Are you full yet? I know. I know. The mind reels that we are still talking about food. But trust me – this dish does not disappoint. And, be honest. Turkey sandwiches start to feel redundant. Turkey Tetrazzini, a dish I grew up on, however is creamy, hearty, and full of mushroomy goodness. My mom found her recipe (very, very loosely translated below, in part because 50 years ago directions were vague and ingredients were more a suggestion when “the homemaker” already knew how to cook) in the 1968 Panhellenic Meats Cookbook. “Every home should have a good meats cookbook. This cookbook is filled with wonderful recipes submitted by sorority members over the nation. Here you will find all sorts of mouth-watering meats – from tried-and-true favorites such as hamburger pie to exotic foreign treats.” These gals surely got around because despite foreign dishes starting off with lasagna and Canadian meat pie, they also ranged from Turkey to Taiwan to Tahiti.
Speaking of the 60s…who’s doesn’t like a good road trip to pick out dinner? I’ll take THAT one!
Tetrazzini was invented in a hotel (debates over whether it was San Francisco or NYC) in the early 1900s. Opera star Luisa Tetrazzini is its namesake. There is seemingly no standard for what ingredients are required, but it generally includes poultry, a cream sauce and long thin pasta. The Meats Cookbook recipe may or may not call for sautéing the onion in bacon grease. I am not sure I can in good conscience call for that. And I’m here to assure you that I always choose the healthier EVOO. But you should know that is probably a lie. It is definitely a lie. It’s your cholesterol. Do what you will. For goodness sake, it’s the day after Thanksgiving. Is this really the time to show restraint?
Instead of talking turkey, let’s just let the Tetrazzini do the talking!
Turkey Tetrazzini
3 Tablespoons flour
About 4 ounces butter, divided per instructions
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
4 ribs celery, sliced
1 green bell pepper, stem removed, seeded and diced
4 shallots, minced
8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 pound spaghetti
4 cups chopped turkey
2 cups grated cheddar
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
6 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled (are you saving the fat for shallot sauté?)
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs or seasoned breadcrumbs
Preheat the oven to 350oF. Butter a 9x13x2-inch 3-quart casserole.
I’m switching it up here and making a cross between a milk-based Béchamel white sauce and a chicken broth based Velouté. That makes it creamy and also a bit lighter.
Start by making a roux, using 3 Tablespoons each of butter and flour. Melt the butter and whisk in the flour to make a roux the texture of wet sand. Let it start to bubble and continue for one minute. Whisk in the milk and chicken stock. Combine well. Season with salt and pepper. Add the celery and peppers and simmer for 15 minutes until thickened, whisking from time to time to make sure the sauce does not stick, and the vegetables are softened.
Prep the Veggies:
Meanwhile, add 1 Tablespoon of the remaining butter (or the bacon fat if using) to a sauté pan and add the shallots. Sauté until golden and a bit crispy, about 8 minutes. Drain on a paper towel.
Add an additional 2 Tablespoons of butter to the pan and sauté the mushrooms until browned.
Cook the Pasta:
Cook the pasta according to package directions, under-cooking by a minute or so. Drain.
Time to Combine:
In a small bowl, combine the parsley, shallots and Parmesan.
In a large bowl, add the pasta, turkey, mushrooms, cheddar, and gradually add the sauce, folding to combine evenly. Add half the parsley/shallot/Parmesan mixture and toss well. Transfer to the prepared casserole dish.
Top the pasta mixture with the remaining parsley/shallot/Parmesan mixture and sprinkle with the bacon and breadcrumbs, dotting with 1 Tablespoon butter.
Bake it Off:
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes until bubbly.
Note: Sometimes when I make this, I let it cool to room temperature and freeze until I need it. In that case, I add all the parsley/shallot/Parmesan mixture to the pasta before freezing, and wrap well, without additional toppings. Then when I am ready to bake it off, I top the thawed casserole with bacon, breadcrumbs, and a bit of fresh Parmesan or grated cheddar. Per Darryl Hannah in Steel Magnolias, “it’s in the freezes beautifully section of my cookbook.”
Bon appetit!
