Boxing Day Dinner

In England, the day after Christmas Day is called Boxing Day. Not because of a prize fight, not because  it's the day they get rid of gift packaging, but because it is/was the day when tradesmen and servants would receive a gift called a Christmas Box from their bosses or employers.

English, Sally, her Mum, and daughter Holly, celebrate Boxing Day (although not necessarily on December 26th) by making a traditional English-style holiday dinner, distinct from whatever might have been served to the extended family on Christmas Day. 

 This is one day when I stay out of the kitchen (mostly), and Lady Sally cooks for her family, and me. I'm usually in charge of the meat. Sally does the veg and starches and especially the Yorkshire Puddings (a type of airy biscuit).

Beef

The meat for Boxing Day is invariably beef. Sometimes it's a bone-in Rib Roast, sometime Prime Rib. This year is was a boneless Ribeye Roast of about 4.5 lbs. I marinated it overnight in red wine, then cooked the roast in my foil-lined deep electric skillet for 25 minutes per pound at 225F. I dusted all the surfaces with a 24/7 spice blend and a bit of kosher salt. Truth be told it came out medium, not the medium-rare that I wanted, after 2 hours. I didn't start temp checking early enough -- it cooked faster than I thought it would.

Of course there was a good gravy to go with the meat.

Starch

The traditional peeled parsnips and quartered potatoes are par-boiled for a few minutes, then finished off in a hot oven, bathed in smoking hot oil to give them a unique almost crust-like exterior and creamy interior. No seasonings need apply.

Green Vegetable

This year I was also put in charge of the green veg because Lady Sally wanted my pan-fried Brussels sprouts. Wash them, then halve the sprouts from pole-to-pole. Toss with some Cavender's Seasoning, and fry them over med-hi heat, cut side down for about 6 minutes in a little EVOO. Then toss and cook for another 5 minutes or so, until tender.  Folk who don't like Brussels Sprouts love the caramelized goodness of these mini-cabbages.

Yorkshire Puddings

These are the crowning glory; or the deflated blobs, of the feast. This year Sally did a fabulous job, and the Yorkies came out fantastic. A perfect combination of oven temp, batter, temp, humidity, and eleventy-zillion other random elements. Light and airy and oh, so good! They are similar to pate a choux, or Dutch Baby or savory cream puff shells.  The recipe came from Sally's Dad, many years ago.

2 cups AP Flour 

2 Eggs, beaten

1 cup plus, Whole Milk

a pinch of salt

Cast-iron molds for Yorkshire Puddings

Sally uses shallow cast iron molds which produce trees and hearts. Some folks use deeper cup-shaped molds. Or even cupcake tins.  The following directions are for shallow molds. Deep-mold users will have to discover how much batter to add, by trial and error. The above recipe made the puddings shown, with about a half-cup left over.

Make a well in the flour, add the eggs and begin stirring with a wooden spoon, adding milk as you go to make a non-lumpy batter the thickness of heavy cream (much thinner than pancake batter, more like crepe batter). Sally uses a wooden spoon, I'd be tempted to use a whisk. Put the mixture in the fridge to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Oil or lard (preferred) the molds and place them in a 400F oven. Heat to "smoking" hot -- at least 20 minutes. Nearly fill the molds with the batter, the Yorkies will puff up as they cook. Return the filled molds to the oven and cook 20-30 minutes until GB&D.

Christmas Pudding

Boxing Day dinner would not be complete without this traditional dessert.  Sally's Mum, who make the Christmas Pudding, guards her recipe like the Crown Jewels. It can be made a year in advance and stored, sealed, in the refrigerator to age like good wine or beef. 

When most American hear "pudding" they think of that stuff that comes from boxes marked Jello.   Not so in England!

Christmas Pud and its relatives are a sort of extremely moist sweet bread that is steamed rather than baked, similar to Boston Brown Bread, but sweeter, richer, denser and moister. Think fruitcake without the globs of fruit and not as dense. Christmas Pud has a much finer, lighter texture than fruitcake. Traditionally a glass of brandy poured over the cake and lighted before serving. 

Lady Sally serves Christmas Pudding with a heaping helping of Bird's Custard, available as a powder in the Brit section of the International aisle at your local megamart. Stir the powder to a water/milk mix, and simmer for a few minutes to make really tasty custard. Americans might call this vanilla pudding, but that would just be wrong!

