Clementine, Avocado and Pistacchio Salad

 Clementine, Avocado and Pistacchio Salad

Easy enough for everyday dinner; tasty enough for a holiday dinner. Clementines and avocados are in season, beautiful, and delicious. Pistachios are always welcome, and a delicious, nutritious, addition to any salad. Whip up a simple tangerine pomegranate vinaigrette, and you've got yourself  one heck of a delicious salad.

Let's start here, with the base.

 Lettuce. I like a blend of butter lettuce and arugula. But, you can use whatever you have on hand. Spring mix, spinach, etc. This is a salad that does well when the lettuce doesn't overpower the other ingredients. Softer lettuces work well.  Lay down a bunch of clean, dry greens.

Zest 2 clementines into a prep bowl. Just the orange part, please. White = pith. Pith = sour; no bueno, no good, makes you want to spit it out. 

Add 2-3 clementine tangerines, sectioned, into the salad bowl. (May sub Mandarin oranges).

Halve and seed 1 large avocado. Dice and add to salad bowl.

Thinly slice 2 shallots or 1/4 small red onion. Sprinkle over salad.
Crumble up 1/2 of a package of Boursin cheese over the salad. Any flavor.

Toss a big handful of roasted, salted pistachios over the salad.

Season with Kosher (or sea) salt, and fresh cracked pepper, and finish with the Clementine zest.

Vinaigrette: 

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbls tangerine pomegranate vinegar (or raspberry vinegar, or pear vinegar, or heck, even some plain old sherry  or white wine vinegar).

Juice of 2 Clementines

Whisk

Slowly whisk in about 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil to emulsify dressing.

                                           Season with Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.

                 Taste!  If too tart, add a bit more olive oil,  or agave nectar or honey to taste. 

                       You  could also put all the ingredients in a jar and just shake it up.

Pour desired amount of dressing over the salad, and serve immediately. 

Dressed salad will not keep in the fridge. It will become a slimy mess overnight. If there are those at the table that do not want or like vinaigrette, serve the salad naked, and pass dressing on the side.

Ingredients:

1 head butter lettuce, washed and chopped

2 cups Arugula 

5 Clementines: 2 zested and juiced for dressing; 2-3 segmented into salad

1 large ripe avocado, chopped

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup roasted salted, shelled pistachios

1/2 package Boursin cheese, crumbled over salad

Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper

Vinaigrette:

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbls tangerine pomegranate vinegar (or raspberry vinegar, or pear vinegar, or sherry or white wine vinegar).

Juice of 2 Clementines

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper

 If too tart, add a bit more olive oil,  or agave nectar or honey to taste. 

How to Roast a Turkey

How to Roast a Turkey

 How big a turkey should you buy? Well, I never buy a turkey over 15 pounds because I can't lift it into the oven in the roaster without burning my forearms. It's also cumbersome to flip over.  If you need a gigantic turkey to feed a crowd, you might do better to roast (2) 12 pounders, as you'll have 4 drumsticks, 4 thighs, 4 wings, and two giant breasts.
How to defrost a turkey: 
Best method: stick the frozen bird in your fridge for 3 days. Take it out of the fridge, (after thawed), relieve the cavity of the internal organs and neck, rinse it off, and put it in a brine. Trust me. It's worth the extra step. Really. Do it. Brines are super easy, require no measuring, and add a world of flavor and moisture unheard of in the un-brined bird.
Worst Method: Soak in hot tap water in the sink until thawed. Say "hello" to food poisoning, "goodbye" to a lovely day with your family and friends,  and "Hello" to both the porcelain God in your bathroom, and to the E.R. staff.
Alternately, use the "fine" defrost method on your microwave, flipping and turning about every 5 minutes.
Let's brine this bird! 
Get some Kosher salt, about a cup; Brown sugar, about a cup; whole peppercorns, about 1/2 a cup;  a handful of fresh herbs: Thyme sprigs, sage leaves, parsley. Add about 1/2 cup maple syrup. This will make your turkey beautifully brown and crispy.
Put in a saucepan with enough water to cover, and bring to a boil until salt and sugar are dissolved.  Get a giant zip top bag, put the turkey in, and add the brine liquid.

See how it say's "Basted"? That's code for "injected with chemical salt solution".

I

Heat it up on top of the stove just until it simmers. Stir it up, making sure salt and sugar are dissolved. Throw in some ice cubes to cool it down.