Serves ??? How much do you love this? At least 6 or 8, and more if you are willing to share.
Nary has a Thanksgiving rolled by that I am not peppered with queries from dawn to dusk. I heed the call, alternating with “Gobble Gobble” and “Butterball Hotline.” This year, I say bring it on. I’ve got nothing but time. Yup! I have already cooked my Thanksgiving feast – the roast turkey and the gravy – and served it up with a “Family Favorites Pot-lucky.” Food served. Wine drunk. Dishes done. Trash at the curb. Sorry. Not sorry.
We gathered earlier this month and the pot-lucky theme was Family Treasures – the iconic culinary treats that are essential for fall family feasts. I brought Gaga’s Delmonico apples and a cranberry kumquat chutney, that’s a newer tradition. One couple brought a wonderful red and yellow beet with nutty goat cheese appetizer. The other dishes were both familiar and uniquely twisted – a modern green bean casserole & sweet potatoes with pecans, scalloped corn & sprouts with bacon, and mash taters & an amazing sausage stuffing. It was a tasty trip seeing how others celebrate the season.
And because it has been so warm, I was able to get most of the décor from the herb bed, grasses and colorful leaves. After one too many table settings that hogged the site line and got moved off the table about 5 minutes after we were seated, I decided to keep it low and used a collection of mismatched short silver cups, more commonly used at Derby time – julep cups! That plus a few candles and some nuts and gourds was all I needed.
I was also in charge of the turkey and over the years I’ve had my share of turkey prep. Some years I have gone from perfect turkey on the Today Show Thursday to turkey leftovers on Good Morning America Friday. By noon on Thursday when others were thinking about the big dance, I had moved on to leftovers prep. One year my balcony was lined by so many wall to wall coolers filled with turkey parts that you’d have thought I was running a soup kitchen. Suffice it to say I have done every show with every possible technique and turkey part. Whole turkeys, turduckens, spatchcocked and deconstructed. Done. It. All.
The real secret to Turkey Perfection comes from good preparation, organization, great ingredients and having the right equipment. My turkey this year came from Wise Family Farm and was about 16 pounds. I hope you are so lucky as to have a fresh, locally pastured bird, but if you are only able to source a frozen turkey, you need to get busy now. The safest way to thaw a frozen turkey is in the refrigerator over several days. And don’t forget that it takes 24 hours to thaw every 4 pounds of frozen bird.
If you head to my shop, you will find the tools I find most invaluable – a good Roasting Pan, about 2-3” deep (I prefer “stick” over non-stick – that results in a nice dark brown gravy), a Roasting Rack that raises the turkey for essential airflow, an Instant Read Thermometer to validate estimated cooking time, a Fat Separator to skim off fat and pour the rich stock from the bottom of the vessel, and anything written by Rick Rodgers, including The Turkey Cookbook, Thanksgiving 101, and The Big Book of Sides. I can safely say everything I know about turkey and gravy I learned from Rick. He IS Mr. Turkey.
I find the recipe below to be quite foolproof. It is a classic technique for an average-sized 18-pound turkey, but the instructions can be adjusted depending on the size of your bird. There are many tweaks and twists that can bedazzle the bird, but it always helps to know the basics before you start embellishing. Learned that one from Julia herself! And one of the things I learned from Rick is to have a stock pot going all day so that you can baste before your bird gets juicy and you have everything needed to make gravy, regardless of the amount of juices your bird yields. I have included details on how to do that so you can relax and know you will be gravy-prepared.
Roast Turkey Perfection with Gimme-More Gravy
Turkey Perfection
One (18-pound) fresh turkey
Freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
3 quarts turkey or chicken stock (I prefer low sodium since this will reduce for hours – you can always add seasoning later)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 sprigs Italian parsley
2 sprigs fresh thyme
6 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup* plus 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
*You may not need this if the turkey releases enough fat to yield a half-cup. Commercially produced birds tend to be fattier, but the pasture-raised bird I cooked was very lean and I needed to supplement with the butter when making the roux for the gravy.
Position oven rack in the lower part of oven and preheat to 325° F.
