Thanksgiving...BBQ Turkey

I love all holiday's, but Thanksgiving is really at the top.  The entire day revolves around food, and family….how awesome is that? We usually host Thanksgiving with my Mom taking Christmas Eve and my Sister does Christmas day. That way, we spread the responsibility (read that as housecleaning) and no one family has to drive too much. Since both my Mom and Sister are great cooks, we also spread the assignments. We each bring a couple of side dishes and an appetizer. It really makes things easier and must less stressful so we can all enjoy the day more. The menu usually changes year to year with a couple of old family favorites and a few new dishes that we want to try. The one thing that does not change is the turkey preparation. Years ago (I mean like 40 years ago), my Mom found a recipe for bar-b-que sauce that was really different…no ketchup, not much vinegar, but a great spice mix. It is a somewhat thin sauce. Well it worked well on chicken and so one year my Dad decided to try it on the turkey. The next thing you know, he found an old hypodermic needle – now this was so long ago, that the needle he found we think was from a veterinary supply and was glass! So he would suck up the BBQ sauce into the needle and inject the turkey, all while basting the turkey also and cooking it on the grill on low heat. This was his show….and he enjoyed it. I have the greatest memories of him proudly lifting the cover on the grill to display this gorgeous bird as everybody arrived. About 10 years ago, Dad turned the turkey duty over to Greg…who clearly had the grill part down pat. We found stainless steel injection needles and then realized that we could do the BBQ sauce in the microwave and cut down on the time significantly. Then, about 6 years ago I read a long article about how to brine food. In it was a recipe for brined Turkey that soaks for 3 days in Bourbon, Maple Syrup, Water and pickling spice. That was it – the only thing that could add to our turkey…the brined, bbq’d injected bird was and is the best…there is no improving on this. I think we would have family mutiny if we tried…so here is the recipe and if you feel so inclined give it a shot.  I'll post a picture after Thursday!

I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving…remember, it’s not all about the china matching, or the centerpiece being Martha Stewart worthy…it’s about being together and being thankful…..

Brined Turkey

Three days before Thanksgiving, put the thawed, cleaned turkey (without gizzards etc) into a clean large kitchen trash bag (no perfumes or odors).

In a large bowl, mix 2 cups pure maple syrup
2 cups bourbon
2 Tbsp pickling spice

Stir these together until the syrup has incorporated into the liquid. Pour over the turkey and then add cold water to cover the turkey. Place the first bag inside another one (in case of leakage), Place the turkey in a large cooler and fill with ice. Check on the turkey a couple of times a day, turning it over in the bag. You will need to replace the ice every day also.


On Thanksgiving morning, remove the turkey and discard the liquid. Let it come to room temperature. Clean any remaining pickling spice off and pat dry the turkey. Cover with a dry rub if wanted, and inject all over with the Collins Family BBQ sauce. Do not baste with the sauce yet as it will burn. Place on a BBQ grill over low, indirect heat for 2-5 hours based upon the size of the bird. In the last 60-90 minutes, baste with additional BBQ sauce. We make a separate batch of the sauce to serve alongside the bird.

Collins Family BBQ Sauce

In a microwave safe bowl add:

½ cup butter
¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
¼ t dry mustard
¼ t pepper
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
2 T Worcestershire
Dash Tabasco
3 Tbs hot water



Put in microwave and heat for 1 minute, stir, heat for additional 1 minute stir and continue heating and stirring every minute for 5-6 minutes or until thick.

This sauce is exceptional on chicken or turkey. If you do not use fresh ground pepper, you can use a turkey injector and put it throughout the inside the bird as well as basting. Fresh ground pepper is too thick to go through the injector. For a large turkey, you will need to double or triple the amount above.

Gnocchi with Roasted Cauliflower

For many years, I avoided Cauliflower, Broccoli and Brussels sprouts – now I grew up having to eat broccoli and cauliflower which was frozen then boiled. If we went exotic it had cheese whiz on top (sorry Mom…) Frankly if I never encounter another boiled stalk I’ll be fine. My mother never served Brussels Sprouts – I think we assumed they were a “Yankee” vegetable and therefore had no place on our Southern table. After we had kids, I figured they would not eat these veggies either and I was right….at least I was right until I discovered roasting vegetables about 3-4 years ago. Honestly there is no simpler thing to do with ANY vegetable but I think roasting works especially well with these three. My kids are good eaters but they feel the same as every other kid about vegetables…however when roasted I hear “awesome…cauliflower or Brussels sprouts”…yea, I just about fell out the first time I heard it too!

