Clinton Kelly Lemon Sage Turkey 11.17.11

Welcome to a photo essay... turkey 101 if you will...

Today was "Talkin' Turkey" Day.  LOTS of great tips.  Pretty much, this is Clinton Kelly's contribution.  Nothing complicated, and sweet, tender JUICY and amazing!

Start with the bird.  I made a smaller bird.  this was actually the second Thanksgiving dinner I made (long story).  This night, it was just my wife, myself and some really good friends who also felt a bit left out.  All of us had the actual T-day meal somewhere else... WE WANTED MORE!

So, a 10 plus pound bird for less than $8... Why don't we make turkey more often???

Time to dress the bird...

Remove the oddities... Some weird plastic handle???, plus the neck is in the cavity, while the heart, lizzard and gizzard are in a bag in the neck.

And REMOVE that silly little pop up thing.  The bird is done when it reaches 160 degrees.  Every degree above and it starts to fry out.  The pop up thingy is set at 170 degrees.

Just pull it out.

And here it is in the garbage... It's junk.  Buy an instant read remote thermometer so you can monitor the temperature.

OK, time to season the bird.  I used some of what Clinton advised (Click HERE for his recipe).  But I used a lot of my own.  I made a Cajun spiced butter (2 sticks of butter, softened to room temperature Plus I added 3 TBS of my own Cajun Mix I call, "Big Easy in a Jar".  You can of course sub for a store bought mix if you prefer.

OK, Clinton just slathered his seasoned butter over the skin.  I prefer to loosen the skin between the meat and the skin and then insert some of the butter inside the skin.

Shove in as deep as you can, being careful not to puncture the skin.

I do about half and half, half outside the skin and half inside.

And now, time to add the lemon.  I also added some garlic in the lemon to add some more aromatics to the dish.  Just puncture the lemon a few times, cut the garlic in half and push the garlic pieces into the slits.  As the lemons cook, they release their steam and the garlic aromas penetrate!

Put the whole lemons into the cavity.  NO STUFFING.  Stuffing makes the birds cook unevenly and you lose the aromatics.

I have an electric turkey roaster that works great.  frees up my oven for the side dishes and desserts.  Set it at 325 degrees.

My bird was done in about an hour 45 minutes (but remember it was small).  I had a remote thermometer in the bird.  i pulled him out at 160 degrees.  I did check in several spots, and indeed... 160!

Let the bird rest for an hour.  This is VERY IMPORTANT.  This time allows the juices to reabsorb into the meat.  When I slice this guy, none of that running juice.

So now, let's talk about carving.  Do the carving at the cutting board, NOT at the table.

First bend the legs down and separate at the thigh.

You can probably just give a twist and they pull off.  You may need to cut at the joint, but pull that dark meat off whole.

 See...

And now, pull off the breast meat whole.

Be sure to save the bones... TURKEY STOCK!!!

Slice the breast meat against the grain, big slices.

And I have a large platter that I had 4 servings of Potatoes, 4 servings of Chorizo Sausage Dressing and some of the white meat, some of the dark.  And you can spy my version of the classic Green bean casserole on the side... Sorry about the lighting, but I was out of sunlight!

Happy Eating indeed!

Here's my Big Easy in a Jar recipe...

BTW, I make my own Cajun mix I call, "Big easy in a Jar".  You will be seeing this ALOT.  It's a fast way to add that special heat to any dish.  I make about 2 cups worth a month and bit by bot, it is gone!  Tastes great on eggs to chicken and anything in between!

1 part Garlic Flakes

1 part Onion Flakes

1 part Dried Thyme Leaves

1 part Dried Oregano

1 part Black Pepper

1 part White Pepper

1 part Lemon Pepper

1/2 (one half) part Cayenne Pepper

1/2 part Ground Bay Leaves

4 parts Sweet Paprika

This is a great little spice to have around. Add brown sugar (1/2 the amount of spice mix) to make a BBQ rub. And add a little to a soup to zing it up or even to a gravy!

Carla Hall's Biscuits and Gravy 11.1.11

I am still recovering from my weekend cook session... 3 racks of ribs, 2 HUGE Pork shoulders for pulled pork and a wide array of side dishes.  Click HERE to see the post with photos of all the fun.

And by recovering, I actually mean I have a refrigerator filled with leftover and I am under very specific orders from the boss (my wife) to NOT buy any new ingredients until I make a serious dent in the food we have already cooked.

SO, in fairness to Carla's recipe, I made her biscuits exactly as she showed on the episode.  And indeed, they came out perfect.

The gravy however is nothing like what she showed on the episode... well, a little.

She used Turkey sausage... I used left over pulled pork (There will be peace with the boss tonight).

She used Butternut Squash... I used a small onion

She used Sage and Chili Flakes... I used some of my fresh made Cajun Spice mix I call "Big Easy In a Jar".  Has a few savory spices as well as plenty of heat...

BTW, I make my own Cajun mix I call, "Big easy in a Jar".  You will be seeing this ALOT.  It's a fast way to add that special heat to any dish.  I make about 2 cups worth a month and bit by bot, it is gone!  Tastes great on eggs to chicken and anything in between!

1 part Garlic Flakes

1 part Onion Flakes

1 part Dried Thyme Leaves

1 part Dried Oregano

1 part Black Pepper

1 part White Pepper

1 part Lemon Pepper

1/2 (one half) part Cayenne Pepper

1/2 part Ground Bay Leaves

4 parts Sweet Paprika

This is a great little spice to have around. Add brown sugar (1/2 the amount of spice mix) to make a BBQ rub. And add a little to a soup to zing it up or even to a gravy!

