The Best Thanksgiving Turkey Anywhere

Here is Kate's write-up for how she cooks her Thanksgiving turkey. This year, she cooked her own pasture-raised heritage turkey, which was pretty fantastic.

The turkey is really an amalgamation of Julia Child and my take on it. The best write up she does of turkey is in From Julia Child's Kitchen and NOT in any of the later books where she takes to deboning and reconstructing the whole dang bird, way more work than they require. So here is what I do:

Take the neck and whatever innards you have out and brown in hot but not burning oil until brown. Remove them and add in about 2 cups each of chopped carrots and onions and cooked those in the pan, covered, about 5-10 minutes until tender. Take out half of the vegetables to use to flavor the turkey cavity (put the bones and giblets back in the post with the other half of the veggies, season with a little salt, some sage, a bay leaf, cover with stock and about a cup of white wine, and simmer partially covered for three or so hours, then reduce down to use as a base for your gravy).

For the turkey, make sure it is defrosted thoroughly, rinse and pat really dry, then smear all over with at least one stick of softened butter. Make sure you toss some in the cavity as well. Stuff the cavity with parsley springs, celery tops, dried thyme and sage (about 1/2 tsp each), a little salt and the half of the cooked carrots and onions you took out of the gravy starter. Tie him up (I don't try to do it too fancy, just get the wings secured to the body and the cavity closed up best you can, salt lightly, and place on a rack in a roasting pan breast down. Cook in a preheated 325 oven according to the time table below. Baste every 30 minutes. When it is about 90 minutes before the turkey is done, flip it on its back (make sure you do this no later than an hour before the earliest finish time for your turkey so the breast has time to get done). Cooking it this way ensures that the breast meat is moist and the skin is crispy all round. Do not forget to let the turkey rest before carving; it will fall apart -- much better to be done too early than to late -- you can always tent the turkey in tin foil until you are ready to carve.

Timetable for a moderately chilled, unstuffed turkey:

Pounds: 6-8

Hours roasting at 325: 2 3/4 - 3 1/2

Buffer: 20 min

Rest Before Carving: 20 min

Estimated Safe Total: 4 1/4

Pounds:8-12

Hours roasting at 325: 3 1/4-4

Buffer: 20 min

Rest Before Carving: 20 min

Estimated Safe Total: 4 1/2-4 3/4

Pounds:12-16

Hours roasting at 325: 3 1/2 - 4 1/2

Buffer: 30

Rest Before Carving: 30

Estimated Safe Total: 5 1/2

Pounds: 16-20

Hours roasting at 325: 4-6

Buffer: 30

Rest Before Carving: 30

Estimated Safe Total: 5 1/2 - 7

Pounds: 20-26

Hours roasting at 325: 5 1/2- 7 1/2

Buffer: 30

Rest Before Carving: 30

Estimated Safe Total: 7-8 1/2

Thanksgiving on Green Fence Farm

Reviewing my annual list of things in my life for which I am thankful, Green Fence Farm sits near the top. While I love the farm, this has more to do with our friendly proprietors. Some of us are lucky enough to be born into strong and wonderful families. Some of us aren't. In either case, family is what we make of it. Kate and Nick are builders. They have built this farm, but it is really so much more than a farm. Starting with a strong foundation, they have built a huge extended family; we are blessed to be members.

Don and I have spent all but one of the last fifteen Thanksgivings with Kate and her family (maybe more but I have lost count). This is the third Thanksgiving on the farm and it reminds us of our many blessings. One cannot help but feel fortunate when taking in the beauty of the land and the warmth of the friendship. While my list of blessings is too long for this blog, here are some we might share:

• I am thankful for Kate's health this year and her boundless energy to make this family and farm work.
• I am thankful that Kate and Nick have brought the farm to us in the city, making us healthier and happier (if not a little guilty when I can't figure out what to do with everything in our share).
• I am thankful for the pasture raised turkey. (Rumor has it that many of you could be thankful for this next year. Start your lobbying now, because it is pretty wonderful.)
• I am thankful for fresh brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes, straight from the garden.
• I am thankful for shearing day and the celebration! (your loss if you missed it; it was great.)

I am thankful as well for the three people who have asked Kate, "what has happened to your blog?" I have been a little busy this fall, but I have a few things I will be posting soon. If you are worried, please send your recipes to keep the blog alive.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Aubergine

I love eggplant.

I love the color, the texture, the taste. I especially like the french name for it, aubergine. Much better than the english, yes?

I didn't even know that eggplant existed until I was in my twenties, living in Seattle, and frequenting the Pike Place Market (the ultimate of farmers' markets). It is such an unusual vegetable; or is it?

Did you know that eggplant is actually more similar to a fruit, from the same family as tomatoes?

Did you know that the first person to cultivate eggplant in the United States was Nick's favorite farmer, the great Thomas Jefferson? Word is that he really didn't know what to do with them and that it wasn't until immigrants from southern Europe and the Middle East came to the United States that its popularity increased.

A brief history of eggplant can be found at this Village Voice article from last year.

We have lots of eggplants in our share this week, so please send your favorite eggplant recipes to Kate or to me, to share here. Pictures would be great but not required.

One of my favorite recipes is from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook (the first one), Roasted Eggplant Spread. This is so simple--cubed eggplant, red bell peppers, red onion, and garlic, tossed in olive oil, salt and paper, and roasted until they are lightly brown and soft. Blended in a food processor, it makes the best spread. It is luscious. This recipe makes a lot, which is pretty great for leftovers (although it doesn't last very long in our house).