This recipe from the Food Network magazine teams roasted cauliflower with another favorite – gnocchi. If you are not familiar with gnocchi, it is a wonderful tiny little dumpling usually made from potato …kind of a cross between pasta and potatoes and frankly what could be better? On their own, they don’t have a lot of flavor, but this recipe uses the roasted cauliflower and sage along with lots of parmesan (I probably went heavy on it) to create a wonderful side dish. I had some leftover flank steak that I served with this, but if you added some prosciutto or good bacon I think this could easily be a nice main dish.



Gnocchi with Roasted Cauliflower

1 small head cauliflower, cut into small florets

12 fresh sage leaves

3 Tablespoons olive oil

Kosher Salt & black pepper

1 pound gnocchi (fresh or frozen)

¼ cup grated Parmesan



Heat oven to 400. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the cauliflower, sage, oil ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper. Roast, tossing once until the cauliflower is golden brown and tender, 25 to 30 minutes.

Fifteen minutes before the cauliflower is finished, bring water to boil for the gnocchi. Cook according to package directions (usually about 4-5 minutes), drain. Combine the gnocchi with the cauliflower and Parmesan.

Long Delay….Great Pie!

I do apologize for the lack of posts over the past two weeks. I had one fun week in St. Augustine FL gettingready for the Georgia/Florida game, and then suffered through the next week at a Sales Meeting in Las Vegas. I have been playing “catch up” since I got back, but we have had a few family dinners and look to be back on track soon.

In preparation for Thanksgiving, I wanted to test out a recipe last weekend. I usually just wing it, and don’t test recipes before we eat them, but Thanksgiving is different. I really love this holiday – no pressure except for family, friends and food…and of course being Thankful which I hope I am all the time. This year, instead of planning desserts (we of course planned the meal), my sister, Mom and I decided to bring whatever dessert you wanted. I had seen a recipe in Southern Living for an upside down caramel apple pie and thought that sounded good….Good didn’t even get started here - this one was exceptional and very easy! Even if you are not planning a big Thanksgiving dinner, this is a very impressive dessert for anytime.  The picture on the left is what it looked like out of the oven.  The picture on the right is after it was flipped over.
Ingredients
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 (15-oz.) package refrigerated piecrusts, divided
• 4 medium-size Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 1 3/4 lb.)
• 2 large Jonagold apples, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 1 1/4 lb.)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Stir together first 3 ingredients, and spread onto bottom of a 9-inch pie plate. Fit 1 piecrust over pecan mixture in pie plate, allowing excess crust to hang over sides.

2. Stir together Granny Smith apples and next 5 ingredients. Spoon mixture into crust, packing tightly and mounding in center. Place remaining piecrust over filling; press both crusts together, fold edges under, and crimp. Place pie on an aluminum foil-lined jelly-roll pan. Cut 4 to 5 slits in top of pie for steam to escape.

3. Bake at 375° on lower oven rack 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes or until juices are thick and bubbly, crust is golden brown, and apples are tender when pierced with a long wooden pick through slits in crust. Shield pie with aluminum foil after 50 minutes, if necessary, to prevent excessive browning. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes. Place a serving plate over top of pie; invert pie onto serving plate. Remove pie plate, and replace any remaining pecans in pie plate on top of pie. Let cool completely (about 1 hour).



If you are a diehard baker (and I am absolutely NOT), you can certainly make your own pie crusts…but I think once you have all of that good caramel and pecans on top, it might be a wasted effort… This was delicious 3 days later (yes, it did last that long…we were getting little tiny slices )

Bad week for family dinner

Just a quick note - I was out of town for most of last week, and am in Las Vegas for a meeting this week....sorry for the lack of posts.  My family is eating very poorly - except for tonight when my sweet Mom is cooking for them!  More next week when our schedule is back to normal!

Charlie's Chicken

First, I have no clue who Charlie is…before we were married I received a great cookbook at a shower.  The cookbook was published by The Lovett School here in Atlanta and is called “Cook and Love It” (get it?).  Well very early in our marriage, I was trying to drum up a dinner out of the pantry and fridge and saw Charlie’s Chicken…looked simple enough.  I have probably made this once every month or two since then.  It is great!  Usually we have rice or noodles but last night I needed to use some potatoes so it was mashed spuds.  It really doesn’t matter as long as you have something to put the extra sauce on….you do NOT want to let that go to waste.

A final thought … why do chicken breasts never look good in pictures?  When I am a famous blogger I am going to hire a photographer since it is clearly not my forte!  Enjoy the recipe even if the photo is lacking!

Charlie’s Chicken:

4-6 Chicken Breast (can be boneless, or not)

1 pkg Good Seasons Italian Dressing (dry)

1 block cream cheese

1 cup white wine

2 Tbsp butter

Chopped parsley (optional)

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the chicken and sprinkle with the salad dressing.  Cook over medium heat until the chicken is browned, being careful not to burn.  In a medium saucepan, add the cream cheese and white wine and whisk over low heat until melted (can add fresh parsley if desired).  When the chicken is brown, remove to a 9 x 13 dish.  Add the pan drippings to the cream cheese mixture, and any leftover salad dressing mix and stir well.  Pour the cream cheese over the chicken and bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes until chicken is cooked to desired consistency. 