Pre-Christmas Feast

Well, I was going to make a Caribbean Christmas feast for Sally's extended family, but we've been invited to one of their homes for Christmas Day dinner instead.

So I made my Caribbean dinner for our Sunday brunch instead:

Malanga Hash Browns

Mojo Pulled Pork Sliders

Moros y Christianos

Malanga Hash Browns

The term 'hash browned potatoes' dates back to 1888, and has, over the years encompassed many variations. I learned to make them with diced potatoes rather than shredded. Some perverts call those Potatoes O'Brien when fried with onion and bell peppers!

I took the concept of hashed browns to the Caribbean palate by substituting the root vegetable Malanga for potatoes. Malanga has a nice nuttiness compared to the flavor of potato. The one negative about malanga is that once peeled it has a slippery surface moisture similar to sliced raw sliced okra. Luckily, once cooked the slipperiness disappears.

1-1/2 lbs Malanga, peeled and cubed

1 Red and 1 Green Bell Pepper, diced large

1/2 Sweet Onion, diced large

1 tsp "Everyday" or "24/7" type general seasoning blend

Start frying the malanga in a bit of EVOO at medium high temperature. After five minutes or so, add the onion, bell pepper, and spice. Continue frying, turning so that things are cooked on all sides and browning. Plate and serve.

 Malanga 

Mojo Pulled Pork

4-1/4 lb Pork Butt

1 bottle Badiatm Mojo Sauce

I slow-cooked the roast overnight at 175F in my Saladmastertm MP-5 cooker. Just the meat and the mojo sauce. When done, I pulled the pork with a pair of forks. Since I didn't want too much mojo flavo, instead of pouring some of the cooking juices back over the shredded meat, I took a couple cups of the liquid and made a gravy so people could add as much as they wanted.  I served them as sliders.

Moros y Christianos

"Moors and Christians" is one of perhaps a dozen variations of 'beans & rice' that I know. This one comes from Cuba. Flavored yellow rice and black beans.

1 cup Jasmine Rice

1 Badiatm Sazon Tropical spice packet

1 cup dry Black Beans

1/2 tsp Thyme

1/2 tsp Marjoram

One cup of rice, two cups of water -- the classic formula. Add the Sazon Tropical spice packet, and cook as usual.

One cup dry beans, 3-4 cups water, with spices. DO NOT soak the beans overnight or any of that nonsense. Tests have proven that the 'old wives tale' of beans needing to be soaked overnight, is pure bull. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes or so.

The traditional Cuban presentation is a bed of the yellow rice topped with a mound of beans, rather than mixing the two together. Guests then scoop as much of each as they choose.

Badia Brand Spices

In case you haven't noticed, I'm  a fan of Badia brand spices in general ad specific spices or blends in particular.  On thing I like is that they package and sell small amounts of a number of spices for under $1, rather than forcing you to buy 'mass quantities' that will go stale before you can use the.  In particular.  They also make spice blends like the Sazon Tropical powder and their Mojo and Sour Orange liquids.  Their spices are always fresher and tastier than those in red and white cans or large glass bottles.

Pigeon Pea Progress

After experiencing Pigeon Peas in connection with our Barbados adventure earlier this year, we decided to try growing our own. Pigeon Peas grown on a woody stemmed shrub rather than the more common peas vines. We got some seeds and started them in pots, then planted them out in several places around Sally's yard. As you can see below at least one planting is doing well. The yellow and red blooms are pretty, and the pods will hopefully ripen soon.

Chick-ama Soup, Umami, and Chocolate Pudding Fruit

For those who don't know, Jicama ( pronounced "hick-ama")  is a Latin root vegetable that is slightly sweet, and nicely crunchy.  Marinated in lime juice and dusted with chili powder, it's a classic Mexican street snack.  Similar in taste to water chestnut, but better!  I usually use it in chopped salads, stir fries and as an appetizer.

Chick-cama Soup

It was 9 pm and Lady Sally didn't have a main dish for lunch for the rest of the week. What to do?  Take out 2 chicken breasts to start thawing in cold water. Look in the fridge -- jicama, turnips ("not in my soup" she says), leftover mashed potatoes, bell peppers, celery, a Roma tomato, half an onion... the usual suspects.  Jicama for a soup veg??? What the heck, we'll give it a try.