Remove any pieces/parts inside the turkey – the neck and giblets (which includes the gizzard, heart, and liver) – and set aside.
Rinse the turkey inside and out with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels and wipe out the cavity. Rub cavity with salt and pepper and stuff loosely with 1/3 of the carrots, celery, and onions.
Pin the turkey’s neck skin to the back with a bamboo skewer or trussing pin. Tuck the wings akimbo (“hands” behind the back, elbows turned outward) to keep the tips from burning.
Place the drumsticks in the hock lock. Some birds will be butchered with a skin flap as shown above. Others may have a plastic loop to lock the legs. If all else fails, tie them together with kitchen string.
Place the turkey, breast side up, on a rack in a roasting pan. Rub all over with 2 Tablespoons softened butter. Season with salt and pepper.
Tightly cover the breast area with aluminum foil. (Not tented, just pressed tightly onto the breast. You will remove this during the last hour of roasting).
Pour 2 cups of turkey or chicken stock into the bottom of the pan and place in the pre-heated oven.
Stock Pot
As soon as the bird is in the oven, start the stock pot. This will give you juices for basting during the early hours when the bird hasn’t given off much liquid. It will also provide backup turkey stock for a bird that is a low juice producer.
Hack the turkey neck into 4 or 5 pieces. Trim away the gizzard’s silver skin and membrane and coarsely chop. Some like to also chop up the liver and heart and add it here, but I think they are a bit bitter when boiled. I’m more likely to save them and sauté later with onions and then add them to stews, fried rice, or place atop avo toast.
In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil, add the turkey neck, any giblets, and sauté until brown, about 5-7 minutes. Add the remaining carrots, celery, and onions and sauté for 5 minutes. Add 1 quart of turkey stock, along with the parsley, thyme, peppercorns and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Continue to simmer, using this to baste the turkey as needed. Periodically skim any floaters. (I’m trying really hard not to say scum, but you know what I’m talking about.) Add additional turkey stock to the pot to maintain a 1-1 ½ quart level.
Basting
Roast the turkey, basting all over every hour with the juices in the bottom of the pan or from the stock pot. Lift up the foil to baste the breast area. I usually rotate the pan periodically to make sure there are no oven hot spots and the bird roasts evenly. Roast until an Instant Read Thermometer inserted in the meaty part of the thigh (but not touching the bone) reads 180° F and the breast is 165° F, about 4 hours. Whenever the drippings evaporate, baste from the stock pot and add a bit more stock to the roasting pan. Remove the foil from the breast during the last hour to let the skin brown.
It’s better to pad your estimated cooking time by 30 minutes, so nobody is standing around drinking too much while waiting for the bird. I say that like it’s a bad thing. I always defer to the thermometer, but use the times below as a guideline. Stuffing your turkey will add about 5 minutes per pound, so I cook the stuffing on the side (doesn’t that make it dressing??). Since you need to let the bird rest 30 minutes and carving takes time, you have most of an hour to finish or warm the rest of the sides when the oven is no longer needed for the turkey.
Estimated Roasting Times – Unstuffed Turkey – about 15 – 20 min a pound
Transfer the turkey to a large serving platter and let it stand for at least 30 minutes before carving. Pour any juices that have run off back into the roasting pan.
Gimme-More Gravy
Once the turkey is out of the oven and resting, pour the drippings from the roasting pan into a Fat Separator or heatproof glass measuring cup. Let stand 5 minutes, then skim off and reserve the clear yellow fat that rises to the top. Measure 1/2 cup fat, adding butter, if needed, to make 1/2 cup.
Check the measurement on the broth remaining in the fat separator, once you have skimmed the fat. If you have less than one quart of liquid, add enough strained liquid from the stock pot to the skimmed drippings to make 4 cups.
Place the roasting pan on low across two stove burners (or scrape all the brown bits from the roasting pan into a saucepan) and add the turkey fat or fat/butter combo (1/2 cup total).
Whisk in the flour to make a roux, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan, and cook until the paste is lightly browned, about two minutes. Whisk in the turkey broth. Cook, whisking often, until the gravy has thickened and no trace of raw flour flavor remains, about ten minutes.
