graaaavyyyyyyyyy

i love gravy. the whole debacle of roasting a turkey might all be worth it for those lovely pan drippings to make the gravy. annnnd it’s easy so no need to go and buy premade gravy nononono.

Gravy:

Ingredients:

pan drippings

flour, 4-5 tbsps

reserved turkey fat (3 tbsps)

giblet water

1 can low sodium chicken broth

NO SALT!

1) So back when we started brining, we removed mr. giblet, mr. liver, et al. Grab those guys bring to boil and boil for about 15 minutes and then set aside. You can do this ahead of time. We’ll maybe use that water later if our gravy gets too thick. I ended up not using it all.

2) Once the turkey is all done, pour the pan drippings into a measuring cup or fat separator (i dont’ have one of those). Let it sit until the fat and drippings separate. Then in another bowl, separate out the fat with a spoon. So now you have fat and drippings!

3) Using 2 burners, heat the roast pan with the drippings. Use 3-4 tbsps of the separated fat from the drippings we poured earlier in the measuring cup and add 5-6 tbsps of flour and start whisking quickly and get all the flour incorporated and make sure it’s not lumpy. It should look pasty and not greasy. If it’s too greasy add a little more flour (a little at a time). This is the same method when making a roux for things like mac n cheese (flour and butter). Whisk and cook the flour for about 4-5 minutes.

4) Pour 1 can of LOW-SODIUM chicken broth while whisking. Whisk fast so it doesn’t get lumpy.

5) Now add the drippings (add a little at a time). Taste as you go because it could get over salty.

6) Keep whisking as the gravy heats through and starts to thicken. It’ll start to look beautiful and amazing. This takes a little bit of time so just keep your eye on it. Also, if it gets too thick you can add some of that giblet water. Taste as you go and add more drippings if you want a stronger flavor. I used all of the drippings and didn’t need to use any of the giblet water so just keep your eye on it.

7) add pepper at the end if you’d like. taste and if you need salt add some but i don’t think you’ll need salt.

(if you end up with leftover gravy it’s perfect to make turkey pot pie – which i’ll post soon)

I don’t have any pictures of the gravy but i do have these special ones

Gobble gobble

ta da! i roasted a turkey all by myself ma! and it was good too!

i should mention it was a team effort. trav had a crucial hand in taking the turkey in and out of the oven about 5 times.

i also want to address my dislike for turkey. i like turkey. it’s ok. it’s not fabulous. it’s ok. the reason for my dislike was i got incredibly overwhelmed with ALL of the millions of recipes/opinions on brining, roasting, how long, what temperature, basting, not basting, stuffing, not stuffing, etc etc etc. it seemed ridiculous to me that all of this was circulating for an animal that doesn’t really taste all that fabulous. i will most likely make turkey a few more times and then make duck my thanksgiving meal and count on Holly & Ryan for my Thanksgiving turkey fix (thanks guys!)

Roasting the turkey:

Ingredients:

1 10 lb turkey (brined – check out the brine post)

1 lemon, quartered

1 orange, quartered

1 onion, quartered

1 whole head of garlic, tops chopped off

couple sprigs of fresh thyme, sage, rosemary, oregano (chop half and leave rest for stuffing the cavity)

zest of 1 lemon

1 stick of salted butter

s&p

1) Take the turkey out of the fridge and bring to room temperature. Preheat oven to 275.

2) Prep the turkey:  lightly s&p the cavity and then fill the cavity with the lemon, orange, onion, garlic and fresh herbs. It’s ok if it doesn’t all fit.

3) Using room temperature butter, mix half the stick with the lemon zest and mix in some of the fresh herbs. Rub it really well all over the bird and also under the skin. Definitely under the skin yummmmmmm. it’s kind of a gross step but necessary. i actually enjoy it. be gentle. don’t tear the skin (trim those nails!)

4) Wrap the turkey tightly with foil and pop it in the oven 10 minutes per pound so for my 10 lb bird it was 1 hour and 40 min.

5) Take the turkey out once the time is up and remove the foil. Raise the oven temperature to 375. Melt the remaining half of the butter and brush half of it all over the bird.

6) Insert a meat thermometer at an angle into the thigh near the hip joint.

7) Put it back in the oven uncovered for 30 minutes.

8)Take the bird out again and baste with the remaining half of the melted butter.

9) Put the bird back in the oven for another 30 minutes. After that, check the thermometer. Done means 165-170 degrees. So from here on it’s a guessing game of how much longer. For us, it only took another 20 more minutes or so.

