Adesina's Kitchen

Red Chile Tamales (with Beef or Chicken)

Angela — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:34:29 +0000

Back when I was little, my grandmother used to have a friend at her work who’s family would make tamales en masse at Christmas. She’d give her a few dozen and we got to feast on the little parcels of majesty for what I’d love to say was weeks after, but they barely lasted a few days. We had them steamed plain with nothing else to slow us down except for maybe some pinto beans or fluffy Spanish rice. I’ve long been searching for a killer tamale recipe in the same way as I’ve wanted the PERFECT enchilada sauce recipe. I’ve gone through MANY iterations and variations of ones that come close, but I’ve yet to hit perfection. So of course, when I found out that this month’s Daring Kitchen competition was to make tamales, I was so excited to have the opportunity to get back in the lab and start tinkering again.

Maranda of Jolts & Jollies was our January 2012 Daring Cooks hostess with the mostess! Maranda challenged us to make traditional Mexican Tamales as our first challenge of the year! I decided to try out a vegan dough using crisco and a traditional version using lard. I also went with a red chili enchilada sauce as the topper, along with a side of shredded lettuce, chopped tomato and black olives. As a means of speeding up the process, I used the pressure cooker to braise the chicken and beef, allowing me to make two savory fillings comprised of fall-off-the-bone tender proteins, all in the same day. The resulting tamales were a real treat, particularly given that there were not days of labor leading up to the best part…eating.

I had read that you can actually steam your tamales in a pressure cooker in about 15 minutes. Has anybody ever tried this before? And was it a success? I’m excited to give it a go, but it’d be interesting to hear how it went for others. Until then, over and out from the tamale palace.

Recipe for

Red Chile Tamales (with Beef or Chicken)

CHICKEN FILLING
2 lbs. of bone-in chicken (breasts or thighs)
1 quart of chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. of salt
1 tsp. of pepper
1 can of Ro-tel tomatoes and chilies

BEEF FILLING
2 pounds of beef brisket
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. of salt
1 tsp. of black pepper
1 bag of chiles
1 quart of beef stock

RED ENCHILADA SAUCE
4 tbs. of flour
4 tbs. of oil
4 cups beef stock
1/2 c. of chile powder
1 tbs. of ground cumin
2 tsp. garlic powder
pinch of mexican oregano

TAMALE DOUGH
6 c. masa harina
2 c. of crisco (or lard)
3 1/2 c. of vegetable stock (or beef stock)
2 teaspoons salt

GARNISH
shredded lettuce
diced tomatoes
cotija cheese
black olives

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
steamer

Begin my making the filling of your choice. For the chicken filling, place the chicken breasts or thighs into the pressure cooker with the chicken stock, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Cook over high pressure for 15 minutes. Let come to pressure naturally and then take of the lid. Remove the skin and bones and shred the meat. Stir in the can of Ro-tel and taste for seasoning.
For the beef filling, place the brisket, onion, garlic, bay leaves, chilies, salt, pepper and stock in the pressure cooker. Add enough water to cover and lock the lid. Cook for an hour on high pressure. Let the pressure fall naturally and then take off the lid. Use two forks to shred the meat, and add a little of the cooking liquid to the beef to moisten. Taste for seasoning, reseason and set aside.
Grab a large pot with a lid, fill it with water and bring to a boil. Pop in the corn husks, cover the pot and let hang out for a half an hour or so. Corn husks are ready to go when they are pliable and easy to roll.
Now to make your masa – in a standing mixer or with a bowl and an egg beater, cream your shortening or lard until light and fluffy. Add the masa harina, stock and salt and continue to beat until the mixture is creamy and soft.
Assembly time! Grab a corn husk and using a butter knife or your fingers (get dirty!), spread a few tablespoons of masa over the husk, making sure to leave at least a 1 inch border on all sides of the husk.
Top the masa with the filling of your choosing and another tablespoon or two of masa to cover. It doesn’t have to be pretty – the corn husk will smooth everything out when you steam the tamales.
Roll the two sides of the cork husk to the middle and then the bottom side of the husk to the middle, forming a little package, You can leave the top end open.
Grab a corn husk (I usually use a small or broken one) and tear off a length of it to make a 1/4 in. wide strip, like a little ribbon. Tie the ribbon around the folded tamale to keep it closed.
Keep on filling tamales until you run out of masa.
Set up a steamer and fill with enough water to barely touch the bottom of the basket. Line the bottom of the steamer with extra corn husks. Fill the steamer with the tamales and pop the lid on top.
Cook the tamales over high heat for 60 minutes, occasionally checking to make sure that there is still water in the bottom of your steamer basket and adding more if necessary.
While the tamales cook, make your enchilada sauce. Add the flour and oil to a sauce pan over medium heat and whisk to form a paste. Whisk in the chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and oregano. Lastly, whisk in the stock and continue to whisk until it thickens. Taste for salt and pepper and season. Set aside.
Take the tamales out of the steamer and carefully unwrap (they will be exceedingly hot!)
Top with the red sauce and crumble a few teaspoons of cotija cheese over some shredded lettuce and diced tomato as a little side salad.