2 Chicken Breasts, skinless, boneless, mostly thawed

1 Jicama, softball sized

1 Red Bell Pepper

1 Yellow Bell Pepper

1 Roma Tomato, chopped

2 stalks Celery

1/2 Sweet Onion

3 cloves Garlic

1 Chicken bouillon cube

1/2 cup or more leftover Mashed Potatoes

1-2 Tbsp Cavender's seasoning blend

Dust the chicken liberally with Cavender's, and place in the soup pot to brown in a splash of oil. While that's going on, chop the veggies. Peel the jicama and cut into 1/4" x 1" pieces, and large dice everything else. Turn the chicken breasts over and brown on the second side for a couple minutes.

Toss in the veggies and other ingredients except the mashed potatoes, and let things cook together a few minutes until fragrant. Add about six cups of water, bring to a boil, and put the lid on.  Reduce the heat and let things simmer. After about 20 minutes, fish out the chicken breasts, chop them up, and return to the pot. 

 Taste the broth; it will probably need another seasoning with Cavender's. Cook another 15 minutes, then add the mashed potatoes by the spoonful, so they almost immediately dissolve and start to thicken the broth a bit. Carry on another 10 minutes or so before serving with hot crusty bread on the side.

This turned out really good!! As they say "Try it, you'll like it!".

This recipe was worth microwaving and mashing a couple red potatoes (while the main soup is cooking) if you don't have any leftovers. The mash adds umami -- earthiness -- to the broth that's worth taking the time for.

+++++++

Aside: Speaking of umami, an easy way to add this delicious, unctuous, 'earthiness' to your dishes is by using one of the many mushroom powders available. Half a teaspoon or more in a gravy, soup, or casserole, really takes the taste up a notch or three!

Ears & Elbows Pasta

This one started as a vegetarian dish for Lady Sally to take to a work potluck. I made a double batch - one for us, and one for them.

2,  9x7 microwave/ovenable disposable baking dishes

1 box  Oriechetta pasta ("ears")

1/2 box Elbow pasta

1 ea. large Red, Green Yellow and Orange Bell Pepper

3 Green Onions, chopped

2 cloves Garlic, minced

8 oz sliced Mushrooms (Crimini are best)

1 pint Whole Milk

3-4 Tbsp Butter

3-4 Tbsp Flour

1/2 tsp Mushroom Powder

1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika

1/4 tsp Porcini Finishing Salt

8 oz shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Cook the pasta al dente. Drain, toss with a tbsp of EVOO to prevent sticking, and reserve. 

 Cut the peppers into 1/2" or larger dice. Saute the peppers, mushrooms, onion and garlic with a splash of water or oil until they begin to soften. Remove from pan and in a large bowl, toss with the pasta.

Add the butter and flour to the hot pan, to make a roux. Cook the roux for a minute or two to get rid of the flour-y taste. Slowly add the milk and bring to a simmer to thicken. Add the mushroom powder and paprika, stirring to combine.

Fill the baking dishes with the pasta/pepper mix and ladle the sauce over. Top with cheese and bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes until the cheese melts and browns a bit. Rest before serving with a dash of Porcini Finishing Salt.

Black Sapote -- Chocolate Pudding Fruit

One of the most unusual, and most delicious of the tropical fruits, the Black Sapote is related to the Mamey, which I wrote about back in June/July. Black Sapote is the size of a big orange or a baseball, and bright green when unripe. The color darkens to nearly black as the fruit ripens and softens. You want this reaaally mushy ripe. The ones I got from my friends at Pine Island Botanicals had been picked five or six days prior, and took an additional two days to sufficiently ripen.

Black Sapote Mousse

1 ripe black sapote per person

1/3 cup frozen Whipped Topping, thawed

1 Tbsp Sugar or Spenda(tm) per fruit

Halve the fruit to reveal the nearly black interior. Remove the lima bean-sized seeds and their pods, and scoop the rest into a bowl. Add the sugar, stir, and fold in the whipped topping until totally incorporated. Spoon into serving glasses. Can be topped with another dollop of whipped topping, or a bit of grated orange peel. A bit of orange juice could be incorporated in the mousse, as we know how well orange and chocolate get along!

