Citrus Roasted Turkey

Happy New Year everyone!  Last blog post of the year.  I made this really yummy turkey for my Holiday Party.  It came out nice and moist, and got positive reviews by my friends.  

 

Citrus Turkey

• 1 (12-pound) turkey, with giblets
• 1 stick = 1/2 cup butter softened at room temperature – leave it out the day prior
• 2 lemons, zested
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 4 basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning
• ½ teaspoon of dried tarragon
• 1 – 2 tablespoons coarse salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 – 3 oranges, halved

·         Take the turkey out of the refrigerator and leave it to come to room temperature, about 30 minutes prior to preparing and cooking. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

·         Remove the rosemary from the sprig, and dice.  Also finely chop the basil.  Zest the lemons if you have not done so already.

·         In a mixing bowl, add the 1/2 cup softened butter, lemon zest, fresh chopped herbs, and dried seasoning. Halve the lemons and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon half into the butter. Stir to combine. Season with salt and crushed pepper.

·         Prepare the turkey: Remove the inner packet of giblets from the cavity and set aside.

·         This is horrifying but had to be done.  Run your fingers and hand underneath the skin of the breast and separate the skin and the flesh. From the skin under the breast,   also go to the sides of the bird to the legs/ dark meat, and separate the skin and meat there as well with your fingers. 

·         Using your fingers, scoop up some of the lemon-chive butter and push the butter under the skin, rubbing the meat and spreading the herbed butter. Do the same thing on the legs. Continue until all the butter is as even distributed as possible.  Pat the outside of the bird and squish the butter with fingers and hand to distribute. If there are any leftovers, take the rest of the butter and rub it all over the outside of the bird. Sprinkle the bird with salt and pepper.

·         Stuff the cavity with Citrus:  Squeeze the other lemon on the inside of the turkey cavity. Also give the orange a squeeze into the cavity as you stuff it. Insert as much of the citrus as you can. Give each piece a little squeeze as you insert them to get the juices distributed, plus the juices steam and help cook the turkey from the inside. 

·         Tuck the wings under the turkey.  If the turkey legs are not already tied together, go ahead and do that as well with twine. 

·         Cover up most of the bird – not the cavity – with aluminum foil

·         Place the turkey in the 450 degree preheated oven and cook for 1 hour. (most people say to only do this for 20-30 minutes, but I did an hour and it turned out fine).

·         Turn down the heat to 350 degrees F and roast for about another 2 hours, until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 175 to 180 degrees F.  I started measuring the temperature after the inserted turkey thermometer popped out of the turkey.  The general rule is to cook a turkey about 15 minutes per pound. My bird did take longer because I basted a few times and my turkey was still cold when it went in… total cook time for my 11.5 pound bird was 4 hours.

·         Remove the foil from the bird during the last hour and a half of cooking

·         Remove the bird from the pan onto a carving board or platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Allow it to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

Peanutbutter and Toffee Chip Cookies

I did 4 modifications to a recipe found on the package of chips.  It all ended up working out nicely and these did bake up beautifully. 

Peanut butter and Toffee Chip Cookies

Wet Ingredients:

1 and 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

½ cup shortening

¾ cup smooth peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

Dry ingredients:

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ tsp nutmeg

2 cups flour

1 pack of heath bar toffee chips divided.  Package contains about 1 and 1/3 cups.  Reserve 1 cup for the batter, 1/3 cup for the topping.  This pack had the chocolate and toffee.  I have also hand chopped toffee bars before if the pack is not available. 

Parchment paper

Preheat oven to 375

Cream / mix together all wet ingredients until smooth.   Then Add the dry ingredients: baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.  Add the flour in one cup at a time.  Mix until smooth.  Then add the toffee chips.  Place the 1/3 cup of toffee chips in a bowl or a small plate. With a rounded teaspoon (or cookie dough scoop), scoop dough.   Take the dough and make a smooth ball in your hands.  Then gently press the dough into the extra toffee chips, on one side only.  Place the dough extra chips side up on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.  Bake for 8 minutes.  Do not overbake.  Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, around 4 minutes or 5.  Then move the cookie using a metal spatula from the cookie sheet to a cooling rack. 

Nuts Over Chocolate Chip Cookies

Nuts over Chocolate Chip Cookies

This cookie was a pretty big hit at work!

