brussell sprout plants

Harvested from the garden back in December of 2011 (sounds like along time ago), and as I have many pictures taken and not blogged, I have had the chance to utilize the brussel sprouts plants sprouts and leaves . Note: my spell checker keeps suggesting “Brussels”. The sprouts did not form tightly as shown below and in the  in the recipe blog “Tomato Sauce with Pasta and Veggies” but they were crisp and delicious, even eaten raw. Going by the gardeners creed of making use of what ever grows that’s edible, I couldn’t bear to use toss the remainder  of the plant. The leaves were large and full, a deep green.

The brussell sprouts are to the right and all that was left of the plants after the sprouts and leaves were harvested from the main stem was the stalk which went to the compost pile. Actually it could have been peeled and sliced, possibly. I cut the stems from the leaves.                                          

                                   They are like celery but sweeter. So you can use them as you would for sauté and added to recipes.

I blanched the sprouts and the leaves in boiling water for a few minutes and dried them, then stacked the leaves in the freezer between sheet of waxed paper. They can be quickly brought to room temperature and then rolled and cut for soup or a salad. Now I couldn’t pass up the chance to stuff some some of these large slightly rubbery leaves, like stuffed cabbage.  Being right after thanksgiving and having some turkey soup base available, I mixed the turkey with gravy with some prepared bulgur wheat. It does sound a bit strange, but this new combination proved to be a good example of cooking with what you have available.

The stuffed rolled brussell sprout leaves.

Since the filling is made with the cooked turkey, they can be eaten as is, warmed up or frozen for later consumption.

(the lighting makes one look a bit red)

The turkey stuffed leaves are best eaten with a fork and knives as the leaves do put up a slight resistance to bite. I possibly could have boiled them longer but I like some crunch. I definitely like the taste if these plants. I’ll have to check  on my seed supply, for a planting of these for the  2012 garden.

Addendum: As of this writing there is still one more plant out in the garden believe it or not !(January 8th 2012) The few nights of freezing temps did not completely ruin the plant. Some of the leaves have drooped to cover the sprouting mini leaves on the main stalk and they are still bright green. Looks like we’ll get another meal or two of brussell greens !!!

MMMMMMMMMMM…………………….

Turkey Soup (base)

A smart cook will have saved the carcass from Thanksgiving dinner turkey (or other meal such as chicken) to make turkey soup. The main idea is to simmer the carcass in water or broth to loosen the remaining meat from the bones and to extract flavor. Usually I have at least the main turkey carcass and the wings left over. By simmering the turkey carcass you hardly need a knife and can pick the meat from the bones with your fingers.

Note: some people are squeamish about the aspects of de-boning or butchering meat if they have never done it before . It’s well worth the extra effort and the cleanup of stockpots for the reward of flavor.

As an added plus, you get some insight of the anatomy of the turkey which is the same as a chicken, only larger. When the time comes for carving or cutting up a chicken or turkey you will have gained insight  by familiarity of the bone structure. Buying whole chickens, for example and cutting them gives you more menu versatility and cost saving, and you have the makings for fresh soup and stock  to boot!  

Now the details:

Break the carcass or frame of the turkey so it can fit  into a stock pot (large pan). Cover with water or stock. Since I used previously made stock I didn’t add seasonings or leftover vegetable scraps. Bring to a boil and simmer covered till the meat is tender and starts to fall from the bones. Probably about 1 hour or more to render all the flavor from the bones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let cool and then pour into a strainer set in a large pot to catch the broth, to separate the bones.

 

Dump the strainer of bones into a 1/2 sheet pan. Let them cool so you can handle them barehanded. Some of the meat may have to be released from the bones by picking it out with a small paring knife.

 

The majority  of the meat can be removed with your fingers. Place the picked meat to one corner of the sheet pan, return the cleaned bones to the strainer working your way through the pile. Discard the bones when finished . If you save the wish bone*, place it aside for drying.

