Month: December 2018

In Time for Christmas Dinner

/ Micki

One skill that I work on constantly is grilling.  Almost every meat I make comes off the grill.  My mom had a gas grill just outside our back kitchen door and she was my mentor.  I find grilling almost a necessity.  For example, if an oven is cooking a turkey, how do you handle the side dishes?  Grilling frees up your oven!  Hosting a large dinner party becomes a breeze.  Ha!

I encourage you to try turkey breasts on the grill.  Two large turkey breast will feed 16 guests.  Rule of thumb is one pound per person.  Perhaps try this for Christmas?

Rinse and dry completely the well-thawed turkey breasts and set in DEEP aluminum baking pans.  Use two pans per turkey to protect the bottom.  Salt and pepper the inside and outside of the turkeys.  I stuff the cavities with a carrot, a celery stalk, half an onion, and a garlic bulb cut in half.  You can’t ruin the turkey at this point so just shove those veggies in.  For each turkey, smear the skin, and under the skin, with one stick of soft butter mixed with fresh chopped sage, rosemary, thyme, and garlic – say a tablespoon of each herb.  Pour a quarter inch of chicken stock in the bottom of each pan.  Insert a meat thermometer in thickest part of one breast.  So far your turkeys will look like this:

IMG_2940

Place on the grill and cook on low.  You are shooting for 325-350 degrees on the grill.  Check every so often that the grill temperature stays within range and the bottoms of the pans have liquid.  Baste every 15 minutes.  The turkeys takes about an hour and a half or so, but it is mandatory that you watch the thermometer!  Take turkeys off the grill at 160 degrees internal temperature and they will cook another five degrees on the counter while resting.  Turkey breast will overcook and dry out quickly so your most important task is to watch the thermometer!  They will look like this:

IMG_2941

Take off grill and rest for a half hour.  Empty the juices in each pan into a gravy separator.  You will have caught all the juices and the fat rests on top:

IMG_2949

Pour the turkey juice in a sauce pan and stop pouring when you get to the fat.  Add four cups of chicken broth to the juices and heat and whisk to almost boiling.  In a small cup with a lid, add a half cup of cold water and four tablespoons of corn starch.  Shake briskly until the water and cornstarch mix without lumps.  Wisk the corn starch slurry into the sauce pan.  In a few minutes the gravy should thicken to awesome wonderfulness.  If too thin, add more slurry, if too thick, add more chicken broth.  Salt to taste.  It should look like this:

IMG_2943

I have learned to cut each breast off the turkey bone in its entirety, and then slice vertically.  It will look like this:

IMG_2942

Grilling turkey is very easy!  I look forward to making it again and I will not be waiting until next Thanksgiving.  The turkey was so moist and the leftovers made great sandwiches.  You can get really frugal and use the breast bones to make turkey soup!  Ha!

Oh!  Did I mention that the clean-up is a snap?  Just throw away the top pans.  My bottom pans were still useful for next time!

Grilling turkey breast is a pearl you must add to your box.  You can feed a crowd, have room in your oven for side dishes, and dazzle your guests with moist and fragrant turkey!  Good luck and keep me posted!

The Bitch is Back

/ Micki / 2 Comments

elton

I cannot lie.  I have let myself down.  I set a goal to write one blog post a week.  It was going great and then it was not.  I may have run out of things to say.  I may have doubted my ability to write and to engage.  I may have just gotten lazy.  All of those are correct.  But the true core of the problem is Netflix!!!!  I discovered Netflix and I have become a junky!

Hi.  My name is Micki.  I am a Netflix binger.

Just for clarification, I do not watch all day.  But at night, when I would normally sit and write, I am watching 2-3 episodes of my “series of the week”!  I am so enthralled at the high quality of storytelling.  It takes everything I have to control myself to no more than three episode per night.  That is too much.

But there is a bright side!  My addiction is a good topic for a blog post.  I am going to list my favorite series.  Most are on Netflix, but some are on Amazon Prime.  They are pearls!

  1. The Crown – super interesting, historic, excellent acting
  2. The Wire – so enlightening, sobering, symbolism abounds
  3. House of Cards – the first few seasons will chill you, then it fizzles
  4. Breaking Bad – if you haven’t seen it yet, you are nerdier than me
  5. Better Call Saul – prequel to Breaking Bad, the character development is awesome
  6. Ozark – grabs you in the first episode, teaches a lesson
  7. Peaky Blinders – guilty pleasure, history we did not learn in school
  8. Queer Eye – many episodes made me tear up – I love those men
  9. Grace and Frankie – a look into my future
  10. Sherlock – BBC drama series was my first binge, so so good
  11. Downton Abby – had to watch it and so glad I did
  12. Happy Valley – starting to love BBC series more than anything, female hero
  13. Californication – guilty pleasure, kinda ashamed I wasted so much time
  14. Orange is the New Black – scares me straight
  15. Mindhunter – facinating series on the history of serial killer profiling
  16. Jane the Virgin – never knew telenovela could be so fun
  17. Dexter – first four seasons are totally worth watching, weirdly good
  18. Parenthood – I missed it on TV and loved the short episodes
  19. Call the Midwife – uplifting histortic series that made me feel good
  20. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – 1950’s New York female comedian, love the fashion
  21. Six Feet Under – the whole funeral home thing fascinated me – I’m getting cremated
  22. Billions – inside look into the hedgefund life and the power of revenge
  23. Suits – call me a sucker for good looking men in suits, storyline very interesting
  24. The Tudors – eh, this is when it dawned on me that I may have a problem
  25. The Keepers – made me so sad and angry that I had to keep watching
  26. The Great British Baking Show – my current binge, I am a sucker for competitions

I cannot believe I have watched all these over the last year or so.  I am kinda sad, weirdly proud, and aware I have to make a change.  When writing got difficult, I escaped to the television.  But when I look at my year in review, I am disappointed in myself and the choices I have made.

Netflix is a pearl you should use with care because it can get out of control.  I am going to re-establish my once-a-week blog goal and watch television sparingly – perhaps one episode a day.  That being said, any Netflix recommendations?