Frances, I hope you can make this recipe some time! This one goes out to you =)






Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla

Dry Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Filling:
1 ¼ cup pecan halves, chopped
1 cup semi sweet chips (I used Nestle)
1 cup bittersweet chips (I used Ghirardelli)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

I like to use a kitchenaid stand mixer. If you are using a mixer, use that bowl with the wet ingredients first. But you can also do this by hand. Beat the eggs and butter together, than add the sugars and vanilla. Beat until fluffy and fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Then slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, mixing and fully incorporating each time. Take the pecan halves and place them on a cutting board. Using a knife, chop the pecans, running your knife through them several times. It doesn’t have to be fine, but a thorough chopping so there are still chunks. Mix this into the dough thoroughly, then add the chocolate chips. I prefer to make slightly bigger cookies, and use a heaping tablespoon cookie scoop. I also use parchment paper over my cookie sheets to make sure they don't stick, plus the backs of the cookies come out better anyway. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Cool for at least two minutes on the cookie tray, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely. Makes about 4 dozen medium sized cookies.

This dough freezes well. It works really well if you make balls of dough, then you can just place the cookie dough balls in a freezer bag or tupperwear and store them in the freezer. Then when you are ready, place the frozen cookie dough ball on your cookie sheet and bake right into the oven. Just increase the bake time by a minute or two.

Hail Caesar Salad

Editors note: The salad I made this weekend was for two people for a generous salad, or 3 people for a side salad with one head of romaine lettuce. We had extra dressing, but the croutons were a perfect amount for two people using the demi batard. So if you want to make a bigger salad to serve more, I would say use more lettuce, and use a bigger baguette.

I also did not take any pictures of the salad, but I thought it came out really good so I wanted to write the recipe out anyway.

Caesar Salad Dressing, serves 4

2 anchovies from a can
juice of ½ a lemon
1/3 cup mayo
1 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoons of canola oil
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar (red wine vinegar would work as well)
Dash of salt and pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

Place all ingredients in a blender, and blend until incorporated.

Fresh Croutons, serves 2-3

1 demi batard or mini baguette bread
3 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp of Italian seasoning blend
1 minced clove of garlic

In a very small bowl place the EVOO, Italian seasoning, and garlic in a bowl. Mix with a fork. Slice the bread in half lengthwise. Drizzle or brush the olive oil mixture on the inside part of the cut bread. Toast whole face up in either a toaster oven or oven at 400 degrees until golden around the edges. While still hot, use a knife to cut into small bite sized pieces.

1 head of romaine for 2 people, 2 heads for 4.

If you don’t use bagged prewashed lettuce, cut, wash, and dry romaine. Place the lettuce into a salad bowl. Pour the dressing on top and toss to coat. Add an additional ¼ cup of shredded parmesan cheese, and top with the croutons. Toss lightly and serve immediately.

Are You Nuts? Triple Chip Cookies

I'm back to blogging! Sorry I've been away. It's not that I haven't been cooking, I just didn't think I came up with a recipe that was worth writting about. Actually I have, I just got lazy. But this recipe I just had to write about. This isn’t the greatest cookie ever, but this is probably the greatest cookie I’ve come up with. The cookies didn’t ooze out while they were baking in the oven. The texture came out great with that slight crackle, and they really baked up beautifully. I’ve made some modification with my basic dough by adding ¼ cup each of sugar, plus an additional rising ingredient. With three different kinds of chips - chopped toffee, bittersweet, and semi sweet chips, plus chopped pecans... it’s just a party in your mouth.

1 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cream of tartar
3 cups flour
2 cups mix of chips = ½ cup or so of heath bar, 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli), ½ cup of semi sweet chocolate chips (Nestle)
1 cup raw pecan halves, chopped.

pre head oven to 375 degrees.

I took a two cup liquid measuring cup and filled it up with the heathbar - I used mini heath bars and chopped them up and they equalled a half a cup. A cup of the bittersweet chips ( I use the Costco bag of Ghirardelli, it rocks), and topped it off with a half cup of semi sweet chips (Nestle bag, also from Costco). Set aside.

Cream butter and sugars together until smooth, and eggs and beat until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Mix Well. Add flour one cup at a time and beat in until fully incorporated. Then add the chips. I measured out one cup of pecan halves, chopped them with a knife a few times. Not too fine, I still wanted there to be nut pieces in there. Then added that in as well, nut dust and all. Mix. Scoop with a cookie scoop or rounded teaspoon on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 12 fit on a sheet nicely without any sticking after baking.

bake 9-11 minutes at 375 degrees. 10 minutes worked out perfectly for my oven.