hungry poodle

Mac and cheese and now meatloaf:  I’m obviously looking to my dinner plate for copious quantities of comfort. But with Christmas just around the corner and all those cookie and candy treats everywhere, it doesn’t seem prudent to indulge in such rich concoctions, does it?

Ha Ha, fat police, we can have our meatloaf and eat it too, which is exactly what we did this last weekend. On Saturday, my Italian girlfriend Marguerite and I cooked up this turkey meatloaf, and we had way too much fun cooking together. It’s adapted from Cooks Illustrated, the recipe-testing people who make recipes every which way to find out which one tastes best. They don’t mess around either. If it doesn’t taste good, they won’t recommend it.

And was this ever good. It was moist, flavorful and surprisingly meaty (considering there’s not a hint of the usual suspects, beef, veal and pork). Can you use dry bread crumbs instead of fresh? Yes. Can you add mushrooms? Yes. Can you leave out the mustard? Yes. Can you even use beef instead of turkey? Of course. Make it your own, but if you decide to try it this way, you will not be disappointed.

1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 t. olive oil
Salt
1/2 cup milk or plain yogurt
2 large eggs
2 t. fresh thyme leaves finely chopped (or 1 t. dried thyme, Italian Seasoning or Herbes de Provence)
2 t. Dijon mustard
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 t. Tabasco sauce
1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds ground turkey (93% lean)
1 1/3 c. fresh bread crumbs*
1/4 c. minced fresh parsley
1/2 c. ketchup
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
4 t. cider vinegar

*Cooks Illustrated suggests using a French bread loaf, cutting off the bottom if it is very browned, slicing the bread into 1″ cubes and processing into crumbs in a food processor.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack on top. Fold a piece of heavy-duty aluminum into a 10″ by 6″ rectangle and set aside (you will place the meatloaf on this later).

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet. Combine onion, garlic and 1/8 t. salt and cook at low heat until onion has softened, about 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, thyme, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, pepper and 1/4 t. salt.

In a large bowl, with your hands mix together the turkey, bread crumbs, parsley, cooked onion mixture and the egg mixture until combined. Turn it out onto the prepared foil rectangle and shape the meat into an evenly thick loaf about 2″ tall and 1″ smaller than the foil on all sides.

Transfer the foil with the meatloaf onto the wire rack. Stir the ketchup, brown sugar and vinegar together and brush half of this mixture onto the meatloaf. Bake the meatloaf for 45 minutes.

Brush with remaining ketchup glaze and continue to bake until the center of the loaf registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 20 minutes longer. Cool at least 20 minutes before slicing into 1″ thick pieces.

Serves: 8

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In recent years brining has become a popular way to prepare a turkey for holiday roasting, the theory being that submerging the bird in a salt-water solution for a long soak made it juicier and gave it more flavor. This method worked only with a natural turkey, because the “butter-basted” (such as Butterball) or kosher turkeys had already been injected with a saline solution.

The brine-shy need not worry: this is not a brining recipe. I’m relieved to say that I’ve found an easier preparation that seems to work just as well. What a relief. Although brining has its merits, every year as Thanksgiving has approached I’ve dreaded the whole submerging-the turkey-in-salted-water routine.  Nonetheless, until now I have sloshed my way through the sloppy, bucket-toting process because it seemed the best way to inject what was usually a fairly tasteless bird with some flavor.

Food science to the rescue! This year both Bon Appetit and Cooks Illustrated have come up with an easier way to produce a flavorful, juicy turkey without the fuss of sinking it in a vat of salt-water. This simpler method calls for rubbing kosher salt all over the turkey and refrigerating it overnight before roasting. Pretty easy, huh? And it works. This turkey was moist, juicy and very flavorful without being too salty.

By the way, another complicated technique, starting the roasting process with the turkey on its breast and then turning it over with paper towels at the midway point, has bitten the dust, at least at my house. As far as I’m concerned, the last thing I need to be doing on the cook’s most daunting day of the year is to flip over a hot turkey. Besides, by then I’ve had a glass of wine and am probably not in my best turkey-turning mode.

Try this recipe. And when you receive the eventual compliments, wipe your brow with a kitchen towel and tell everyone how very difficult it all was. Remember, the day after Thanksgiving is the kickoff of the holiday shopping season. Perhaps your family will feel compelled to buy you a special gift for all your hard work!  Or better yet, buy yourself a gift and put it under the tree from Santa. Nothing like getting exactly what you want, in the right  color and the right size!

Sage-Butter Roasted Turkey

3 T. kosher salt* (regular table salt does not work here.)
1 T. dried rubbed sage
1 16-pound turkey (or thereabouts)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup fresh sage, chopped
1 cup chicken broth

*I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, which I get at Penzey’s

Combine kosher salt and dried sage in a small bowl. Loosen skin over turkey’s breast and legs (try not to tear the skin; Cooks Illustrated suggests using the blunt handle-end of a wooden spoon to loosen the skin). Rub the salt mixture all over the turkey, under the skin and inside the cavity. Wrap turkey in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and set oven rack on lowest position. Pat turkey dry and tuck wing tips under. Tie legs loosely together with kitchen twine. Stir butter and fresh chopped sage together in a small saucepan over low heat until butter melts. Brush all over the turkey and sprinkle with pepper.