10) Once the thermometer reads 165-170 take the bird out of the oven, remove all the fixings from the cavity and throw it away (don’t eat it). Tilt the bird to make sure the liquids are clear. If it’s pink it has to go back in the oven.

11) Move the bird to a cutting board and cover with foil to keep it warm. Save that roasting pan to make some DELICIOUS gravy!

TA DA!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

next up: graaaaaaaaavy oh i love you so much.

yikes!

last night i was scolded by trav that i haven’t posted on tday.  so here we go…

Our uber moist, tender, fabulous first time ever roast turkey:

After reading so many recipes, opinions, reviews, we decided to brine the turkey. There’s also so many different recipes for brining and so many odd ball ingredients, i just bought a brine mix. The jar of mix was for a 20 lb turkey so we just used half.

BRINING:

10 lb turkey (not brined) and fully defrosted (it takes about a 2 days to defrost a 10 lb turkey)

1/2 jar of Williams Sonoma turkey brine dry mix

5 gallons of water

1) Bring 5 gallons of water to a boil and stir in brine mix. I used half of the jar. (There are directions on the jar on how much water to use) Basically, use enough water to completely cover the bird.

2) Make sure all the salt, sugar, etc dissolves and then cool the brine mixture.  This step takes a long time so we put some ice packs in the brine mixture in addition to putting it in the fridge on max cold to speed up the process.  You can also put the pot in a cooler filled with ice to speed it up even more.

3) Meanwhile remove the turkey from the bag, clear out the cavity (giblets, neck and all – rinse and save those btw) and rinse the turkey.

3) Once the brine mixture is cool, put the turkey (that’s been rinsed very well) into the brine mix. Put in the refrigerator and brine for about 10 hours. Halfway through, flip the bird.

4) Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse well and pat dry very well. Then put it in the fridge for about 6 hours before roasting to get the turkey extra dry.  This makes the skin extra crispy yummmmm but doesn’t dry out the turkey.

Time Table:

We aimed for 4pm on Sunday to have dinner so we started the brine mixture at around 6pm Saturday and had to scramble to get it cooled by 8pm. Then we put the bird into the brine and from 8pm to 6am it was brining. From 6am – noon it was in the pot in the fridge no brine (to get it extra dry for crispy skin). We took the bird out at noon and for 30 minutes let it come to room temp. We started prepping at 12:30pm and started roasting at 1pm. (i honestly think our time table was a little screwed up so just do the math and make sure it all adds up and if it doesn’t oh well. our guests definitely did not mind the extra hour wait…)

 goofin’ around waiting for the turkey to come to room temp…

Next up: Roasting the turkey!

stay tuned!

trav and i hosted thanksgiving at our new place yesterday…SUCCESS!

seriously still amazed at how smoothly the whole day went and how delicious everything turned out. pat on the back!!!

i’ll post on it. don’t be afraid people! although——– i’m still not a fan of turkey. whyyyyyyyyyyyy did someone decide turkey’s should be IT?? doesn’t make sense, all the brining and prep since it can be dry, then why not just eat chicken???? or duck???? aaaaaaand even WITH all that prep to avoid dryness, turkey doesn’t add up to chicken or duck. i’m doing duck from now on.

in the meantime…remember this???? hahahahaha

the real deal

pumpkin pie is the best pie. no contest.

very very excitedly, trav and i have been talking about how we wanted to make some legit homemade pumpkin pie, real pumpkin puree and all. guess what we did last weekend?

disclaimer: i’m not much of a baker since i’m more of a savory type of gal so i honestly had no idea what i was doing even though i had directions to follow. i was sure i made so many mistakes and ruined the pie, but the pie came out divine. moral of the story: don’t be intimidated! you can totally do it!

Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart hahahaha

Pumpkin Puree:

Ingredients: Makes 1 1/3 cups

1 sugar pumpkin (about 1 1/2 pounds)

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using a sharp paring knife, cut several slits in pumpkin, piercing skin all the way through (this will let steam escape). Place in a baking dish; pour about 1 inch water in bottom of dish. Bake until skin is easily pierced and inside is very soft, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.

2) Cut off top of pumpkin, and scoop out seeds; discard both. Peel, and discard skin. Place pumpkin in the bowl of a food processor; puree until smooth. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up o 2 days or in the freezer up to 1 month.

Pie Dough: Makes 1 double-crust or 2 single-crust 9- to 10-inch pies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

1) In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds.

2) With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky; be careful not to process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

3) Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disc and wrap in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill at least 1 hour. Dough may be stored, frozen, up to 1 month.