Cottage Pie

This week's Sunday lunch was a British classic. Cottage Pie is made with beef. Shepherd's Pie is made with lamb. Fish Pie and Pork Pie don't have fancy names in England for some reason.

English Cottage Pie has no pastry crust, but it is always topped with mashed potatoes.

1-1/4 lbs of 90/10 Ground Beef

1 Turnip, diced 1/4"

8 oz frozen Mixed Peas & Carrots

8 oz sliced Mushrooms

3 cloves Garlic, minced

2 Oxotm or other brand Beef Bouillon cubes (Oxo brand has less salt)

1 Tbsp Cavender's or Old Bay seasoning

1/2 cup water

2-3 pound Potatoes, peeled and quartered

White Pepper

Butter and/or sour cream and/or whole milk to add to mashed potatoes

Paprika

Start water to boil for about 2 pounds of potatoes for mashing. I like Yukon Golds.

Brown the meat. Add the garlic, turnip, mushrooms and veg. Cook for a few minutes, then add the spice blend, powdered bouillon cubes and water. Simmer until everything is tender and most of the liquid has evaporated. Add a tablespoon or to of Wondratm or sifted flour to thicken things up.

Ladle filling into a bowl or other baking dish, leaving nearly an inch of space below the rim.

Mash the cooked potatoes and add the fat, along with a pinch of salt and some white pepper to give the spuds some character. Spread the mash atop the filling, and dust the top with bit of paprika.

Put the completed pie under the broiler for a couple minutes until the potato crust starts to get nice and brown. Serve with or without a side vegetable.

Persimmon, Eggplant and Oatmeal Cookies

Another collection of Kilted Cookery!  Comfort food, interesting fruits and veg, and more.

Eggplant Parm

I was gifted with a couple really nice eggplant the other day, and decided to make one of Lady Sally's favorite eggplant dishes.  I make my Eggplant Parmesan Italian style, not American style. That is, I do not bread the eggplant slices.  I also don't salt them, pan fry them or drown them in olive oil.  There's no bitter taste, no leathery disks of nastiness, and no oil change/draining needed.

2 or 3 medium purple Eggplant

24 oz crushed or finely chopped Tomatoes, preferably from Italy

    Yes it makes a huge difference!

8 oz shredded Mozzarella

4 oz shredded Parmigiano cheese--  not "Parmesan", and not that powdered crud in a can. 

     Again it makes a real difference!

8 oz sliced Crimini mushrooms

Italian spice blend

Olive oil

Slice the eggplant about 1/2" thick. Arrange on a baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO, and dust with the seasoning blend. Broil on the top rack for about 5 minutes, until they start to brown. Turn them over and repeat. Allow the rounds to cool before assembling.

In a 9x12 baking dish, splash a little of the tomato 'sauce' and spread to cover. Arrange a layer of eggplant slices, topped with a layer of mushrooms, a layer of mozzarella, and then a layer of tomato sauce. Repeat until the ingredients are used up, ending with sauce. Dress the top of the dish with a nice thick layer of parmigiano cheese, slide into a pre-heated 350F oven, and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Lady Sally wants me to tell you that this dish is MUCH better the second day as the eggplant soaks up excess runny liquid and the tightened tomato sauce becomes nearly fire roasted when you re-heat the dish for 20 minutes or so. The trouble is, you have to make a big enough batch to have any to eat the second day!

Notice the extra large wine cork trivet I made for Sally from corks salvaged over a couple years of wine imbibing.

A Yam By Any Other Name...

...is a Boniato.  Lady Sally and I are planning a Caribbean Christmas theme dinner this year.  The main course will be Mojo Pulled Pork.  So I'm experimenting with "island style" side dishes to accompany the royal piggy.   There will be Moros y Christianos, of course, and mashed or fried Yuca and Plantains.  But then I saw Boniato at Publix, and though "Sally's never tasted this."  

Boniato is a "white yam" native to the islands, in particular Cuba.  It's not sweet, but has an interesting nuttiness to it.  They can be baked, boiled, mashed, fried... anything you would do to a potato, basically.  Boniato darken as soon as they're peeled.  One cookbook author suggests peeling underwater in the sink, to keep the flesh mostly white, and I think I'll do that next time.