 

 

As soup can go in many, many, directions I placed the cleaned meat in mason jars and filled them with reserved broth. It’s as simple as that, refrigerate or continue making soup by adding  your favorites, diced what ever, and  pasta, barley or what ever. The flavor incomparable with any other !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* The wish bone is the forked bone that is at the end of the breast structure of the turkey. It it saved for drying so it will snap. Now traditionally, two people each grab an end of the bone and make a wish. Now each person pulls the ends of the bone to snap it apart. The person who gets the full length of the bone, (with one with the top nub attached) gets their wish granted. This is usually only done with turkey wish bones even though chickens have one as turkey was usually only served on holidays.

Deep Dish Turkey Pizza

leftover thanksgiving  turkey! no problem!

add to a pizza crust:

diced turkey, preferably thigh meat

diced/sliced onions

some diced turkey skin

salt

pepper

dried thyme

dried oregano

dot with congealed gravy

top with grated cheese

Bake

pre game

  

for a short narrative see http://pmetro.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/turkey-day/

Turkey Day

 

         It usually starts before turkey day, the impending doom that cooks goes through, It seems that in order to earn your star you must cook the perfect turkey. The traditional thanksgiving dinner  features the roasted turkey as the main attraction. Something as simple as roasting a bird turns into a make or break test that your foodie group will take note of.  (well maybe not If you serve enough wine).

        Amid the media blitz of thousands of ways to cook a turkey, or even omit it for a more eclectic dinner, it’s you and the turkey, so this year it’s the same but different. Turkey relaxation techniques come to mind. Be cool and clear the kitchen of distractions and negativity such as  any low or fat free, or over processed food items !  So this is how it goes.

       The butterball was the bird  acquired and meat stuffing was the filling to be. I baked some bread previously and oven dried it to use for the stuffing and a combination of ground beef and and uncased sausage was sautéed thanksgiving eve with some vegetable stock and seasoned, stored in the fridge.

     Dawn….  Keep breakfast in mind as the cook (and the cooks helper) needs the proper nourishment while in the kitchen along side the wine, coffee, and food  tasting, and don’t rely only on food tasting along the way for balance. Possible a bagel an egg with cheese with a crisp bacon shard and fresh grapes will suffice, sounds good and tasty.

      I left the fresh bird out of the fridge for a couple of hours to get it towards room temperature. The bird unwrapped, was placed in the roaster on the rack, remove the neck and the giblets to the stock pot. Next to the turkey as far as importance, I like to make the stock, for the gravy and other uses.

     Carrots, celery, and saved in the fridge scraps from vegetable peelings go in the stock pot with added boiling water, and seasoned as the cook sees fit, goes on the back burner, covered, to simmer and to provide aromatic support and some humidity to the kitchen.

     The stuffing slightly warmed to room temperature to break it up after being refrigerated, was tossed with the dried, hand torn bread. Now lightly stuff both cavities of the bird and truss, this bird was prepared by the purveyor as such so the legs were tucked under the ring of skin and I just  skewered the neck cavity to close. Loosen the skin covering the breast and for flavor place uncooked bacon and thyme under the skin. Off to the oven at about 325 Fahrenheit. I’ll probably have to check it at least couple of  hundreds of times while it’s cooking ! :-p. Really, I’ll baste it even though it’s a butter ball, the bacon and stuffing drippings are flavor full. 

     Checks at the one and two hours marks, the bird was beginning to brown evenly so a aluminum foil  heat shield was added to the top. Also fiddling with the thermostat more towards 350 and then backed off at various times is part of the roasting procedure. An analog bi- metal coil type oven thermometer give a indication of the change in oven temp.  The large thermometer inserted in the front of the bird provided another metric for reference. And just to be anal use a quick read tmometer .  Surprisingly  there wasn’t much dripping as expected and I don’t add any water to the drip pan.

    Started early enough so the turkey would be done before the scheduled sit down time which is also an approximation,depending on if your fellow diners are a  strict schedule (or like to impose on on the cook!) ,experience gained from  single oven meal preparation,  dictates that a suitable sized cooler, or more aptly termed a insulated container is ready to accept the foil wrapped bird when it reaches close to desired maximum temperature. Now the oven is ready to accept the side dishes for cooking. With the turkey removed from the oven, a sigh of relief!!!!!!!!!!! The rest as they say is history.

for more pictures see  http://pmetro.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/pre-game/