Robb + Jessie Married & in the Badger State
Happy Thanksgiving
Update 5 December: My mom called me this morning and wanted to confirm the cooking times and temperatures in my recipe. It turned out that I forgot a good portion of how to cook the bird. It is now updated. Sorry for the confusion.
Hopefully you had a joyous Thanksgiving day with friends and family. We joined Eric and Ruthie at their house for a smashing good feast. We volunteered to cook this years bird which turned out to be a major success. Having only watched my mom in years past, I had to do a bit of research to figure out the proper way to cook a turkey. I thought I would post my “method” here so I could refer to it in the coming years and maybe you’ll also find it to be helpful.
Roasted Turkey
Ingredientes:
12-13 pound fresh (or thawed) young turkey (Kosher or brined)
juice from 1 medium lemon
sea salt
1 small yellow onion, cut into eights
1 medium carrot, cut into one inch pieces
1 rib celery, cut into one inch pieces (we omitted because we ran out)
1 small apple, cut into eights
fresh sprigs of rosemary, thyme and sage
small bunch of parsley
olive oil
melted butter
pepper
Directions:
We purchased our turkey from Trader Joe’s. They sell Kosher turkeys that have been pre-salted. Otherwise, we recommend using a brining method. (We like this one).
The night before, unwrap your bird, wash it and remove any feather stubs (Kosher birds have more because they use a manual method rather than the hot water method). Reserve giblets and neck for stock. Pat off all the excess moisture of the bird. Place in a large casserole dish that can hold the bird without it spilling over the sides. Rub the cavity with the lemon juice. Fill up the cavity with the onion, celery, carrot, apple and herbs. Stick the parsley into the neck of the bird. You may cover up the cavity opening with some aluminum foil and then tie the legs together with string. Massage the skin with olive oil. Wrap the casserole and bird tightly with plastic and place in the refrigerator.
At this time you may now prepare the Turkey Giblet Stock (used for the Cream Gravy).
One hour before you plan to begin cooking, bring the bird out and allow to come to room temperature. You may now During this timeframe, you can do the final preparations. Baste the bird with melted butter. Season all over with pepper. Tuck the remaining sprigs of rosemary and thyme under the birds wings. Finally, tie a string around the bird’s wings to keep everything tight and together.
Preheat the oven to 500ºF and remove extra racks in the oven so that the pan will fit on the bottom rack. Add about 1 cup of water to the roasting pan. Transfer the bird to the oven and insert an instant read thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. (We used a digital thermometer that sounded an alarm when the meat reached 160ºF). Cook the bird at 500ºF for the first 30 minutes, then lower the oven to 350ºF for the remaining time. You can assume 15 minutes/pound for the total cooking time. Our 12 pound bird took between 2.5 — 3 hours (we didn’t time it because we used the thermometer). Since the dark meat must reach 185ºF before being “done” we removed the wings and legs from the carcass (after the breast was fully cooked) and allowed them to cook for an additional 10-15 minutes.
The bird needs to rest for 30 minutes before carving. Meanwhile you may prepare the Cream Gravy. Unfortunately my roux didn’t thicken so we used a bit of corn starch to aid in the thickening. And because our turkey was brined, we didn’t need to add any extra salt to the gravy.
I must say, this recipe is most excellent. Our vegetarian friends who joined us at dinner also gave up their vegetarianism for the evening to enjoy a few pieces of succulent turkey.
Mission: Stress Reduction
My doctor informed me that my headaches are caused by the tension in my neck, shoulders and back. She prescribed muscle relaxers. In addition, the nurse I spoke with informed me that I should take a vacation. My response, “That is actually starting on Monday.” (Well, I’d like to think that it is starting right now.)
Every August (almost) I get to go on a wild and crazy adventure with my best bud, whom I affectionally refer to as Shazz. Why August? Well, simply because it’s the best month and that is how we celebrate her birthday.
This year, we are doing an ultralight backpacking trip (because I have pack all of my gear into one carryon). Past years we have endured rain and fog on the misty Mount Rainier. We have also enjoyed the glorious beauty of The Mountain in sunny warm weather. We have slept in a yurt while the ocean waves crashed outside and a raccoon devoured our cheese. We have battled mossy rocks and encountered ghosts (no joke) where Washington meets the Pacific Ocean. We have laughed with Pirates. We have tiptoed (or drove) through Humptulips. We have outrun (almost) ferries in the Puget Sound. And we have got lost in Europe a few times too many to count. What will this year bring us? One never knows. (But I think just what the doctor ordered: stress reduction).
Madison Restaurant Week: Harvest
Like many major food-friendly cities, Madison hosts its own restaurant week twice per year in both the winter and then again in the summer. There is nothing better in the winter than to bundle up and meet up with good friends at one of the city’s well renowned restaurants. And in the summer, restaurant week is a good excuse to keep the oven off and let someone else feed you. For $25 each person selects an appetizer, main course and dessert from a simple menu. This past winter, we visited L’Etoile with our friends, the Vincills. We decided to repeat our fun evening and eat at Harvest this year.
If you recall, Robb and I went to Harvest for our first anniversary this past January. Just like last time, our food was quite memorable. From the fixed-price menu, Robb enjoyed the green salad, short ribs, and chocolate cake. I tried the zucchini almond soup, the chicken, and the espresso ice cream. Ruthie had the identical meal except gave me her olives from the chicken (major win for me) and had the cake instead of the ice cream. Eric ordered the beets, short ribs, and panna cotta. If we had to pick a winner for each of the menu items (sans the homemade pasta), the soup won in the appetizer category, the ribs won the entree, and according to Eric, the panna cotta won for the dessert (I beg to differ because I do not enjoy food that wiggles).
We, of course, had a lovely time and are looking forward to enjoying another year of restaurant weeks in 2010.
Bon appétit!
Moving On
Due to the economy (and other unfortunate things) most of our original group of friends in Madison have left the Dairyland. In the past month (and within the next week) three couples and their children have moved to New Hampshire, St Louis, and next week, Ohio. We’ll miss our dinner parties and all together fun times we shared here, but now we have new cities to explore.
Our first party!
Apologies for the lack of posts lately. I was struck with some kind of sickness that literally removed my voice from my body. I kind of felt like Ariel from Disney’s The Little Mermaid when the evil sea witch takes her voice in exchange for giving her a human figure. And I didn’t get anything that good in exchange! I am better now, and I am excited to share some of the fun from the past few weeks with you.
Our only Black Friday purchase was a much needed crock-pot. Robb and I were pondering what delicious meals we could make when we realized that we could make mulled wine in our little pot. On top of that, we were given the Stankey Signature Family Recipe for Grandma Nita’s Christmas sugar cookies. Robb and I were excited to share these with our friends. Combine the cookies with the mulled wine and add a few friends, we had an excellent Christmas party in the making. While we have never had more than four people in our apartment for any length of time, we decided to see how many of our friends would come over. Amazingly enough, seven of us gathered around out little living room quite comfortably. Plus, we even had our tree up!
I should say it was a success. We began the evening with snacks and a fun gift exchange and finished off with a game of Cranium WOW! What fun! We are looking forward to another Christmas party next year!