If desired, finely chop whatever giblets you have prepared and add to the gravy. Check the seasonings and add salt and pepper, as needed. Transfer the gravy to a warmed gravy boat.
Carving
Remove the wing and leg on one side and slice the breast, carving parallel to the center/breast bone. Repeat on the other side. It’s become very popular to remove the breast and slice cross-wise like a loaf of bread. It’s not the way I was trained. But my Dad’s process which took an hour to carve…one slice for the platter, one for the man with the knife….and never ended up with enough food on the platter (What? You want more than one paper-thin slice???) has left some family members in therapy. I can’t be sure but I think some people that I may or may not be related to shred their turkey by hand just to avoid any brush with our torturous past. You are on your own – #NoJudgment – but know that there are plenty of videos on carving techniques!
However you carve it, enjoy and be sure to smother with amazing gravy and serve with gratitude! And be sure to share your family favorite sides in the comments below.
Serves 18 with about 4 cups of gravy
Take a page from this book and consider liquid dessert! Kind of a perfect way to end a meal – no further chewing needed.
Gobble! Gobble!
This post contains affiliate links. For more of my must-have faves, check out my shop.
I have seriously gone down the Pot Lucky rabbit hole, or as I have recently taken to calling it – the Curated Pot Luck. It was only a matter of time after sausage making, soup swapping, and pizza topping, that I would dive head first into a burger blast. No doubt I have mentioned that I rarely get dinner invites, despite my dear friend Cindy running ahead and telling people they’ll have me at hambur…. (hint, hint, hint – I’m a gracious guest, really I am). If this party didn’t crystallize that concept, I’m destined to dine at home. Burgers, burgers, burgers and more burgers.
The gang has started to embrace (or run for the hills) the idea of bringing together a culinary creation around a theme. This time I first lined up six people as the Patty People. The call went out for each to bring a different flavor, 3 pounds divvied up into 2-dozen sliders. Yup! That’s 12 dozen sliders. Plenty to share for any one that wandered our way. We ended up with turkey burgers – one of my go-to recipes – a three-cut beef blend, lamb, bison, shrimp and a beef raised locally by the pattier himself. (Note to Dan: standing invite).
I provided the Designated Toppers with a range of ideas, but the contributions far exceeded that list. Cheeses, veggies, special sauce and more. In case it’s not yet clear – “more” means bacon. Or it means more bacon. The contributions ran from an irreverently-titled hot sauce to smoked onions stuffed with garlic, and on to smoked tomato mint jam (Noyce!!! A fabulous complement to the lamb burger). I felt a bit like the butterball hotline, holding court and making pairing recommendations. A cup or two of each topping is plenty if you shoot for the wide range that we recruited – no need to prepare vats-full.
Here are a few of the amazing items that painted the burger canvas:
Cheeses:
Goat
Bleu Cheese Crumbles
Pepper Jack
Jalapeno Pimento Cheese
Veg & more:
Mushrooms Bourguignon
Smoked Onions
Mango Salsa
Arugula
Pickled Peppers
Lemon Feta Pepperoncini
Julienne purple radish
Bacon
Special Sauce:
Salsa Verde
Chimichurri
Cumin Yogurt
Mint Pesto
Chipotle Aioli
Roasted Pineapple Habanero Sauce
Guacamole
Tzatziki
Smoked Tomato Mint Jam
Amazingly there were only about 3 of the 144 sliders left. Clearly no one went home hungry and everyone was very (wink, wink) “happy”. Sharing a grill and creating your own masterpiece is a great way to get the group mingling – everyone has something to say about their personal favorite combo.
Talking Turkey
If you have ever visited me in Michigan, you have probably had a turkey burger. Because I add drained salsa to the very lean (read: potentially dry) meat, I tend to do a jar or two’s draining at once. Then I patty the burgers out and wrap individually in saran and freeze on a sheet pan to keep their shape, zipping them up when frozen. It’s great to have as a staple when company comes unannounced (unless they come three times in one day – you know who you are!) This is the kind of dish I always make well ahead of guests and if I’m not freezing the patties, each wrapped in saran, I put them on a tray with wax paper below and on top of the burgers, and refrigerate for up to two days. If I’m holding for more than a few hours, I’m sure to wrap the whole tray in saran. This resting time really helps firm up a somewhat wet patty.