Roast turkey for 1 hour. Baste with any pan juices, reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue roasting for 45 minutes. Pour chicken broth over and turn pan around. Roast until the thickest part of the thigh registers 170 to 175 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about another 1 1/4 hours. If roasting pan juices evaporate, pour on more chicken broth. Total cooking time will be approximately 3 hours, depending on the size of your bird.  Don’t overcook! Easier said than done, I know, but using the instant-read thermometer will assure when it’s done.

Transfer turkey to a platter and cover with foil. Allow to rest for 30 to 45 minutes before carving. This will give you time to finish other dishes. Don’t worry; the turkey will stay warm that long.

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Don your festive holiday apron because Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we all need to get serious about planning the big (in the virtual sense only, please) meal. This recipe is adapted from Ina Garten’s newest cookbook, “Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics”.

Roasting a whole turkey for Thanksgiving or any time during the winter months can be daunting to someone with a small family. Frankly, I am also pretty weary of roasting the whole bird and dealing with the carcass afterwards. I know, people love to make soup with a turkey carcass. But me? After a day or two of poultry feasting I want nothing to do with soup that tastes anything like turkey. Give me black bean soup with chilis, corn chowder, minestrone. Anything but turkey!

Ina’s stuffing recipe is fabulous, but that’s no surprise. I reduced the amount of butter she used (also no surprise) and used turkey sausage instead of pork. Otherwise this one is a keeper. The figs and cranberries lend a dense, fruity texture, and the Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix makes the whole process that much easier. Go, Ina!

Whole Foods regularly carries boned natural turkey breasts.

3/4 cup diced dried figs, stems removed
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup Calvados or brandy
2 T. unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups diced onions
1 cup diced celery
1/2 lb. turkey sausage, casings removed
1 1/2 T. fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
3 T. toasted pine nuts (or pecans)
3 cups Pepperidge Farm herb-seasoned stuffing mix
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 egg, beaten
1 whole turkey breast, boned and butterflied (about 5 lbs.)

Place figs and cranberries in a small pan with Calvados and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil and simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet and add onions and celery. Saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add sausage and saute, breaking up the sausage into small bits with a spatula, for 10 minutes, until browned. Add the fig/cranberry mixture with its liquid, the rosemary and the nuts. Cook 2 more minutes.

Pour dry stuffing mix into a large bowl. Add the sausage mixture, chicken broth, beaten egg, 1 t. salt and 1/2 t. pepper and combine. (Ina says you can prepare this ahead and refrigerate it overnight.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place a baking rack onto a large sheet pan.

Lay out the butterflied turkey breast skin side down and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread the stuffing mixture in a 1/2-inch-thick layer over the meat, leaving a 1/2-inch border on all sides. There will be leftover stuffing–place it into a small gratin dish sprayed with nonstick spray and bake for the last 30 to 45 minutes of roasting alongside the turkey. Starting at one end, roll up the turkey like a jelly roll. Tie it securely at 2″ intervals with kitchen twine.

Place the turkey breast seam-side down onto the rack on the sheet pan. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle again with salt and pepper and roast for 1 3/4 to 2 hours, or until an instant-read thermometer reads 150 degrees in the center. Test in more than one place to get an accurate temperature. Remove from the oven, cover the turkey with foil and let rest for 15 minutes. Slice into 1/2-inch thick slices and serve with the extra stuffing.

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I recently read about an extremely easy cooking technique in the cookbook, Glorious One-Pot Meals, by  Elizabeth Yarnell. It features complete meals cooked by infusion in a small cast-iron Dutch oven. The no-brainer method goes as follows: you layer raw ingredients, starting with the starch (uncooked pasta, rice, potatoes) at the bottom, then you add liquid, protein (chicken, fish, beef or pork) and finally, vegetables all the way to the top. Set the pot into a 450 degree oven (230 degrees Celsius or Gas mark 8 for my British friends) for 30 to 45 minutes and you have dinner. Sounds almost too good to be true doesn’t it?

The author says to cook the meal for approximately 45 minutes at 450 degrees. But in the introduction of the book she says to cook until you can smell the aroma of the food escaping from the oven. At this point you wait exactly three minutes and then pull it out and serve. When I did that last night, at 30 minutes, it was nearly perfect.

There are some critical elements to this form of cooking: you must have a good cast-iron Dutch oven, adjust your oven temperature to 450 degrees and layer the ingredients in a specific order.  All of the recipes in her book serve two people and are designed for a 2-quart oven. If you cook dinner for 4 people, she says to use a 3 1/2 quart oven.

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