CRANBERRY SAUCE.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I am looking forward to a big turkey dinner!  One of the things I most love is cranberry sauce - piled atop my turkey, or mixed into the dressing.  Yep... you can tell I love it!  When Thanksgiving is over, there are always the turkey, mayo sandwiches... with cranberry sauce.  Then a week or so later there are scones... with cranberry sauce.  Or roasted pork... with cranberry sauce.  Cranberry sauce never goes to waste here.

This is the recipe I've been making for years.  I typically have everything on hand except for one navel orange.  Because I love cranberries, I always have a bag in the freezer.  Remind me later, and I'll share my recipes for cranberry cake, bars and torte.  All delicious!

WHOLE CRANBERRY SAUCE.  Makes about 2 cups, or double recipe for 4 cups!!
*  1/2 pound fresh cranberries (okay to make from frozen, as is)
*  1/4 cup port
*  Juice from 1/2 navel orange (about 1/4 cup)
*  Peel from 1/2 navel orange
*  1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
*  1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
*  1/3 cup granulated sugar
*  1/3 cup toasted pecan halves, lightly chopped
Put all ingredients except the pecans in a saucepan.  Stir and cook over medium heat.  Stir occasionally and continue to cook about 15 to 20 minutes until the cranberries have split and the sauce has thickened.  Remove from the heat, allow to cool in a covered pan.  Stir back into the sauce the water that has accumulated on the cover of the pan, along with the pecans.  Cover and store in the refrigerator for several weeks.  Allow to come to room temperature before serving.

Add all ingredients except the pecans to the saucepan.

Cook until cranberries burst and sauce thickens.

MUSHROOM GRAVY.

First of all, I hope that you all had a happy Thanksgiving.  It's too bad that Thanksgiving isn't a tradition around the world since the two main themes - FOOD and BEING THANKFUL - are universal, or could be, or should be!!

Second, here is a tip for making your Thanksgiving meal easier.  Make the gravy ahead of time!   This is the recipe that I make and it always turns out great.  It can be made ahead of time and frozen; and it can be made as "vegetarian" by substituting the chicken broth for vegetable broth.  For greater richness, add the juices from your cooked turkey.

MUSHROOM THYME GRAVY.  Makes about 4 cups/Serves about 8.
*  2 tablespoons butter
*  1 small onion, chopped
*  1 tablespoon minced garlic
*  8 oz fresh crimini mushrooms, sliced
*  2 oz dried shitake/porcini mushrooms, rehydrated and sliced
*  2 (14-1/2 oz each) cans of chicken broth (as needed)
*  1/3 cup flour
*  1-1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
     Rehydrate dried mushrooms by covering them with boiling water and letting them rest for a half hour or so until they are tender.  Remove and slice the mushrooms, but save the mushroom broth to use here.
     Over medium heat melt the butter in a large saucepan.  Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until tender.  Add the garlic and mushrooms (and dried thyme, if using) and cook an additional 5 minutes or until tender.
     Put flour in a large jar and add mushroom and chicken broth to nearly fill the jar.  Cover the jar and shake vigorously until the flour has fully mixed into the broth.  Raise heat under the mushrooms and, while stirring, slowly pour the flour mixture and some of the remaining broth into the mushrooms, along with the fresh thyme.  Cook, stirring frequently, until gravy reaches desired consistency.  If the gravy is too thick, add additional broth or juices from the turkey; if the gravy is too thin, continue boiling the gravy.  This could take a while if too much broth has been added.

I hope you will give this a try and let me know what you think!

ROAST TURKEY... AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!

I can't post recipes for meat roasts without posting a recipe for roasted turkey... especially when tomorrow is Thanksgiving!  There are so many recipes out there that perhaps you have already developed your own special recipe, as I have.  I have tried so many recipes over the years - mostly out of curiosity.  The same can be said for the dressings/stuffings.  In that regard, I do have one dressing recipe that beats all others and yet, this year, I will again try a new recipe that includes dried figs and no celery.  Anyway, back to the task at hand!  Here is my recipe for:

ROASTED TURKEY
Rinse, clean and dry the turkey.  Rub it all over with olive oil and sprinkle it inside and out with lots and lots of dried herbs, seasonings and paprika.  Don't be shy about loading on the herbs and seasonings;  you will want to use a lot in order to permeate the skin and flavor the turkey.  Then fill the cavity/inside with garlic cloves, onion and squeezed lemons.  Again don't be shy.  Turn the wings under the turkey, and tie up the legs.  Place the turkey, breast side up, in your roasting pan and bake it for 15 minutes in a 425ºF preheated oven; after 15 minutes lower the oven temperature to 325ºF.  Baste the turkey from time to time with butter and pan drippings.  When the turkey is perfectly browned, cover the pan.  Bake about 15 minutes per pound or until the internal temperature reaches 170ºF deep in the thigh area.  When done, remove from oven and let rest while other food preparation is completed.  Carve and enjoy!

!!!!!HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

TURKEY EGGS

A real friend knows you are a good egg even if you are a little cracked!

Yesterday, I noticed something large moving in my garden. It was big and brown and, upon investigation, it turned out to be a wild turkey. Wild turkeys - many, many wild turkeys - have resided in Sunfish Lake and surrounding communities for as long as we’re lived here. In fact, I once counted 19 parading through my garden!

Well, I really don’t like large critters in my garden so I went out to shoo it away. Despite my loud noises, and despite how close I got to the turkey, it was definitely NOT budging. I returned to the house and went on about my day. Later, I went out to investigate, and here is what I found!

Okay, they weren’t in the egg carton but there were six large turkey eggs! Not knowing what to do with them I asked our friends Diane and Dale if they knew anything about turkey eggs. Here’s what they learned from their farming friends:

“Yes you can eat the turkey eggs just like you can eat duck and goose eggs. All 3 of those are a bit rubbery compared to chicken eggs. Since it takes about 25 days for the eggs to hatch, they're probably very safe yet at this time. If you crack it open and there's a spot of blood on the yolk, you can remove the blood and still use the egg.”

I suppose I could have left the eggs in the garden to see if they would hatch into six little turkeys to add to the huge number already in residence. However, in the interest of culinary science, the following photos show what I decided to do with the eggs:

To summarize, I found that the eggs were larger than extra-large chicken eggs found in stores, with especially large yolks. They fried up just like chicken eggs and, for me, had the same taste, except that because of the large yolk, the egg tasted much “richer” than chicken eggs.

Let me know if you want to come on over for breakfast!