Turkey Dinner... Happy New Year!

For Mr. E.'s Sunday evening meal, I decided that the item that was taking up the most room in our freezer was our 14.4 pound free range, organic turkey that we had reserved and had delivered in the fall. Mr. E seemed game (get it?) for prepping and cooking up the bird at first... he enjoyed perusing my Bon Appetit magazines to find the best Turkey recipe that we could cook based on the size of the bird and the cooking tools in our kitchen. He finally settled on a Salted Roast Turkey with Herbs and a Shallot-Dijon Gravy. Sounds heavenly right? Well, it was... after he got over the fact that we would need to dispose of all of the internal organs and cut off the neck. Needless to say it was a lot of work to cook and A LOT of work to clean up that bird after the two of us enjoyed a delightful dinner with turkey, red-skinned parmesan mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli with crushed red pepper and tarragon.

Ingredients
Herbed salt

* 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried rubbed sage
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
* 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
* 3 small bay leaves, coarsely torn
* 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

Turkey

* 1 14- to 16-pound turkey (neck, heart, and gizzard reserved)
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 1 large celery stalk, chopped
* 1 whole lemon, chopped with peel
* 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
* 1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
* 1 teaspoon dried thyme
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 2 cups (or more) Golden Turkey Stock

Gravy

* 3 1/2 cups (about) Golden Turkey Stock
* 2/3 cup chopped shallots
* 1/2 cup all purpose flour
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
* 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

Preparation
Herbed salt

*
Rub first 6 ingredients in small bowl to crush herbs finely. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover; store at room temperature. Stir in peel before using.

Turkey

*
Rinse turkey inside and out (do not pat dry). Pull any fat pads from main cavity and neck cavity of turkey; wrap, chill, and reserve fat for roasting. Place turkey in roasting bag; sprinkle inside and out with herbed salt. Close bag. Place on baking sheet; refrigerate 18 to 24 hours.
*
Set rack at lowest position in oven and preheat to 325°F. Rinse turkey inside and out; pat very dry. Stir chopped onion and next 5 ingredients in small bowl. Divide onion mixture between main and neck cavities. Fold neck skin under and secure with skewer. Tuck wing tips under. Tie legs together loosely. Place turkey on rack set in large roasting pan. Spread butter all over turkey. Place reserved fat pads and reserved neck, heart, and gizzard in pan; pour in 2 cups Golden Turkey Stock.
*
Roast turkey 45 minutes. Baste with pan juices. Continue to roast until thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 165°F to 170°F, basting every 45 minutes, adding stock or water to pan if dry, and tenting loosely with foil if browning too quickly, 3 to 3 1/2 hours longer. Transfer turkey to platter; tent very loosely with foil and let rest 30 to 45 minutes. Reserve roasting pan with juices for gravy.

Gravy

*
Remove turkey neck, heart, and gizzard from roasting pan. Pull meat off neck; chop neck meat, heart, and gizzard and reserve for gravy, if desired. Pour pan juices into 8-cup measuring cup. Spoon off fat from surface, reserving 1/2 cup fat. Add enough turkey stock to degreased pan juices to measure 5 1/2 cups total.
*
Place roasting pan over 2 burners on medium heat. Add 1/2 cup reserved fat and shallots; sauté 1 minute. Whisk in flour. Cook until roux is light brown, whisking constantly, about 2 minutes. Whisk in wine, stock mixture, mustard, and fresh rosemary. Bring to boil, whisking to blend. Boil until gravy coats spoon, about 3 minutes. Add neck, heart, and gizzard, if desired. Season with salt and pepper.
*
Serve turkey with gravy.

Recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine, November 2008

Sundried Tomato, Spinach and Goat Cheese Stuffed Port Chops

Mr. E and I have been trying to eat all the food in our freezer before we begin to stock up again. As I have mentioned in previous posts we order our meat from our local farm her in town. Luckily we had two pork chops in the freezer that I was able to use as my blank slate on which to create a meal that incorporated my favorite food accompaniments... sundried tomatoes, steamed spinach and creamy goat cheese.

Ingredients

2 pork chops
2 oz goat cheese
1 8 oz box of frozen spinach
1/4 chopped sun dried tomatoes
1 onion
2 T butter
1 T chopped garlic
EVOO
twine

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Chop the onion and place in a saute pan with 2 T butter and 1 T chopped garlic. Saute until the onions are soft and translucent.

Cook the frozen spinach in a bowl in the microwave with a few tablespoons of water. After it has finished cooking and cooled a bit.... pour the spinach onto a cheesecloth and wrap the cloth around the spinach and squeeze until all the excess water is removed. Add the onions, sundried tomatoes, and goat cheese to the spinach and mix.

Set the spinach mixture aside and place the two pork chops on a clean cutting board. With a long knife cut horizontally through the two chops so that you create a pocket inside the chop. Once the pocket is as big as you can make it without cutting open teh sides of the chop, stuff the spinach mixture into the pork chop. Take a long piece of twine and wrap it around each chop and tie it off so that it keeps the stuffing inside the chop.

Heat a skillet on medium heat on the stovetop with 1 T of EVOO. Brown the pork chops in the EVOO for about 8 minutes total (4 minutes on each side). Transfer the pork chops to a clear glass pan side-by-side and place in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 135 degrees with a meat thermometer. Once you have reached that temperature, remove the pork from the oven and tent the chops with a aluminum foil and continue to let them cook until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees (or less if you like your chops more on the pink side). If there is any additional spinach stuffing serve on top of the chop. SO yummy!

Recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine, January 2009