At the very beginning of my career, I assisted my cooking school teacher Rick Rodgers in classes and at book signings. He wrote both the Turkey Cookbook and Thanksgiving 101. He has written well over 30 books now and there is not a dud among them. Every recipe is always impeccably tested. I have links to a couple of the books in my shop but truthfully they are all fantastic. I have a vague memory that we made turkey burger sliders for some book signings and served them on little potato rolls. I think that is where the idea of drained salsa first came to my attention. Since then turkey burgers were a staple on the menu at my restaurant New World Grill, where we made Pico de Gallo in-house and added cumin, shallots, and a splash of white wine. However you do it, these stir-ins add a lot of flavor and keep the lean meat from being dry. I really love these with pepper jack and grilled onions on an onion roll. Go big or go home.
Turkey Burger
For the burger pot lucky, I used one of my very favorite salsas: Frontera Chipotle Salsa. Because ground turkey is a blank canvas, you almost can’t over-season it. In other words, more heat, more spice. Please.
16 ounce jar of favorite salsa, drained and liquid discarded (or save and use to season a sauce, etc.)
3 pounds ground turkey
3 shallots, chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Pour the salsa into a fine mesh strainer, set over a bowl. Set aside for 20 minutes or more until the liquid has been released. Discard the liquid or save/freeze for something else.
Mix the turkey, drained salsa, shallots, cumin, salt and pepper by hand until incorporated and shape into patties. See note above about stocking your freezer or letting them rest for an hour (up to two days) in your fridge before grilling.
Grill over a medium-hot fire until cooked through (timing depends on burger size). Poultry should always be thoroughly cooked. If you find it hard to flip, show a little patience. A hot grill will always release the stuck food when it’s ready.
Serve with firecracker cole slaw – recipe is coming soon!!
Makes 24 sliders or 8 full size burgers.
This post contains affiliate links. For more of my must-have faves, check out my shop.
Say it ain’t so!! This sad infographic appeared this week from a consulting company that focuses on food and beverage trends. For me, the really sad part is the title – Erosion of Meal Rituals. According to the Hartman Group, more people are eating meals alone and most meals are planned in less than an hour. The last part sounds really good to me. With a well-stocked pantry, and the fact that spring has sprung and sweet peas are starting to appear, this soul-satisfying dish can be whipped up in no time. But it’s just as easy to make this for two – or three – or four or more – so please don’t eat alone. Breaking bread with friends and family is one of life’s great treats and truth be told is the real soul-satisfying part of any meal.
This spicy horseradish lemon dressing is a fantastic vinaigrette to make in a big batch and have on hand. I always have four or more vinaigrettes available at any time and the flavor profile of each can take a dish in a whole new direction. Lemon/EVOO is a staple, doctored here with a dose of spicy mustard and horseradish. I love a creamy miso dressing, an Asian ginger/soy/sesame oil one and of course something balsamic-based – maple, raspberry, white balsamic, etc. The possibilities are endless.
Using classic French technique, salt and pepper are added first with the acid so that they can dissolve before drizzling in the oil in a thin stream for a perfect emulsion. Seemingly every kitchen in France had a different benchmark as to what was the right amount of seasonings. And no matter how I did it, I was American and it was wrong. Oh wait, I was an American Woman, and it was really wrong. I will dedicate a whole post to the classic technique, but for today we will just dump and whisk. As an American, I reserve the right to change the technique and I find that using a grainy salt and pepper in just a measured dose at the end – here I use it strategically on the avocado where its texture and flavor make it a standout – allows for more control over sodium intake which isn’t a bad thing. Certainly not as bad as eating alone. These are my favorite salts today – Maldon Sea Salt Flakes and Maine Coast Sea Seasonings.
Sweet Peas, Tuna and New Potato Salad
1 pound small new potatoes
½ pound fresh (or frozen) shelled sweet peas
10 ounces tuna (I prefer chunk light tuna in water – especially love the pouches that need no draining)
5 ounces arugula
1 avocado, sliced or chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
Spicy Horseradish Lemon Vinaigrette
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon prepared horseradish
1 Tablespoon spicy Dijon mustard
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain liquid and let potatoes cool to room temperature.