The Seven Links Project

Angela — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 04:11:25 +0000

I am consistently wowed and humbled by all of the ridiculously cool culinary folk that I have had the pleasure of meeting via Adesina’s Kitchen. It all started as a complete and total guilty pleasure – rather than jot down my successes in the kitchen in my little notebook, I’d shoot them, post them and share the process online for the few friends that might be interested. Well, the friends were a lot more than a few and the definition of friend quickly expanded to include folks from around the globe. It was an exciting connection that was made without my anticipation that it would turn out as such.

One such friend is fellow food blogger, Devaki Das of Weave a Thousand Flavors. We “met” through a web community of food bloggers called FoodBuzz and found that our love of global flavors and culinary tinkering was a shared passion. Her work is so revelatory and timely and necessary that I featured her in a guest post on my blog, along with her recipe for Roasted Apple, Brie and Thyme Soup. Dev recently passed on to me a distinct honor – to participate in “The Seven Links Project”. After being nominated herself, she had to answer seven questions about her blog posts and then pick 5 bloggers to pass on the proverbial torch. Here’s my stab at it – hope you’ll enjoy this trip down memory lane with me.

Most Beautiful Post

Mini Beef Wellington with Morel Bearnaise and Melted Leeks
This post was incredibly enjoyable to cook – my buddy Karen and I were attempting to win the Marx Foods Morel Mushroom Competition and had the opportunity to cook rather lazily with no pressure to get food on the table. Typically we cook ambitious menus and invite a sizable group of folks over to eat the results – the good being that we have tasters on hand, the bad being that there’s an expectation that we’ll be hostesses and get everything to the table in a timely fashion. This particular day, we puttered around the kitchen on our terms, and it really showed in the final result. The photos were gorgeous and I didn’t have to worry about anyone nibbling off the photo plate while I tried to get a pic. Not to mention the fact that that was the day I first cooked a leek that made me weep with joy – usually they are “eh” but the creamed ones in this recipe left me grinning from ear to ear.

Most Popular Post

Spaghetti all’Amatriciana
This recipe could have easily been in the “Most Controversial” category as well for my use of wine in the sauce and the comments from Italians cringing at my handiwork. Or that I used spaghetti instead of bucatini, the traditional pasta used for this dish. It was a tough go because this recipe was crafted on the nostalgia of the little mom-and-pop shop that used to make this for me when I lived in Orvieto. The love of the dish and my fondness for my time there must have shown through, because this was resoundingly my most popular recipe – not only for this year, but in all the time that Adesina’s Kitchen has been up and running. The perfect combination of bacon, tomatoes and spaghetti to suck up all the glorious sauce was enough to rake up the hits for this one.