This time I sliced the boniato into 1/2" rounds and pan fried them as suggested by several Caribbean writers.  They get sorta crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside, and served as a side dish they're a nice addition to your culinary palate.

For Christmas I plan on cutting them into a large dice and sauteing them with diced onion and red and green bell peppers -- Caribbean Hash Browns!

Diabetic Friendly Oatmeal Cookies

Periodically Lady Sally's work hosts bake sales to benefit our veterans. Since many of them, like me, have type 2 or worst, type 1 diabetes, I provide "diabetic friendly" cookies which, for cookies, are pretty darn healthy. Here's the Nutrition Label I worked up for this recipe using www.nutritiondata.com:

1 cup Oliviotm (olive oil-butter spread), softened

2 cups Splendatm sugar substitute

2 Eggs, beaten

1 tsp Vanilla extract

2 cups Oatmeal, uncooked

2 cups AP Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

2 cups Craisinstm

Beat the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla for 5 minutes. In another bowl combine oats, flour, baking soda and powder and salt. Stir while adding the dry mix to the 'wet' combo. Fold in the craisins. Use a 1" disher to scoop cookies onto baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes @350F.

A double batch -- 16 bags of five cookies.

Persimmon Cream Dessert

Another under-rated North American fruit! The American Persimmon is a wild tree of the eastern U.S., seldom grown commercially. The name persimmon is derived from pessamin, a Powhatan Native American word meaning 'dry fruit' because the fruit tends to dry on the tree and remain throughout the winter. Trees more than 100 years old develop heartwood which is nearly black and very dense, and has been used as an ebony substitute in furniture and musical instruments.

Left - Fuyu variety, right Hachiya variety Asian persimmons

Most commercially available persimmons come from Asia. If you can find locally grown persimmons, consider yourself extremely lucky.  

Ripe fruit has a high glucose content, but unripe persimmons are highly astringent due to high levels of tannin, which disappears during the ripening process. Protein content is low, but it has a balanced protein profile. 

Persimmon has been used in a variety of medicinal and chemical concoctions. Like the tomato, persimmons are, in terms of botanical morphology, in fact, berries not fruit. Yep.  They have a sort of tomato-y texture and interior construction as well.

For a parfait or similar dessert, use about 1 persimmon per guest, or a bit more (7 for 6 for example). If you have 8-10 persimmons you can make a pie.

2 Persimmons -- peeled and pureed. Fuyu variety can be eaten firm, but Hachiya need to be 'mushy ripe' to be rid of all the tannins

1+ Tbsp Honey

2/3 cup Heavy Whipping Cream (or leftover Thanksgiving frozen Whipped Topping, like I used)

I like to leave the puree a little chunky, just for the texture.  Stir the honey into the persimmon puree to taste; it should be very sweet, since it will be mixed with the unsweetened cream.

With an electric mixer, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Gently fold the persimmon-honey mixture into the whipped cream, or frozen whipped topping. Divide the mixture into parfait glasses, serving dishes, or a baked pie shell. Serve immediately, chill, or freeze for a frozen mousse.

Assorted Yummies

Cream Pie Goof
I've gotta tell you of my recent cooking SNAFU.  That refrigerator cream pie I gave you the recipe for?  I made a chocolate-crusted Orange Cream Pie for the dinner for six  I did last week.  

And the pie never set up!   Why??? I kept asking myself.   Then I looked at the package of cream cheese I had bought and saw  1/3 Less Fat   What the heck is this????    I always buy The Real Thing!!!  How did that end up in my shopping cart.  Could that be the culprit????  So for Thanksgiving I had to test the hypothesis, an made a second Orange Cream Pie with Original Phila. Cream Cheese.  This one set up properly.  Lesson learned!!

Never use 1/3 Less Fat Cream Cheese 

for a Refrigerator Cream Pie!!!!

Panko Fish
This is one of Lady Sally's favorite ways for me to cook fish.  In this case the fish is organic, hand-fed Florida Mangofish from Florida Urban Organics, a local aquaculture/hydroponic operation. Some friends from the marina went on a tour of the operation a week or so back.  Very impressive.  On the veggies side they are growing certified organic  lettuces, radishes, carrots and microgreens of several kinds.  They sell their produce and fish locally through Ada's, Fresh Market and other upscale markets.

