Turkey Tips for Convection Oven

Rules of thumb for cooking turkey in my convection oven. Yours may be different.

Thawing a Frozen Turkey

• Remove the turkey from the freezer
• Put it in the refrigerator.
• Temperature in a working refrigerator should be in the 30's F
• Allow time for thawing = 5 hours per pound
• Remove turkey from refrigerator and let set at room temperature (about 70 degrees) for at least 2 hours before cooking.
• NOTE: You can remove it from the package, remove the neck and giblets and season at any time but be sure to cover the turkey if this is done before the 2 hours is complete.

Cooking times below assume the turkey is completely thawed, dried, seasoned, etc.

Home Convection Oven

• calculate total cooking time = 9 minutes per pound
• preheat to 400 degrees F - first 20 minutes
• reduce to 350 degrees F - cook for the rest of time you calculated
• measure internal temperature with instant read thermometer
• remove when it reaches 155 degrees F measured at the center of the meat masses (breast, thigh)
• let set for 20 minutes
• during that time, sometime, the internal temperature will rise 10 degrees F reaching the USDA suggested temperature of 165 degrees F for safe cooking of poultry.
• if you doubt it has reached this safe temperature, measure it while setting OR don't remove it until it reaches 165 degrees F.

WARNING: This is a "recipe" and does not suggest you should avoid generally suggest safety rules for dealing with poultry. Don't let it get warm for too long. Don't undercook it and eat it. I suggest you Google "poultry cooking safety tips" for more indepth info on the subject.

Chicken Soup

I've got sick Sunday evening. Missed work Monday and really wanted some chicken soup. Does it make you feel better? Well, when your head is totally stuffed up and your throat hurts, yes.

Remember, its soup. So put anything you like in it. I left out potatoes and pasta since I'm not in the mood for carbs when I'm sick. I added spinach because I had it in the refrigerator. Experiment!

Put the following in a sauce pan:

• 3 T onion - slice angled across the grain very thin to get half round strips
• 2 garlic cloves - peel and cut in half
• 1 small carrot chopped
• 1 T olive oil

Saute over medium heat until about the onion is about ready to brown.

You can prepare the chicken either in a hot skillet or under a broiler (or even on the grill).

• 1 chicken breast - no bones, browned, cut into 1 cm cubes (1/2 inch)

Meanwhile, when the onion is ready, add these to the saucepan and turn to high:

• 2 c water
• 2 tsp chicken bouillon or chicken base
• 1/2 tsp beef base
• 1 bay leave
• 12 whole black peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp celery flakes (unless you have fresh celery leaves for the bundle)
• pinch of ground black pepper
• pinch of sugar
• (optional) 4 sun-dried tomato halves, chopped
• a bundle of fresh herbs (see below)

Bring to a boil, add the chicken when browned but simmer for 15 minutes. You will probably need to reduce heat to medium to keep it simmering. You may need to add water or white wine.

Make the bundle of fresh herbs by tying some fresh herbs with a string into a little bundle just long enough to fit into the sauce pan. I used these but I'm nto sure it much matters. You can substitute dried spices but be careful not to overdo it. 

Tie these fresh spices into the bundle and submerse in the soup as shown in the photo:

• basil
• oregano
• sage
• tarragon
• fennil fronds
• mint

I'm not sure it much matters but you will have to experiment with whatever you like. I don't like it with rosemary.

After the soup has simmered for 15 minutes, taste it and add

• (optional) 1/2 c chopped spinach
• salt to taste

Remove the bundle of spices and serve.

Enough for 2 servings. Which is perfect for lunch and dinner when you are feeling sick.

Grilled Cheese and Pork with Green Chile

I had a great green chile, cheeseburger the other day. Then I BBQed a pork loin and thought, "Why not half cheeseburger, half pork sandwich?" But it turned out more like a grilled cheese sandwich with goodies in the middle.

Ingredients:

• bread
• cheese slices
• sliced pork loin (BBQ before hand)
• tomato
• green chile
• salt
• pepper

Assembly Instructions: 

Start with some bread. The pictures show some sourdough, thin sliced bread. But pick whatever you like.

