Turkey Noodle Soup

I hope you didn't let your turkey carcass go to waste this Thanksgiving. Our new Thanksgiving Day tradition consists of having our big turkey dinner for lunch and then putting up the Christmas tree. (Yeah, it's Beth's thing) I have also started making my own turkey stock while we decorate the tree, which allows me to enjoy Thanksgiving a little bit longer. Just hack up some of the bones, add the aromatics you roasted with the turkey (you did use aromatics when you roasted your turkey, right?) cover with water, add a heavy dose of salt, and let it boil for a couple of hours. I usually have apples, onions, garlic, celery, carrots, sage, thyme, and rosemary leftover from my turkey so I just throw it all in there for the stock, you could also use all fresh vegies too.

Check out the sweet ladle Beth got me for my birthday this year.

Ingredients

1 pot of turkey stock or 8-10 cups chicken stock
1 T butter
2 large carrots, diced
1 large onion, diced
3 stalks of celery
3 cups left over turkey (I use the dark meat for this)
2 cups small egg noodles
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Process:

Heat stock in large pot. In a seperate skillet, melt the butter and saute carrots, onion and celery until soft. When stock starts to simmer, add vegetables, turkey and egg noodles. Once noodles are fully cooked, add parsley and serve.

Braised Short Ribs

Got this from "Chuck's Day Off" on cooking channel. I didn't realize the pic was so bad until I had eaten my meal, so apologies for that. I'm not sure I've ever had beef short ribs, but they were very good. The red wine sauce was easy to make and I'm sure it would work with a pork shoulder or chicken thighs too. Braising is awesome.

Ingredients:

Braised Short Ribs
3 large onions, coarsely chopped
3 to 4 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
4 large carrots, peeled, trimmed and cut into 2-inch chunks
2 beets, peeled, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
3 heads garlic, cut in half
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
6 beef short ribs
Coarse salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
Canola oil
2 (750 ml) bottles red table wine
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup brown sugar
Handful peppercorns
1 to 2 tablespoons butter, a nub


Process:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the onion, celery, carrots, beets and garlic. Add the rosemary, thyme, star anise, and cinnamon stick, and set aside.

Cut the ribs between the bones, and trim all the excess outer fat. Season the ribs well with coarse salt. Dredge in flour until well coated.

In a large Dutch oven or wide soup pot on high heat, pour in enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the ribs to the hot oil, and sear the ribs so they are browned well on all sides, about 3 minutes per side. Remove the ribs, and set aside.

In the same pan, transfer all the vegetables from the bowl, and stir to caramelize, and pick up all the brown bits. Add the meat back into the pot. Pour the wine over top. Ensure all is covered with the liquid and if not, top up with water.

Add the cocoa powder, brown sugar and peppercorns, and bring to a boil, cover with a lid or foil, and place in the oven until the meat is fork tender, about 3 hours. Remove the ribs to a platter, and strain out the solids to use for something else.

Boil the cooking liquid in a wide shallow pan until it is reduced by half. It will be richer, more flavorful and thicker. Add a nub of butter at the end for sheen and flavor.

Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo

Another great Good Eats recipe by Alton Brown. It's awesome. The roux trick is a great idea if you have the extra time, and it allows you to prep all the other ingredients while you wait. The only thing I might do is cut back on the salt because I used chicken stock for the rice cooking liquid (also added red beans into the rice with some old bay seasoning.) which made it a little saltier than normal. I'm looking forward to the leftovers.


Ingredients
•4 ounces vegetable oil
•4 ounces all-purpose flour
•1 1/2 pounds raw, whole, head-on medium-sized (31-50 count) shrimp
•2 quarts water
•1 cup diced onion
•1/2 cup diced celery
•1/2 cup diced green peppers
•2 tablespoons minced garlic
•1/2 cup peeled, seeded and chopped tomato
•1 tablespoon kosher salt
•1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
•1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
•1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
•2 bay leaves
•1/2 pound andouille sausage, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and browned
•1 tablespoon file powder
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the vegetable oil and flour into a 5 to 6-quart cast iron Dutch oven and whisk together to combine. Place on the middle shelf of the oven, uncovered, and bake for 1 1/2 hours, whisking 2 to 3 times throughout the cooking process.

While the roux is baking, de-head, peel and devein the shrimp. Place the shrimp in a bowl and set in the refrigerator. Place the heads and shells in a 4-quart saucepan along with the 2 quarts of water, set over high heat and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour or until the liquid has reduced to 1-quart. Remove from the heat and strain the liquid into a container, discarding the solids.

Once the roux is done, carefully remove it from the oven and set over medium-high heat. Gently add the onions, celery, green peppers and garlic and cook, moving constantly for 7 to 8 minutes or until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the tomatoes, salt, black pepper, thyme, cayenne pepper, and bay leaves and stir to combine. Gradually add the shrimp broth while whisking continually. Decrease the heat to low, cover and cook for 35 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the shrimp and sausage and stir to combine. Add the file powder while stirring constantly. Cover and allow to sit for 10 minutes prior to serving. Serve over rice.

Apple Cider Brine for Turkey/Pork

I used a half recipe of this for two pork tenderloins and two turkey tenderloins before I smoked them for an hour and half with some apple chips. They were both so good, we ate it before I could get a picture. Romer was here, he can vouch for me that it was awesome. I will definately brine again and the apple cider was a very nice touch. Recipe courtesy of Food.com


Ingredients:

2/3 cup kosher salt
2/3 cup sugar
6 slices fresh ginger
2 bay leaves
6 whole cloves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed ( in mortar or spice mill)
2 teaspoons allspice berries, crushed ( in mortar or spice mill)
8 cups unsweetened apple cider ( or juice)
4 cups of ice

Directions:

In a 3-4 quart saucepan, combine cider with salt, sugar, ginger, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns, and allspice; stir to dissolve salt.

Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook 3-4 minutes; remove from heat, add 4 cups of ice water and set aside to cool.

Let sit overnight and make sure meat is patted dry before cooking.

Steak Pics: Before and After

That's a thick ass steak!

135 degrees = medium rare. I had to finish it in the oven.

Meat sweats!

Spaghetti Cooked in Red Wine

I found this in Wine Spectator and it was pretty good and definitely makes for an awesome presentation. The broccoli rabe is great, I will be buying more of this.

Ingredients:
3/4 lb broccoli rabe
4 oz spaghetti or linguine
1/2 bottle of dry red wine, preferably Zinfandel. (other half for drinking)
2 t sugar
1 T olive oil
1 T minced garlic
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 t black pepper
1/4 C Parmesan or Romano cheese

Process:
1. In a large pot of salted water, cook the broccoli rabe for about 3 minutes. Transfer the broccoli rabe to a baking sheet and spread it out to cool.

2. In the same boiling water, cook the pasta for 3-5 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water, then drain the pasta and set it aside. Return pot to stove.

3. Add the wine and sugar, reduce by half; about 8 minutes. Add pasta to wine and cook over med high heat, until most of liquid is absorbed and pasta is al dente.

4. While the pasta cooks, heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add the olive oil, reduce heat and add garlic and red pepper flakes and broccoli rabe. Saute for 3-5 minutes.

5. Stir pasta water into broccoli mixture and then add pasta. Toss gently and cook until most of liquid is gone. Top with cheese and serve.

Funky fries

I made some funky fries. It's a dish that a local food truck makes,
fries topped with pulled pork and cheddar cheese. Oh yeah, and I
smoked a pork shoulder on Sunday, that shit took forever.