Moving to Spanish influence, José Andrés (Jaleo, Zatanyia's, Oyamel) combines similar ingredients into a wonderful tapas dish, Roasted Eggplant, Pepper, Onion, and Tomatoes, Catalan-style. There is also a wonderful looking Rack of Lamb with Honey Allioli on the same page.

In August, I had posted a couple eggplant recipes from Ottolenghi. I tried the marinated eggplant with oregano and tahini but without the tahini and it was really fantastic. A bit spicy but a nice combination of flavors and very easy to prepare.

Tomatoes

What to do with all those tomatoes?

We had neighbors over this evening for a glass of wine and appetizers. It seemed like an opportunity to try out a few things with the our GFF tomatoes. The most important thing about these heirloom tomatoes is to let their flavor take center stage. The ones I have now are showing their age a bit, so I thought something along the bruschetta line made sense.

I used as my starting point a recipe for Cherry Tomato Crostini with Ricotta from my newest cookbook "A Platter of Figs and other recipes" by David Tanis (who could resist a cookbook entitled a platter of figs). However, I did take great liberties with it. Here is my adapted recipe using GFF heirloom tomatoes and local goat cheese:

3 large heirloom tomatoes, seeded, chopped, and drained

1 large shallot, finely minced

2 Tbs red wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed, plus a couple more cloves for rubbing toast

1 loaf ciabatta

1/4 - 1/3 lb fresh goat cheese (I used the chevre from Cherry Glen, Boyds, Md)

basil leaves, chopped

Mix shallot and red wine vinegar together and allow to sit for a few minutes

Heat 1/2 cup olive oil in a small saute pan. Add 2 crushed cloves of garlic and saute for a couple minutes. Remove garlic and add the olive oil to the shallots. Add tomatoes, some salt and pepper to taste. Allow to sit for a few minutes.

Slice the ciabatta into 1/2 inch slices. Arrange on a baking sheet and toast on both sides under broiler until lightly toasted. Rub toast with with peeled garlic clove.

Spread goat cheese on toast and arrange on a platter. Use slotted spoon to put a heaping tablespoon of the tomato mixture on each toast. Sprinkle basil leaves over crostini.

Enjoy!

Send in your tomato recipes to the blog (either to Kate or to me at donb.sarahd@gmail.com and I will post them here).

More CSA E-mails: Shephard's Pie

One CSA member, Selena Rebleto e-mailed Kate a while back with several recipes that are perfect for this past week's CSA. Wondering what to do with those beautiful quail eggs? Selena sent this picture of her deviled quail eggs which, I must say, are just lovely.

She also sent a link to a Shepherd's Pie recipe. This recipe, from Rachel Ray, looks quick and easy and perfect for a week-night dinner. Here is the finished product and it looks great (better than the Rachel Ray picture!). I think that the hamburger and the potatoes from last week's CSA will make this quite something. Selena used fresh shelled peas and carrots with the ground beef for the filling and topped with the potatoes.

An aside, if you haven't tried the beef from Green Fence Farm, you are crazy (unless, of course, you don't eat meat and, then, I will not call you crazy). I made my regular enchilada recipe with the ground beef and, wow, it was fantastic.

Potatoes

My morning routine is to stumble downstairs, make lots of coffee, check my e-mail (yes, I am obsessive), and then go on-line to read the Post and the Times. Don likes to read the paper newspaper. But I like to read the newspaper on-line because I never know where it will take me.

This morning a link from Tom Sietsema's discussion on over-hyped food trends led me to Regina Schrambling's blog on Epicurious. One recent post discusses how to preserve basil (she claims to keep basil a week by putting stems/roots in a jar with water and covering with a grocery bag). Another post discusses her take on Creamy Potato Salad, Light on the Mayo.

So, what are you doing with your potatoes?

Posts from CSA Members

What a great CSA share we got today. I took one of the heirloom tomatoes, seeded, chopped it up (kind of chunky), added some salt, pepper, a little olive oil and sprinkled goat cheese and a few olives over it. It was yummy.

Now I have one less tomato but I still have a huge box of them. So, please let send in what you are doing with all of the ones you got, as well as the other wonderful produce we received today. Send them to me, donb.sarahd@gmail.com, if you want them posted before winter. Kate just sent me your great pictures and ideas from previous shares and they look great. Here are a few.

Alden O'Brien made a salade composée with bed of lettuce, beets, hard boiled eggs, herbs, all from the farm. The one pictured at the right includes some cuke dice from Cemmy Peterson’s farm.

Alden also sent a picture of swiss chard and broccolini. She blanched them and then stir fried them with a little olive oil and those scallion or "whatever flower things and some slices of that stem."

Beautiful, Alden! Thanks for sharing!

CSA member, Lynne Becker, sent an e-mail to Kate on "CSA: This is how I used our beans last night." She linked to a recipe from Gourmet, August 2004, Poached Chicken with Tomatoes, Olives, and Green Beans. This looks ideal for what we got in today's basket. Lynne's comments on the recipe: "I can't imagine liking many recipes without onions and garlic, so I added diced red onion to the tomato mixture and subbed basil for oregano since that's what we've got in the garden."

Ed Zakreski sent some links to Kate for red cabbage and for duck!

"I’m going to use a little bit of my red cabbage to create a sourdough starter. Here’s the link from Michael Ruhlman – one of my favorite food writers - that inspired me: http://blog.ruhlman.com/ruhlmancom/2009/07/simple-sourdough-starter.html

"I’m also sending along the “How To Roast A Duck” link from Amateur Gourmet in case you can use it to inspire more duck purchases. It does show that roasting a duck is not as intimidating as it sounds. http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2009/05/how_to_roast_a.html

Ed also shared a picture of his dinner from GFF produce. Wow! Looks fabulous.

More tomorrow. Remember to send your ideas, recipes, and pictures.