Most Controversial Post

Nyquil Brownies
I did think before posting this one that I’d get in trouble for the use of cold medicine in baked goods, but I took the plunge as the actual brownies are amazing – they taste almost like an Andes mint in cheesecake brownie form. I crack up that these are now intrinsically linked to my best friend’s mom (who created the brownie recipe) in that she would NEVER put Nyquil in her brownies (or any baked goods for that matter). I also get plenty of questions from folks every time I serve brownies whether I’ve “laced” the batch or not. It’s like the scene in EuroTrip where the kids think they’re eating hash brownies and flip out, only to find out that they just had plain ‘ol brownies. I’d say that I make the plain creme de menthe and peppermint extract version more than the Nyquil version. Still, if you’re home and no one has to operate any heavy machinery, maybe give the real version a try, controversy be damned.

Most Helpful Post

Chef Tim’s Roast Chicken with Chardonnay Sauce, Trumpet Mushroom Duxelle and Fingerling Potatoes
It’s common knowledge that Tim Ma is in the stratosphere in terms of the heights of his awesomeness. I’m not building him up – his skills in the kitchen are methodical, artistic and forward-thinking. Thought I’d eaten his cooking at his place, Maple Ave Restaurant, I’d never cooked from one of his recipes before. The process of cooking a recipe that’s voiced by someone you know personally is a little surreal – you can literally hear their voice guiding you, and your successes and failures all have a face that they can be directed at. It was no surprise that Tim’s recipe had me moving through the kitchen in a way that I love and don’t always have the opportunity to do – I felt confident in all the techniques and steps and also in his measurements and ingredients. I call shenanigans a lot on others recipes, but not this day. Best of all, I cooked for just my husband and I, and when I laid the plates on the table, it felt like a gift – my hard work and Tim’s ingenuity had produced an extraordinary feast, but also gave me new insight into his sheer skill as a chef.

Most Surprisingly Successful Post

Chickarina Soup
My buddy Tara of the food blog What We Chow always says that the best way to engage an audience online is to include them in the process. I am 100% sure that the reason that this recipe was so successful was because of the fact that there wasn’t really any other hack recipe for Progresso Chickarina Soup out there, but a ton of folks who loved the soup and were looking for a way to make it themselves. This recipe wasn’t at all complicated and the results humble, but it flew in hits from people finding it in Google searches. I hadn’t expected that there would be such a clamor and fuss for it, but alas…

Most Neglected Post

Vietnamese Summer Rolls
I never figured out why this recipe, based on hits, seemed like a clunker. It wasn’t a terrible photo and the actual recipe is hella versatile – you can make it for vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians and locavores alike with NO extra work. Better still, you barely have to turn your oven on to make them. Maybe there were a lot of competing posts the week that they came out? Or a lot of other similar versions available on other more popular sites? Still, this one seemed to get no love. No matter – for some reason these rolls are one of my most popularly requested dishes from friends in person, so I’ll just keep on making them for people I know personally and call it a day.

Post that Made Me Most Proud

Pasta Carbonara
My very first post, I have a lot of love for Carbonara and where it’s taken me. It doesn’t take me very long to start talking about food when I first meet someone, and once I get on the topic, I’m quickly referencing my grandmother and her influence on the way I cook and why I am so unabashedly obsessed with cooking and crafting recipes. This blog was born of this post, and it happened on a night when, as I doled out portions of farfalle from the pot, I thought, “Hmmm. This would make a lovely picture.” I’ve grown a lot in my methods in the kitchen over the past few years of blogging, but I love that I’m still that same girl making carbonara for those close to her, blissful in her determination to keep the eggs from scrambling in creating the perfect bite.

Passing the torch

So half the fun of this is that I get to then turn this over to five fellow food bloggers. I thought I’d pick bloggers that a) I’d never met before and b) managed to inspire me on a regular basis with their crafty ways in the kitchen and stunning photography. If my work was half as good as theirs, I’d be a smitten kitten. Until then, I’ll let them keep on inspiring me :)

Here are their names and sites to look at:

Shallot Yogurt Dip

Angela — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 23:39:35 +0000

Not that tzatziki is all that hard to make, but when I have even less in the fridge than I need for that, I turn to this shallot yogurt. Worst case scenario, I’ll used dried mint and *cringe* dried parsley to make it happen and never look back. If you DO have fresh mint and parsley, though, this one is beyond a delight, providing refreshing coolness to whatever you deign to serve with it.