We also do this with catfish and cod.  Simply dredge the fish in flour, then egg, then Panko bread crumbs.    The flour helps the egg stick to the fish, and the panko sticks to the egg.  Pan fry in a little EVOO until GB&D!!   Here I served them with roasted baby potatoes.



Pan Perdu
That's  a fancy French phrase which basically means "stale bread".  In America we call it French Toast.  I like to let the slices of bread set out uncovered overnight, when possible, to get that stiff, 'stale' texture that readily absorbs the egg cream.

Beat an egg or two, depending on the number of breakfasters.  One egg will do for two people.  Add 1/2 cup or more of half & half, whole milk, or light cream.  For 9 slices (3 people) I used two eggs and about 3/4 cup of half & half.  I cook them GB&D in a nearly dry hot skillet, dusting each slice with ground cinnamon before I flip it.  Since Lady Sally's daughter Holly was "home for the holiday", I made these extra special with fresh raspberries and locally made honey from our beekeeping friend Patrick.

Gingerbread Cake

Here's another dessert for you, using the rest of the raspberries I got for French Toast.  

The gingerbread in this case was a Trader Joe's box mix.  The raspberries were placed in a bowl after rinsing, along with a short palmful of sugar, and then partially crushed to help start the juice.  Served with a dollop of whipped cream.

New York Strip Roast

Look at this gorgeous hunka beef!

Now we don't eat much beef these days.  The prices have gotten outrageous.  But since Sally's daughter was visiting, her grandma got this beautiful 3-1/2 lb roast  from one of the mail order beef houses for me to prepare for Holly.  

I cooked it in the electric skillet.  Dry-rubbed the meat with the company's special spice blend.  If there hadn't been a spice blend, I'd have used the ubiquitous Montreal Steak Seasoning.  Cranked the temperature to the max, and then seared the meat  for 5 minutes on each of the big sides.  Then, leaving the meat fat-cap down, I dropped the temp to 325F , added a 1/4 cup pf water, and put the lid on.   Since the kitchen gremlin hid my meat thermometer somewhere, I had to cook by time. so I cooked the roast an additional 35 minutes.  

While the meat rested I made a gravy from that glorious fond in the skillet, cooked some baby potatoes and green peas.  For dessert we had leftover Thanksgiving pie, including a raisin cream pie made by marina-friend Dick Harding.

Thanksgiving My Way

Everyone else does a Thanksgiving Special, right?  So this is Thanksgiving My Way!  T-Day is such an iconic food day that one really doesn't want to mess with tradition very much.  But these are some of my variations on Thanksgiving classics.

Red Cooked Turkey Breast

I'm not a big fan of poultry or fish skin, whether golden brown and crispy or not.  I do love poultry white meat, and so does Lady Sally but we're not so fond of dark meat except as an ingredient in a dish. 

Sally always thought turkey white meat was dry -- until I made this recipe for her a couple years ago. I got the recipe from Martin Yan, of Yan Can Cook, decades ago. I think it was in his first or second cookbook.  

This is the most perfectly simple way to cook turkey you've ever seen. Martin called this "red cooking", but it's really a form of poaching. The technique also works for a whole chicken, small whole turkey, or 5-10 lb bags of poultry parts like wings, thighs, etc. 

 All sorts of courtbouillons (fancy name for "poaching liquids") can be used too, if the Asian theme doesn't appeal to you, such as citrus-infused water, wine/water, fruit juice/wine etc.

However, for the first time I suggest you try Martin's version.  It's not salty, or heavy soy sauce flavored, or perfumed with anise.  But your guests will go "Wow... that's great!"

Thawed Turkey Breast

Soy Sauce

Water

1 whole Star Anise

Put the breast in a LARGE pot. Cover by an inch with a mixture of half soy sauce and half water. Remove the meat. Add a single whole star anise. Bring liquid to a hard rolling boil. Put the meat back in the pot. Return to a hard rolling boil. Put the lid on, turn the fire off, and walk away for two hours.

Don't peek, don't stir. Leave it alone! For two hours.

At the end of the time you will have the most flavor-filled, moist and juicy turkey breast you have ever experienced.