While the potatoes are cooling, place an inch of water in the pot and bring to a boil. Transfer the peas to a steamer basket and add the basket to the pot and cover. (Frozen peas can just be thawed – no need to cook). When tender (about 2 minutes), remove the basket and run under cool water to stop the cooking.
Prepare the Spicy Horseradish Lemon Vinaigrette: Combine all ingredients in a shaker with a tight-fitting lid and shake to combine well, or place in a small bowl and whisk to combine.
Arrange greens in four bowls and divide and arrange potatoes, peas, tuna and avocado. Drizzle with spicy horseradish lemon vinaigrette. Or combine all ingredients in a large serving bowl and drizzle with the dressing and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Either way – composed (aka deconstructed) or tossed – it’s as fresh as the spring air.
After that fantastic morning cutting the cheese with the Cheese Lady (LadieS, original and 2.0), I wanted, no needed, to drill down on the “recipe cheeses” that Shelley was going on about. Yes, I do like to cook with cheese, but I also couldn’t be happier with a big spread, especially if there are raw milks in the mix. But after sharing my insights into the featured “recipe” cheeses in my last post, I turned around, drove back and bought even more, just for cooking. Mac & Cheese seemed like an easy and simple go to idea, but as you are probably noticing, I’m not one to let well enough alone. Okay, that’s not 100% true – I pendulum-swing from letting stellar ingredients shine (less is more) way across to an insane amount of add-ons (more is more). Have you already forgotten the Everything but the Farmer Farmer’s Market Salad? I rest my case. I’m sure there are good pharmaceuticals for this split personality, but I choose to go it alone and see what boils over each day’s pot.
So this recipe is part Mac & Cheese 101 – including classic French béchamel technique – and part KMG – Katy Goes Mad …in this case, for Pimento Cheese. Two big drivers here: The Cheese Lady Muskegon sometimes has Zingerman’s Pimento Cheese. At the risk of telling you about it and creating a run on the stuff, it’s divine. The second is dear ole Dad. I think pimento cheese sandwiches were a staple his mother made – Grandmother Keck was quite the cook in the farm-girl-vegetable-soup-and-applesauce-by-the-vat-load-sort-of-way. Whatever his inspiration, he was super fond of the spread and, like me sourcing out the goods from Zingerman’s, he had his haunts. (I hate to admit that it was a Stuckey’s gas station on the highway south of Terre Haute….let’s just say this apple rolled a few acres after falling from that tree.) The notion of his love for “pimenna”, as he more or less Hoosier twanged it, lives on, and it wouldn’t be unheard of to find it served at an engagement party or stuffed on whole wheat and into your Christmas stocking – not because you’re dying for it but because it needs to be there. It’s the right thing to do. Some things you just don’t question.
There’s one more reason I’m keen to dose the mac & cheese in the southern way – a recent trip to Atlanta, trend-spotting for a client, had me in awe of the many uses of pimento cheese. From apps almost to dessert, I was hard pressed to find a joint without the ubiquitous spread in the 13 restaurants I visited in 36 hours. It was some kind of heaven and I’m sure my Pop was sitting nearby, somewhere on the right hand.
For the basics: The start to any classic flour-based sauce is a roux – equal parts flour and butter (or in the case of gravy, flour and meat or bird fat), generally used in equal portions. It’s always important to toast the flour, once the two are whisked together. That is what gives the sauce a cooked, somewhat nutty taste. For those that thicken pan drippings by whisking in flour at the end, there will always be a slightly raw flour taste. The longer you toast the roux, the deeper the color and flavor. Some gumbos will have it go all the way to a deep rich dark color. But Mac & Cheese is based on a white sauce, so for this the roux, we will only toast it until it just starts to bubble – about a minute or so.
