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Turkey For The Chronically Helpless

Thanksgiving is next week, coming up fast like an out of control point guard on a greasy court. Most special orders for treats like heirloom turkeys, fully cooked, ready to serve meals and even pies and desserts probably need to be made by this Saturday November 22. (That's today for those who just tuned in). And if your of the type who would rather make reservations, by this point your table by the window is mostly likely already occupied by the "Plannersons". But, just in case, here's a list of restaurants, caterers and grocers who may still be able to come to your aid and provide the Thanksgiving of your dreams, or at least something to keep you mother-in-law happy.

By the way I've also given you a few recipes in case your still looking for the ultimate green bean hot dish or a pumpkin pie that's just a little more pumpkiny than any other pie you ever tasted.

 

RESTAURANTS:

Jax Cafe - NE Minneapolis

www.jaxcafe.com - 612 -789- 7297

Forepaugh's - St. Paul

www.forepaughs.com - 651-224-5606

The Lexington Restaurant - St. Paul

www.the-lexington.com - 651-222-5878

Cosmos - Minneapolis

www.cosmosrestaurant.com - 612-312-1168

CATERERS

Chowgirls - NE Minneapolis

www.chowgirls.net - 612-203-0786

Tinucci's - Woodbury & Newport

www.tinuccis.com - 651-436-3100 / 651-459-3211

GROCERS

Lund's or Byerly's - Various Locations

www.lundsandbyerlys.com - 952-548-1400

Kowalski's Markets - Various Locations

www.kowalskis.com - Call your local market

Whole Foods Market - Minneapolis

www.wholefoodsmarket.com - 612-927-8141

 

There you have it. If you need more help than this, I would recommend finding a friend or long lost relative to call up and get yourself invited over for dinner. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

 

GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE WITH SHERRY MUSHROOM SAUCE AND CRISPY STRAW ONIONS

Sherry Mushroom Sauce

6 Tablespoon butter

2 Tablespoon chopped parsley

1 clove garlic, minced

1 large shallot, finely chopped

1 3/4 - 2 cup thinly sliced mushrooms

3 Tablespoon flour

1/2 cup sherry

2 cups heavy cream or half & half

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Melt 4 T butter in saucepan. Add parsley, garlic, and shallots. Sauté 3 minutes. Stir in flour. Gradually add cream stirring constantly. Add nutmeg. In separate pan, melt 2 T butter. Add mushrooms and sauté 3-5 minutes. Add mushrooms to sauce. Deglaze pan with the sherry. Add sherry to sauce. Simmer sauce on low heat stirring occasionally.

Crispy Straw Onions

1 large yellow onion

1 cup milk

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 teaspoon sugar

5 cups canola or frying oil

Peel the onion and slice into extremely thin rings or half rings. Toss the cut onions in milk and soak for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the flour with the salt and sugar and heat the oil to 350°F in a small high-sided stockpot.

Drain the onions and toss in the seasoned flour in small batches. Shake off excess flour and fry in hot oil until crisp and golden. Drain on a rack or paper towel. Repeat process until all the onions are fried. When the onions are cool, hold in a brown paper bag in a turned off oven.

Green Bean Casserole

1 lb. fresh green beans or frozen French cut

Kosher Salt

Water

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Trim the ends from the fresh beans and either cut into 1” inch lengths or julienne in a Frenching tool. Blanch in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, drain and cool in a bath of ice water. Drain immediately when cool.

Toss the beans with the cooled sherry mushroom sauce and a good handful of crispy onions. Pour the mix into a buttered 9x3 inch baking dish or 2 quart casserole. Top with a generous layer of crispy onions. Bake covered with foil for 30 minutes then remove the foil and continue baking another 10 minutes. Serve warm.

MAPLE PUMPKIN PIE

Pie Filling

1 cup Grade B maple syrup*
2 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup milk
2 large eggs

*Available at some specialty foods shops

In a 3- to 3 1/2-quart heavy saucepan gently boil maple syrup until a small amount dropped into a bowl of cold water forms a soft ball, about 210° F. on a candy thermometer, and cool slightly. In a bowl whisk together pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, salt, cream, milk, and eggs and whisk in maple syrup.

