~ 1 Turkey, + all of its innerds = all kinds of goodies!!!

~ and then there are all of the "YARD BLESSINGS"
(everything from the garden)


What have you cooked up this year, or are planning?

 

I'm gonna throw this out there.

New Year's Eve, crab feast. Did that last year.

Even though I have a shellfish allergy, it somehow doesn't apply to crab. I came prepared last year with a bottle of benedryl and priority parking for a quick exit to the hospital in case of a reaction, and I will do so again this year, but I'll tell you what, that crab was good.

edit

Now, on to what I'm hoping to have for Christmas dinner.

My wife makes a mean curried ham. Not sure of the proportions of the ingredients, but there's a fair sized honey glazed ham in a roasting pan, some curry, a couple cans of fruit cocktail, brown sugar, butter? salt? Can't remember. Basted every 20 minutes in the oven or barbecue on a medium heat (375 or 400 I think). My sister in law, and mother in law also make their own variation of a curried ham, but my wife makes the best one.

 

Turkey covered with bacon strips. The bacon adds a nice "smoked" flavor and help keep the bird moist. Stick some celery, carrots and white onions. Some pepper, garlic powder and a bit of cinnamon for seasoning. I make the stuffing separate with chopped white onion and celery sauteed in butter with some of the juice and water. Make home made brown gravy with the drippings as well.

Pretty basic stuff.

Home made mashed potatoes or potato salad

 

I still have lots of kinds of lettuce growing in my yard!

Endive
Iceberg
So on...

 

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APPLE ROSEMARY
ROASTED TURKEY



1 TURKEY 12-15lbs
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons pepper (not all at once)
8 Granny Smith Apples (the green ones)
4 ONIONS
8 fresh ROSEMARY sprigs
2 fresh SAGE sprigs
1 (12oz) can of APPLE JUICE concentrate(that frozen stuff you use to make apple juice)
1/2 cup melted butter (or margarine for you finicky people)
2 cups water
1/4 cup all-purpose flour


Remove giblets and neck (keep what you want, I make a gravy with the neck) Rinse turkey good, pat dry. Sprinkle the inside and outside with the salt and 1 teaspoon of the pepper, cut 2 of the GRANNY Smith apples into quarters or smaller and shove it up it's you know what! Do the same with half of an onion and 6 ROSEMARY sprigs. Loosen the skin from the turkey without detaching it (kinda between the legs and the bum is where I stuff it) Your going to put 1 Rosemary and 1 SAGE spring in each side. Now you can put it on a roasting pan but I do things different. I use the rest of the GRANNY SMITH apples and about 2 onions and cut them up into quarters and throw them on the bottom of the roasting pan and roast the turkey on top of that. (IMAGINE HOW GOOD THE GRAVY IS!!)

OK thats done Now Stir together the 1 cup of apple-juice (im sure you defrosted it)with the butter that you've already melted. Using the INJECTOR (That big needle thing that looks like it could be used to give an elephant a flu shot) and inject the hell out of the turkey. Everywhere. including the drum sticks.

Bake @ 400 for about 20 minuets then turn the temp down to 350(cover with aluminum foil loosely so it won't brown way to much. i mean loosely like it's just a blanket set on top of it, but don't forget this step or it may look like an african turkey before it's done cooking)you're probably going to cook for at least 4.5 hours depending on the size of the turkey. a big 20 pounder may take up to 6 hours. ABOUT every 30 minuets, I use a turkey baster and use the drippings and baste the turkey throughout the cooking process. Just dont spend 45 minuets basting or you'll be cooking it for 3 days. After you've reached the right temperature, pull it out. Pull out all the stuff you stuffed in it (I Shouldn't have to but I'll say it anyways, IT'S GOING TO BE HOT) and believe me when I say be careful moving the Turkey from the roasting tray to the platter. This sucker is so darn tender it almost wants to fall apart if you look at it wrong.

Now for this bad A$$ gravy. Bring 2 cups of water to boil, use the drippings from the roasting pan (should be quite a bit) and the turkey neck and 1/2 and onion and boil it all together for about 15 mins. if you can after its done boiling pour it through a strainer into another sauce pan. whisk in the flour a little at a time until it is as thick as you like it and add about 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and it is good to go. I spent trial and error getting the gravy perfect. My biggest problem was when I added flour to the hot mix it always wanted to clump. So make sure it's not boiling when you add the flour, I think it tends to cook before it actually does any good and it's quite annoying.

Hope you guys like this turkey. it's so juicy and moist you may be able to eat it with a straw. LOL
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Reserve the contents of one can of frozen apple juice concentrate - then add one can of water to a 2 quart saucepan with a cinnamon stick or two and boil.

After five minutes, add the frozen apple juice concentrate and let warm

Once warm, combine 50% -to- 50% with Rhine or other sweet white wine and serve

* Many white or sweet wines combine well with club soda and spices such as cinnamon, allspice, etc... to make interesting holiday coolers

Flavored schnapps ought to be explored!