Thursday, November 24, 2005

Battle Turkey!

(Only we're making more than one dish, unlike stupid Bobby Flay, who can't make anything other than the same dish over and over again. Stupid Bobby Flay.)

8:30 am: G. awoke and immediately set the turkey to brine.
8:45 am: I awoke; we drank coffee and orange juice and read the internets (*waves to MetaFilter*)
10:30 am: I prepared the living room for Oliver's imminent arrival -- yarn looks like tennis balls and therefore must be removed.
11:25 am: I set about making pie crust.
Mark Bittman's Flaky Pie Crust

Mark writes more than a little bit about how to integrate the fat and the flour, but since we don't actually have a food processor, I did it by hand in the manner he describes, cutting the cold butter into bits and rubbing it between my fingers. I think this would have been easier if I weren't making three batches and trying to make them all at once.

1 1/8 c flour, plus some for dusting working surface
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
8 tbsp (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
about 3 tbsp ice water, plus more if necessary.

Combine flour, salt, and sugar; pulse food processor or stir with a fork or spoon a few times.
Add butter and turn on machine or manually combine until it is about the texture of cornmeal.
Put it in a bowl and sprinkle 3 tablespoons of water over it. Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until it forms a ball, adding water if the mixture seems dry. Form it into a ball with your hands, wrap it in plastic, flatten into a small disc, and freeze it for 10 minutes (or refrigerate for 30).
Roll the dough out to fit your pie pan, sprinkling both sides, as well as your work surface, with flour.
If it is sticky at the start, add flour liberally; if it becomes sticky after rolling for a few minutes, put it back in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Roll from the center out, turning and flipping the dough regularly.
Fold in half and then in quarters to transfer to the pie pan; press it firmly to the bottom, sides, and junction of bottom and sides of pan. Trim the excess to about 1/2 inch all around, then tuck it under itself. Prebake or bake as the pie recipe directs.

He talks a lot about prebaking the crust, but the mincemeat pie has a lattice top and the pumpkin pie didn't get made this evening, so neither was prebaked.


12:00 pm: As the pie crusts rested in the freezer, I made Mom's easy standard cranberry relish.
Mom's cranberry relish
Get a mess of cranberries. Pick out the bad ones.
Get an orange. Wash it, remove the stem and the sticker, and cut it up.
Put the whole lot in the food processor and grind it up. (In our case, this was in batches, as our food processor is actually an attachment on our immersion blender, and the bowl is very small.)
Sugar to taste.


12:30 pm: I dumped the mincemeat filling from last night into the pie crust, cut strips for the lattice, and wove them. That was fun. Brushed the top with egg and sprinkled sugar, per the Epicurious recipe. I put the pie in the oven. G. talked to his mom.

12:30 pm - 1:15 pm: G. prepared various goodies to go inside the turkey and under the turkey.
Inside a turkey
A bunch of garlics, whole, unpeeled, but crushed
An apple, cut into chunks
A lemon, cut into chunks
A few ribs of celery, chopped in big bits
Several sprigs of rosemary from the bush in the backyard
An onion, chopped up.

Inside a turkey's skin
Grind up fresh rosemary, fresh minced garlic, salt, pepper, and some olive oil.
Cut little holes in the skin of the breast, kind of above where the drumstick joins the body. Stick a finger in and wiggle it around to separate the skin from the muscle. Stick some of the rosemary-garlic paste in the hole and smear it around.

Underneath a turkey
Chop up several yellow and/or red potatoes, as well as several carrots. Add salt and pepper.


1:15 pm: We checked on the pie and it was all juicy and browned. Took it out.
1:30 pm: After final turkey preparations, it went in, stuffed but without the potatoes and carrots underneath, at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. Don't forget to put some broth or water in the roasting pan, and keep checking on it to make sure it doesn't all evaporate.
2:00 pm: Potatoes and carrots were added to the roasting pan under the turkey, and the temperature was turned down to 350. Thereafter, we checked it every 45 minutes or so.
2:30 pm: STUFFING!!
Stuffing with things Lauren likes in it.
Several mushrooms, sliced somewhat thickly
Several ribs of celery, sliced somewhat thinly
2 large-ish shallots
Many cloves of garlic -- like 5 maybe?
However many pine nuts we had in the cupboard
A bunch of parsley, chopped
Some butter
1 bag of Grand Central Bakery stuffing
Some thyme
Broth

Toast pine nuts in a dry pan over low-medium heat until browned.
Sauté shallots and celery in some butter until soft.
Add mushrooms, herbs and pine nuts and cook until mushrooms look done-ish, stirring
Remove from heat
Add stuffing and 2 c broth, and stir well to get all bread crumbs
Dot with butter (I put skinny pats all over) and set aside to wait for the oven to be free. It will bake for 30 minutes at 350.


4:00 pm: The turkey came out of the oven; the stuffing went in. The turkey waited. The potatoes and carrots came out from the roasting pan so they didn't absorb the lovely juice as the turkey dripped.
4:15 pm: The turkey had finished sitting, so it went to another plate. The drippings were transferred to a pan to become gravy. Green beans went on to sauté with a bit of garlic and lemon juice and white wine. G. opened the can of store-bought delicious cranberry sauce, and I remembered the Mom's relish in the fridge.
4:30 pm: I took out the stuffing and promptly burned four fingers on my right hand trying to transfer it to a serving bowl. But I remembered to turn off the oven!
4:35 pm: We sat down to eat. Yum yum!
5:15 pm: It was all over, seconds and all. We set about cleaning up, which was remarkably easy.
5:40 pm: While breaking down the turkey for storage, we discovered the giblets were actually in the turkey, though we'd checked and checked.
6:00 pm: After surprisingly minimal fridge rearranging, the whole deal was put away
and we sat down to mincemeat pie with just-whipped whipped cream and a glass of wine.

It was a good day. I want to cook all day more often.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Turkey!
Mincemeat!

When did you abandon your vegetarian ways, Lauren?

Soon I bet you will be driving!

7:31 AM  
Blogger lauren said...

You didn't read the part about how my mincemeat has no meat nor suet, I guess.

I abandoned my vegetarian ways about a year ago, actually. Maybe 10 months -- I'd been eating fish for a while so I just kind of eased into it, I guess.
I only eat completely organic free-range blah blah meat though, you might be happy to know ...

I will be driving soon, yes. We are buying a car tomorrow!

11:21 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home