Recipe for

Shallot Yogurt Dip

Ingredients
2 c. of greek yogurt
2 tbs. of olive oil
1 shallot
1 sprig of mint, leaves removed and minced
2 sprigs of parsley, leaves removed and minced
pinch of white pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients well and let sit for 5 minutes for flavors to develop. Serve.

Israeli Cucumber Salad

Angela — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 23:25:19 +0000

This salad is too cool for school – it just stares you down like it’s the reason that your life is spectacular and you should adore it as such. The recipe is wicked simple – just a little chopping and a light vinaigrette of olive oil and lemon juice to hold it all together. It’s versatility, though, is the selling point – meaning that you can serve it with any and all things grilled or top it with feta or mix in some orzo and BAM BOOM, you’ve got yourself a new dish and a new recipe to save for the treasure trove. Don’t thank me – thank the Olive Tree Cafe for the inspiration. They hooked me on the stuff and I had to craft a similar recipe for myself.

Recipe for

Israeli Cucumber Salad

Ingredients
1 cucumber, halved, deseeded and diced
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1 green pepper, deseeded and diced
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c. of olive oil
3 sprigs of mint, leaves removed and minced
6 sprigs of parsley, leaves removed and minced
salt and pepper

Toss the cucumber, tomatoes, green pepper, lemon juice, olive oil, mint and parsley together in a bowl. Season with some salt and pepper, taste and reseason. Let chill for 10 minutes and serve.

Kefta Kebabs

Angela — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 23:14:00 +0000

I’ve long been in love with kefta kebabs – the addictive combination of ground lamb or beef seasoned with aromatics such as onion, garlic, parsley and mint. I first truly fell in love with them at one of my most beloved spots in NYC, The Olive Tree Cafe. Aside from being the place where I went on my very first date with my now husband, it was a haunt that my friends and I would hit up back in college. The food was cheap and plentiful, the drinks strong, and if you couldn’t score a reservation to the Comedy Cellar below the restaurant for one of the stand-up shows, you could sit at a table right next to the same comedians working that night. The place has been in my life for years and years, and crazily enough, their charcoal-grilled kefta kebabs are a huge part of my love of the place.

Since I can bum my way over to the place as easily (I’m living across the country in Phoenix), I have to make kefta for myself to stave of a junkie-esque jonesing for the stuff. The recipe is quite simple, with sumac as the secret ingredient to create the smokiness that I crave in each bite. You can get sumac from specialty stores, spice markets (LOL, that sounds exotic, like you have to jet off to Egypt or something) or much simpler, on Amazon.

Recipe for

Beef Kefta Kebabs

Ingredients
2 lbs. of ground lamb (or beef)
1 med. onion, minced
4 sprigs of mint, finely chopped
6 sprigs of parsley, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. of garlic powder
1/4 tsp. of onion powder
1/8 tsp. of paprika
1/8 tsp. of white pepper
1/8 tsp. of sumac
1/2 tsp. of salt
1/4 tsp. of black pepper
1 tbs. of olive oil

Mix all ingredients well with your hands or a stand mixer. Form meat into oblong patties or alternatively, form into small meatballs and thread onto a bamboo skewer.

Cook over a hot grill on high heat, watching to keep the meat from burning and grilling until barely pink in the center. You can also cook on a grill pan if you are apartment-bound without a grill.

Serve “naked” with rice pilaf and cucumber salad or tucked into a pita with that same cucumber salad and a dollop of shallot yogurt.

