Holiday Super-Post Special: Feast for Two

Brad and I spent Thanksgiving together for the first time. We were pretty sad to be away from our families, but I made a meal that did a good job cheering us up and it wasn't too hard to pull off! I started prepping the turkey at 11 and we were eating at 3:00. I think 4 people could have eaten comfortably off the food, with some modest leftovers. We really like Thanksgiving leftovers, so this is what I made for just the two of us to eat until Monday. :o) I recommend you make these in the order I wrote them, with the turkey going in first, and then working on the sides while the turkey is cooking. ( I did make a pumpkin pie REALLY early in the morning...but I'm not going to include it. Don't worry, there will be another post to make up for it!) You'll also notice that we didn't have any gravy. That's because I was tire, and I thought the turkey was moist enough on its own, and I didn't want to cover up the the nice tang of the potatoes. In my family, gravy is just for making pulled turkey sandwiches out of leftovers. Oh, and a quick word about celery before we start. I have a problem with buying that big stalk of celery, only to use two sticks of it. So I just skip it.

We had this for Thanksgiving, but I think it would be pretty good for any holiday meal. I hope you enjoy this post, and THANK YOU for reading!


Turkey
Breast only, bone in.
Olive oil
rosemary
thyme
Salt
Pepper
1/2 orange cut into 6 chunks
1/2 large onion cut into 4 chunks
3 slightly smashed garlic cloves

Make sure it's all thawed, and any extras (like giblets) are removed. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. (That is not a typo.) Pat the whole thing dry with paper towels (even the inside cavity), and then massage the bird with olive oil. Sprinkle the skin, and under the skin, liberally with the rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Make sure to season the inside of the cavity too. Then Fill the cavity with 1/2 an orange cut up into 6 chunks (skin on), 1/2 a large onion, cut up into 4 chunks, 3 smashed garlic cloves. You'll want 20 minutes of cooking for each lb of turkey. The first 30 minutes will be at 500 degrees, after that, lower your oven to 350 degrees and cook for the remaining time at that temperature. Use an internal temperature thermometer to make sure the thickest part of the breast (but not too close to the bone!) is 165 degrees in the center. If it's done, don't take the thermometer out of the bird until it has cooled and rested for 15 minutes. You don't want to let all that good juice out! Discard the things in the cavity. Golden, juicy, crispy and delicious!

Mashed Potatoes
4 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into pretty small chunks*
2tbsp butter, softened
1/2 c butter milk, warmed for about 30 seconds in the microwave
salt and pepper

Place potatoes in a medium pot. Fill with cold water to just cover the potatoes, and salt generously. Bring to a gentle boil, and let them go that way for about 20 minutes (or until a knife goes through them easily, when you pull out a chunk with a spoon). Strain and smash/stir with a fork. Add butter, about half of the buttermilk, salt and pepper. Check the texture. Keep adding buttermilk until you reach the desired consistency.

*I cut the potatoes into long quarters then slice the quarters into 1/2 inch pieces.

Sweet Potato Casserole
4 sweet potatoes- cooked any way you like, there are some suggestions in the sweet potato pancakes post
Juice and a small bit of zest from the other half of the orange in the turkey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Topping
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1/3 cup flour
4 tbsp butter softened
1/2 cup brown sugar

Mash the sweet potatoes with the juice, zest, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Put this in a small casserole dish. In a small bowl mix nuts, flour, butter, and brown sugar. Sprinkle this mixture on top of sweet potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes ( I would put this part in while the turkey is resting and the oven is still hot.)


Brussel Sprouts
1 lb brussel sprouts
4 strips of bacon cut into 1/2 inch squares
1 garlic clove cut into fourths

Don't give me that look! These are delicious! Cut off the little nub and then slice sprouts in half longitudinally. Put them in a large frying pan, add 1/4 cup water and salt. Cover to steam on medium high heat for 5 minutes. Drain sprouts and set aside. Fry the bacon on medium heat until it just starts to color. Add in the brussel sprouts and the garlic. Fry for a few more minutes (stir it to make sure there is even distribution, but not too much. Some still contact with the pan will get you some lovely browning on the sprouts. ) You'll have to pick through and throw out the garlic.

