Lemon Rosemary Roasted Turkey with Gravy

I think I'm this close to perfecting the roast turkey for the holidays.

I've been a big fan of the lemon-rosemary flavor combo for a long, long time, but never used it with turkey until this past Thanskgiving. I was inspired by the Trib's Good Eats Thanksgiving story, where super thin slices of lemon and whole rosemary sprigs are tucked under the skin. I hadn't yet bundled up the rosemary and that was a great way to use a lot at once. This approach didn't work out so hot as written. The flavor was great, but the lemon slices heated differently than the rest of the bird, scorching the skin above, giving this gross polka-dot effect.

My brother, who was my partner on this dish, has some great rosemary bushes at his place, so I took that idea and improvised. We also added a brining step at his suggestion. I hadn't had great luck with that before, but we had time and I figured it certainly couldn't hurt. He picked out a 17 lb bird for our group of 10 adults and 3 young kids.

The night before, I took the basic brine recipe:
1 cup kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1 gallon water

Bring to a boil for five minutes and then completely cool.

And tweaked it for seasoning and volume to:

1.5 cup kosher salt
1.5 cup sugar
zest and juice of a three (3) lemons
small handful of fresh minced rosemary (a few tablespoons)
small handful of peppercorns
and
6 quarts of water.

We then brought this to a boil to supersaturate the solution and then let it cool completely outside (This is so you don't essentially poach the bird). We were able to fit the bird in a small (disinfected) Igloo cooler, cover it with the brine, set it out on the 35F porch (I would have added a bag of ice if it had been warmer outside) and covered the whole thing. Easy enough.

The next morning (Christmas Day), I softened two sticks of butter and mashed in another couple of tablespoons of minced rosemary and lemon zest and a few pinches of kosher salt. I rinsed off the bird, patted it dry, and rubbed the butter under and over the skin. I then cut a lemon and an onion in eights and crammed them into the cavity with a few more sprigs of rosemary. A quick truss and we were ready to cook

Due to oven space, we used the grill, by simply putting the roasting pan on the grate. My brother manned the grill while I worked on the sides in the kitchen. He did have a bit of a problem keeping the temperature steady. I found that the only way around that is to practice with your grill to find the right setting, unfortunately. The only problem is basting. Once you open the grill lid, you lose all of the heat and you have to start again. The oven has pretty much the same problem, but it's less extreme in the variances. I think it's Alton Brown who says that you shouldn't baste at all, in favor of the constant temperature. Not that I like him that much (okay, not at all), but it's a vote in my favor. We did run out of gas, so we finished it in the oven for the last 20 minutes.

The end result was really quite nice. The breast skin blackened a bit, which made me realize I'd forgotten to warn my brother to tent the the breast with foil for the first hour (which evens out the colorization). But it was still quite tasty.

The meat was moist enough that it really did not need gravy, but I decided to give it a quick shot, since the pressure was off. I've never been really comfortable with gravy, as it always seems to be a rush job, by definition, and risky. I deglazed the roasting pan with a bit of chicken stock, whisked in some flour, cooked that into a nice roux and then added stock and white wine to get to the right volume and viscousity.. The drippings from the brine and seasoned butter were just salty enough, but not too much.

So, in the end, there was no magic trick. Just carefully working through the basics and working with a consistant flavor mix paid off.

Spiedini di Pollo (Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Breast with Rosemary)

Ham, Chicken and Rosemary. Especially with the huge bushes of rosemary I now have out back, this recipe was a no-brainer as soon as I saw it in Cucina Rustica.

I went for the fancy, super-thin sliced Prosciutto I found at the Fox & Obel deli counter. I figured it would be more flavorful than the lower-grade stuff I bought at Jewel. I'm not sure that was the right move.

The chicken was okay, but definitely not seasoned enough. There wasn't enough rosemary (though it smelled great while cooking) nor salt/ham flavor. At very least, I needed to salt the meat a little bit. The thicker-cut Prosciutto may not be as high quality a meat, but it might be better for this purpose.

The bread burnt a bit, too. My step-mother thinks that I may have needed more olive oil. I dismissed that at first, as I definitely brushed it down, but I realized that she may have provided a clue. The parts that burned were the sides with crust. i.e., they couldn't absorb the olive oil as well as the other parts. So, the issue may be that the crust doesn't hold the oil well enough and therefore burns easier, so it might be that the bread cubes simply cannot have any crust on them.

Definitely worth another try with some tweaking.

Rotisserie Chicken - Redux

I did two chickens last night - one with sage and butter for Channing, the other with just rosemary (whole stalks tucked under the skin) for me. Both were stuffed with lemon wedges, yellow onion chunks and more of the herbs.

There's definitely a weight limit on the Weber Genesis rotisserie attachment. I have to check the labels to see how heavy the birds were that I tried to cook last night, but they were definitely too big.

