Roasted Brocollini with Leeks and Cranberries

Greetings from a lovely little studio apartment on west 14^th street in lower Manhattan. This week’s home away from home.

I’m eight days into sixteen days on the road. SIXTEEN DAYS. WHO AM I?

Let me stop you before you go on your internal rant on how lucky I am to travel for work. How can I be complaining while I’m seeing the country on someone else’s dime?

I am VERY lucky. I’m also very tired. Work travel is fun and exciting and stimulating. But its can also be lonely. There is a reason I do not live alone people!

It’s not all bad though. I get to see good friends and family and eat tasty food and pseudo live in places like New York and Colorado.

But in in the down moments, my mind always wanders to what Lish and her daughter Brielle are doing on this pretty California Saturday. Or to my spot on Wesley’s couch watching football between him and Junior. Or what Mom and Dad will have for Sunday dinner with out me. And now I’m tearing.

In these moments when I’m missing my life back home, I focus my thoughts back to what is really important after I get home.

ALL THE FOOD.

Of course the people are more important than the food, but the food is pretty damn important.

Thanksgiving this year will be at my aunt and uncle’s new San Clemente abode (they recently moved down south from northern California) and I’ve already gotten this dish approved to bring.

This is an easy twist on a festive Turkey Day side dish to take to a Thanksgiving dinner where you may not be able to do much in the kitchen. If you are making it at home it is perfect to pop in while the turkey is resting.

You will need…

1 lb broccolini, chopped into bite (you could sub broccoli if you can't find broccolini)

1 leek, white and light green parts julienned

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons olive oil

½ cup dried cranberries

Salt and pepper to taste

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, toss together the broccolini, leek, garlic, cranberries and olive oil.

Toss till everything is lightly coated with olive oil.

Spread the veggies out on a rimmed baking sheet and season well with salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven till the leeks are starting to brown. About 10 to 20 minutes, stirring once.

Remove from the oven and serve hot.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela

Roasted Brocollini with Leeks and Cranberries

1 lb broccolini, chopped into bite sized pieces (you could sub broccoli if you can't find broccolini)

1 leek, white and light green parts julienned

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons olive oil

½ cup dried cranberries

Salt and pepper to taste

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, toss together the broccolini, leek, garlic, cranberries and olive oil.

Toss till everything is lightly coated with olive oil.

Spread the veggies out on a rimmed baking sheet and season well with salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven till the leeks are starting to brown. About 10 to 20 minutes, stirring once.

Remove from the oven and serve hot. 

Brined and Herb Roasted Turkey Part II + Herbed Butter

I know you have been waiting on pins and needles for the conclusion of my turkey recipe that you won’t use for another year.

My sincerest apologies for keeping you waiting.

So, I’ve never made a turkey before. Which means I have nothing to compare it to.

But I have to tell you, I really enjoyed the adventure that was my turkey, Jasper.

It was awesome to give her a full body butter rub down and then baste her every thirty minutes.

In some way, it felt very nurturing. Checking every half hour to see how she was coming along. Making sure she had plenty of liquid and wasn’t getting to much color.

And then, even though the full process took a couple days, the juice was totally worth the squeeze.

I don’t expect you to take my word for it. But I do expect you to try it yourself.

You will need…

For the Herb Butter:

1 bunch fresh rosemary, leaves finely chopped

1 bunch fresh sage, leaves finely chopped

3 sticks butter, room temperature

Combine the herbs and butter in a food processor, blender or in a bowl and blend till completely combined.

Remove the herbed butter and rub down your bird till it's completely butter covered. 

For Roasting the Turkey:

2 cups chicken stock + some on hand incase

1 cup apple cider

Start by preheating the oven to 450 degrees F.

Put 2 cups chicken stock and 1 cup apple cider in the bottom of the roasting pan.

Roast the turkey in the preheated oven until the skin gets really nice and brown, about 40 minutes.

Lower the oven heat to 350 degrees F for the remainder of the cooking time.

Baste the turkey every 30 minutes or so and add more stock to the roasting pan, if needed.

Cook about 17 minutes per pound (mine did not take this long to be done).

Once it gets to the proper color, tent the turkey with aluminum foil to prevent it from getting too dark.

Remove the turkey from the oven when an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the turkey registers 160 degrees F.

