From Suq to Shuk

Open face turkey sandwiches with kumquat chutney and basil butter

So along comes the accompaniment to my kumquat chutney from the last post.  As I said, I created this dish to accommodate my Thanksgiving left over.  I've had a number of guinea pigs on whom to test this recipe and all responses were nothing but positive.  I highly recommend you try this one at home.

Basil Butter

Ingredients:

30 large basil leaves, about 15-16 grams

50 grams of butter

1 small, or 1/2 of 1 large raw clove of garlic

1 tsp mustard

salt and pepper

Directions:

Wash your basil and dry it well!  In a mortar, pound the leaves with a pestle until they begin to break apart, then move your pestle around the mortar to grind the basil leaves into a paste.  Add your garlic to the mortar and pound it hard, so that it as much breaks up as possible with each pound.  Once the these strikes have left the garlic in multiple pieces, grind circularly again to encororate the garlic into the paste.  Add your teaspoon of mustard, and work it in.  Then add your butter, salt and pepper.  Work the mixture until perfectly smooth and uniform.  If you'd like, you could now pass this through a tamis, or leave as is.

Turkey.

Ingredients:

Left overs from the entry "Thanksgiving, Part 2"

Directions:

Place your turkey, two or three slices of carrots, and all the juices in which they were sitting into a sauce pan.  You may discard the rest of the vegetables or find another use for them.  Over a medium heat, heat up your turkey and with two forks pull away along the grain of the flesh to get strings of meat.  Mash up your carrots.  Reduce this mixture until the turkey has comfortably absorbed most of the liquid remaining in the pan.

Assembly

Directions:

Place slices of bread in the oven or toaster and toast to your preference.  Spread on basil butter, slice some cherry tomatoes and put them atop your basil butter.  Top with turkey and finally the kumquat chutney, and enjoy!

Thanksgiving, Part 2

So I did it, just as promised.  I made Thanksgiving dinner for myself, and while all was hot, I was the only one to taste.  Frankly, I did a great job.  And, like a dutiful American, I have a lot left over, and people will attest through those left over as to the deliciousness of my one-man Thanksgiving.

The menu was changed slightly from the one promised yesterday as I could not find brussel sprouts.  Instead, I made a butternut squash soup, that with gravy was my favourite item of the night.  I wasn't very meticulous in my  measurements last night, it all just sort of came together.  So For the butternut squash I'll give a full recipe down below, the rest I'll describe.

So I started with my chestnuts, roasted about a 1 lb. for half an hour.  Then, stupid me, forgot to slit them open, and they started exploding!  That was great.  I mean it.  I enjoyed.  I transferred them form the hot baking pan in which they were siting to a cool bowl, took out my pestel, and gave each chestnut a sharp blow to let the air out and keep them from exploding further.  I dug out all my chest nuts from their shells, and set them aside.

Then I seared my turkey in a little bit of olive oil.  I layered a roasting pan with leeks, carrots and parsnips and garlic (I LOVE BRAISED LEEKS).  I then laid my seared turkey breast above that, poured in chicken stock to cover the vegetables, wrapped it all tightly in tinfoil and left in a 150 C degree oven.  I left it in the upper half of the oven, and throughout the afternoon roasted a butternut squash, and three apples.

I made my soup (recipe to follow).  Without cleaning the pan in which I seared the turkey breast, I added a little more olive oil and then added the trimmings I'd taken off the bird with two wings that I bought.  I got everything good and brown and then deglazed the pan with some Jack Daniels, and poured in chicken stock to cover, I then let this reduce by half over low heat for about two hours with a lid partially on.  I strained that liquid, then boiled my chestnuts and roasted apple in it for about ten minutes, and added a fair bit of water.  I then puréed that until it was perfectly fine (no need for straining).  I cleaned out the original turkey frying pan, and made a roux.  I made quite a lot roux.  It turns out, however, that it was the perfect amount of roux, for all that liquidy turkey stock and apples and chestnuts that I was slowly whisk into it.   The result was positively the best gravy, I've ever had.

Now here's the recipe for a really excellent soup.  I paid tribute to both the natives who saved the white people in Plymouth or whatever... as well as the Indians for whom we mistook them.

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash, cut in two lengthwise and seeded

2 tbls of butter

1 tsp yellow mustard seeds

1/4 tsp fenugreek

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp corriander

1/2 tsp pink pepper corns

1 large onion, medium dice

2 large carrots, sliced into discs

3 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 inch of ginger, peeled and minced

2 tlbs triple sec

1 large yukon gold potato. medium dice

4 cups of chicken stock

1/2 lime

water, milk, salt and pepper, all to taste

Directions:

1.  Coat your butternut squash in olive oil and salt, leaving it face down on a tinfoil lined baking sheet. Roast for about 45 minutes, in a 350 degree oven.  Remove from oven and peel away the skin.

2.  Melt butter over medium heat, add all of your whole spices.  when the mustard seeds begin to pop, add your diced onion.  All onion to brown, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes.  Move onions to the side of the pan and add carrots.  Allow to brown on one side, about 4 minutes.  Deglaze with triple sec.

3.  Add your chicken stock, and let simmer for about 4 minutes.  Add enough water to double the height of the liquids in the pot.  Then add your diced potato.  After 5 minutes, at roughly chopped butternut squash.

4.  Let simmer for about 5 minutes, then purée the hell out of it.  When smooth, you may chose to strain through a chinois for that perfect perfect texture, or not.  I didn't last night, but have in the past.  If straining, reheat your soup, then add the juice of 1/2 lime, milk, salt and pepper to taste.

B'Teavon