I thought I would have more leftovers from Thanksgiving to make a week’s worth of lunch. But everyone in the house liked this sandwich so much, I was able to make them only two times before we ran out of leftover turkey. The sourdough and the porcini mushrooms were extra ingredients from the homemade stuffing I made. I ended up clearing our fridge out before the holiday weekend was over.
Ingredients:
leftover Thanksgiving turkey, sliced, heated in the broiler
4 slices of bacon
4 porcini mushrooms, chopped
sourdough bread, sliced, toasted
For onion relish:
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/8 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1. Make onion relish. In a saucepan, boil the onions in water until soft. Remove from heat and drain. Return to the pot and add brown sugar, red-wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar. Simmer in low fire until liquid is thick–I had this simmering until I was ready to assemble the sandwich. Stir occasionally.
2. Cook bacon. Using a skillet, cook about 4 slices of bacon until crisp. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Set aside.
3. Using the fat in the skillet rendered from the bacon, sauté mushrooms over medium heat until soft, about 4 minutes.
4. Assemble sandwich! Lay toasted bread halves on a chopping board. On one half, spoon the onions and top with the turkey and onion relish. Top with the other half and hold together using a toothpick.
I’ll take pig any time over a turkey but this year, I thought I’d tackle most of our Thanksgiving menu because it was the first time our family was complete since my brother permanently moved out of the States. My new sister-in-law and our favorite adoptee, Cameron, joined in the festivities. With the homemade stuffing and gravy, I combed through the many turkey recipes online and decided to put two recipes together from Bill Telepan and Alton Brown. Here they are in one, tested with love.
The young twelve-pounder bird cost me almost $40 from Whole Foods so there was no room for mistake: for three days I carefully planned and participated in my first ever brined and roasted Thanksgiving turkey. I made the brine in a large glass pot where the turkey also fit; the glass pot fit in the refrigerator to brine for three days. You can definitely make your brine in a non-aluminum stockpot and just transfer it to a large container where the turkey can fit (also non-alumininum pail or basin) and just store, covered, in a cold place if it doesn’t fit in the fridge. New Yorkers who don’t have a basement can store it on their fire escape. On the day of cooking, give yourself at least five hours to prep and cook the turkey.
Ingredients:
1 12-pound young turkey, unfrozen
1 stick of butter
For the aromatics:
1 apple, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 bunch sage leaves
1 medium red onion, quartered
For the brine:
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup salt
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp juniper berries
1 tbsp allspice berries
1 small knob of ginger, peeled, crushed, chopped
1. Three days before serving, prepare the turkey in brine. Combine all brine ingredients in a large stockpot with enough water to submerge the whole turkey and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Set aside.
2. In the meantime, wash the turkey inside and out with cold water and let sit in a colander to drain.
3. Transfer the brine into a large non-aluminum container and submerge the turkey in the brine. If the turkey is not submerged fully, just make sure that you turn the turkey over 24 hours later to marinade the other side.
4. Early on the day of cooking, remove turkey from the brine into a colander to drain in room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 500º while you wait with the rack on the lowest slot.
5. Prepare the aromatics. Combine the ingredients with 1/4 cup of water in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Set aside.
6. Move the turkey to a chopping block and pat the turkey dry with paper towels, inside and out. Tuck back wings and drumsticks. Using your hands, rub butter and a palm-full of salt all over and inside the turkey. Add the microwaved aromatics inside the turkey. Transfer the turkey on a rack in an aluminum foil-lined roasting pan.
7. Set your alarm for these steps so you don’t forget: Roast turkey for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover the turkey with thick aluminum foil and continue to roast for 1 hour, lowering the temperature to 350º. Remove from oven and carefully turn over the turkey to cook the other side. (I used the aluminum foil as potholders to turn it by hand.) Cover again and cook for another hour. Remove from oven a third time, uncover, and return to the oven for another 30 minutes to brown that side.
8. A total of three hours cooking time later, remove the turkey from the oven, stick a meat thermometer in the thigh and make sure the thickest part of the bird is perfectly cooked. (My thermometer said turkey is 180º.) Set the turkey, still on the rack, on a chopping block and let rest for up to 30 minutes before carving and serving.