Chicken Paprikash

Angela — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:44:57 +0000

This is one of those recipes that I adore on a weeknight when I want to spend a modicum of time in the kitchen, and a maximum amount of time lounging on the couch with the hubs. The kind of meal that is effortless, filling and won’t have me mucking up a ton of dishes in the process. Paprikash is like sweet nectar from the gods on evenings where the only other dinner alternative is a bag of LiveSavers Sour Gummies eaten directly in bed with a bottle of water for a side dish.

Paprikash is a nourishing Hungarian stew that leverages sour cream to coax chicken (and often veal) into tenderness. Finding good paprika is key to this recipe to keep the flavors bright, so toss that old jar that’s been sitting in your pantry for ages and spring for some that’s new and vibrant red. You’ll thank me when you take your first bite and see the entire evening brighten before your eyes :)

Recipe for

Chicken Paprikash

Ingredients
2 lbs. of chicken breast, cubed into 1 inch pieces
2 tbs. of flour
salt and pepper
4 tbs. of butter
2 tbs. of olive oil
1 lb. of crimini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 onion, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 tbs. of paprika
1/4 tsp. of white pepper
1/2 c. of chicken broth
1/4 c. of dry vermouth
1 c. of sour cream
1/2 c. of cream
chopped parsley (for garnish)

Grab a bowl and mix together the flour, salt and pepper. Toss the chicken in the flour mixture and set aside.

Heat the butter and olive oil over high heat and then add the chicken. Brown well on both sides and then add the mushrooms, onions and shallot to the pan. As the veggies begin to soften, add the paprika and white pepper and stir to combine. Add the chicken broth and vermouth and let the alcohol cook off. Lastly, add the sour cream and cream. Turn heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to combine.

Top with parsley and serve over egg noodles or spaetzle.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Angela — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:18:06 +0000

I know that this is one of those recipes that you think of from 90s potlucks and progressive dinners. Pop it in a bread bowl and you are completely with the era. But I still go back to this recipe for the winning combination of flavors and the lack of pre-processed ingredients used to make it. This is no TGIF Frozen Spinach Dip in the freezer aisle of the grocery store. Shallots and garlic flavor the creamy dip and bring out the sweetness of the spinach and artichokes. Best of all, the ingredient list is simple enough that you probably have most of the ingredients on hand already. So if you need a calorie splurge to go with a little junk TV, this’ll do the trick. Bravo, here I come…

Recipe for

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Ingredients
4 oz. of cream cheese
1 shallot, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 c. of parmesan cheese
1 1/2 c. of shredded mozzarella
1 1/2 c. of cream
1 lb. of frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed of water
1 can of artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
1/4 c. of mayo
1/4 tsp. of salt
1/2 tsp. of black pepper
1/2 tsp. of garlic powder
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of white pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°. Reserve 1/2 c. of the mozzarella and 1/2 c. of the parmesan and set aside. Mix all other ingredients well and turn out into a buttered casserole dish. Top with the reserved mozzarella and parmesan and place in the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes until bubbly and browned on top. Serve hot with crostini, sliced baguette or tortilla chips.

Turkey Breast Roulade with Wild Rice Pear Stuffing

Angela — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:04:05 +0000

Turkey dinner has to be one of my favorite ways to get my comfort on and eat my feelings. I know, that’s probably an uber-unhealthy confession, but in this life you love what you love. And for me, I pledge my adoration to the restorative properties of turkey and stuffing.

This particular recipe, though, is extra special in that it utilizes some of my beloved ingredients in the pantry to create a flavor profile that is so refined, you’ll wonder why you hadn’t prepared turkey this way earlier. Fragrant fennel pollen turns bland turkey into a fantastic bite, wild rice adds texture and nuttiness to ordinary stuffing, and the saltiness of the pancetta “wrapping” plays off the sweetness of roasted pear. This fetching combination of comfort and refinement is well worth tucking into your recipe book for days when you are looking for a little magic on your dinner plate.

