B9
Happy Thanksgiving
Mountain Views News Saturday, November 22, 2014
EDITOR’S NOTE: Over the years, we have shared with you favorite recipes submitted by contributors,
their families, supporters and well wishers. We hope you will try at least one recipe. They are
are really, really good!
Good Eats Roast Turkey
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Prep Time: 15 min
Inactive Prep Time: 7 hr 0 min
Cook Time: 2 hr 30 min
Level: Easy
Serves: 10 to 12 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
For the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
1 gallon heavily iced water
For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil
DIRECTIONS
2 to 3 days before roasting:
Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees
F.
Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice
berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir
occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from
the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.
Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:
Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed
turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh
down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in
cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse
inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.
Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper
towels.
Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave
safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the
turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath
the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.
Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes.
Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the
oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available)
to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2
hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large
mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.
Mary Lee’s (Dean Lee’s Mother)
Sausage Appetizers
Also makes great sandwiches the next day !
Ingredients
Refrigerated dinner rolls (10 in a tube)
Farmer John sausage links (cut in half or thirds)
butter on top
Directions:
Take rolls and flatten separately with hand or rolling pin
Put link in half of flat dinner roll
(if using thirds spread sausage to cover roll)
Fold over and seal edges by pinching
Put 10 in ungreased cake pan
Bake 350 degrees/20 minutes until top is golden brown
Enjoy
Richard Garcia’s
Cranberry-Pomegranate Sauce
1 1/2 pounds fresh or frozen cranberries (6 cups)
2 cups sugar
1 cup pomegranate juice
2 cups fresh pomegranate seeds
Directions
In a medium saucepan, combine the cranberries with the
sugar and pomegranate juice. Bring to a simmer and cook
over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until most of
the cranberries have burst, about 10 minutes. Scrape the
cranberry sauce into a medium bowl and let stand until
cool, about 2 hours. Fold in the pomegranate seeds and
serve the sauce chilled or at room temperature.
Pat Ostrye’s Non-Recipe Turkey(The Best)
My recipe would be that my husband always fixed the
turkey. I really don't know how it began but, even when we
had turkey a lot through the years, he always fixed it. So
when he died 21 years ago, the men in the family thought I
didn't know how to do it, which was fine with me. So, for this
Thanksgiving, the family is going to Martin's in Arcadia. He
is the youngest who was 27 when his dad died in October of
'88. A few days before Thanksgiving that year he called to
say he had the turkey but where should he fix it since he had
a small apt in Arcadia at that time. Two of his sisters helped
him do it and they brought it all to my sister-in-law's because
I was living in Escondido yet, moving back to the area the
first of that year. That Christmas, the oldest son took care of
it, buying and fixing 2 turkeys. As long as the family doesn't
run out of men, we have it made.
Dixie Countant’s Easy Anti-marshmallow Yams
For those of us who don't like marshmallow on our yams, here's
the family recipe for Candied Yams.
Ingredients:
Yams or sweet potatoes Butter Light Brown Sugar
Buy as many yams as you need depending on how many
people are coming to dinner. I plan two medallions
per person if I'm doing a full-blown dinner with all the
trimmings.
Wash and slice yams (or sweet potatoes) into one-inch
medallions. Steam medallions until barely done. (Not too
soft) Skin the medallions by gently cutting the skin and
lifting - it will almost fall off.
Arrange medallions in baking dish. (They can touch, but
don't stack them) Put a small pat (aprox 1/4 tsp of butter
on top of each medallion. Sprinkle light brown sugar over
medallions. Cover and bake in 350 oven for 1/2 to 1 hour.
From the Pen & Kitchen of
Deanne Davis:
Thanksgiving Day Breakfast
The festive bird is stuffed and in the
stove, the potatoes are boiling for
mashed potatoes, you’ve said the gravy
prayer (please, Gravy Deity, let it be
smooth this year). And people are
saying, “we’re hungry!”
This is not a problem, put down that
ladle and in just minutes, you can hand
everybody an Eggnog-Brandy Muffin!
