Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving is finally here. We aren't having it at our house, so I didn't have to cook an entire Thanksgiving menu. I made Turkey Two-Way, dressing, cranberry relish, chopped salad, Crunchy Romaine Toss, and Utterly Decadent Southern Pecan Pie. I have already posted recipes for the dressing, cranberry relish and chopped salad, and the recipe for the pie can be found on the Southern Living website. Here are the recipes for the turkey and the Crunchy Romaine Toss.
Turkey Two Way (from Williams Sonoma, and if you get the recipe from W-S, you will notice that mine is a little different, what can I say, it's how I am)
1 fresh turkey, 16 to 18 lb.
kosher salt
8 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
6 fresh thyme sprigs
1/2 T peppercorns
2 1/2 quarts canola oil, or as needed
You start by cutting up the turkey. I wish I had a video of me trying to cut the turkey up. It's much harder than cutting up a chicken, but I eventually got it done. Start by cutting off the legs. Then cut the drumsticks from the thighs, and cut off the wings. Cut the backbone out leaving the breast whole.
I put the breast, thighs and drumsticks in a two-gallon ziplock freezer bag, added a generous amount of kosher salt and water. I sealed the bag and put the turkey in the refrigerator to brine overnight.
After they brined overnight, I put the thighs and drumsticks in my largest Dutch oven, added the garlic cloves, bay leaves, thyme sprigs and peppercorns (I didn't measure the peppercorns, I was out so I just poured some out of my pepper mill), and poured enough canola oil over to cover.
Here it is right before I covered it and put it in a 300 degree oven.
I let it cook for four hours. After four hours, I took the thighs and drumsticks out. I could barely keep them together because the meat was falling off the bones. I broiled them about 3 or 4 minutes to a side to crisp them up. (Note to self: get a wire rack that will fit in my jelly roll pan and in my oven. I had to use the v-shaped rack that I roast chicken in and it was not optimal, but you do what you have to do.)
Here is the finished product:
At the same time, I roasted the turkey breast in my other oven at 375 degrees. (My Aga has two ovens, it's heaven.) I started it breast side down and cooked it that way for 30 or 40 minutes. Then I flipped it over and cooked it for about 30 minutes more. After that, the breast had about 30 minutes to go and I was going to baste the breast during the last 30 minutes. The Williams Sonoma recipe called for a Cider Bourbon basting glaze. Talk about poor planning. I didn't look up the recipe for the cider bourbon glaze until right before I decided to use it. I looked on the computer for the recipe and, of course, it is not a recipe but a Williams Sonoma product. Well, I wasn't going to drive to Memphis to the Williams Sonoma store, and it probably wasn't open anyway, so I came up with my own basting glaze. I went to my favorite cooking method resource, Cookwise by Shirley Corriher. She likes to baste roasted poultry with a mixture of butter and dark Karo syrup. I only had light Karo syrup and wasn't about to go to the store, so I mixed together a half a stick of butter (1/2 cup) with 3 T of light corn syrup and put it on the stove to melt. After it melted it was time to add the bourbon and I didn't have any. (I know the name of the basting sauce I was making had bourbon in it, but sometimes I just don't plan ahead very well, and see above about last minute runs to the store, I only do that if it is a dire necessity.) I had dry Marsala on hand, and figured it would work and it made the mixture a little darker. I just poured a little in the butter syrup mixture. If you don't like sweet mixed with turkey, don't worry. It doesn't really taste sweet. The sugar caramelizes giving the breast beautiful color and wonderful taste. (it's the same principle at work when you sear meat, the pretty brown color does more than merely look good, it tastes good.) I basted about every five minutes until the breast temperature reached around 155 degrees with an instant read meat thermometer. You want it to reach around 165 degrees, the temperature will continue to rise after you take it out of the oven.
Here is the finished turkey breast.
I hope it tastes as good as it looks.
Just for fun here is a picture of the cornbread for the dressing.
Now for the Crunchy Romaine Toss. This recipe is from the Come On In cookbook put out by the Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi. If you don't have that cookbook, it is a good one to get.
Crunchy Romaine Toss
1 cup walnuts chopped
1 pkg. Ramen noodles, uncooked, broken up (don't use the flavor packet)
4 T unsalted butter
1 bunch of broccoli, cut up into florets
1 head romaine lettuce, washed, broken into pieces
4 green onions, sliced
1 cup (or more) of Sweet and Sour Dressing
Brown walnuts and noodles in butter; cool on paper towels. Combing noodles and walnuts with broccoli, romaine, and onions. Pour dressing over and toss to coat well.