No Shame in Measuring
I can eyeball proportions pretty well and often don’t measure but there is some chemistry at work here and there is no shame in measuring. A little precision will help ensure success. When making gravy at Thanksgiving, even I pour off all the pan drippings to see how much is fat and how much is broth – stay tuned for a Fall drill down on that. In a flat roasting pan, it’s damn hard to tell the ratio – pretty easy in a glass measuring cup when the fat floats.
The key proportions for a sauce of average thickness are:
1 Tablespoon Fat
1 Tablespoon Flour
1 cup liquid
Mac & Cheese is generally started with a white sauce or Béchamel. There you are speaking French again. You’re welcome! The addition of cheeses to this blond roux-thickened base turns Béchamel to Mornay. Add crayfish and you have Nantua Sauce. Sautéed Onions makes Soubise. And you can probably guess what makes Béchamel into Mustard Sauce. FYI, Bechamel is one of three of the five mother sauces that uses roux – so pay attention here! 1 T to 1 T to 1 Cup!
For a pound of pasta, you will need 3 to 4 cups of sauce. I make a mean turkey tetrazzini that uses spaghetti (not such a clingy noodle) and it seems to soak up about 3 cups of sauce. Since you are adding cheese to further thicken this sauce, I find Mac & Cheese with a curly, needy noodle like cavatappi will absorb closer to 4 cups. (Better safe than sorry – err on the “make-too-much” side). So who’s doing the math here? 4 Tablespoons (1/4 cup) butter, 4 T flour, 1 quart of milk.
After you finish the sauce, stir in grated cheese(s). I’m not bothered by the color here and chose white cheeses (high quality, of course: Fontina Fontal for its creaminess and ability to hold a sauce and Barber’s Cheddar for its edge). I realize that some of you can’t get over needing the bright yellow – but for the love of God, please use a quality yellow cheddar. Did you see that Kraft recently did the world’s biggest blind taste test? Assuming that fans would complain when they took out some dyes and non-natural additives, they secretly made the switch without changing the packaging (except ingredient list) and way ahead of schedule. Nobody noticed. I did feel pretty much affirmed on my comment last month that commercially produced turmeric “tasted – well, yellow” because Kraft used it in lieu of yellow dyes 5 and 6. I can promise you if the turmeric had tasted like ginger, as intended, someone would have noticed! But the unspoken fact still remains – even though these additives are so called natural, they are not natural to cheese. There is nothing wrong with a white sauce with white cheeses!
The other thing I like to do with the cheeses is grate some and cube the rest so you get pockets of cheesy goodness that melt and string as you pull. If you don’t like that (seriously, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?), then either chop the cheeses more finely, or grate them all. With any of the grated cheeses, use a coarse grater. If you grate too finely (think green shakers of wood pulp/cellulose), the cheese “dust” won’t melt well and will cause the sauce to be a bit gritty. Nobody likes that! If you are using a variety of flavors like I am – or even more distinctive flavors, like a blue or pepper cheese….or blue with pepper (yes! Glacier Wildfire Blue!!!) – it’s really important to add the cheeses separately from the sauce so you get the distinct pops of flavor. If you only added them to the sauce, it would be a blended flavor and the strongest cheese wins. Not the goal! Layer! Layer! Layer!
I’m starting you out with the basics here and including the southern twist, but there are plenty of other ways to jack your mac, and I’ll ‘bring it’ in the future.
Ooey Gooey Mac & Cheese with Southern Twist (“pimenna cheese”)
Béchamel Sauce:
4 Tablespoons butter
4 Tablespoons flour
4 cups of milk
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste
2 cups grated cheese (I used a combo of ¼ pound Fontina Fontal and ¼ pound Barber’s Cheddar)
Melt the butter and whisk in the flour to make a roux, the texture of wet sand. Let it start to bubble and continue for one minute. Whisk in the milk and combine well. Add the salt and red pepper flakes. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until thickened, whisking from time to time to make sure the bottom does not stick. Add handfuls of the 2 cups of grated cheese and stir until melted.
Meanwhile cook the pasta according to package directions in salted boiling water, stopping about two minutes early. Drain and transfer to a mixing bowl.