Serve the remaining sauce over rice or noodles.

Oven Chicken & Okra Gumbo "I got work to do Gumbo"

2 pounds okra, sliced into ¼ in rounds

1 medium onion, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 (14.5oz) can peeled whole tomatoes

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

3 cups diced cooked chicken

6 oz. tasso or smoked ham, diced (I used smoked sausage)

1 quart chicken stock

Salt & Pepper to taste

4 cups cooked white rice

Preheat the oven to 250.  Combine the okra, onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, tomatoes and tomato paste in a large roasting pan.  Cover with foil and bake for one hour or until tender.

Remove the foil and add the chicken, tasso, and broth.  Return to the oven uncovered and bake for 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until desired thickness.  Season with Salt & Pepper (I also added hot sauce).

Ladle the gumbo into bowls and spoon a little rice into the center of each bowl.

This recipe comes from a great cookbook, “Screen Doors and Sweet Tea” by Martha Hall Foose.  If you love southern cooking, this should be on your shelves.  I have done several recipes and they all worked well.  Last night we had a family friend coming to dinner, but (as usual) I had little time.  The subtitle from the cookbook caught my eye!  If you have made Gumbo, you know that the first 30 – 45 minutes are spent standing over the pot working the roux to be just the right color.  Yesterday I certainly didn’t have that time.  So, during my lunch hour (I work from home, so the commute back to the kitchen wasn’t bad), I cut up everything needed for the recipe and then about 4:00 ran down and put the pot in the oven.  About 5:00 I added the other ingredients and then took my sweet time to make the rice, set the table etc.  I thought this gumbo was very good – the downside is that it never develops that nice dark color and depth of flavor.  I’d call this more of a chicken stew…but very flavorful.  I assume the large amount of okra is to help thicken (which it did)…but if you are not wild about okra, you may want to use less and less chicken broth.  Or you could keep the same amount of broth, and add gravy flour and finish it on the stovetop.  Regardless, it was good, made plenty for dinner tonight also and I think was enjoyed by all (OK, so my kids didn’t eat the Okra…I confessed) .  You might notice I again forgot to take the picture before we dug in...thanks to J for being the Gumbo model :)  Remember this blog is about the food, not the poor quality pictures....

Chicken in Wine Sauce

Quick, Easy and Good

We needed something easy last night (read that as I needed something easy), and something that I could re-heat when my daughter got home late from her activities….I had printed this recipe off a while back from the Food Network web site.  It is a Paula Deen recipe.  I have had mixed results with her recipes…but have eaten in her restaurant, The Lady and Sons, several times in Savannah and it is always good…so my rule of thumb is it is comes from her restaurant then I am more likely to try it.  I have one of her early cookbooks (before she became nationally known) and it is very good  also– as a matter of fact, it reminds me I need to do her Bacon Cheeseburger meatloaf again…it was a big hit. 

I had some chicken breast in the freezer and just about everything else in the pantry so I thought we would try Lady and Son’s Chicken in Wine Sauce.  This one turned out well – not an “entertain the in-laws” kind of meal, but a good easy weekday meal for your family.   It was probably 5 minutes to put together and 45 to bake (time to make the sides and have a glass of wine!).  Everybody really enjoyed it…my husband deemed it “blog worthy”.  I did make one addition – I had a piece of thinly sliced country ham left over from the weekend.  I diced it and put it on top of the cheese…I think it added nice flavor, more like a Chicken Cordon Bleu taste.  This is purely optional.    One note on the chicken; I find that sometimes the chicken breasts vary significantly in size.  If I am going to cook the chicken with a marinade or sauce the fresh, larger breasts are best…but if it is going into a casserole like this, the packages of frozen chicken breast are more uniform in size so they cook evenly.  When either one goes on sale, I grab a couple of packages  and fill the freezer, because when they are NOT on sale the boneless, skinless breast can be pretty pricy.  Just make sure all of the breasts you use are pretty much the same size so they are all done at the same time.

Lady & Son’s Chicken in Wine Sauce

·         4 large skinless boneless chicken breasts

·         4 tablespoons butter, melted, plus more for casserole

·         Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

·         6 ounces (about 8 slices) Swiss cheese

·         1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup

·         1/4 cup white wine

·         1 cup herb-flavored stuffing mix, crushed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Add the chicken to a shallow buttered casserole and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Layer the cheese slices on top.

In a medium bowl, add the soup and the wine, season with salt and pepper and pour over the cheese. Sprinkle stuffing mix on top and drizzle with melted butter.* Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.