Recipe for

Turkey Breast Roulade with Wild Rice Pear Stuffing

Ingredients
1 whole turkey breast, deboned and skin removed
1 tbs. of fennel pollen
1 tsp. of black pepper (black pepper)
1 tbs. of kosher salt
2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves removed and minced
1 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 c. of olive oil

1 tbs. of olive oil
1 stalk of celery, chopped
3 shallots, chopped
1 pear, peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 stick of butter
1 tbs. of fresh sage, chopped
1 tbs. of fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1/8 tsp. of white pepper
1/2 tsp. of black pepper
4 tbs. of chopped parsley
2 c. of bread crumb stuffing
1 c. of cooked wild rice pilaf (Uncle Ben’s is fine)
1-2 c. of chicken stock

1/2 lb. of pancetta
kitchen twine
1 bulb of fennel, roughly chopped
1 pear, roughly chopped
handful of sage leaves
handful of thyme leaves
handful of rosemary leaves
1 large onion, sliced
2 c. of chicken stock
1 c. of white wine

Marinate the turkey in the fennel pollen, pepper, salt, rosemary, garlic and olive oil overnight.

The next day, begin by making your stuffing. Heat the 1 tbs. of olive oil in a skillet and add the shallot, pear and celery. Cook until translucent and then add the butter, sage, thyme, white pepper, black pepper and parsley. Once the butter has melted, add the stuffing and wild rice and mix. Add the chicken stock a little at a time until the mixture is very moist – it should be about 1 1/4 c. of liquid but eyeball it. Taste for salt and reseason if necessary. Let the stuffing cool completely.

On a clean cutting board, lay out the slices of pancetta in overlapping circles to form a base for the turkey breast (about a 2×4 circle grid). Put the deboned turkey breast on top and pile the stuffing in the center. Roll up the two sides of the turkey breast and continue to cover the turkey with overlapping circles of pancetta. The more you overlap, the easier it will be for the circles to stay together. Once the turkey is completely covered, carefully tie kitchen twine around the roast at 1 inch intervals.

Place the turkey on a rack over a roasting pan. Fill the pan with the fennel bulb, sage, thyme, rosemary, onion and chicken stock.

Roast in the oven on 325° until the pancetta is super crispy and an internal thermometer reads 165°.

Let rest for 10-15 minutes. While the turkey rests, set the roasting pan over two burners and add the wine, scraping up any browned bits. Strain the entire mixture over a large bowl, pressing down on the solids to release any liquid. Add the liquid to a saucepan and add enough chicken stock to make 2 c. of liquid. Bring to a boil and add a slurry of 2 tbs. of flour mixed with 2 tbs. of water, whisking the entire time to prevent lumps. Taste for seasoning and reseason with salt and white pepper.

Slice the turkey and serve with the pan sauce.

Simple Herb Roasted Turkey

Angela — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:43:50 +0000

Despite the fact that turkey gets a bad name in the way of ease of cooking, it’s really not all that bad. I still don’t understand why the cooking of the Thanksgiving turkey is the litmus test for a new chef’s mettle. Screw up the turkey and you’re in deep doo-doo. Craft a stunning bird with crisp skin and moist white meat, you can cook anything.

Well, in actuality, whether you can cook or not, if you follow a couple of simple steps, you can create an expertly seasoned and prepped turkey that will fool people into thinking that you are a vet in the kitchen. Take the praise. You deserve it for being wise enough to know you can fake it ’til you make it.

My two biggest tips are to start the day before by brining your turkey. Michael Chiarello has a great video on brining if you’ve never done it before, and it is well-worth watching. The process leverages osmosis to replace the unseasoned liquid in the turkey with the herby, salted water of the brine. It’s like injecting the meat, but on a whole ‘nother level. Next, and Paula Deen will certainly swoon at this one, massage that bird some kind of dirty with a compound butter. A buttered turkey is a happy one, and as your guests grin at your handiwork, it’s their response to everyone’s primal love of butter. Other than that, you don’t have to do anything special to make a delicious bird. No gimmicks or funky marinades. Just a perfect bird that was stress-free to prepare and guaranteed awesomeness.