If you’re truly feeling like Wonder
Woman, whack up some bacon and an
onion into small chunks, sauté them
together, throw in some eggs, scramble
it altogether, and serve the Thanksgiving
breakfast they’ll remember with delight
all year long.
Eggnog-Brandy Muffins
2 cups flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 TB. Baking powder
½ tsp. Salt
3/4 cup prepared eggnog
½ cup brandy
5 TB butter, (unsalted if you’ve got
it...use a little less salt if you don’t)
melted
1 egg, beaten
½ tsp. Grated nutmeg plus a little
more for sprinkling on top
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease
12 muffin pan.
In a large bowl mix flour, sugar,
baking powder and salt. Add eggnog,
brandy, butter, beaten egg and ½
tsp nutmeg. Stir only till mixed.
DO NOT OVERBEAT or muffins
will be rubbery and tough.
Spoon batter into greased muffin
cups and sprinkle tops of muffins
with nutmeg. Bake about 20 minutes
or until tester inserted into center of
muffin comes out clean. Remove
from tin, butter and enjoy.
They freeze nicely and are probably
about 200 calories per muffin.
Happy Thanksgiving!
May your turkey be tender, succulent
and juicy, and may somebody who
really knows how..
offer to carve it.
Tips For
Preparing a
Thanksgiving
Turkey
For home cooks, preparing a Thanksgiving
turkey is a rite of passage. Not only do snafu
opportunities abound, but there is added
pressure on the holiday to prepare and
serve a perfect meal for family and guests.
Whether you’re a seasoned Thanksgiving
chef, or a newbie in the kitchen, these tips
can help eliminate the stress associated
with prepping your meal’s centerpiece:
Prepare Ahead
It’s hard to perfect a turkey when you’ve got
endless side dishes to worry over simultaneously,
so accept guests’ offers to bring
some favorites. Assemble accompaniments
to your meal in advance, especially sauces
and dips, which actually improve in flavor
over time.
Remember, you only have so much space in
an oven, so schedule cooking accordingly
to ensure everything is ready at mealtime.
Talk Turkey
You may not have aced home economics
when you were in school, but the folks at
the Turkey Talk hotline are experts in the
field. You can get most turkey conundrums
solved by giving them a call at 1-800-BUTTERBALL,
or by emailing them at
talkline@butterball.com.
Work Smart
Maintaining your knives streamlines kitchen
operations, especially the formidable
task of carving your Thanksgiving turkey.
But knife sharpening doesn’t need to be
daunting. In fact, every home cook should
get comfortable doing this regularly. With
the right tools, your knives will last longer,
and be safer and more efficient.
Generally, you should hone or polish knife
edges after each use and sharpen knives
regularly with a high-quality sharpener.
Look for a sharpener that offers diversity.
For example, Edgeware’s adjustable knife
sharpeners include coarse and fine sharpening
slots for dull and damaged knives
and regular maintenance respectively, and
are ideal for sharpening a variety of knives
from straight edge blades to serrated. For
how-to videos and other tips on restoring
your knives to their original factory angle,
visit www.edgewareproducts.com.
When preparing the Thanksgiving meal,
make sure your knives are sharp in the
kitchen and to sharpen any knives that will
be used to carve your bird at the table. Do
this before setting the table so you won’t
forget.
Getting it Right
The general wisdom is to allot 1 to 1 1/2
pounds of turkey per person. Just be sure
your turkey is big enough to provide you
with leftovers! There’s nothing more satisfying
than a turkey sandwich for lunch the
day after Thanksgiving.
Ready your bird for the oven by following
the National Turkey Federation guideline
on thawing: for every 4 1/2 pounds
of frozen turkey, thaw for 24-hours in the
refrigerator.
You don’t need to be Julia Child to master
the art of turkeys. By maintaining your
kitchen
Mary’s Confetti Stuffed Mushrooms
Thanksgiving Potluck Vegan-style Mushrooms
1-1/2 # Mushrooms, Brown or Cremini: Separate into caps & stems.