Make sure that the thermometer is not touching a bone when doing the reading. When the turkey has reached the proper temperature, remove it from the roasting pan to a cutting board and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. 

Cover loosely with aluminum foil.

Now, I would give you a play by play of how to carve the turkey, but that would require me to actually carve the turkey.

And in my house, that job falls to my dad. So instead, I have posted a video of Bobby Flay carving a turkey.

In fact, after twenty plus years of carving turkey, my dad saw Bobby carve it this way on the Today Show on Thanksgiving morning and decided to change his ways.

He claimed it was the best and easiest way he’s ever carved a turkey.

Go Bobby Go!

Love and Beer Floats

Angela

Apple Cider Turkey Gravy, Grandma Evelyn Style

We all inherit different things from our parents, grandparents and assorted family members.

Sometimes they are physical. I have my mother’s bone structure and my youngest brother Josh has my grandmother’s red hair.

Often you inherit personality traits from others. My cousin and I grew up on opposite sides of the country, but our dad’s gave us the same sense of humor.

But if you are really lucky, you inherit something that is invaluable.

Like my grandmother Mickey’s blue scarf that I will keep with me when I walk down the aisle to my hypothetical future husband.

Or in this case, my grandmother Evelyn’s way to make gravy.

This recipe was not my grandmothers. But I did not follow their instructions. I made it the way Evelyn makes it. Which in my mind is the absolute best way.

You will need…

1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice

1 large or 2 small carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice

2 ribs celery, cut into 1/2-inch dice

4 cloves garlic, smashed

2 Granny Smith apples, cut into 1/2-inch dice

5 bay leaves

1 cinnamon stick

1 bunch thyme

Kosher salt

1 quart chicken stock, divided

2 cups apple cider, divided

1/2 to 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

To prepare the gravey, put the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, apples, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and thyme in a roasting pan and season with salt. 

Arrange your Jasper (turkey) on top of the vegetables and refrigerate it overnight uncovered. 

Leaving it uncovered will enable the skin to dry out and become really brown and crispy.

After refrigerating overnight, the turkey (and gravy base) are ready to go in the oven.

Before putting the turkey in the oven, add 2 cups of chicken stock and 1 cup apple cider to the bottom of the roasting pan.

To make the gravy, stain all the veggies over a bowl to separate them from the stock/cider/turkey mixture. Discard the veggies.

Here is where Evelyn’s technique comes into play. Most people would have you create a roux with some turkey fat and butter.

Instead, take your remaining turkey liquid and add it to a medium sauce pan and heat it over medium high heat.

Put your flour in a mason jar (a medium sized jar that holds about 2 cups or something comparable that you can cover). Fill up the rest of your jar or container with water.

Shake the jar vigorously ensuring that all the lumps are out of the flour/water mixture.

When the mixture is lump free, add the mixture to the already heating turkey liquid.

Bring the mixture to a boil while whisking until the mixture thickens...

and looks like this.

Yes, that is correct. In the chaos I forgot to take a picture of the final product.

But let me just tell you, it was the best darn gravy in town and the best darn thing I’ve inherited to date.

What’s the best thing you’ve inherited?

Love and Beer Floats

Angela

Thanksgiving Stuffing, Stuffin' Muffin Style

Alright. I have to fill you in on my biggest cooking confusion. Why is it that some dishes that people absolutely love are only served on special days?

Honeybaked Ham is delicious all year, why do most of us only serve it on our Christmas table?

And matzo crackers only on Passover. Seriously? Move over saltines, those crackers are bomb.

But the one that really REALLY boggles my mind is Thanksgiving stuffing.

Everyone just raves about stuffing. For many a Thanksgiving patron, it is their favorite part.

To be honest, until this Thanksgiving, I had never really tasted stuffing. I don’t know why, but in my former non-foodie life the idea of the side dish just wasn’t that appealing to me. But now that I made it myself and know what’s in it, I realize I was a moron.

Stuffing is delicious. And so easy to make. We need to band together and decide that it is totally kosher to make stuffing all year round.

More stuffing I say!

And of course I can’t just make stuffing. I need to make stuffin’ muffins.