Then slice the pork loin as shown here. I used a pair of 1/4 inch slices

This was a large pork loin, coated with a dry rub or, in this case, a cooking sauce, as I call it -- spices with a bit of liquid spread thickly on the meat before cooking. Cook between 1 and 2 hours until 140 degrees.

Put a slice of cheese on each slice of bread. I used Colby-Jack. A cheddar would work too.

Then some tomatoe slices on one side only. These were from one of the last tomatoes from my garden. They look pale, but have a lot of flavor. Sprinkle a little salt and a little pepper on the tomatoes.

The pork goes on next. One slice on either side.

Use some more cheese on one side and Green Chile on the other. This Green Chile is from Northern New Mexico. When I bought it from the trailer on the side of the road, they asked, "Do you like it hot?". I answered, "Of course, but none of my friends will eat it with me. Give me the medium." What I forgot is that in Northern New Mexico, the medium is hotter than the hot Green Chile anywhere else. So what you see is some killer hot Green Chile. Use whatever you like but whole chiles will work better on the sandwich than chopped.

Now, put the halves together and microwave for 1 minute (60 seconds). This will melt the cheese and warm the veggies. If the meat is hot off the BBQ, you might want to microwave for less time.

Note that the bread will be soft still. I like to microwave it to melt the cheese and then toast the bread afterwards so it comes to the table crisp on the outside.

Now, to crisp up the bread.

You need a skillet on medium high. Let it get up to temperature before adding the butter.

For each side, start with a couple pats of butter. Let it partially melt before you put the bread on top.

As shown to the right, first toast in a skillet on one side. And then toast the other side.

When the 2nd side is crispy, its time to serve immediately.

Its a mess to eat since the parts slip around but well worth the trouble.

Fennel and Swiss Chard Soup

It finally froze yesterday in the wee hours. In my garden remained two things that needed harvesting right away: Fennel and Swiss Chard

So, I picked the veggies from the back yard and got out the old Google to see what I could make with it. Food Network had a nice recipe for vegetable plate and another site had a soup. But the flavors were similar. I thought, "It's cold. Soup sounds good."

And I began my usual changing of what looked like a vegan recipe into one I thought I might prefer (and used what I had around the house).

This soup is hearty. It can be a whole meal by itself.

You will want to prepare the swiss chard ahead of time. Note that the quantities on all the vegetables are approximate. It's soup. It will be ok if the amounts vary.

• 2 bunches swiss chard (based on how my grocery store sizes the swiss chard)

Wash the chard if its not totally grit free. Reduce the amount of water on the leaves by drying or shaking or whatever.
Cut out the stems by slicing the leaf parts right where they attach to the main stem. The leaves go in one pile. The stems go in another pile.
Chop the leaves into 1 inch squares.
Slice the stems into 1/4 inch lengths.

Saute the following until the onion wilts thoroughly in a large pan. I use my dutch oven:

• 1 T olive oil
• 2 T butter
• 1/2 c chopped onion (I used yellow onion. The recipe called for the whites of scallions/green onions.)
• 1/2 c chopped fennel bulb (remove stems, cut the bulb in half and cut out the core before chopping)
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• pinch of salt

Then add and continue to saute until some browning occurs:

• 2 c swiss chard stems, chopped
• 1/4 tsp salt

Remove and set aside. Saute until wilted:

• 2 T butter
• 4 c swiss chard leaves (chopped into 1 inch squares)

Add and simmer until the stems and leaves soften (about 20 minutes)

• 1/4 c white wine (or a Tbsp sugar)
• 6 cups broth (I had broth I made from recently roasted turkey's bones -- very little oil)

Remove from heat. Add

• 1 1/2 c baby spinich leaves

Blend the result. I use my tiny, little immersion blender. If you use a regular blender, do it a cup or two at a time to avoid sloshing all that hot liquid around the kitchen violently. Put it back in the pan with:

• 1/4 tsp anchovy paste (about 2 inches from a tube)
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 3 Tbsp fennel fronds, chopped

Adjust the taste as needed with salt, sugar and/or garlic powder.

Bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and its ready.

Serve with a dash of heavy cream in the center of the bowl and a sprinkling of fennel fronds on top.

Options:

Add 8 oz cream to the soup after removing the soup from the heat instead of serving it in the bowl. (You could replace it with 1/4 c olive or coconut oil if you want to avoid the dairy.)

Use a vegetable broth if you want to avoid eating meat. (The butter can be replaced with additional olive oil, too.)

I suspect adding chopped bacon when sauting the onion would be tasty.

Turkey Enchiladas for One

This is a variation on a theme. I use it to turn leftover turkey into tasty lunches. This recipe serves one hungry person or two smaller appetites.

You will need one Ziploc (or other brand) rectangular plastic container. The one I have is about 4" x 6" x 1.5 ". Its in the picture.

Prepare the tortillas below by snipping off the opposing sides of the tortillas with scissors so they fit flat in the bottom of the plastic container. Then fry them in some sort of oil just a little to take out the rawness and to keep them from absorbing liquids and getting soggy.
If you don't want the oil (which can be butter, bacon fat, olive oil or anything) dip them in warm water or chicken broth.
A third alternative is to toast them over a flame, such as your gas stove burner or outdoor propane grill.

• 3 corn tortillas

Mix the filling ingredients together in a mixing bowl:

• 1/4 lb shredded colby longhorn cheese (save back a tiny bit to spread on top)
• 1/2 c diced green chile
• 1/2 can cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken)
• (optional: a large dollop of sour cream)
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground onion
• 1/8 tsp ground mexican oregano
• NO salt (there's plenty in the soup)

Now take out a little of this filling mixture and spread it on one of the tortillas. This will be the top tortilla.

Take out a little more filling and spread it in the bottom of the plastic container.

Now add this turkey and mix thoroughly.

• 1 c diced turkey (cooked)

Form the enchiladas, flat New Mexico style, in the plastic container with these layers. This list is ordered from bottom to top, first in to last on. There should already be a little of the filling mixture in the bottom.

• one tortilla
• half of the turkey-chile-cheese filling
• one tortilla
• the rest of the turnkey-chile-cheese filling
• the top tortilla
• cover with shredded cheese
• sprinkle with flaked mexican oregano

Put the lid on the container, squashing down as needed, and put in the refrigerator overnight or in the freezer until needed. (Thaw before heating to eat.)

Place thawed container in microwave and heat on high until hot. It seems to take about 3 minutes in my microwave. It takes a bit more at work.

Bread and Butter Pickled Jalapenos

I saw a guy doing something similar -- Bread and Butter Pickled Jalepenos -- on the Food Channel -- Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. I have an old bread and butter pickle recipe from an ancient Farm Journal cookbook. So I thought it might be good and it is. This recipe makes about a quart.









Put the following in a mixing bowl. Note that if you touch the sliced peppers very much, your hands will begin to sting. Use a rubber glove, at least on the hand you don't hold the knife in. Do not rub your eyes or skin elsewhere.

• 1/2 half pound fresh Jalapeno peppers. Select firm ones. Avoid the rubbery ones. Avoid those with thin skins. Slice into round sections a little less than 1/4 inch (5 mm). Discard the ends and stems. I leave the seeds and the white, center part.
• (optional) 3 or 4 colorful habanero (scotch bonnet) peppers. Slice into rounds as thin as you can cut them without them falling apart. Discard the ends and stems. (Habaneros will make the result very spicy hot.)
• 2 Tbsp salt - sprinkle over the jalapeno rounds

Stir to distribute the salt. Cover with ice and let set for 2-3 hours. Add more ice as needed.

When the time is over, remove the ice, if any is left, and drain. Add the following and stir together:

• 6-8 green onions - slice the white part and some of the green.