Sweet and Sour Dressing
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup wine vinegar
1 T soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Blend all ingredients well.
Now off to my sister-in-law's house to eat Thanksgiving dinner!
Turkey Two Way (from Williams Sonoma, and if you get the recipe from W-S, you will notice that mine is a little different, what can I say, it's how I am)
1 fresh turkey, 16 to 18 lb.
kosher salt
8 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
6 fresh thyme sprigs
1/2 T peppercorns
2 1/2 quarts canola oil, or as needed
You start by cutting up the turkey. I wish I had a video of me trying to cut the turkey up. It's much harder than cutting up a chicken, but I eventually got it done. Start by cutting off the legs. Then cut the drumsticks from the thighs, and cut off the wings. Cut the backbone out leaving the breast whole.
I put the breast, thighs and drumsticks in a two-gallon ziplock freezer bag, added a generous amount of kosher salt and water. I sealed the bag and put the turkey in the refrigerator to brine overnight.
After they brined overnight, I put the thighs and drumsticks in my largest Dutch oven, added the garlic cloves, bay leaves, thyme sprigs and peppercorns (I didn't measure the peppercorns, I was out so I just poured some out of my pepper mill), and poured enough canola oil over to cover.
Here it is right before I covered it and put it in a 300 degree oven.
I let it cook for four hours. After four hours, I took the thighs and drumsticks out. I could barely keep them together because the meat was falling off the bones. I broiled them about 3 or 4 minutes to a side to crisp them up. (Note to self: get a wire rack that will fit in my jelly roll pan and in my oven. I had to use the v-shaped rack that I roast chicken in and it was not optimal, but you do what you have to do.)
Here is the finished product:
At the same time, I roasted the turkey breast in my other oven at 375 degrees. (My Aga has two ovens, it's heaven.) I started it breast side down and cooked it that way for 30 or 40 minutes. Then I flipped it over and cooked it for about 30 minutes more. After that, the breast had about 30 minutes to go and I was going to baste the breast during the last 30 minutes. The Williams Sonoma recipe called for a Cider Bourbon basting glaze. Talk about poor planning. I didn't look up the recipe for the cider bourbon glaze until right before I decided to use it. I looked on the computer for the recipe and, of course, it is not a recipe but a Williams Sonoma product. Well, I wasn't going to drive to Memphis to the Williams Sonoma store, and it probably wasn't open anyway, so I came up with my own basting glaze. I went to my favorite cooking method resource, Cookwise by Shirley Corriher. She likes to baste roasted poultry with a mixture of butter and dark Karo syrup. I only had light Karo syrup and wasn't about to go to the store, so I mixed together a half a stick of butter (1/2 cup) with 3 T of light corn syrup and put it on the stove to melt. After it melted it was time to add the bourbon and I didn't have any. (I know the name of the basting sauce I was making had bourbon in it, but sometimes I just don't plan ahead very well, and see above about last minute runs to the store, I only do that if it is a dire necessity.) I had dry Marsala on hand, and figured it would work and it made the mixture a little darker. I just poured a little in the butter syrup mixture. If you don't like sweet mixed with turkey, don't worry. It doesn't really taste sweet. The sugar caramelizes giving the breast beautiful color and wonderful taste. (it's the same principle at work when you sear meat, the pretty brown color does more than merely look good, it tastes good.) I basted about every five minutes until the breast temperature reached around 155 degrees with an instant read meat thermometer. You want it to reach around 165 degrees, the temperature will continue to rise after you take it out of the oven.
Here is the finished turkey breast.
I hope it tastes as good as it looks.
Just for fun here is a picture of the cornbread for the dressing.
Now for the Crunchy Romaine Toss. This recipe is from the Come On In cookbook put out by the Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi. If you don't have that cookbook, it is a good one to get.
Crunchy Romaine Toss
1 cup walnuts chopped
1 pkg. Ramen noodles, uncooked, broken up (don't use the flavor packet)
4 T unsalted butter
1 bunch of broccoli, cut up into florets
1 head romaine lettuce, washed, broken into pieces
4 green onions, sliced
1 cup (or more) of Sweet and Sour Dressing
Brown walnuts and noodles in butter; cool on paper towels. Combing noodles and walnuts with broccoli, romaine, and onions. Pour dressing over and toss to coat well.
Sweet and Sour Dressing
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup wine vinegar
1 T soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Blend all ingredients well.
Now off to my sister-in-law's house to eat Thanksgiving dinner!
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