Sunday 23 November 2014

Thanksgiving from our home to yours :)

Thanksgiving

From our Home to Yours....



                                            

Victoria’s Best Turkey Brine & Cooking Recipe :)
Ingredient List: (I do this by site but to start follow portions below and then create to your taste)


·         8-10 Carrots
·         3 - Onions (white)
·         8-10 Celery Stalks
·         2 - Oranges
·         2 - Red Apples
·         1 1/2 cups - Brown sugar
·         5-6 Cinnamon Sticks
·         10 - 15 Whole Cloves
·         Handful Peppercorns
·         5-7 - Fresh Rosemary twigs 
·         5 - 7 Fresh Thyme twigs
·         10 -12 Fresh Tarragon leaves
·         15 - 20 Fresh Sage
·         1 - 2 cups Garlic Powder
·         1 Stick of Butter
·         1 - 2 cups of Molasses
·         1/2 - 1 Cup of Grape seed oil or Olive oil
·         1 - Deep baking pan or foil pan
·         12 - 16lb Turkey (any size will do just adjust ingredients to size of turkey)

Brine Turkey (for 24-48 hours)
·         Use 5 gallon bucket, line with garbage bag or 2 heavy plastic bags
·         Make your own vegetable stock – boil 2 gallons of water with 4 carrots, 1 1/2 onions, 5 celery sticks, 4 rosemary, 4 thyme, 7 sage, 10 tarragon, 7 cloves and 1/2 of a handful of peppercorns.
·         Cool off vegetable stock
·         Fill bucket 1/3 off the way with ice
·         Place turkey on top of ice
·         Pour ½ to 1 cup of molasses on the turkey – lightly rub on the turkey
·         Sprinkle ½ to 1 cup of garlic powder on turkey
·         Sprinkle 1 cup of brown sugar on top and lightly rub
·         Place a couple extra 2 Rosemary, 2 Thyme, 4 Sage, 4 Tarragon, 1 Celery, 1 Carrots and 1/2 Onions fresh in the bucket.
·         Fill the bucket with the vegetable stock (toss veggies and herbs that have been cooking in stock
·         Brine for 24 to 48 hours ß if it is below 30 outside you can leave the turkey in your garage, do not leave outside in yard or front lawn as it can attract winter animals :)

Preheat oven to 400°

Prepare turkey for oven
·         In the deep baking pan or foil pan layer (to cover 1-2 inches from the bottom of the pan) sliced (circular) carrots, onions, celery, 1 red apple, 1 orange (cut peel and place inside turkey), and cinnamon sticks (they do not need to be cut).
·         Loosely layer most of remainder of rosemary, thyme, tarragon, sage, peppercorns, and cloves.
·         Take turkey out of the brine and wash off (it will look a bit brown but that is exactly how it should look) <--keep a few pieces for the cavity
·         Place turkey (breast side up) atop of the freshly cut veggies and herbs make sure wings are tucked in on the sides
·         Make incisions throughout the turkey and place pieces of cut butter inside
·         Fill cavity with 2 cinnamon sticks, 2 tbsp. garlic powder or 2 cloves of garlic, 2 thyme, 4 sage, 1/2 sliced apple, 1 sliced orange (squish in hand and drip juice inside and on top of turkey and on surrounding veggies and herbs, use orange peel and place inside turkey, 1 carrots, 1 celery, 1/2 onion, whole cloves, peppercorns, tarragon, rosemary.
·         Drizzle (sparingly) with choice of oil (grape or olive)
·         Sprinkle garlic powder on top of turkey
·         Sprinkle brown sugar and a bit of molasses on top of skin
·         Add about a cup (add more if needed) of water to the bottom of the pan
·         Place in a few cut pieces of butter on the veggies

Once oven is heated place pan in the oven on the bottom of the rack (do not cover turkey) for 20-30 minutes. You should see the turkey breast and skin golden brown with a few patches of black. This is perfect!

Lower the heat to 350° pull the turkey out, raise the rack up 1 to 2 slots depending on the stove size and cover the turkey with foil for 2 ½ to 3 hours or until the red button pops (which always indicates that the turkey is done).

Don’t forget to baste turkey every 30-45 mintues to keep it juicy!
Once done, baste again and let the turkey sit for about 15 mintues.

Once slightly cooled, plate and begin to cut, serve and enjoy!!! 




Glazed Parsnips and Carrots:

·         1 ½ - 2 - Bags of Baby Carrots (cut in half)
·         3 Large Parsnips (cut in strips – try to keep similar size to carrots so they may cook evenly)
·         2-3 Tbsp of Butter
·         ½ to 1 cup of Vegetable broth
·         Dash of Paprika
·         ½ to 1 tsp of Cinnamon
·         Pepper to taste
·         ¼ Cup of Parsley (finely chopped)
·         1/8 cup of honey
·         2 - 3 cloves



Take a sauce pan and put over medium heat. Melt butter and add carrots and parsnips flipping occasional (2 -3 minutes). Add extra butter if needed to coat veggies. Slowly add vegetable broth. Sprinkle paprika, cinnamon, pepper and cloves. Let cook for another 3 – 5 minutes.  Now add 1/8 cup of honey.  Veggies should be slightly softened. Remove from heat – let cool for 2 minutes. Plate in serving dish then sprinkle fresh parsley atop and mix. Serve immediately and Enjoy! J

                                        



Cranberry Sauce

·         1 ½ bags of fresh cranberries
·         1 Naval Orange (zest and juice)
·         1 to 1 ½ cups of sugar
·         1 tsp of salt
·         1 cinnamon stick
·         ½ tsp allspice
·         ¼ to 1/3 cup of water


In a medium pot, combine the cranberries, sugar, salt and water. Stir to blend together. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to a simmer and add the cinnamon stick and allspice. Continuing stirring occasionally and allow to simmer for an additional 5 to 8 minutes. Some of the cranberries will burst and some will remain whole. Add in the orange juice and zest, stir and allow to cool before serving.


Simple Appetizer that will win over your guests:

     

Warm Apricot Brie 



·         President’s Brie (plain)
·         Pillsbury Dough (croissant roll)
·         Jar of Apricot Jelly
·         1 Entire package of Carr’s Water Cracker/Biscuits
·         1 Egg (room temperature)
·         1 tin cookie tray
·         Pam Olive Oil Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 400°

Clean cookie tray, place on counter and spray with pam olive oil cooking spray. Open Pillsbury Dough and roll onto tray.  Open brie and unwrap from white paper (you will see a white film on cheese – leave this on) and place in center openly rolled dough. Take outer pieces and cover brie. Make sure to pinch at top so that dough stays in place and covers all of brie.  Beat egg and “paint” on dough.  Place tray in oven for 8 -12 minutes or until dough is golden brown (make sure its long enough for cheese to soften/melt on the inside). Let cool for 1 minute. Plate on holiday platter and take jar of apricot jelly to cover entire dough. Line package of crackers around dough and serve immediately.