The meat draws the heat out of the liquid, the pot and the stove top and carries the flavor all the way to the bone. After 2 hours it's still hot enough you don't want your hands in it, so be careful when you remove the breast. If you want it browned, use your broiler for 10-15 minutes. After a 10-15 minute rest, slice the breast and serve -- be prepared for rave reviews.

Tips: Buy your soy sauce at an Asian market, you'll get a better product for a lot less money. I got a gallon jug of mushroom-infused soy sauce for less than the price of a quart at the megamart.

Sage & Mushroom Dressing

1 bag cubed Dressing croutons -- I prefer Pepperidge Farms

2-3 stalks Celery, chopped

1-2 Sweet Onion, diced

3-4 cloves Roasted Garlic

8 oz sliced Mushrooms

1 Tbsp Rubbed Sage

1 stick Butter, melted

1-1/2 cup water or broth

Toss to combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Pour the liquids over all and toss again. Place in a baking pan and bake at 350F for 30 minutes, covered.

I prefer dressing to potatoes or rice any old day!

Ginger-Orange Yams

4-6 large Yams, peeled and cubed

1/4 cup OJ concentrate, thawed

1 thumb fresh Ginger, minced

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cardamon seeds

Toss to combine everything in a large bowl. Can be microwaved for about 9 minutes, covered, or baked @ 350F for 30-45 minutes until fork tender.

Cranberry Mold

Easily done the day before.

1 bag Fresh Cranberries - 12-14oz.

1 envelope unflavored Gelatin

1 cup Sugar

1 cup Water

zest of 1 orange

1/4 tsp each ground cinnamon, allspice and cloves

Combine cranberries, zest, spices, sugar and water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boild cook until the cranberries 'pop' and the liquid starts to thicken Meanwhile add the gelatin to 2 Tbsp water and allow it to 'bloom'. Remove cranberries from heat. Temper gelatin with hot cooked juice, then add it to the pan of cooked cranberries. Pour the mixture into a prepared mold and allow to cool to room temperature before covering and refrigerating.

You'll never used canned cranberry sauce again!

Unmold to your serving plate and garnish as desired.  Here you see sage leaves and uncooked cranberries.

Smashed Potatoes

Comfort food of the first stripe.

Potatoes -- I prefer Yukon Gold if you can get them. Or Reds. Not those big brown things...

Fat -- butter and/or sour cream, and/or cream cheese to taste

Dairy -- milk, half & half or cream to taste

Roasted Garlic - a clove or two minced

Peel the potatoes if you must. I like skin-on. Quarter them more or less, depending on size. Put in a large pot of water with a little salt, and boil until mashing tender. Drain and return to the hot pot for a couple minutes to evaporate excess water. Then mash and add the garlic, fat and dairy. How much is up to you. I like my potatoes sort of rustic -- not completely mashed, and certainly not whipped.

Green Beans

I like these with cream of mushroom soup. But that's not so good for the old diet and salt intake. So these days I keep them pretty simple.

Fresh Green Beans -- never canned, frozen only if you simply must.

1/2 tsp Thyme, to taste

Juice of a Lemon

Roasted Red Bell Pepper for garnish

Slivered Almonds for garnish

Trim the tips and cut to the length you like. Place beans, thyme and lemon juice in just enough water to cover, in a covered pan on the stovetop, and simmer 15-20 minutes until tender.  Plate, garnish and serve.

Meyer Lemon Pie

Another version of the basic no-bake refrigerator cream pie I wrote about on Nov. 10th.

This time I use Meyer Lemon Juice that I had previously frozen, and zest from a couple other lemon that would be used for other things.

We went to the upscale regional grocery called Fresh Market the other day and I was tempted to buy one of these:

and stick it in the middle of the pie, just for the shock factor! But Lady Sally wouldn't let me.....

No, that's not a Lemony Snicket! It's called a Buddha Hand citrus or Fingered Citron. It's primarily used in China and Japan. Can be grown anywhere other varieties of citrus are grown. Very lemon-aromatic, it can be used as you would lemon.

1/4 cup Meyer lemon juice

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

8 oz softened or whipped Cream Cheese

Zest from 2 lemons

Oreo Cookie pre-made crust

Whipped Cream for topping