Heat the following to boiling in a 2 qt pan:

• 1 c apple cider vinegar
• 1 c white sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp celery flakes (or 3/4 tsp celery seeds)
• 1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 2 juniper berries
• pinch ground white pepper

Simmer for 10 minutes.

Drain the peppers and onions one more time and add the mixture to the pan. Stir and bring back to a boil.

Move the peppers and onions to a quart mason jar with a slotted spoon. It should fill the jar. If it does not, add some random vegetables to fill the jar. (I like baby carrots.)

Pour the hot vinegar mixture into the jar. Add some water if you need and make sure all the vegetables are covered. Seal the jar.

If you are going to store it, process it in boiling water for 15 minutes. 

Turn the jar over on a counter and let it cool to room temperature (or so). If you didn't process with the boiling water, you will need to refrigerate now.

I like these over a cracker with a small slice of blue cheese. Other creamy cheeses work too.

Or you can just use them over foods where you would use standard salsa.

Chicken Enchilada Cassarole

This has roots in an old Kathy Williams recipe from before any of us had kids.

First you prepare the chiles.

• 2 fresh green Poblano chiles (you can use the long thin ones like Anaheim, New Mexico or Hatch but you will need 4 of those as they are smaller)

Heat up the gas grill. I know mine is ready when the temp reads over 300 F.

Put the chile peppers on the grill and roast, turning as needed until the thin skin is charred pretty much over the entire surface. I would guess about 5 min for the first side and 3 for the other side (or other two sides depending on the shape of the chiles.

Remove from the heat and pop them into a paper bag. (You can use a pan with a lid or a bowl with a plate on top.) Let them set, which will loosen the charred skin. (You can do this ahead of time or let it set while the onion starts to saute, but only if you can do two things at once.)

Running them under water, slide the skin off the chiles. You can use a knife the scrape if you are careful. Cut off the stem and the seedy lump inside. Wash off the seeds though a few won't hurt.

At this point, its a good time to toast the tortillas on the grill. (You can use store-bought tortilla chips but they will add a lot of salt to the end product.) Use the gas grill AFTER the chiles have completed.

• 12 corn tortillas

Lay them flat on the grill. Leave them just long enough to get a little toasting and/or grill marks on the down side and then turn them. The 2nd side goes faster. If one starts puffing up, they are done. I can't fit all 12 on my grill at the same time, so repeat after stacking the done ones.

Saute on a low heat the following in a 4 qt (or larger) pan on the stove. (No lid needed.)

• 3 Tbsp olive oil (or pretty much any oil)
• 1 med onion, chopped coarsely. (I like the sweet yellow ones.
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• the roasted chiles (prepared above) chopped

When the onion becomes translucent, add the following spices:

• 1 tsp ground cumin
• pinch of ground mexican oregano (or any oregano, ground or flakes)
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• (optional: a small amount of salt. Note that other ingredients have plenty of salt so you may not need any.)

Saute 2 or 3 more minutes, then stir in the following:

• 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup
• chicken meat cut into 3/4" chunks or shredded (I use the meat of one rotisserie chicken precooked at the grocery. You can also cook about 4 chicken breasts and use that. 

Stir as needed to avoid burning until the whole mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat.

Build the enchiladas in a cassarole dish (12" x 16" or so). I use some spray oil to avoid sticking. 

The layers numbered from bottom to top:

1. 4 tortillas spread across the bottom. They can overlap depending on the exact size of tortillas and pan.
2. 1/2 of the mixture from the pan.
3. 8 oz sour cream
4. 4 oz grated cheese
5. 4 more tortillas
6. the other 1/2 of the mixture from the pan
7. 1/2 cup green chiles (either canned chopped green chile or use "505 Flame Roasted Green Chile" which is chile with garlic and cumin. It has a blue label to distinguish it from their other products.)
8. 4  more tortillas
9. 8 oz grated cheese

If you heat it right away, it only needs about 15 minutes at 300 F. If you keep it in the refrigerator, or freeze it and then let it thaw, it will need 30-45 minutes at 350 with foil over it except the last 15 minutes.