Pumpkin Pie: Makes one 9-inch pie

Ingredients:

1 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 1/2 cups fresh pumpkin puree

3 large eggs, lightly beaten, plus 1 egg for glaze

1 1/2 cups evaporated milk

pie dough

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, pumpkin puree, and 3 eggs. Beat well. Add evaporated milk, and combine. Set aside.

2) Between two pieces of plastic wrap, roll pate brisee into a 12-inch circle. Fit pastry into a 9-inch glass pie plate; trim dough evenly along edge, leaving about a 1/2-inch overhang. Pinch to form a decorative edge. If the dough begins to soften, chill for 15 minutes.

3) Make the glaze: Beat the remaining egg, and combine with heavy cream. Brush glaze very lightly on edges of pie shell. Fill pie shell with pumpkin mixture. Transfer to prepared baking sheet.

4) Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 30 minutes more. Cool on a wire rack. – (I’m convinced Martha lied here. We had to leave the pie in for another 30 minutes at 350. The way to tell it’s done, the center should be soft still and jiggle. That’s ok. about an inch or an inch 1/2 in from the crust stick a knife in and if it comes out clean it’s done even if the center is jiggly. it cooks while it cools still.)

bruce-ket-aaaaaa

it never gets old. i love it.

i like mine with lots of fresh garlic and lots of fresh basil. the bread for me is key.

Ingredients:

1 loaf baguette (splurge and get a nice one), sliced 1 inch

3 tomatoes, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

1 cup of basil, chopped

s&p

good olive oil

butter

1)* In a hot pan, heat 1 tbsp of butter and some olive oil enough to thoroughly coat the pan. Once the butter is melted and heated through, toast the baguette slices. Drop them in and let it soak up some of the butter and oil (a few seconds), then turn them all over and let that side toast up first. Flip and toast the other side until it’s golden brown.

2) Combine the tomatoes, basil, garlic, and shallots. Season with s&p and add as much olive oil as you like.  I like to add a good amount because I love the way all the ingredients marinate the olive oil.

3) Top the baguette slices with the mix.

*You don’t have to toast the bread in butter and olive oil.  It’s an indulgent step for me and personally  makes everything taste that much better.

 

laˈzaɲa

yummm. whoever invented lasagna is a genius. i love you. thank you.

Ingredients:

1 lb dried lasagna noodles

olive oil

1 lb ground beef

1 lb italian ground sausage (can use the links, just remove the casings)

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

couple sprigs of fresh oregano, chopped

2 (16 oz) cans tomato sauce (the large cans)

1 1/2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste (the small cans)

1 egg

1 quart of ricotta cheese

1 lb of  fresh mozzarella

1/2 cup grated parmesan

Extra mozzarella and parmesan to sprinkle on top

s&p

1) Cook the lasagna noodles in plenty of boiling salted water until pliable and barely tender, about 10 minutes. Make sure you keep your eye on teh lasagna and use tongs to make sure the noodles don’t stick. Drain the noodles and coat with olive oil so they don’t stick and don’t dry out. Be generous.

2) In a large pan, cook beef and sausage  and season with some s&p.

3) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

4) In another pan, saute garlic and onions. Season with s&p.

5) Add garlic and onions to the meat and mix in the tomato paste.

5) In a mixing bowl, mix ricotta parmesan and the other half of the herbs. Stir in the egg and season with s&p.

The fun part!

In a 13×9 pan, ladle some tomato sauce then layer 4 lasagna noodles overlapping each other lengthwise and one noodle on each side to create corners.

Add 1/2 of the ricotta mixture and spread evenly with a spatula. Then spread 1/2 of the meat mixture. Sprinkle 1/2 of the mozzarella. Top with another ladle of sauce and spread evenly. Repeat one more time.

Then, top the last layer with noodles. Press down to force out any air bubbles. Then top with another ladle of sauce and mozzarella and parmesan.

Bake for 1 hour. Let the lasagna rest for 30 minutes (it’s easier to cut).

*Clearly, Trav and I cannot eat a whole lasagna so I froze half of it. It keeps about 2 months. It’s better to freeze it uncooked though but of course I did not do that. oh well.

Potato Leek Soup with Crispy Shallots

super easy and tasty. the crispy shallots add some nice crispy texture and have a nice sweet taste.

Potato Leek Soup:

Ingredients:

4-5 leeks, white and light green parts only, chopped

2-3 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced

1 onion, chopped

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

1 cup heavy whipping cream

s&p

butter

1) In a big pot, melt some butter about 1 tbsp and saute the onions and leeks for about 3 minutes. s&p

2) Add potatoes, and cover with broth and water. It should cover the potatoes so if you’re short add more broth or water.