I was tempted to omit “or baby goat meat” in the recipe title because grilled kid sounded funnier. This recipe is from Scott Gold’s The Shameless Carnivore, a new book about, well, eating all kinds of meat. It’s obvious from the title alone why I felt an affinity towards the book. His recipe called for cubed goat meat for barbecue and kebabs, but when I went to the farmers’ market, Patches of Star Farm from Nazareth had already ran out. The lady sold me rib chops instead.
I’ve had goat meat before but never this tender. It makes a huge difference when the animal is a young one. The younger it is, the more tender the meat. The chops weren’t any bigger than my hand so they took less than 10 minutes to cook both sides. I served two chops to myself with a side of kimchi and some rice.
Ingredients:
1 pound fresh baby goat rib chops
juice of 2 limes
half a bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
oil, salt
1. Combine all ingredients except goat in a bowl and whisk. Season with salt to taste.
2. Transfer the marinade in a shallow glass baking pan with cover. Add the goat, making sure all the meat is covered by the marinade. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. When ready to cook, heat a skillet. When almost smoking, add one or two goat rib chops at a time. Apply light pressure on the meat using a cast iron grill press or the back of a large spoon. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side.
I first served this roasted duck and plum salad from delicious. Magazine last summer when I invited about ten people from work over for dinner. I prepared several dishes to accommodate even the vegetarians, but this one was my favorite. It’s even easier if you just buy the roasted duck from Chinatown.
This is a great salad to celebrate the beginning of the summer because plums are readily available in the market. In New York City’s Chinatown, a pound of bean sprouts cost 50 cents. You can get plum sauce from the Asian aisle in your grocery store. I’ve used two small packets of Chinese takeout duck sauce as an alternative, too. Another time, I found a jar of orange marmalade in our fridge and used two tablespoons of it instead.
Ingredients:
half of a roasted duck, chopped into small pieces
6 plums, halved and seeds removed
a handful of bean sprouts
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1/3 cup white sugar
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 small red chili, finely chopped
2 tbsps plum sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
a handful of basil leaves
a handful of cilantro
salt, pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350º. Place plums, anise, cinammon and sugar in a baking dish with 1/4 cup of water. Cover with foil and roast for 35 minutes until plums are soft. Remove from the oven, drain and save the juice. Set the plums aside to cool. When plums are cool enough, peel and slice into smaller halves.
2. In a small bowl, make the dressing. Combine the plum juice with the garlic, chili, plum sauce and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Using your hands, shred the duck meat off the bones. Combine the duck and the peeled plums in a large salad. Toss with sprouts, basil, cilantro and sprinkle with the dressing.
Talk about a quick lunch with bacon. I was hungry but I didn’t want a limp and sorry-looking sandwich. I wanted something filling, semi-healthy, and of course, robust. (I think robust is a good word to describe this sandwich.) The only shortcut I took here is to buy a few slices of honey-roasted turkey from the grocery deli. Using one loaf of French bread, this recipe fed two hungry people.
Ingredients:
4 slices of honey-roasted turkey breast
4 slices of bacon
1 avocado, halved, pitted, thinly sliced
1 portobello mushroom
1 bunch of arugula, rinsed and patted dry
French bread, halved, toasted
For onion relish:
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/8 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1. Make onion relish. In a saucepan, boil the onions in water until soft. Remove from heat and drain. Return to the pot and add brown sugar, red-wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar. Simmer in low fire until liquid is thick–I had this simmering until I was ready to assemble the sandwich. Stir occasionally.
2. In the meantime, roast portobello mushroom. Preheat oven to 400º. Place mushroom, pleats side up, on a baking sheet. Drizzle some olive oil and balsamic vinegar on mushroom and roast until soft. When cool to the touch, slice and set aside.
3. Cook bacon. Using a skillet, cook about 4 slices of bacon until crisp. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Set aside.
4. Make aïoli. In a blender, purée yolk, garlic, mustard and sherry vinegar until smooth and creamy, 2 minutes. Slowly drizzle olive oil into running blender until completely emulsified, about 2 minutes. If aïoli gets too thick, add a small amount of warm water, 1 tsp at a time. Season with salt and pepper and cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
5. Assemble sandwich! Lay toasted bread halves on a chopping board. On one half, spoon the onions and top with the meats and vegetables. Drizzle with aïoli. Top with the other half and hold together using a toothpick.