   Put the bird, sans neck and guts, in a big Zip top bag. I generally use a 2.5 gallon Ziploc, but I found a super big reusable brining bag at Tuesday Morning, so I used that. Pour the brine into the bag and cover with cold water. Put the bag into a big container. I tried my 7.5 quart dutch oven, but it was too small.

So then, I put it in a cooler. Since I had (made) space in the fridge, I put it in. If you have no space in the fridge, just fill up the cooler with ice or ice packs. Make sure the temp stays below 40 degrees (F). You'll have to replace the ice or packs as needed to keep bacterial growth at bay.

After about 16 hours in the brine, (24 hours for a fresh turkey) take the turkey out of the brine and rinse thoroughly.

After drying the bird thoroughly, put it on a sheet pan lined with a thick layer of paper towels, and stick it right back in the fridge.

"Why" you ask? Because if you let the bird sit uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours, it helps get the skin super crispy. Soggy skin is not delicious.

 Take the turkey out of the fridge at least an hour before you want to put it in the oven. Place the bird breast side down, on a couple of ice packs, or a bag of frozen peas. The breast tends to cook much more quickly than the rest of the turkey. This will help keep the breast from cooking through before the rest of the bird is done.

Turkey on it's own does not have a lot of flavor. You must give it some.

Start by making a compound butter. (Fancy term for softened butter with stuff in it). Start with one stick of softened butter.

Add a good pinch of Kosher salt. Then at least 2 tsps fresh cracked pepper.

Chop up about 4 fresh sage leaves.

Grab a bundle of fresh Thyme.

Strip the leaves off by holding the stem, pulling back down the stem removing the leaves. No need to chop these. Just throw them in the bowl with the butter.

Mince up a clove of garlic. Throw it in.

Take small fork and stir it all together. You want a smooth paste.

Now that the herb butter is done, move on to chopping the veg.

Wash 2-4  big carrots. No need to peel them, we're just using them for flavor.

 

Wash about 6 stalks celery. Don't peel them.

Rough chop them.

Peel one very large yellow onion.

Rough chop it.

Time to stuff the bird.

Cut a head of garlic in half. Salt and pepper the cavity of the bird.

 Put in 1/2 of the garlic head and as much of the chopped veg as you can stuff in the cavity. You could also add a quartered apple, orange, or lemon. It's up to

you. Stuff some whole sprigs fresh thyme, sage, and rosemary in the cavity.

Can you see the plastic thing stuck in there to keep the legs together? Cut it out. It doesn't work well to keep the veg inside the cavity, and it's annoying, and ugly. Ugly does not belong in a delicious turkey. Stuff the cavity with veg's because they are full of water, which will help keep the bird moist. If you stuff with a bread stuffing, the bread will soak all the moisture right out of your turkey. Cook the dressing on the side with home made turkey stock.

O.K. Let's use that herb butter. Gently lift the skin off of the breast, and work your hand in there to create a pocket. That's a pumpkin cheesecake from Costco in the background. Very delish.

Yep. That's my whole hand in there. The 24 hours to dry in the fridge step is essential, as wet skin will tear. See how I'm able to stretch that skin?

I'm up to my wrists in turkey!

Now, grab a handful of herb butter and massage it into the breast, under the skin.

Once you've gotten a couple handfuls of butter under the skin, butter up the outside.

Bird buttered. Check. Now, lay out the string you'll use to truss the turkey.

 You can try to do a fancy one string truss, or you can do it simply with 3 pieces of kitchen string or twine. Take one very long piece of string and tie it lengthwise around the bird. In the photo above, do you see that tail like hunk of flesh between the legs? You want to secure that up so your stuffed veg doesn't fall out.

Then tie a string around the wings to keep them close to the body, and tie the tips of the legs together. Some people are able to use the slit cut in the flap type thing to secure the legs, but I just can't see to get them to stay without ripping the skin. Must just be a klutz issue.

Salt and pepper the outside of the turkey. Sprinkle on some fresh or dried herbs.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place oven rack in the lowest position. You'll probably have to remove one of the racks so the turkey and roaster will fit in the oven.

Since I don't have a V Rack,  I made one with 2 cooling racks. Kinda ghetto, but it works. Keeps the turkey from rolling all over the place.

Cover each rack with foil, then take a paring knife and slice about 25 or so holes in each foil lined rack . This will ensure crispy skin all around, and keep the bird from sticking to ghetto rack.