OK, I will admit that my gravy and Carla's are not terribly close, but the techniques and ideas are all the same.

Mine is just a little bit more redneck than hers.

Here's what I did...

Actually, I made this for my breakfast this morning.  So, it was just me.  I actually divided the recipe by 4 to come up with a single serving.  To see Carla's biscuit recipe, including her Butternut Squash Gravy with Sage, click the blue letters.

Here's my single serve Biscuits and Redneck Gravy...

pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees (HOT)

1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 TBS Butter (COLD)
1/2 TBS Shortening
2 TBS Greek Yogurt
3 TBS Milk

I used my food processor.  Combine the dry ingredients, pulse
add the butter and shortening, pulse
add the milk and yogurt, pulse

Now, on the show, Carla gave a great talk on the texture of the dough.  What not to do (These are drop biscuits, no rolling, no kneading, no punching of the dough).  If you are not an expert biscuit maker, please take a look at the video of the episode (click HERE).

This made 6 biscuits (Drop a heaping TBS on a silipat or a sheet of parchment paper)  Bake in the oven for about 6 minutes.

DELICIOUS, but wait till you get redneck on this...

For the gravy...

1/2 cup left over pulled pork, minced
1 small onion, diced medium
1 TBS Olive Oil
2 TBS Flour
1 tsp "Big easy in a Jar"
1/2 cup Milk

In a saute pan over medium high heat, heat the oil and then add the onions.  Saute for about 5 minutes, until they are clear and soft.  Add the Pork and heat for another couple of minutes

Add the spice, add the milk and then the flour.  Whisk together.  if you need to thicken the gravy, add a bit more flour as needed.

Salt and pepper to taste and just as delicious as you can imagine!

Clinton Kelly's Romaine Heart BLT 9.26.11

Welcome to blog post number one, from the first day of the CHEW, ABC's new daytime all food all the time talk show.

Only the first day.  I have some opinions, most strongly that the show is too full.  Too many people, cooking too many recipes, not enough details to really stick out.  Also, too easy.  I am fine with 5 minute meals, 5 ingredient meals, etc.  But so far, the entire show was filled with these quickie dishes.  With the exception of Mario Batali's very quickie take on homemade pizza.  4 minutes, including a homemade crust recipe just does not cover it.

But, first day, way too early.  Time will tell and I am sure we are just getting the early version of a terrific idea.

I decided to make Clinton Kelly's Romaine Heart BLT.  Clinton is the "Entertainment" guy on the show.  His specialty is parties and style.  He chose the first show as an opportunity to showcase some party appetizers.  His theme was to deconstruct big main courses and turn them into tiny appetizers.

Like a Classic Bacon Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich...

Big change from the classic sandwich is no bread.  It's a lettuce wrap.

You can view the ABC The Chew Homepage official recipe and photo by clicking HERE.

Under the categories of "Who am I to make such changes", I made a few changes...

I didn't do anything terribly special to change.  I made mine two bites, so I used a little larger piece of bacon and two cherry tomato halves instead of one.

I also caramelized the tomato halves.  Very easy to do and by heating these you bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes.  Very simple, heat a saute pan over medium heat.  Add just a single TBS of Canola Oil (Best not to use Extra Virgin Olive oil as it can burn at higher temperatures).  Do that chef flip thing to coat the tomato halves.  Cover and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes.  Double check them every few minutes to be sure they are not burning.  You do not want to discolor them with char marks.  I did this the same time I was making the bacon, so I do not think it added any real time to the recipe... just an extra dish.

I also changed the recommended store bought spicy Mayonnaise with my own home made Cajun Garlic Aioli.  This sounds so incredibly special and exotic.  Honestly, it is a matter of a few squirts of a couple of liquids, a quick and easy peel of a few garlic cloves and a whirl in the blender or handy dandy mini chopper.  Once you stop taking the time to measure, you can whip this up in 2 minutes.  Again, while the bacon was frying, I just added, whirled and it was done!

Here's the recipe...

1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1 TBS Dijon Mustard
4 cloves garlic
Zest of 1 Lemon
Juice of 1 Lemon
2-5 Basil Leaves
1 tsp "Big easy in a Jar", or any Cajun Spice mix

Add everything in a blender, whirl until garlic has been minced and the Aioli is the constancy of the original mayo.

BTW, I make my own Cajun mix I call, "Big easy in a Jar".  You will be seeing this ALOT.  It's a fast way to add that special heat to any dish.  I make about 2 cups worth a month and bit by bot, it is gone!  Tastes great on eggs to chicken and anything in between!

1 part Garlic Flakes

1 part Onion Flakes

1 part Dried Thyme Leaves

1 part Dried Oregano

1 part Black Pepper

1 part White Pepper

1 part Lemon Pepper

1/2 (one half) part Cayenne Pepper

1/2 part Ground Bay Leaves

4 parts Sweet Paprika

This is a great little spice to have around. Add brown sugar (1/2 the amount of spice mix) to make a BBQ rub. And add a little to a soup to zing it up.

Again, feel free to substitute a commercial brand of spicy Mayo or if you make the Aioli, you can sub a store bought spice mix.

 And that's what I made from day 1!