Taste With The Eyes

It’s raining in Southern California today. Hooray!

We are in the midst of a drought so this is really good news for everyone except my dogs, they don’t like rain (probably because it is so foreign to them). Hopefully it won’t cause any mudslides or flash floods in the wildfire areas.

How about a hot gooey grilled cheese & tomato sandwich for lunch on a rainy day?

Cooking the carcass for soup the next day makes the kitchen smell like Thanksgiving all over again. The broth is rich and flavorful, and the soup is delicious and not too heavy, just right for after the holiday.

This recipe is All Leftovers from Thanksgiving plus a couple pantry items.
Saute onions, leeks, celery, and carrots until soft, then add garlic and cook for another couple minutes.
Meanwhile add 2 bay leaves to the turkey broth and add pearl barley.
Cook for about an hour until the barley is tender.
Add the vegetables and diced turkey. Simmer for about 10 minutes more.
To finish, add chopped parsley and low sodium high-quality soy sauce.
Salt and pepper to taste.

The 25 lb. beauty, pictured here.
My “Do Nothing” recipe for cooking a turkey:
1. Loosely stuff the cavity with roughly chopped onions, carrots, and celery, lots of butter and salt and pepper.
2. Rub the entire outside of the bird with soft butter and salt and pepper.
3. Put more roughly chopped onions, carrots and celery in the bottom of the roasting pan with enough chicken stock so that the pan does not dry out.
4. Roast at 325 for about 5 hours and leave the bird alone, don’t baste, don’t cover, just “do nothing” and then marvel at the beautiful bird when it reaches 165 to 170 degree internal temperature.

I believe the secret is to start with a great turkey. This is a fresh Diestel Turkey Ranch Premium Range Grown Broad Breasted Young Hen Turkey.

It’s our tradition to serve oysters on Thanksgiving.

This year, we have Tori & Tom’s special recipe: Pacific oysters on the grill with a pat of butter, minced garlic, smokey barbecue sauce, a dash of Crystal Hot Sauce, and freshly grated horseradish.

Ooooh! Were these ever good! We could have eaten another 3 dozen…

A special thank you to Tori, Oyster Shucker Extraordinaire!

These oysters are from Hood Canal, Washington.“Oysters adore Hood Canal. The water is kept brackish, cold, and oxygenated by the Olympic rivers.” Rowan Jacobsen

Cook’s Tip: Barbecuing the oysters takes one dish and guests out of the kitchen while you’re preparing the big meal 🙂

The cauliflower soup was served with a vanilla chestnut cream swirl on Thanksgiving.

But for this “Leftovers Soup,” I coarsely chopped the leftover roasted Brussels sprouts, heated them in the microwave, and combined them with the cauliflower soup, drizzled with balsamic reduction and a sprinkling of gray salt crystals.

To make Vanilla Chestnut Cream: In a food processor – combine one jar of whole roasted chestnuts, creme fraiche, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Puree until smooth, add water or cream to get the right consistency to swirl into the cauliflower soup upon serving.

Cauliflower Soup: Saute onions, celery and leeks in a good amount of butter until soft, then add chicken stock and cauliflower, cook until tender. Puree with an immersion blender, then season with salt, pepper, nutmeg.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts: Toss Brussels sprouts in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast until tender and the outer leaves are brown and crispy. Toss with a balsamic reduction.

This “nothing fancy” dressing always gets rave reviews.

I make the bread cubes from rustic French loaves, and let the cubes dry out for a couple days, then they can soak up the broth and butter.

Sauté equal amounts of celery and onions and leeks in butter until soft, season with salt and pepper.
Sauté mushrooms separately in butter, season with salt and pepper.
Use an equal ratio of bread to veggies.

In about 2 cups of good chicken stock, melt 1/2 to 3/4 stick of butter.

Toss bread cubes, onion mixture, and mushrooms together.
Pour butter-broth over the mixture, add enough to just moisten the bread.
Add plenty of fresh chopped parsley and sage in a 2:1 ratio. Season and toss again.

Pack loosely in a baking dish, dot with butter.
Cover with foil and bake 30-45 minutes, at 350, remove the foil about half way to get a browned top layer and watch it so it doesn’t burn.

Wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to All!