Killer Turkey – The Best Bird (Yet)

For year’s we did the ‘rub some butter on it and roast it upright the whole time’ routine and the turkey was good, but not great. Most people gravitated towards the dark meat because the white meat was fairly dry by the time the dark meat was done. Our first deviation was to brine the turkey. The first round was a disaster – TOO SALTY. That brine was overnight with 2 cups of salt per gallon of water. We use a much less aggressive brining cycle now and it does help to keep the whole bird moist. The next improvement was to turn the bird while roasting, a tip picked up from James Beard. Last year we injected the turkey with a seasoned stock/wine mixture and that was the best yet. Here’s the latest evolution.

Brine (for a 20 lb. turkey)
2 gallons water
2 cups kosher salt
3 bay leaves
1 Tbls. Lightly crushed peppercorns
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 tsp. lightly crushed coriander seed
Peel of 1 lemon
Peel of 1 orange

For Injection liquid
½ cup of low salt chicken or turkey stock
½ cup of unoaked white wine like Riesling
3 Tbl. melted butter
½ tsp. crushed dried thyme
½ tsp. coriander powder
½ tsp. fennel powder or pollen

For Turkey
20 lb. turkey
1 lemon
1 onion stuck with 2 whole cloves
Salt & Pepper
4 Tbls. softened butter

Brining: Late the night before or early the day of, mix the salt and water together until all of the salt is dissolved. You can use a brining bag or a double-bagged garbage bag to hold the water and turkey. Add the bay leaves, peppercorns, garlic, coriander seed and lemon & orange peel. Submerge the turkey in the brine and tie the bag closed. I place mine in a hotel tub in case the bags leak. Any large bowl will do. Let the turkey soak for 4 – 8 hours. I usually start early in the day and do 4-5 hours.

Preparation: Heat the oven to 400 F. Remove the turkey from the brine, rinse with cool, fresh water and pat dry. Cut the lemon in half and rub the interior of the turkey with the lemon, squeezing lightly to extract some juice. Drop the cut lemon in the cavity with the clove-studded onion. I add the neck and giblets, too, but you don’t have to. Salt and pepper the inside. Seal the cavity with a turkey lacer or trussing needle. Tie the legs together with butcher’s twine or silicone bands. Mix the injection liquid ingredients together. Use a kitchen syringe to inject the liquid into the major muscles of the bird concentrating on the breast meat. Salt and pepper the outside and rub the softened butter over the turkey, again concentrating on the breast meat.

Place a roasting rack in a fairly shallow roasting pan (too deep a pan inhibits air flow around the turkey) and place the turkey breast side DOWN on the rack. Roast for 30 minutes at 400 F and then reduce the temperature to 350 F and roast another 30 minutes.

Turn the turkey on one side, baste with pan juices and continue roasting for 1 hour, basting again 30 minutes in. Flip the turkey to its other side, baste and roast another hour, basting again 30 minutes in. Turn the turkey on its back, breast side up, and roast until done about 20-30 minutes. The target internal temperature in the leg/thigh is 170 F.
Remove from the oven, tent with foil and let rest 15-20 minutes before carving. The pan juices make a great gravy, but that’s a different recipe.

Note: The cooking time is about 10 minutes per pound so you can adjust accordingly, e.g. for a 14 lb. turkey you should roast a total of 2 hours, 20 minutes divided as 40 minutes breast down, 40 minutes one side, 40 minutes the other side and 20 minutes breast up.

Tofu Triangles with Spicy Onion Sauce

4 Servings

1 (14 oz) package firm tofu, drained and cut into 6 (3/4 inch-thick) slices
1/4 cup chickpea flour or all-purpose flour
2 tsp canola oil
2 cups thinly sliced onion, separated into rings (about 1 large onion)
1 Tbs curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 – 1 tsp ground cumin

Texas Sheet Cake

Serves 20

CAKE:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

Strawberry-Strawberry Cheesecake

12 servings

CRUST
1 10-ounce pkg shortbread cookies (such as Lorna Doone)
5 Tbs. butter, melted

FILLING
10 ounces fresh or frozen unsweetened strawberries, thawed, juices reserved
3 8-ounce pkgs cream cheese, room temperature

Stilton Cheesecake with Rhubarb Compote

Chef Michael Noble caramelizes the top with a blowtorch, but we think the
cheesecake is also delicious without the crackly crust.

Serves 8 to 10

For shortbread crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar

Spring Vegetable Lasagna

6 servings

Cooking spray
8 cups torn Swiss chard (~ ¾ lb)
2 cups chopped yellow squash
1 ½ cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup shredded carrot

Spinach-Cheese Bake

Our kids favorite spinach recipe! Great when paired with fresh fruit salad and mini muffins.

Makes 6-8 servings

1 Tbs butter, melted
Cooking spray
12 oz fresh baby spinach, or cleaned bunch spinach loosely chopped
1 ¼ cup (5 oz) shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
¾ cup (3 oz) shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

Spiced Pecans

Makes 1 ½ cups

2 Tbs olive oil
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp curry powder
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs honey
1 ½ cups pecan halves

Sausage and Bean Soup

4 servings

2 tbs olive oil
12 oz kielbasa sausage, sliced (may substitute more healthy turkey/chicken herbed sausages)
1 large onion, chopped
5 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 large bunch kale, stems cut away, thinly sliced
2 (15 oz) cans small white beans, drained
1 1/2 cup white wine

Power Waffles

Serves 6

2 1/2 cups warm light soy milk* or nonfat milk (105°F. to 115°F.)
1/4 cup minced crystallized ginger
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup buckwheat flour**