1/3 cup Celery, 1/8” dice
1/3 cup Carrots, 1/8” dice
1/3 cup Baby Bell Peppers - Yellow, Orange, Red - 1/8”
1-1/2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3/4 cup Vegetable Broth, divided
1/4 cup Apricot, Peach, Orange or Blackberry Brandy
3/4 tsp Lindberg Porterhouse & Roast Seasoning (from Taylor’s)
1 cup Parsley, Finely Chopped
2 Tbsp Lemon juice (fresh)
1 cup Bread Crumbs - slightly dry
1/4 cup Pecorino-Romano Crumbled Cheese
Clean Mushrooms. Remove Stems, set caps in lightly greased baking pan with holes up.
Dice mushroom stems into 1/8” bits.. You should have 2 cups diced mushroom stems. If not enough, add more
mushrooms (if you have them) to make 2 cups.
Put olive oil & ½ cup broth in sauté pan, turn heat to medium. Add Seasoning. Add celery and carrots. Layer
with diced mushrooms, then diced peppers. Cover and cook slowly about 5 minutes, stirring once to ensure
mushrooms and peppers get mixed with broth.
Add Parsley. Simmer another 5 minutes. Taste and add more seasoning if needed. Remember - adding
breadcrumbs will soften flavor intensity.
Drain broth from sauté pan into cup.
Add remaining broth with brandy and lemon juice to mushrooms, and return to heat until broth boils. Drain
this liquid also into the cup. Reserve.
Add breadcrumbs and grated cheese to drained mushrooms. Mix well. If very dry, add 1 - 2 tablespoons of
reserved broth.
Stuff mushroom caps. Place neatly in greased table-ready stove top / baking dish. Carefully spoon some of the
reserved broth into the dish;
Simmer gently for 5 minutes ... Add more mushrooms as the others shrink. Simmer another 5 minutes & repeat.
When adding the last mushrooms, drizzle any remaining broth lightly over all the mushrooms’ stuffing for the
final cooking.
Remove from heat and let cool. Serve room temperature. Or chill, and reheat just before serving. More fun
to stuff the mushrooms with someone else - for sociability - after all, thanksgiving and social are what it’s all
about.
Paul Neiby’s* CORN BREAD DRESSING
Ingredients:
2 - 6 oz. bags Mrs. Cubbison’s Seasoned Cornbread Stuffing Mix
1 cup chopped, raw white onions
1 cup chopped raw celery
10 dried apricots cut into pieces
4 oz. Walnuts (they can be bought in a bag of about that size
6-8 oz. Sausage, sauteed brown, defatted & crumbled. (Jimmy
Dean brand sage flavored is good
2 cups heated Chicken Broth
4 tbsp. butter melted in with 1 cup of the chicken broth
Directions:
Toss the vegetables and stuffing mix in a bowl. Add 1 cup of the
heated broth with the melted butter and toss again. Load lightly in a greased
covered casserole and bake for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Half way
through, pour the additional cup of chicken broth over the dressing.
This recipe is modified from the one that appears on the Cubbison pack by
the addition of the sausage, apricot, and walnuts. The additional broth added
half-way through the baking, makes the dressing moist enough but still light
and discreet.
Also from Paul Neiby: CREAMED PEARL ONIONS
Ingredients:
Onions, small pearl as needed
Milk, butter,flour, Worchestshire Sauce, Cayenne , Salt & Pepper
Directions:
Trim the bottoms of the onions but otherwise leave them unpeeled. Drop into
boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Drain and peel when cool. Reserve the onion
water.
Make a medium white sauce (2/2/1) using half milkd and half onion water. You
may make a Mornay Sauce by adding shredded cheddar if desired. Flavor
with Worchestshire, Cayenne and salt and pepper. The sauce should be fairly
thick as the cooking onions will add liquor.
Pour the sauce over the onions in a casserole and bake covered in a medium
oven for 30-40 minutes.
*The Mountain Views News exists in part because of the support of Paul and Louise Neiby. Paul
is no longer with us and I miss him greatly, especially this time of year when we would argue
about whether he was the better cook. These were two of his favorite Thanksgiving recipes.
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