  I'm also going to try it with chicken to see how it turns out!

Beef Lettuce Wraps

by Cooking Light



Cooking spray

1 (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons fish sauce

4 teaspoons dark brown sugar

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced

8 Bibb lettuce leaves

1 cup thinly sliced red onion

1 cup torn fresh mint

1/2 cup matchstick-cut English cucumber

1/2 cup torn fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons chopped unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

1. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle steak with salt and pepper. Place steak in pan; cook 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from pan; let stand 10 minutes. Cut steak diagonally across the grain into thin slices.

2. Combine juice, fish sauce, sugar, and jalapeño in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Reserve 4 teaspoons juice mixture in a small serving bowl. Pour remaining juice mixture in a large bowl; add steak, tossing to coat. Place 1 1/2 ounces beef in center of each lettuce leaf; top each with 2 tablespoons onion, 2 tablespoons mint, 1 tablespoon cucumber, and 1 tablespoon cilantro. Sprinkle evenly with peanuts; roll up. Serve with reserved juice mixture.

I'm just now noticing that I never added the red onion!  Oh well, it was still delicious!

Enjoy!

Cashew Sweet and Sour Pork

I've been doing fairly well, creating a dinner menu for the week and sticking to it!  My hubby has enjoyed every dish I've made so far, as have I.  

This dish, Cashew Sweet and Sour Pork was also taken from Cooking Light.  You think I'd be losing weight with these recipes.  Unfortunately, I haven't quite grasped the concept of portion control.  I can't seem to limit myself to one serving.

What's cool is that we happened to have fresh pineapple on hand, so I had the hubby dice it all up for me.  It added the right amount of sweetness to go with the sour of the vinegar sauce.  But it wasn't overwhelmingly sweet like the kind you'd get at your favorite Chinese restaurant. And I just loved the crunch from both the cashews and the snap peas! We had this with steamed rice...yummy!  You can actually see the steam in the picture below, as we ate it right out of the pan!

Cashew Sweet and Sour Pork

by Cooking Light

1 (3 1/2-ounce) bag boil-in-bag long-grain

2 tablespoons cornstarch, divided

1 tablespoon sherry

1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon peanut oil

1/3 cup finely chopped dry-roasted cashews, unsalted

1/4 cup chopped green onions

2 teaspoons bottled minced fresh ginger

1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic

1/2 pound snow peas, trimmed

1 (8-ounce) can pineapple chunks in juice, drain

 

Cook rice according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.

Combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch, sherry, and pork, tossing well. Combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch, water, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and ketchup, stirring with a whisk.

Heat the peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture; stir-fry 3 minutes. Add cashews, green onions, ginger, and garlic; stir-fry 1 minute. Add snow peas and pineapple; stir-fry 3 minutes or until snow peas are crisp-tender.

Add vinegar mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Serve the pork mixture over rice.

Enjoy!

Prosciutto-Gruyere Strombolis & Harvest Apple Tarts

Continuing on with our Cooking Light series...I decided to make these strombolis last night.  They were so easy to make...about 10 minutes to gather all the ingredients (there are only 5!) and roll them all together.  It was nice to come home after a long day at work and literally just pop these into the oven in minutes.  And...they were yummy too.  Of course, no stromboli is complete without some marinara sauce, so I whipped that out as well.

Prosciutto & Gruyere Strombolis

by Cooking Light

1 (11-ounce) can refrigerated French bread dough

2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto

1 cup trimmed arugula

1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Gruyère cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

 

Preheat oven to 425°.

Unroll dough onto a baking sheet; pat into a 14 x 11-inch rectangle. Cut dough into quarters to form 4 (7 x 5 1/2-inch) rectangles. Top each rectangle with 1/2 ounce prosciutto, 1/4 cup arugula, 2 tablespoons cheese, and 1 tablespoon parsley.



Beginning at short side of each rectangle, roll up the dough, jelly-roll fashion; pinch seam to seal (do not seal ends of rolls). Arrange rolls 4 inches apart on baking sheet.

Bake at 425° for 10 minutes or until rolls are lightly browned. Serve warm.

