What's Cooking (Take Four)

[Jenise]

Last night's dinner: a bowl of Flavor Bomb cherry tomatoes (the whole package) plus bread and butter left over from the night before. Pretty sad, but I didn't even think about dinner until after 6:00 and I wasn't interested in anything else.

I was at the market last Saturday and ran across some fresh turkeys that were on sale, so I grabbed one. Sunday, I put it on the Traeger, for my first attempt at doing a whole turkey onthe thing. I spatchcocked the bird and did little else other than a lot of S&P. It went directly on the grill with a meat thermometer target of 155°, as per several website recipes. It came out pretty well, with breast meat that was juicy but retained no pink. The skin was not good, though, and I think it would have benefited from another degree or two in temperature. I mentioned this to my son-in-law, who has a lot of Traeger turkey experience, and he recommended taking the turkey off at about 155° and then putting it under a broiler for a few minutes. This gets a little more heat into the bird and (more importantly) crisps the skin. So the verdict was "not bad for a first try but need to work on this a bit more".

Yesterday and today have involved turkey broth production.

[Jenise]

I am personally a fan of brining with apple juice, wine and herbs. I love the flavor, but also 1) the skin is a lot prettier and 2) even if you brined it in plain water you'd likely notice some textural improvements. After all, that turkey wasn't slaughtered last week, it's been in a deep freeze somewhere for quite some time and re-hydration gets it closer to it's original natural state. Or so says me.

Maybe I should try brining again. The one time I used it for a turkey, the texture was good but it had no turkey flavor to it. Something for the next experiment.

We dropped into the Frontier Restaurant for lunch (hadn't been there for a very long time), which is probably Albuquerque's most famous restaurant. We both had green chile stew and their homemade flour tortillas, which are some of the best around. It was very nostalgic for me.

I met the owner, Larry, in 1971 when I was going to architecture school. He was building out a single stall for a restaurant in the building next to the architecture school, both across Central Avenue from UNM. That was back in the day when his famous Frontier sweet roll was 25 cents (now $3.00), burgers were under a dollar, and Mexican food was el cheapo.

Over the years, he kept expanding into the next stall, then the next, and so on. He now owns two whole blocks with other businesses across from the university. His restaurant presently has about 350 seats, and the food is the same, just more expensive. He also owns a slew of fried chicken outlets around town. Needless to say, he's a multi-millionaire.

By coincidence, I ran into him today at the Frontier where he still works. He told me that we've both gotten old. I agreed and said we were both geezers. Anyway, a nice guy. And also a nice boss. He's employed beaucoup students over the years.

Didn't feel like doing much for dinner, so I made some grilled cheese sandwiches, using some leftover whole cranberry sauce on top of the cheese. First time, but thumbs up.

[Jenise]

Cranberries would be interesting! But I'll stick with tomatoes or green chiles.

Yesterday I fed Bill Spohn's lunch group: rack of lamb rubbed with Vietnamese cinnamon and cumin. Each serving (eight total) was two double chops over a helping of roasted cauliflower in a light lemon-rosemary bechamel. Lightness achieved using water spiked with heavy cream just to the point of opaqueness, about 6:1. A great dish to take somewhere. Roasted the cauli at home and covered it in the sauce. Seared off the meat too and arranged on a baking tray. Stashed both in the car. Later at Bill's, both went into a single hot oven at the same time--25 minutes later the racks were medium rare and the cauliflower hot and ready. Perfect for ease of preparation with a border crossing in between!

I found a beautiful bunch of rainbow Swiss chard at my neighborhood market a few days ago. I had never seen brighter red and deeper gold than this had. I removed the thicker part of the stems, cut them into pieces and put them in a pan with EVOO, Real Salt, white pepper and sautéed them while I cut up the leaves. I added a bit of chicken stock, added the leaves, put the lid on, and let the leaves cook until just a little underdone. This was my lunch, with a drizzle of a great red wine vinegar, and large shrimp with a very tasty cocktail sauce.
I am picking my first limes finally, after trying to grow three trees; the third one finally made it, and in its third year gave me a substantial crop. Two days ago, I juiced enough of them to fill four ice cube trays. I added a lime cube to the cocktail sauce, and WOW. So amazing what a bit of citrus does. More limes are coming on; these are Bearrs limes, and I do not pick them until they are yellow.

Tonight: Thanksgiving on a Roll. OMG it's so good. I stuffed some fresh sage in there.

Today I have an organic cut-up chicken (the split breast halves went into the freezer) marinating in apple cider vinegar, olive oil, Dijon, garlic powder, honey, lime juice, brown sugar, and salt. These will be browned, then roasted in the oven. Yukon Gold and Red Bliss potatoes will be smashed after boiling, then topped with Parmesan and fresh chives, and baked until the cheese melts. My daughter-in-law gave me two Delicata squashes when they came up after Thanksgiving, so today they have been seeded, cut into half circles, then into a bowl with red bell peppers, carrots, Hazelnut oil, olive oil, Fox Point seasoning, and pepper are ready for roasting.

I also have a chunk of garlic and herb sourdough, and am debating about cutting it into large pieces and roasting it along with the chicken. An Ina Garten thing I learned a long time ago, and have loved it each time I make it. I think that delicious marinade will do well with the bread. Some of the bread gets very browned, and others soak up the sauce. A great mix of textures.

Tonight: Thanksgiving on a Roll. OMG it's so good. I stuffed some fresh sage in there.

Jeff, I recall one year, a long time ago, I turned the leftover Thanksgiving food into a casserole dish. I still remember the grandkids loving it. I had plenty to send home with them.

Cranberries would be interesting! But I'll stick with tomatoes or green chiles.

But

I'm a fan of tomatoes or green chile, also. Sometimes I'll try a slice of ham. But the cranberries are a good foil against a sharp cheddar. Both the NYT and WAPO recipe sections suggested cranberries on grilled cheese sandwiches, so I gave it a try. Thumbs up, IMO.

[Jenise]

Karen, bread in there to soak up the chicken schmalz and marinade sounds heavenly. And congrats on the limes--Bearss are the best!

Last night, my dinner was stir fried bell peppers (1 green + 1 red) and onion with garlic slivers and oyster sauce. It was meant to be a healthy choice on a day of atonement for the inflammatory excesses of wine, red meat and cheese the day before. I had to laugh as before bed I decided to consult the internet to remind myself of what the low inflammatory foods are. The list I pulled up had three categories, not just two, the third being a tweener stage called "limited". And that's where I found bell peppers. Can't win!

I made Sichuan dry-fried beef again this past week.

Red-cooked chicken is stewed in soy sauce and Shaoxing wine, with ginger, onions, and star anise. I always skim off the chicken fat and freeze it. It is marvelous schmalz. The first step in red-cooked chicken is to fry the pieces in fat until they change color, then add the ginger and onions and stir-fry until the onions are soft. Then the soy sauce and wine go in for the stewing. The first time I made red-cooked chicken I used peanut oil for the frying step but now I use the accumulated schmalz.

-Paul W.

Tonight: Thanksgiving on a Roll. OMG it's so good. I stuffed some fresh sage in there.

Jeff, I recall one year, a long time ago, I turned the leftover Thanksgiving food into a casserole dish. I still remember the grandkids loving it. I had plenty to send home with them.

Sounds good. They are good and complementary flavors no matter what you do with them. A couple years ago I made Thanksgiving Egg Rolls!