cooking @ home

Archive for the ‘Turkey’ Category

Ok, this is a super easy recipe and a great one for turning that holiday turkey into a delicious leftover dish. The recipe is simple, and there isn’t much to say even as a preamble, believe it or not. I have maybe two items to mention. First, this is one of those recipes where it’s difficult to separate the sauce from the rest of the dish as they basically come together as one. Therefore I’m just following the natural flow and present them together as one.

Second, at this very moment in time I’m just so very tired of turkey … I even want to just get this recipe published and out of the way so I don’t have to think about or even look at turkey for a few weeks. That is just me in the wake of Thanksgiving. In a few weeks I’ll actually be debating do I want ham or turkey again for Christmas. And if it turns out to be the latter, I’ll definitely be looking up — I do that, you know — my own recipe here to make it again.

Turkey and Mushrooms on Fettucini
©2007 Harry Kenney

3 cups of turkey, pulled into pieces
1 cup chopped portabello mushrooms (can substitute other mushrooms)
4 slices pancetta (can substitute bacon)
1 cup frozen peas
3 fresh plum tomatoes, chopped
4-5 tbsps Marsala
8 oz heavy cream, and 4 oz milk
(can substitute these for 12 oz of light cream or half-and-half)
1/3 cup grated parmegan
salt
pepper
garlic powder
1 box Fetuccini (I like the green and “white” mix)
olive oil, extra virgin

Boil water and add fettucini. Meanwhile, on medium-heat, oil in pan, then mushrooms, then pancetta, season, then add dairy, then wine, season again, reduce slightly (this will be a light and thin sauce), then add cheese, then turkey, finally peas and tomatoes last three minutes. Remove from heat. Take the al dente fettucini and dump that in, mix, and serve. Makes about 8 servings.

It seems there’s at least three ways to make a Thanksgiving holiday turkey. The traditional oven method we all grew up with and usually do. The “set the back yard on fire” method that is all the rage right now, namely the deep-fried turkey. And then there is a lesser-done middle of the road method that straddles nicely between those two which is turkey on the grill, or to be more accurate, the barbecued turkey.

Which one to do this year? Well the weather decided it for me. Here in Philadelphia in November the norm is pretty much 55°F on a nice day, and on the occasional day when we get a Canadian down-draft maybe 42°F for the high. This year, as the weather tends to do what it wants, we inexplicably had a two-day warm spell with the day before Thanksgiving reaching to 66°F And the day of the feast just glancing the 70 degree mark. (Mind you, the very next evening it went down to 30°F). So with this as a sign — well, ok, I don’t actually believe so much in signs so I should say, with this opportunity presented I decided to make the most of it. One finally grilling for the year. And what a way to go out with a bang but with my first-ever BBQ turkey breast!

My obvious concern was: this could easily go wrong. Then again if I really thought that, I wouldn’t have begun the venture in the first place. That said, it was still a slight gamble. And what’s the best thing to do with a gamble? Why, hedge your bets of course. And so, along with my first BBQ turkey so also came my first time brining anything. I’ve been hearing about this brine technique for a few years now and I wasn’t completely sold on the idea. (I’m still not, not totally. It has it’s place though for certain.) You see if a turkey, whole or breast can get dry in the oven, then it most certainly could on the grill if I wasn’t careful. And so I took the plunge. Literally. Or at least the turkey breast did.

Now, I had a plan in mind. BBQ the turkey. Give it a dry rub. Offset the dry rub with some kind of a thin sweeter sauce. Once I decided that the sauce would be citrus, I knew when making the brine I would give it a bit of “umpf” in the same direction. You see, yes a brine is most definitely not a marinade; it’s something totally different. But I figured that shouldn’t stop me from in some way thinking of it a bit as a marinade too. And so I had the seven pound turkey with ribs. Got a huge metal pot, put in the water and the requisite salt and sugar mix. Then I also took two large juicy oranges, cut them in half, squeezed out at least half of the juice and plunked them in the brine with the turkey and let it set in the refrigerator for four hours.