You will need…

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan

2 cups mushrooms, chopped

1 stick butter, softened

1 fresh bay leaf, available in produce department

4 ribs celery and greens, from the heart, chopped

1 medium to large yellow skinned onion, chopped

3 honeycrisp apples, quartered and chopped

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons poultry seasoning

8 cups cubed stuffing mix (or 8 cups of cubed bread)

2 to 3 cups chicken stock

Start by preheating oven to 375 degrees F.

 Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil to skillet and 4 tablespoons butter.

When butter melts, add bay leaf and mushrooms.

Cook the mushrooms until they start releasing some liquid.

Add in the celery and cook for about 5 more minutes.

When the celery has been cooking for 3 minutes, add in the onions.

Cook for an additional 3 minutes and add in the apples.

Sprinkle the vegetables and apples with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. 

Cook 5 to 6 minutes to begin to soften the vegetables and apples then add the stuffing cubes to the pan and combine.

Moisten the stuffing with chicken broth until all of the bread is soft but not wet.

 Butter 12 muffin cups, 2 tins, liberally with remaining butter.

Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to fill and mound up the stuffing in muffin tins.

Remove the bay leaf as you scoop the stuffing when you come upon it.

Bake until set and crisp on top, 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove stuffin' muffins to a platter and serve hot or room temperature.

Stuffing all year round my friends. All.Year.Round.

Love and Beer Floats
Angela

Cranberry Sauce Aoli and a Thanksgiving Recap

You know, I feel like usually when I do some sort of event recap type post, it is usually because some sort of hilarity/outburst/catastrophe occurred.

How am I supposed to keep you interested if no one is throwing sculpting clay

or if my family members don’t make me so crazy that I cry?

Seriously?

I got nothing.

This Thanksgiving holiday was awesome.

It had complete potential for disaster.

I was tackling my first Thanksgiving dinner for fourteen, some of my boyfriends family was joining my family for the big feast and to top it off my youngest brother had his conference championship water polo tournament going on where any team could have taken the win.

If that kind of mix doesn’t have disaster written all over it then I don’t know what does.

But, miraculously the only major fails of the weekend were my overly creamy potatoes, a turkey cooked “upside down,” Wes’s step mom accidentally stealing my mom’s drink and Josh winning all of his game in really intense and emotionally draining overtime situations.

Success!

Now if I could just figuring out why planking is a thing.

Yes, I know this is old news, but I still don’t get it.

In other news, I of course wanted to share with you one of my holiday recipes.

Even though this was a small part of the dinner, I think it was one of my favorites. Partially because I made it up, and partially because it was an awesome addition to the sweet potato fries.

Oh, and it uses the cranberry sauce I made. The cranberry sauce so awesome that my cousin interrupted the meal to demand everyone tries the sauce whether they liked cranberry sauce or not. Because it was that good.

You will need…

2 shallots finely chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 head of garlic, roasted

1 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup cranberry sauce

Salt and pepper

Start heating our oil in a medium pan over medium high heat.

When the oil is hot, add the shallots and cook until the shallots are slightly browned.

In a food processor, blender or in a small bowl, combine the garlic, mayonnaise, cranberry sauce and browned shallots.

Blend until everything is completely combined.

Season with salt and pepper and serve with some sweet potato fries are spread on your favorite bread with your turkey leftovers.

First Thanksgiving = Winning.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela

The Most Thankful Cranberry Sauce

I try to think of one thing every day that I am thankful for. But today I am especially thankful.

I’m thankful for my awesome family.

I’m thankful for the beautiful home that I live in rent free.

I’m thankful that I have a loving boyfriend who doesn’t mind that I make him prep things in the kitchen.

I’m thankful my beautiful friends are happy and healthy and still around after all these years.

I’m thankful Jasper is doing well in the oven.

And I’m thankful that I got to make some to make this cranberry sauce for all the wonderful family and friends this thanksgiving.

Even my cranberry sauce is extra thankful!

You will need…

1 pound fresh cranberries, washed and dried

2 cups granulated sugar

1/3 cup water

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 orange, zested and juiced

 

Start by combining the cranberries, sugar and water in a medium sized pot. Stir the mixture to blend.

Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Reduce it to a simmer and add the cinnamon stick, allspice and nutmeg. 

Stir to blend and simmer for an additional 5 to 7 minutes.

Some of the cranberries will burst and some will remain whole.

Add the orange juice and zest, stir and allow to cool before serving.

Happy Thanksgiving friends!

Love and Beer Floats

Angela and Jasper