3) Cover and boil for about 20 minutes on medium to low heat.

4) Let the soup cool a little and then using a hand held blender, blend the soup until it’ s smooth and creamy.

5) Add a cup of heavy whipping cream, s&p and cook on low for another 10-15 minutes.

6) Top with some crispy shallots.

Crispy Shallots:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter

1/2 -3/4 cup of olive oil

2 shallots, sliced thinly in rings

1) Melt butter and olive oil over medium high and heat oil for about 5 minutes.

2) Add the shallots and saute until crispy and golden for about 2-4 minutes.

3) Transfer to paper towels. 

Butternut Squash Soup

It’s official. It’s fall in SF. Normally, I’m really excited for fall but since summer skipped us i’m not quite ready for the wind and rain, but it came in crazy storm form yesterday so what better than some fall soup and i do love me some butternut squash soup.

Butternut Squash Soup:

Ingredients:

2 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, diced

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, seeded, diced

2 pieces of bacon

1 leek, chopped

1/2 onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 bay leaf

4 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup water

2 tbsps creme fraiche

chives

1) In a pan, cook bacon until crisp and drain, reserving 1 1/2 tablespoons fat. Crumble bacon.

2) In a pot, cook onion, leek, garlic, and bay leaf with salt and pepper to taste in reserved fat over moderate heat, stirring, until softened.

3) Add squash, apple, broth, and 1/2 cup water. Simmer mixture, covered, until squash is very tender, about 15 minutes, and discard bay leaf.

4) In a blender, purée mixture in batches, transferring to a clean saucepan.

5) Whisk in crème fraîche and salt and pepper to taste and heat soup over moderately low heat until hot.

6) Serve soup topped with crumbled bacon, chives and more creme fraiche if you want.

Shrimp w/ Cannelini & Pancetta and Baked Polenta with Mozzarella

Beretta is a sorta new restaurant in the Mission that does ‘Delfina’ style pizza.  I say their pizza is ok but their appetizers are amazing! We went back awhile ago and among the many things we ordered these 2 stood out: scampi with pancetta & cannellini and baked polenta with gorgonzola. soooo, i decided it didn’t seem that difficult and i would try recreate it since i started craving it immediately.

Shrimp with cannelini & pancetta:

Ingredients:

10 medium sized shrimps shells off and deveined (no frozen!)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 lemons

2 shallots, diced

2 tsps red pepper flakes

1 tomato, diced

1/4 cup basil, chopped

1 can of white/cannelini beans

1/4 cup of italian parsley, chopped

1/2 cup of pancetta

2 tsps, dried oregano

s&p

olive oil

1) Marinate the shrimp with s&p, olive oil, 1/2 of the minced garlic, and 1/2 lemon juiced for about 10 minutes to an hour

2) In a large skillet, cook the shrimp literally about 1 minute on each side. overcooked shrimp is never good and set aside.

3) In the same pan, cook the pancetta until it starts to get crispy and set aside leaving some of the fat.

4) In the same pan, add the shallot and garlic and saute for about 3-5 minutes.

5) Add the red pepper flakes and saute for 1 minute.

6) Add the tomato and saute for about 3 minutes.

7) Add the drained beans, basil and oregano. Cook for 5 minutes. Taste and see if it needs more s&p.

Stir in the shrimp just to reheat and add the rest of the lemon juice.

9) Garnish with the parsley and basil and serve with some crusty baguette.

Baked Polenta with Mozzarella:

Ingredients: 

I could not for the life of me find polenta anywhere not TJ’s, not Safeway, not Whole Foods, not even a specialty store – there must have been a polenta shortage that particular day, so I used instant Polenta. The only thing they had at Safeway.

1 log of fresh mozzarella

2 cups of tomato sauce (i used from my reserves)

1) In a baking dish, ladle the 2 cups of tomato sauce on the bottom

2) Cut the polenta into 1/4 inch thick slices and arrange in the baking dish. Sprinkle a little s&p

3) Cut the mozzarella into thick slices but thinner than 1/4 inch thick and layer on top of the polenta. Sprinkle with a little s&p.

4) Bake in the oven according to the polenta package instructions. Check to make sure the mozzarella is nice and melted and bubbly.

What made the dish at Beretta was the polenta and sauce. I couldn’t find the right polenta but the instant satisfied my craving and got the job done. The tomato sauce reserves I used covered up for the instant polenta and of course the cheese.