After appearing to be fine for the first few minutes of monitoring, by the time I went to check on them about 15 minutes later, one had fallen completely out of the cage, blocking the whole mechanism. Fortunately, I was able to pull them out and pop them into the oven for regular roasting with very good results. Before then, though, man, the rosemary smelled amazing.

I did learn better how to use the rotisserie device in other ways, though, by using indirect heat (i.e. the middle of the three burners was off) and removing the middle Flavorizer bar, I was able to prevent flare-ups.

Ratatouille

As I mentioned a while back, I have a ton of marinara sauce. But at the same time, I'm watching what I eat pretty carefully these days, which means I can't be eating too much pasta. So what to do?

Somehow, I thought of doing a fake lasagna with some zucchini thin-sliced horizontally, with the Morningstar Farm Grillers Prime or Sausage Recipe Crumbles (or whatever they're called) and some low fat ricotta or cottage cheese. Though I was not too keen on the cheese portion. My neighbor and trainer Heather, pointed out that this is basically rataouille, if I added eggplant and red bell pepper.

Not a fan of that vegetable, by the way. My stepmother is the only person that's actually made me eggplant that I liked and it was seriously fried, so I dunno if that counts.

I decided to give it a shot. The first effort, san eggplant, was really pretty good. I did a bit of experimentation, even trying some eggplant I found at the farmer's market. I got the small zucchini-sized ones (not japanese eggplant, smaller versions of the regular). I think I have a really winner here. After all that, I finally opened a cookbook and found that I was making pretty close to authentic ratatouille.

Oh, and I freaking love my ScanPan saute pan. More on that another day, but my God, it's like magic.

Here's my first shot at writing a recipe:

1 small, narrow eggplant
1 medium yellow squash
1 medium zucchini squash
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 red ball pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
kosher salt
1 cup marinara sauce
1+ tbsp fresh oregeno
2 tbsp fresh basil

Slice eggplant into thin disks. Place in single layer in a colander (over a paper towel or plate to catch the liquid) sprinkled with kosher salt. Sprinkle kosher salt across top as well. Let sweat for ~45 minutes.

Slice onion and red bell pepper into sticks. Slice yellow squash and zucchini into thin disks. Using the back of a chef's knife or pastry scraper, mash peeled garlic cloves with kosher salt into a paste (salt crystals will act as an abrasive). Mince herbs. At the end of the 45 minutes, pat the eggplant dry with paper towels.

Heat saute pan to medium high. Add olive oil. When oil starts to shimmer, add onions. When onion softens, add mashed garlic. When garlic is browned, add zucchini and summer squash. Heat until both start to soften, turning a bit translucent. Add eggplant and heat until that starts to turn translucent as well. Add red bell pepper. Heat until bell pepper begins to soften. Pour marinara into pan around the edges and sprinkle the herbs across the top. Gently fold in the sauce to the vegetables until heated through.

Serves 4 as a side, 2 as a main course.

* This seems to be all the rage these days. I learned it at the Chopping Block and have since see it on How to Boil Water with Tyler Florence and, yes, America's Test Kitchen

Lemon-Rosemary Lamb (and/or Chicken) Kabobs

Annnnnnd I'm back. The hiatus wasn't doing squat for my thesis writing, so why not?

I don't know much of what to say about this recipe beyond it is the main reason I decided to start growing rosemary. This marinade blew me away, even more so when I realized that it would be great on chicken as well. Even as a marinade for whole breasts. Good eatin'.

It's also another example of how Better Homes and Gardens' "The New Grilling Book" is one of the best all-around cookbooks I own.

I found that the best way to get the lamb is to buy cubed lamb stew meat. I tried getting larger cuts and cutting them down to kabob sizes, but it was totally not worth the trouble or cost. Though I paid less per pound, that savings was quickly blown away by the waste in the trimming. Granted, I don't have great butchery skills, but still...

So, I finally, finally decided to make this this year after the plants out back are getting pretty gigantic. I've been holding off, afraid to touch them so they would be as strong as possible before the winter. Which was completely irrational, I know. They and the sage are doing great. The temps just dropped to the 60's this week, so I figure I have a few more weeks before I have to mulch and cover them. And then pray.

Herb Gardening

This past weekend, I finally got all of the herbs that I've been buying over the past two weeks planted. I'm amazed that none of them died in the meantime. I think this pretty well does it for this year, though I may try to get some regular Oregano going.

In the ground, I have:

• Rosemary


• Sage


• Greek Oregano

I'm counting on the Rosemary and Sage to make it through the winter.
In pots, I have:

• Thyme


• Orange Thyme


• Sweet Basil


• Cinnamon Basil


• Dill


• Tarragon


• Flat-leaf Parley

The Dill has grown enough in the pot that it's ready to start using now. I have a few weeks on the rest, at least.