Place the rest of the chopped veg in the bottom of the roaster and cover with water. This will be the base for the gravy. I made the mistake of using chicken broth instead of water, and my gravy turned out way too salty.

Place the turkey rack in the roaster, if it's not there already.

Roasting method:

1. Put the turkey breast side down in a 425 degree (F) oven for 45 minutes. If the turkey is over 18 pounds, leave it in for an hour.
2. After an hour, take the turkey out of the oven, close the oven door. Turn heat down to 325 degrees (F). The backside of the turkey should be beautifully brown.
3. 
   
   Brush it all over with melted butter.
   
   
4. 
   
   Now, it's time to flip the turkey over so it will continue to roast breast side up for the remainder of the cooking time. Take a couple of big wads of paper towels or 2 clean potholders, and pick up the bird (head and tail sides), and turn it over, breast side up.
   
   
5. 
   
   Brush with melted butter.
   
   
6. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of  the thigh or the breast, making sure the probe isn't touching the bone. If you have of those pop up timers embedded in the turkey, take it out and throw it away. It's a useless piece of garbage that will cause your turkey to overcook. Not delicious. 

• Put the turkey back into the oven. Keep the door closed.
• When the meat thermometer registers 160 degrees (F), take it out of the oven. (On average, figure about 20 minutes per pound in the oven. However, this time table can vary greatly due to differences in oven temp, type of roaster used, temp of the bird when you put it in the oven, etc. That's why a meat thermometer is essential. You can't guess on this).
• Take the turkey out of the roaster (160 degrees), put it on a cutting board or in an oblong baking dish, and cover it tightly with foil.
• Rest for 15-20 minutes.

While the turkey is resting, make the gravy.
This is one beauty of a turkey. But the real question is, "how does it taste?"  My first taste tester, me, found this turkey to be extra moist and flavorful ,with exceedingly crispy, flavorful skin.
This post is really long due to all the steps involved in prepping this bird. However, each of the steps don't take long at all.  Please post questions and comments.
Charyl

Make Ahead Turkey Gravy

Hey Folks! The last turkey I roasted had almost no drippings, making it tough to make gravy. So, I decided to try an experiment. I wondered if I could make gravy ahead of time, without any drippings, and still have it taste as if it was made from turkey drippings. It worked! The key to success here is using home made turkey stock. I don't think plain old chicken broth will impart the depth of flavor that the stock does.

Start by heating 1 quart turkey stock in a pot. Bring it to a simmer.

Melt 1 /2  stick of butter in a skillet over medium heat.

Add 2 big Tbls  All Purpose Flour to the butter.

Whisk it in, and cook for about 10-15 minutes, whisking constantly. What you're doing here is making a roux. You must cook it until the color changes from white to brown, or your gravy will taste like paste. Brown food tastes good.

Bring it to a boil. Keep whisking.

Now, when the roux is nice and golden brown, add 1 ladel hot stock to the skillet. Whisk it in. The mixture will get very thick. Add another two ladels of of the stock and bring to a boil. Continue to add stock until it is completely incorporated. If you add all the stock at once, you'll get lumps. Not delish.

See that color? That's what you want. Throw in a few sprigs of fresh thyme, a few turns of fresh cracked pepper, and continue to boil until gravy reaches desired consistency. Do not add salt.

O.K. Here's the super secret key: Kitchen Bouquet browning and seasoning. Add 1/2 tsp to the gravy. Whisk it in.

When gravy coats the back of a spoon, it's ready.

Now, fish out the thyme stem.

Taste! If it's too salty (it shouldn't be), or too thick, add some water.

Store in a covered container until Thanksgiving.

To reheat, put the gravy in a skillet. It will be very thick. Kind of gloppy, actually. Heat it up. It will thin out as it heats.

When your turkey is done, pour the drippings (if you have any) into a fat separator. (If you don't have drippings, just add a touch of broth or stock).

This is from Roasted Turkey #1. See the yellow layer at the top? That's the fat. you do not want that. Pour the little bit of fat that's sitting in the spout off. Add as much of the drippings as you need for consistency to the already hot gravy this will just add a bit more flavor.

If, by chance, the gravy is too thin, make a slurry with 2 tsps corn starch and a tablespoon or so of cold water.

Mix it up with a small fork until smooth.

Add it to BOILING gravy, one tsp at a time. If the gravy is not at a boil when you add it, it will lump. Whisk until thickened.

Serve with your delicious turkey.