Recipe for

Herb Roasted Turkey

Ingredients
10-12 lb. turkey (fresh if you can get one, or defrosted)
1/4 c. of kosher salt
1 bottle of white wine
2 lemons, halved
1 onion, peeled and quartered
10 bay leaves
3 tbs. of whole black peppercorns
2 sprigs of rosemary
3 sprigs of thyme
3 sprigs of sage
cold water to cover

1 stick of butter, softened
1/4 tsp. of paprika
1/2 tsp. of black pepper
1/2 tbs. of salt
1 tbs. of herbes des provence
1 stalk of celery, cut in 4 pieces
1 apple, quartered
2 c. of wine

Begin with a large stock pot big enough to hold your turkey plus some extra room. Add the salt and wine to the pot and stir well to combine, until salt is dissolved. Next add the lemons, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, rosemary, thyme and sage. Pop the turkey into the pot and add enough cool water to cover. Clear out your fridge and then pop the turkey in and let hangout overnight.

Right before you prep your turkey for roasting, mix the butter, paprika, pepper, salt and herbes des provence in a small bowl. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400°.

Take out your turkey and remove it from the brining liquid. Place it on a cutting board and dry it off with paper towels. Fish the lemons, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme and sage out of the brine and set aside. Dump the brining liquid – you can’t use it for anything else, so toss it. Back to your turkey, slip your fingers under the skin of the breast to make a pocket. Scoop up a few tablespoons of the butter and rub it between the skin and the meat. Now slip your hands down the sides of the breast to the thighs and rub some more butter in this pocket. Use the remaining butter all over the skin of the turkey, from both the front to the back. Stuff the cavity of the turkey with the reserved lemons, rosemary, thyme and sage.

Set a rack over a roasting pan, and line the pan with the celery, onions, bay leaves and apples. Put the turkey in the rack, breast-side down – this allows the fat and juices from the dark meat to keep the white meat moist. Pour two cups of white wine into the roasting pan. Put the turkey into the oven and roast for 1 hour face down.

Turn the oven down to 350°. Grab two sets of tongs or those crazy turkey transfer tongs and pull the turkey out of the oven. Flip the turkey over and return to the rack – if you are using tongs, put one in each cavity of the turkey to make it easier to flip. Return to the oven and continue to cook until both the white meat and dark meat register 165° at the thickest part and all juices run clear, about another 1 1/2 hours.

Remove turkey from oven and let rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.

Ginger Cranberry Chutney

Angela — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:31:38 +0000

I never cared much for cranberry sauce until I tried out my grandmother’s suggestion to make a recipe with fresh cranberries. Aside from the brightness of flavors and use of a whole orange for zest, the star of the show was the crystalized ginger. I was an instant convert.

Many years later, upon reading through Amanda Hesser’s NYT Cookbook, I came across a chutney recipe that seemed to contain all of my favorite fall flavors. I decided to tweak it a bit and again make crystalized ginger the star of the show. The result was a lush, bright sauce that served the perfect stand-in for that canned cranberry nonsense.

Recipe for

Ginger Cranberry Chutney

Ingredients
1 bag of fresh cranberries
2 cups of orange juice
1/4 c. of honey
1/4 c. sugar
1 seedless orange, quartered
1 granny smith apple, quartered
2 tsp. of crystalized ginger
1/4 tsp. of ground ginger
1/2 c. of fresh mango chunks (optional)
12 dried apricots

In a medium saucepot, add the cranberries, orange juice, honey and sugar. Cook over medium heat until cranberries pop, about 10 minutes. While the cranberries cook, add the orange, apple, ginger, mango and apricots to a food processor and roughly chop. Add the mixture to the cranberries after they’ve cooked for 10 minutes and continue to cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, adding a little water if the mixture gets too thick. Make sure to watch the pot and stir to prevent it from scorching on the bottom. Once finished cooking, allow the mixture to cool slightly and then transfer to a tupperware. Chill and serve.