Harvest Apple Tart

by Angie at Cocina Diary

Then I decided that we needed a quick dessert.  I've been wanting to try this Harvest Apple Tart recipe that I saw on my friend, Angie's, cooking blog a while back.

Let me just say that if you haven't visited her blog yet, you're missing out.  It's called the Cocina Diary and it's fabulous! 

This recipe is another easy 5-ingredient fix (okay, so it's 6 ingredients) and you should have every ingredient in your pantry already.

Here's what you get:

Complete and utter deliciousness!  Good thing I have some puff pastry and more apples left. I might have to make this again tomorrow evening!

Chicken with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms

I don't know why I never thought to pull recipes from the Cooking Light website a long time ago.  Everything I've tried so far in the last week or so has been fantastic.  Seriously. 

I would never have thought to use pecans as a base for pasta sauce.  Ever.  I was a bit concerned making the sauce as I'd over-toasted the pecans before putting them in my food processor.

By the way, I just got a Cuisinart food processor the other day at JC Penney's.  It was on sale for $99.99.  I've been dying to get one and finally broke down.  So I thought it would get it's debut helping me make this dish.  When I smelled the pecan puree, I worried that the dish would taste burned, but it didn't.  And then adding the mushrooms to the sauce?  It was fabulous--I mean FABULOUS!!!   

Both my husband and I devoured this dish.  I really had to try hard to leave some leftovers to take for lunch today.  And today, I couldn't wait for lunchtime.  Now I'm sad it's all gone.

Chicken with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms

by Cooking Light

3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted

1 cup water

1 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided

6 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cooking spray

1/4 cup finely chopped shallots

1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms

4 cups cooked egg noodles

Chopped parsley (optional)

 

1. Place pecans in a food processor; process until smooth (about 1 minute), scraping sides of bowl once. With processor on, add water and 3/4 teaspoon salt; process until smooth, scraping sides of bowl once.

2.  Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper.

3.  Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté 3 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

4.  Add shallots and mushrooms to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Stir in pecan cream; bring to a boil. Cook 1 1/2 minutes. Place 2/3 cup noodles on each of 6 plates. Top each serving with 1 chicken breast half and 1/3 cup sauce. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

I will, without a doubt, be making this pasta dish again and I want to try variations of the recipe...perhaps try a different nut (walnut maybe?) and pair it with rice. Delicious!

Sliders with Shallot Dijon Relish

I decided to keep it simple for dinner on this lazy Sunday evening.  That, and I've been dying to try out the Bella Cucina slider grill that I got on sale at Target the other day.  No joke...I got it for half off--$13.00!  Our friends, Leah and Jay, had purchased a different kind of slider grill that they used a one of their parties a few weeks ago and I vowed then to get one.  Pretty cool, huh?

Anyway, I came across this sliders recipe on the Cooking Light website.  The actual "star" of the recipe is the Shallot-Dijon relish. 

I used Grey Poupon's coarse grain mustard, made with whole mustard seeds and I found that it was a little too overpowering when paired with the shallots.  I'd probably go with the regular dijon mustard the next time and easy on the shallots--this is definitely NOT the relish you'll want to make if you plan on kissing someone for the rest of the evening afterwards.  You know what I mean?

Anyway, it's a really sophisticated way to serve up these sliders...you know, something other than your ordinary relish, ketchup and mustard.  And did you know that Pepperidge Farms sells buns specifically for sliders?  They're so cute.

Pardon my pictures.  They're not the best quality! And you might want to invest in a slider grill.  What a fun way to serve burgers to your friends at a get-together...especially during football season!

Sliders with Shallot Dijon Relish

by Cooking Light

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 pound ground sirloin

Cooking spray

3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons butter, softened

8 (1-ounce) Parker House rolls

16 dill pickle chips

 

1. Prepare grill to medium-high heat.

2. Combine 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, and sirloin. Divide meat mixture into 8 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/4-inch-thick patty. Lightly coat both sides of patties with cooking spray. Place patties on grill rack; grill for 3 minutes on each side or until done.

3. Combine shallots, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and butter in a small bowl, stirring well. Cut rolls in half horizontally. Spread shallot mixture evenly over cut sides of rolls. Layer 1 patty and 2 pickle chips on bottom half of each roll; top with top halves of rolls.

Hope you guys are enjoying the long weekend!