Dressing with Sausage
Your favorite dressing with 1/2 a 12 oz tube of breakfast sausage fried up and stirred in. Yeah, that was a little anti - climatic. Hey, this was the end of the work!

Not bad for my first Thanksgiving meal, eh? :o)

Asian Stir-Fried Brussel Sprouts

**I wrote this a long time ago, but was too busy with school to post it! I hope its useful to you! **

Brad and I are planning on having brussel sprouts as a side dish on Thanksgiving, and since Trader Joe's sells them on the stalk, I can just put them in a vase of water, and keep them for the week. Unfortunately, the sprouts make the stalk too wide to fit into my widest vase, so I cut some of them off the bottom to cook tonight. I've never cooked, or eaten brussel sprouts before. It's an adventure!



1 lb brussel sprouts
1tsp soy sauce+ more soy sauce to taste
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 onion, julienned*

Publish Post

black pepper and red pepper flakes to taste


This is a two step cooking process. First you want to steam the sprouts then you are going to stir-fry them. To prepare the sprouts just cut the stems off and cut them in half so the slice goes from the stem to the top of the sprout. In a large pan with a lid (one that holds 3-4 quarts should be large enough), throw in the sprouts 1tsp soy sauce, water. Put the lid on and steam for 5 minutes on high, shaking the pan a little half way through so you can evenly distribute the water and steam. Be careful when you lift the lid when they're done, there's going to be a lot of steam. Strain your sprouts and return your pan to the stove, and lower your heat to medium. Saute your onions in the sesame oil for a few minutes, until they're soft, then add your sprouts back in, and add your additional soy sauce and the pepper. I usually just pour the soy sauce for a turn around the edge of the pan. Stir fry for 4-5 more minutes so you get some good browning on the onions and the sprouts. Serve right away with rice.

Once upon a time, a man named Rufus dedicated this song to his lady, Kyoko. She showed her love through food, he showed his through music. I guess that's why their granddaughter turned out the way she did...


* Julienne is a style of slicing vegetables. To julienne an onion, just peel it, cut off the tip at the top, and the roots at the bottom. Slice the onion in half from top to bottom and slice each half thinly making little rainbow shaped slices until you get to the highest point of the onion, when that happens just turn the freshly cut side onto the board so you have another round end to cut into and finish slicing the onion.

My Birthday Cake 2010

For whatever reason a bunch of my friends, and I, had our birthdays this week, so I'm inviting them over for cake and wine. Really, I'm just glad to have an excuse to make this cake. For those of you who are new to my kitchen story, cake was my gateway baked good. I haven't really baked a cake in a while, so I'm really excited about this one! I will admit, this comes in at about an 8 out of 10 on the ol' difficulty scale, but if you have time, anyone can bake this rich chocolate cake that is balanced by the super fluffy and super sweet icing.

Chocolate Cake Filled with Whipped Ganache and Topped with Salted Caramel 7-Minute Frosting

Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter
3 large eggs

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with parchment paper, grease and dust the sides with cocoa powder. This cake REALLY likes to stick to the pan, and it's really tender. Sometimes if I don't have any parchment paper I butter the hell out of a non-stick pan and then dust it heavily with cocoa powder. I'm just telling you now, a non-stick pan lubed with Pam for bakers is not gonna cut it here, kids. In a small bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. In 2-cup liquid measuring cup, mix buttermilk and vanilla; set aside. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar. By this I mean get it going with your mixer on low, and then beat for 3 more minutes on high. Then reduce your speed back to low so you can add your eggs, 1 at a time, and just like with the cookies, wait for them the mixture to be fluffy again before you add the next egg. This part is a bit tricky so pay attention: Beat in half of the flour mixture. Next add all of the buttermilk mixture just until blended, finally add the rest of the flour mixture, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto racks to cool completely. Carefully remove and discard parchment paper.<--Seriously guys, the parchment paper will set you, and your cake free. Filling

3/4 c heavy whipping cream
1 3/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Place the cream in a small but heavy sauce pan over medium heat. Bring it to a boil, stirring. Meanwhile, place the chocolate chips in a large staineless steel mixing bowl. Remove the cream from teh heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir with with a wooden spoon until the chocolate has melted. Cover with plastic wrap, touching the top of the ganache, and refigerate for 45 minutes. Whip it until it reaches the consistancy of whipped cream. Put this between the layers of your cake, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edges so it doesn't spill out of the sides when you assemble your cake. Keep your cake in a cake saver in the fridge until you are ready to frost it and have it on display.