Pie Dough

1 ½ sticks (6 oz.) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes.
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 to 8 tablespoons ice water

Blend flour, butter, shortening, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender until most of mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few small (roughly pea-size) lumps. Drizzle 2 tablespoons ice water evenly over and gently stir with a fork until incorporated. Gently squeeze a small handful: It should hold together without crumbling apart. If it doesn't, add more ice water, 1-tablespoon at a time, stirring 2 or 3 times after each addition until incorporated (keep testing). (If you overwork mixture or add too much water, the pastry will be tough.)

Divide dough in two. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together and form it, rotating it into a disk. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin roll out dough 1/8 inch thick (about a 14-inch round). Fit dough into a 10-inch (1 1/2-quart capacity) pie plate and trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Crimp edge decoratively and chill shell 30 minutes. Shell may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered loosely with plastic wrap.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

On lightly floured surface roll out remaining dough 1/8 inch thick (about a 10-inch round) and with a 2-inch leaf-shaped cutter cut out 16 leaves. Transfer pastry leaves to a baking sheet and chill until firm, about 15 minutes.

Brush leaves with some egg wash (being careful not to drip onto edges) and bake in middle of oven until golden, about 12 minutes. Transfer leaves to a rack and cool. Leaves may be made 1 day ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.

Pour filling into shell and brush edge of shell with some egg wash. Bake pie in middle of oven 1 hour, or until filling is set but center still shakes slightly. (Filling will continue to set as pie cools.) Transfer pie to a rack to cool completely.

Garnish pie with pastry leaves just before serving

 

P.S. Don't forget those in need. Donate some food where you can or your time to help give those who have the bad luck of being without in a culture of abundance.

 

Technorati Tags: Thanksgiving,turkey,pumpkin pie,reservations,restaurants,meals to go,caterer

Old Time Turkey Talk

Here we go again. After the election season and Halloween we slam head on into the Holiday season. And when I say Holiday season I mean turkey season. Between the end of November until the first of April, Americans will consume nearly 76 million turkeys...not pounds, TURKEYS! That's roughly 6 million more than the population of the country of Turkey. With that staggering amount of birds being popped into ovens, smokers and deep fat fryers, there's bound to be some tough or dry meat choked down with any liquid available. There are many ways to prevent such a tragedy. The first step and probably the one most overlooked is which turkey to buy in the first place. 

We are a white meat nation. The ubiquitous American bird is the Big Breasted White. This is the breed most grocery store producers raise. It's been engineered over the years to produce the highest yield of breast meat in the least amount of time. In fact 70% of the weight of this processed bird is breast meat. In contrast wild turkeys will yield as little as 35% and the best heirloom varieties will only reach 45% - 55%. Heirloom turkeys? You mean there's more to Holiday dining than Butterball and Jennie-O? Yes Virginia there is another turkey out there that has the rich full flavor turkey is meant to have. The problem though is that there are very few producers scattered around the country and the price of a processed heirloom bird can sometimes run rather high, as much as $8.50 per pound as compared to the grocery store average of about $2.00 or less. 

Heirloom birds are more expensive because they are older than the plastic wrapped meat counter type. A Big Breasted White will reach full maturity and weight in 12 weeks, where a Narragansett or Bourbon Red (two of the most popular heirlooms) will take six to eight months to reach the 16 - 22 pound range favored by the American market. This extra time gives the meat and fat (remember fat equals flavor even in poultry) time to develop depth and richness. Mass producers of the other white meat resort to injections or "basting" with salt, oil or sodium phosphate. These tricks will help give the turkey some flavor, though it would be hard to call it turkey sometimes. The Narragansett, the oldest United States turkey variety, and the Bourbon Red were placed on the Slow Food U.S.A. "Ark of Taste" in 2001 to prevent their disappearance from the American table. The "Heritage Turkey Project" is a joint effort of Slow Food U.S.A. and small farmers who agreed to raise these special native birds.

Now that I think I've convinced you to try an heirloom turkey, where do you get one? Like everything else in life, the road least traveled is usually the best path to where you want to go. This time, if you live in Minnesota at least, it will lead you to Fountain, Minnesota and Hilltop Pastures Family Farm where they breed Bourbon Reds as well as the traditional Whites. If you don't want to take the trek down past Rochester, email or call them (click on the link below)to arrange pickup at one of six locations in the Twin Cities on Sunday Nov. 23rd  or Wednesday Nov.26th. Another route may take you to one of the many co-ops or natural food stores scattered around the country, some will have plenty of birds and several varieties around for you to select from. Others will ask for pre-orders to be picked up Thanksgving week. I've listed some Twin Cities favorites below.

Before we get to the list I've got a few comments on the controversies of fresh vs. frozen, organic, free range and "natural". The USDA has some pretty strict codes covering all these terms, but besides big brother's definitions, here are some of my opinions;

• NATURAL - This will generally mean the turkey has not been injected or "basted", however this will not always be the case. Because the injecting or basting products are naturally occurring, salt oil etc., there use can be constituted as natural by some marketing spin meisters. My advice...read the label. If there's anything on there except turkey, it's not natural.
• FRESH vs. FROZEN - This is a total toss up. Actually some frozen birds will taste better because they've been protected from flavor and texture robbing temperature variances. When fresh turkeys are processed they're super-chilled to about 28 degrees, which is really not frozen but will create ice crystals in the meat. During shipping the birds will warm and chill several times causing damage to the meat causing toughness and dryness during cooking. So frozen may be the better way to go unless you're in tune with the delivery system.
• ORGANIC - This means the bird was fed organic feed. It can still be the normal White variety and it can still be pumped with "organic" injections...in other words, organic means nothing to me.
• FREE RANGE - Now here is the first marketing label that will have an effect on flavor. Sometimes though it's not the effect we want. Free range means the birds have had the chance to scratch around and eat the bugs, worms and seeds they were originally programmed to eat. This does produce a richer flavored turkey, but unless you enjoy a gamey flavor this may not be the bird for your table. Free range can also mean the birds had "some" time scrathing around. They are then brought into feeding pens, a lot like grass fed cattle, to eat grains like corn and soybeans a few weeks prior to processing. This will often times produce birds with the best of both worlds. Rich, but clean flavors. Many heirloom breeders use this process, but check with them first if your concerned.

I could go on and on about this subject and maybe I will when I have time. But I hope this year you'll have the chance to taste a turkey like the one your grandmother may have had when she was a child. Thanksgiving is our national food holiday to enjoy the bounty of our country, the traditions of our families and to remember those who have less by giving of our time or resources. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

 

FINDING THE RIGHT BIRD;

 

Local Harvest

A web site devoted to natural and organic foods, CSA's etc

Hilltop Pastures Family Farm

Free range heirloom turkeys in Minnesota

Whole Foods 

A national grocery chain specializing in organic and natural foods

Twin Cities Co-ops;

The Wedge

Linden Hills

Seward

Mississippi Market

All of these markets as well as Whole Foods will have some birds around, but all have pre-order services as well.

Technorati Tags: turkey,Thanksgiving,Free Range,Heirloom Turkey,Organic

We Can Choose

We sit tonight at a crossroad of history. It's the fortunate citizen in the long history of a nation who has this rare opportunity, and even a fortunate fewer who will recognize it when it occurs.

We can make the choice to spend the next four years, at least, re-shaping our futures to be a place of light and hope. Or, we can make the choice that will lead us down the path we seem to be on now. A road lined with despair, in-equality and the darkness of lost dreams. It's up to you and it's up to the men and women we will vote into positions of leadership and power tomorrow. If we choose right and they live up to the promises they've insisted to make, then all will be well. If not, then the fight begins again the day after tomorrow. We can't wait another four years. We won't have the patience, and we can't afford it. Now go vote!!

 

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