Monday, January 9, 2017

Our Family Thanksgiving and a Honey Cranberry Sauce Recipe !


 

 Have you had your turn roasting a Thanksgiving turkey...or are you going to take the challenge any other time of the year !!??  Well, last year I waited until three days before Thanksgiving and I had to go to a couple of stores before I found an organic turkey. This year I decided to buy one sooner than that, so I became the turkey roaster this year ! I'd never tried brining poultry before, and after hearing chefs on cooking shows say how tender the meat becomes, I thought why not, I'll try it ! It's actually not scary or hard at all. It's just a matter of combining in a big pot, water, salt, sugar, fruit juice, spices, herbs and putting your bird in there overnight ! "How to Brine a Turkey"from the kitchn.com looks pretty easy, if you want to try it !

I also tried Chef Jeffrey Zakarian's Turkey Wet Rub recipe on foodnetwork.com,  for roasting the turkey, because it looked easy and had ingredients that I love, like tarragon, honey, Dijon mustard, and lemon juice ! 
  Some of our family celebrated at my brother Brett and sister-in-law Laura's house. We missed our family members who couldn't make it this time. My mother  Sonje made delicious cinnamon, brown sugar yams. Laura made the yummy  Apple Walnut Cranberry Salad that you can find on Pinterest. It has gorgonzola cheese in it....oh yeah ! She also made two scrumptious cranberry sauces, one was flavored with orange and one was traditional. I made mashed potatoes with roasted garlic in them. Now my mouth is watering !


 
  My nieces Tessa and Tatum, nephew Jared, and my brother Chris were there too.  Chris "cooked" two Marie Callender's pies; a sugarless raspberry and a pumpkin one that we had with vanilla ice-cream ! We had a lovely, intimate time, enjoying each other's company and giving thanks to G-d for His blessings on us in 2016. I'm so happy that we have this unique, special Holiday in our country each year to pause, reflect, and give thanks.
                                                                                                                                                           
                                                                     
                                                            Turkey Wet Rub

Preparation Time: 5 min
Yield: Enough to coat a 12-14-pound turkey
Level: Easy

                                                             
                                                                  Ingredients

1 cup mayonnaise, such as Hellman's
1 cup fresh tarragon leaves
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

                                                         Directions for the Rub

   In a bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, tarragon, honey, mustard, lemon zest and juice; season with salt and pepper. Rub the mayonnaise mixture all over the 12-14-pound turkey before roasting. I would add to rub this mixture under the skin, where possible  as well.

  I followed the directions called "How to Cook a Turkey : The Simplest, Easiest Method" by Emma Christiansen, on thekitchn.com.  Maybe you'd like to follow her directions too ! ( The truth is, I was going to type the directions, but when  saw that they were about  10-15 paragraphs long,  (And I type with 2 fingers !) I decided that  hopefully,  you wouldn't mind looking it up yourself ! But seriously, don't freak out ! It has been said that cooking a turkey is like cooking a big chicken !

   P.S. In past years, I have made cranberry sauce with honey....so here is a recipe for you !

                                                          Honey Cranberry Sauce

   1-12oz. bag fresh or frozen cranberries
   1 cup honey
   1 strip orange zest
   1 cinnamon stick ground cinnamon stick
   1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
   1 whole clove nutmeg
      (You can also use 1/4 teaspoon of each powdered spice instead.)

                                                                      Directions

   Pour the cranberries into a medium saucepan. Add the honey and the strip of orange zest or peel. Grind the cinnamon stick, whole cloves, and whole nutmeg in a clean coffee grinder.  Cook the cranberries and honey over  medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer the cranberries until they burst and until the the mixture has a saucy consistency. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of the freely ground or powdered spices. Taste the sauce  to see if it needs more honey or spices. Remove the pan from the heat and let the sauce cool.



P. S. I decorated the turkey with citrus branches from my trees, fresh sage and rosemary sprigs, tangerines, apples, a pear, pomegranate, and some persimmons.