Saturday, November 27, 2010

What to do with leftover turkey, take 1.

Granted, there will be about 10,000 of these posts, but here's a twist I made for dinner tonight...

I had leftover brown rice.   I tossed it in a pan with a little onion, cubed turkey, apple, grapes, walnuts, and fennel.   Filling, satisfying, and a little different.  If you wanted to jazz it up a little more, you could add some white wine and/or cream to it.   It could have used a little sage, but I did not want to head out to the outside....

Friday, November 26, 2010

A gluten-free Thanksgiving...


So here we have a lovely Thanksgiving meal.   We have a dry-brined turkey (which is really not salty, just juicy and savory).  Sweet potatoes roasted with onion and apple, creamed spinach, brussels sprouts with bacon and leeks and chestnuts, and mashed potatoes.  And homemade roll.

The turkey was so easy.  Basically, I went back to the source, since dry brining seems to stem from the Zuni Cafe cookbook's treatment of chicken.   I read the recipe, then adapted it to my needs.  Since, originally, I was going to get a local turkey, then circumstances intervened, I ended up scrambling for a last-minute turkey at Whole Paycheck.   I mashed up some dried shallot with kosher salt in a mortar and pestle, added some pepper.   I washed and dried mr turkey (or ms?), using reams of paper towel...then sprinkled it evenly with salt, lightly (I think I only used about a tablespoon or so on a ten lb turkey).  Put Turkey-Lurkey on a sheet pan, covered lightly with plastic wrap and plunked it in the fridge for about 12 hours or so.    I pulled it out about an hour before cooking it to let it come to room temp, then plunked it in 350 oven until the juices ran clear....(I put half an onion and some sage in the cavity and sage under the skin too...the sage is the only thing that survived in the garden this year, if I'd had thyme, I would have added that too)

Sweet potatoes are self-explanatory.  Cut up small sweet potatoes from the farmers market with equal amounts of apple and onion.  I didn't peel anything (except the onion).  Tossed with a little melted butter and roasted in a 350 oven.  

Mashed potatoes are one thing I do differently.  I bake them before mashing.   Cut them in half, pull the potato out of its skin, mash with a little buttermilk and butter and a little cream if you are feeling decadent.  Add any salt you might need (I didn't need any).

Creamed spinach?  Chopped frozen spinach, a little cream cheese, and fresh grated nutmeg.  

Brussels sprouts should be self-explanatory.  Start with the bacon, cook the leeks in the fat, add a little water, add the halved sprouts, add the chestnuts at the last....

The rolls?  I was originally going to do two things with the mixture, but couldn't find the baking powder.  I mixed (for a total of two cups of dry) corn flour, almond flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca, and cornstarch.  Added two teaspoons of Xanthan gum, and then mixed with a teaspoon of yeast.   Added salt, an egg, and buttermilk.  Let rise, scooped onto a baking sheet, brushed with melted butter...(I almost added some shallot salt to the tops, but refrained) and baked.

And dessert?  Was pumpkin cheesecake.  No pic because all my knives were dirty, so I ate it straight out of the pan.   *insert blushing emoticon here*   It was really simple.  A can of pumpkin, about a pound and a half of cream cheese, mixed together.  One egg, ginger, cinnamon, and into the oven in a water bath.

*BURP*

Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving.