Monday Menu: Time to Talk Turkey

A few Thanksgiving recipes, with a link at the bottom for all the recipes available for your holiday feast.

As always, the bird will be spatchcocked again and grilled on the pellet grill. Here are the steps – roast it in the oven or on the grill:

This is the only way I’ve been preparing turkey since my first attempt. The only thing I change up from the first time I prepared it, is that I skip the metal rack and instead I place the bird on a bed of carrots, celery, and onion.  I’ll also add some spices and herbs: sage, thyme, rosemary, and garlic cloves to the bed. With the shorter cooking time, the flavor needs the boost that the roasting veggies add. 

Sometimes I roast it in the oven, but if the weather is nice enough, I’ll roast it on the wood pellet grill.  I like the pellet grill because I can control the temperature as I would in the oven.

From 2015:

Sometimes the scariest part of the Thanksgiving Dinner is the worry that the turkey will not turn out properly – undercooked, overcooked, dry, flavorless – and ruin the whole meal. I’ve cooked in bags, roasted, braised, fried, deboned – about everything but brine. I’m not a fan of brining. And still every year I worry.

This year I decided to try removing the backbone and flattening the bird, cooking it at a high temperature for a shorter cooking time. It seemed like it was pretty foolproof and stress-free and the bird turned out great.

BTW, my recommendation is to always get two smaller birds instead of one massive bird – you’ll have a much better outcome with shorter cooking times. Not to mention not having to worry about fitting a huge bird in the oven. We usually do an oven bird, then grill, smoke or fry another.

For this recipe, a good set of poultry shears makes quick work of removing the backbone. I prepped the bird yesterday, wrapped it up and refrigerated it. This gave me time to make a nice broth from the backbone, giblets and neck last night (see notes below) and make the cranberry sauce, because it’s always better the next day.

 

Roasted Spatchcock Turkey

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons Kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons dried sage
• 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
• 1 whole turkey (10-12 pounds)
• 4 tablespoons olive oil

Rimmed baking sheet, rack

In a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle, crush together pepper, salt, sage and rosemary and add to brown sugar. Set aside.

With a sharp knife or scissors, remove the backbone of the turkey, flip over and press down on the breast bone to break and flatten. I wasn’t quite strong enough, so I turned the bird over, scored the bone, flipped it back and tried again, this time it broke easily. I then trimmed off the wing tips. See my notes below on what to do with the back and wing tips.

Place the bird flat, breast side up, on the rack in the baking sheet. Make a paste with spices and olive oil. Rub with spice mix and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Roast for 15 minutes, and then reduced temperature to 375 degrees F.  Cook an additional hour or until the temperature of the thickest part of the breast reaches 160 degrees. Remove from the oven, tent with foil and let rest for 15 minutes (during this time the bird temperature will reach 165 degrees and thighs should be 175 degrees).

Carve and serve.

NOTES: I took the back, wing tips, neck and giblets, covered them with water and simmered them for about an hour. I then used the broth for both the stuffing and gravy. I also cooked the stuffing in the oven, in a baking dish, uncovered, with the turkey. They finished up about the same time.

Garlic Pull-Apart Rolls

• 3½ to 4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 package Instant Yeast
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• ½ cup milk
• ½ water
• ¼ cup butter
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• Butter and garlic for brushing on rolls

Mixing bowl, mixer, springform pan

In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups of flour, sugar, instant yeast, garlic powder and salt.

Place the milk, water, and butter in a microwave safe bowl and heat until very warm (120° to 130°F). Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients and beat for 2 minutes at medium speed with an electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally.

Add the egg and an additional ½ cup of the flour. Beat for 2 minutes at high speed. Stir in enough remaining flour (up to ½ cup) to make a soft dough.

Knead with the dough hook for 2 minutes on medium speed or by hand on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Cover; let rest 10 minutes

Dessert will be my go-to for a simple and delicious finish to a great meal. And it is so showy!

Pretty to look at, sweet and tangy, perfect after a big dinner.  You’ll wow everyone with it, and it’s foolproof to make.

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups cranberries, chopped*
• ½ cup walnuts, finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp orange zest (rind)
• 1 ¼ cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup milk

Topping

• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1-1/2 tbsp orange juice (more as needed)
• 2 tsp butter, softened

8×8 glass baking dish & mixing bowl

Preheat oven to 350°

Melt 3 tbsp of butter and pour into baking dish, spread to cover bottom and up the sides. Add ½ cup sugar, mix with butter on bottom of pan. Add cranberries & walnuts, spread over bottom of pan. Cream remaining butter & sugar, add vanilla, egg, orange zest, mix well. Add flour, baking powder & milk, mix until well blended, don’t over mix. Pour batter over cranberry mixture. Bake for 1 hour, or until golden brown and center bounces back at the touch. Invert on plate. Let cool.

Topping: Mix together butter, orange juice & powdered sugar, pour over cake and serve.

* if you don’t have a food processor, you can leave cranberries whole.

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All the Thanksgiving recipes can be found here