Frosting:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 c water
2 egg whites

Place sugar, cream of tartar, salt, water, and egg whites in that stainless steel bowl you used for the ganache. Be VERY sure that it is absolutely free of any remaining fat from the cream and chocolate. Even one drop of fat in in this frosting will prevent it from getting nice and fluffy. Beat with a handheld electric mixer for 1 minute. Place your bowl over a really pan that is small enough to be a platform for the bowl, filled with about an inch of boiling water, being sure that boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy). Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes. Frost your cake right away, because it'll set up pretty quickly and then you can't do anything with it after that. (For this reason, also rinse your bowl and spoons and stuff RIGHT AWAY.) Also, if it's raining...just don't. The humidity will dissolve your icing and you will have bald patches on your cake. Also, once this cake is frosted don't refrigerate it. That will result in bald patches too. This is one of those cakes for a party. You gotta eat it all, that day, because the ganache just won't hold up outside the fridge for more than a night.

Finish with a VERY light sprinkling of finishing salt (like coarse sea salt, kosher salt, Fleur de Sel, or pink Himalayan salt.<--Trader Joe's sells this for $1.99!!) I like to put it just around the edge of the top, but since some of my guests aren't to sure of the sweet/salty thing, I'm going to set out a dish so people can salt their own cake. If you think all of your guests will go for the salt thing, and you really want to decorate your cake with it, I suggest mixing one part salt to 3 parts raw sugar or some other coarse sugar so you get the crunch and sparkle without an overwhelming salt flavor. No, seriously. It's my birthday too!

10- Minute Homemade Cran-Apple Sauce

Believe it friends! Actually, believe it and then send excessive gratitude toward Alton Brown for this little bit of genius. I am trying to post only my own recipes, but this one is too good not to share, so I've adjusted Mr. Brown's recipe a little bit. I only specify cranberry juice here because, that's my spin on the recipe. You could always do what I did, and just adjust the recipe to the things you have on hand, and to your own taste! That's the beauty of this recipe, it's SO flexible!


6 apples*
2 tbsp butter
1 cup Trader Joe's Cranberry Cider**
3 tbsp brown sugar
optional: Brad likes to add cinnamon to his taste. I think it stands okay on it's own two feet...you can decide for yourself.

Peel, cut in half, and use some sort of sturdy scoop (like a melon baller) to take out the core of your apples. Put them in a large microwaveable container with a cover. Add the butter, cider, and brown sugar. Cover, and if your lid makes a tight seal, lift a corner to vent. Microwave for 10 minutes. (Depending on the apples, sometimes it takes me 15 minutes to get them all the way soft, but 10 usually does the trick.) When they're good and soft, you can use a potato masher, a hand mixer ( I suggest you break the apples up a bit by hand first, so the hot juice doesn't go flying...), or a stick blender if you really like it smooth. This tastes great warm or cold! If you leave it on the chunkier side, it's a great accompaniment to pork chops.

Don't be afraid to make this recipe your own! "Turn and face the strange...ch-ch-changes"!


*Alton uses a blend of Golden Delicious and Fuji, I used Cortlands. I think almost any apple will work, but one time I did try to use this recipe to fix up some "Fuji" apples that Brad described as having the texture of particle board, but they NEVER got soft...so I threw them away. :o( So please remember that it is produce and there is bound to be some variability here.

**If you don't have a Trader Joe's near by (I'm sorry!) you can substitute 1 cup cranberry juice, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cloves,1/8 tsp allspice, and a large piece of orange zest ( about one inch wide and runs from the top of the orange to the bottom) that you can peel off with a vegetable peeler.( Please be careful to avoid the white pith.) Just heat this up a bit on the stove top or in the microwave for about 2 minutes, then fish the orange peel out before adding the juice to the apples. Or, if you can find some other brand of cranberry cider that would be good too.

Also, here's a bonus song that I like to listen to while I'm in the kitchen. I particularly like it during this time of year, when the gentle crispness of fall is fading, and the brisk, cold winds are picking up.