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!

Clinton Kelly’s Texas Nachos 10.19.11

Here's the description for this recipe, found on The Chew website (Click HERE for the recipe)...

In this recipe Clinton married a bacon cheeseburger with nachos. One word comes to mind, yum!

And that's the truth!

This may be the very best thing I have made from The Chew.  Just simply loaded, these will ruin you for bar food forever!

In honor of the St Louis Cardinals and one of the best World Series I have ever seen, I found some red and white corn chips (they are actually for the Kansas City Chiefs, but the episode was devoted to baseball, and I am so much enjoying the series.... But I digress).

I followed the recipe exactly as posted on The Chew website (again, click HERE).  I used a white Monterrey Jack Queso cheese, I believe on the show, Clinton used a yellow queso cheese.  I was using some pretty hot peppers, plus the cheese was plenty spicy, so I didn't add any spices to the hamburger.

And these are now my "goto" bar food.  A great dish to make for a ball game, Super Bowl party, progressive dinner (I'm claiming the appetizer course from mow on).

I weep at the memory of how good these were!

Clinton Kelly's Beef Bourguignon 10.13.11

It's the stuff of legends.  The show did a wonderful tribute to Julia Child; leaving out a tribute to Julie Powell of the movie and blog, Julie and Julia fame.  I would be bold enough to say that since the movie came out and with the dish being featured so prominently, Boeuf Bourguignon has taken on near mythic proportions.

But, as Clinton pointed out, in reality, it's beef stew.  A really really good beef stew, but non the less, it's beef stew.

In France, the dish is considered a "peasant dish".  This means it is a dish made from the less desirable ingredients left after the land lords were paid their rent with the best.  So, easy to grow root vegetables, lesser fattier cuts of meat and what ever happens to be left becomes... Stew!

About the only luxury item would be the red wine that is used to braise the beef as it cooks.  Even that, in days of yore (in France) was a peasant drink as table wine was almost mandatory because of the condition of the drinking water.

Even in the city, this dish can be made with the table scraps left over from the rich folks tables.

Kind of de-mystifies the snooty way to say "Boeuf Bourguignon".  It's just beef stew.

The recipe Clinton uses is a classic.  Beef browned in bacon fat and the meat slow simmered (braised) in red wine.  You can see the recipe by following THIS LINK (click the blue letters)  I did make a few small changes...

First, the recipe calls for a "bouquet Garni".  That's kind of a tea bag filled with spices like bay leaves, thyme and parsley.  I used some fresh Rosemary and left out the Thyme.  As far as parsley, it is a very colorful garnish, but does not really add much to the taste.  So, these bigger spices could just be laid on top and you can easily skip the time consuming step of making the "bouquet Garni".  You just need to remember to pick these out of the dish before you serve it.

Next, the recipe calls for braising the meat on a bed of the vegetables.  This is fine and correct, but...

I think Daphne Oz missed a chance to make this a tad more healthy.  I simply doubled the amount of carrots, pearl onions and mushrooms... more veggies.  These veggies take on the flavors of the wine, the beef and the bacon and are delicious.  BUT, they also take on the color of the red wine broth.  By doubling the amount of veggies, I was able to make my bed for the beef to rest on, plus, as you can see in the photo above, I was able to add some of the veggies on the top to be steam cooked.  This adds a slightly different taste, but also allows for a more colorful presentation.  Makes the dish look more worthy of the mystique.

  
My next change was to used canned peas.  They were pre cooked, so adding them at the beginning of the 2-3 hour cook time would have made just liquid peas.  Again, that is actually fine, but you lose the unique taste of the peas and the color contrast of the peas and carrots for your presentation.  It's just prettier to add them during the last 10 minutes over the top (drain them).

BTW, in the last step of the recipe (follow THIS LINK (click the blue letters)), it is implied that you can and should stir the stew as it cooks.  Especially if you add half the veggies on the top, there is just no need and in fact you would lose the flavor, color and texture contrast that my method achieves.  Do not stir.

And finally, there is a HUGE hole in the recipe...

The broth left in the dutch oven you cook this in makes the most AMAZING gravy...

Gravy is easy... Remove the stew, leaving about 2 cups of liquid in the bottom of the dutch oven.  bring to a simmer, whisk in flour about a TBS at a time (I needed 4 TBS for my gravy) to thicken to your desired consistency

Serve with mashed potatoes (or butter noodles is good too).

AND DO NOT FORGET THE GRAVY!  Not as pretty, so you may want to serve in a gravy boat to be added individually, but the gravy is not to be missed!

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!