As I did this at 9am and I wasn’t grilling until about 1pm, I then happily went back to sleep for a couple hours. I love it when something gets done *while you’re sleeping — that’s the true measure of quality multitasking to me. LOL!

Later, with my charcoal “tank” — my beautiful large outdoor grill — all ready, I proceeded with figuring out what to do for my rub. I definitely wanted it to have a nice smoky flavor, but not too overpowering either. So I decided a bit of a regular BBQ rub, minus some of the normal things I would use and other ingredients in less proportions — this was poultry after all, not a side of beef. I added some of the traditional turkey herbs of sage, rosemary and thyme and was off. I set the grill up for the normal off-set or indirect heating, charcoals on the two sides, open in the middle with a drip pan below. Grilled — as in direct flame — the top skin side of the two half breasts (I cut the breast into two halves for same reason, stack the odds in my favor, easier cooking, less time, therefore less change to dry out), and after five minutes of giving the top side a nice sear, went for the barbecue, the indirect heating with the turkey breast in the middle. Two hours later it was done.

Brought it inside. Crisp as you ever saw turkey skin with the strong dry rub and the smoky charcoal flavor. Super moist, very white, cooked meat with the slightest hint of orange from the brine. Made my light sauce, and the rest of my sides and there was the holiday feast. The techniques used for the turkey all worked out very nicely. Definitely not your momma’s or your grandmama’s Thanksgiving Day bird, but also definitely a winner. The barbecuing turned out to be a good idea. The brine worked out fantastically. The orange in the brine and then in the sauce offset the rub seasonings and complimented the smoky flavor marvelously. Some smoke, some herbs, some citrus. Moistest meat inside with the crispiest skin outside. What more could you want?!

  

Citrus-Brined Barbecued Turkey Breast with Orange-Herb-Wine Sauce
©2007 Harry Kenney

7 pound young turkey breast with ribs

citrus brine:

2 large, juicy oranges
1 gallon water, cold
1 cup salt
1 cup sugar

herb dry rub:

3 tblsps rosemary
3 tblsps sage
3 tblsps thyme
1 tblsp garlic powder
2 tsps onion powder
1 tblsp dried oregano
1 tblsp dried basil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tsps salt
1 tsp pepper

orange-herb-wine sauce:

2 cups chicken broth
1 cup white wine, dry, semi-sweet (I used chablis)
thyme
rosemary
1 tblsp honey
zest (2-3 tsps) and juice from one large orange
1/4 tsps
pinch chilli powder
1 tblsp garlic powder
1 tbsp minced onion (dehydrated)
salt
pepper
2 tblsps vegetable oil
1 tblsp butter

Brine: Cut turkey breast into two halves. Place in very large container that can fit into the refrigerator with brine solution ingredients for 3-4 hours.

Rub: Take out of solution. Wash completely off, especially to get salt off of it. Pat dry with paper towels. Get grill going. Mix herbal dry rub ingredients and rub onto both sides of turkey halves, especially the top. Set up grill for indirect heating.

BBQ: On the grates over the charcoals, place the halves top side (skin side) down and give a good sear for 4-6 minutes. Then place, top up, on middle grates over a drip pan, to the sides (or in the middle) of your grill for indirect heating. Cook at a minimum of 225°F and no higher than 325°F for about two hours. Check with internal thermometer and take off when thickest part of the meat reads at least 160°F.

Sauce: Make sauce in small pot on stove: Tossing in all of the ingredients except the butter and cornstarch and reducing it down. After getting it down about 1/3, add cornstarch, reduce further. Add butter two minutes before done for sheen and added flavor.

Serving: When turkey cools a bit, take out the rib section and all bones. Suggest serving by cutting the turkey more as you would a meatloaf or a roast: slicing across the short side and giving thick half-inch or larger slices. Two or three pieces per plate, staggered slightly atop each other, spoon sauce down the middle or completely over it and serve. Makes 10-12 servings.

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