Pour the cheese sauce over the warm pasta, using about ¾ quarters of the sauce to start. Stir until combined, adding additional sauce as desired. (You will likely want it all). Add the You’ll Thank Me in the Winter Oven Dried Tomatoes, peppadew and 2 Tablespoons of chives.
Preheat oven to 350oF.
Transfer 3 cups of the sauced pasta to a buttered 3-quart casserole dish. Layer 1/3 of the remaining cheeses (the grated fontina, grated and chopped gruyere, and chopped mozzarella). Repeat with two more layers of pasta and cheese until all are used, ending with the cheeses.
Combine remaining Tablespoon of chopped chives, panko and fried onion topping in a small bowl. Sprinkle on top of the pasta and dot with butter.
Bake the assembled macaroni and cheese for 30-40 minutes until bubbly. Raise oven temperature to 450oF and bake an additional 7 to 10 minutes until top crisps up.
You know a movement has had its awareness sufficiently raised when a blithe reference slips into a throw-away line on a sitcom. After two posts on food waste last week, imagine my squeals when I heard this from a waiter at a hip millennial launch party on a newish sitcom: “The bruschetta has been made with rescued tomatoes and date of expiration burrata”. I’m squealing. Really. Yipeeeeeeee!
Unfortunately summer bruschetta is the last thing on my cooking mind today. A girl can dream. But as I moped through the grocery looking for anything to lift the gloom of winter’s darkest days, I was thrilled to see fresh turmeric. I didn’t even know you could get this in a mainstream grocery – in the Midwest. It used to be relegated to special trips to Asian markets in big cities. Or more likely it could only be sourced dried and ground. Honestly, I was never a fan of turmeric when I only knew its dried self. I thought it tasted – well, yellow. It didn’t really register much on my palate. But while doing guest chef stints on culinary cruises in the Caribbean, I would gather up ever fresh market item that was a bit unique and had a story and introduce our passengers to these new world treats. I even spent one week being followed by the Food Network, and we hit the Grenada spice market hard.
Turmeric was just one of the many spices I found bears little resemblance to its dry spice counterpart. Mace was another. It makes sense that I love turmeric because it’s related to ginger – and I’m well documented as a “fiend for ginger”. Both are rhizomes, along with galangal, lotus, bamboo, and many more. They spread laterally (called creeping rootstalk) and send shoots up. Many have culinary uses.
Like ginger, turmeric when fresh has a pungent and aromatic taste that can be quite peppery (HOT!), especially when used in excess. It is a key player in many South Asian (Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, and Cambodian) dishes – both for flavor and color; you’ll find it in American food as a colorant that can range from subtle to supreme. Vanilla products like yogurt and pudding turn creamy, not stark white, and mustard turns bright yellow.
But turmeric’s real claim to fame is its medicinal properties. Like ginger, turmeric has powerful anti-nausea (turmeric tea, just boil it up), anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-fungal properties. If only this miracle worker could clean the bath!! (Nobody wants a yellow tub, I know, I know). It’s even being studied for treatment of IBS, Alzheimer’s, depression and cancer. Rock stah!
So I grabbed a handful and headed home, determined to make a spicy vegan curry. It doesn’t have to be vegan or even vegetarian, but that is what I had on my mind. Tucking in for the night with a Buddha Bowl of Spicy Goodness.
Start by making a Yellow Curry Paste – this will make four times what you need and freezes well. You can add a lot of different ingredients or leave out some of these, but this is what I had on hand and so what I used. Roasting the aromatics and toasting the spices, while a bit more time-consuming, will elevate the taste and develop a real depth of flavor that you simply can’t get by just pureeing all the ingredients. It’s worth the commitment.
Many curry recipes are simple purees, but this one roasts the aromatics and toasts the spices. While a bit more time-consuming, this extra step develops depth of flavor that you simply can’t get with dump and whirl. It’s worth the commitment. And bonus – it freezes well!
Ingredients
Scale
3 shallots
5 pieces of turmeric
3heads of garlic
1 Tablespoon of olive oil (plus more to drizzle on aromatics)
Spice Blend:
2 Tablespoons ground coriander
2 Tablespoons ground cumin
1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon clove
1/4 teaspoon allspice
3 Tablespoons lemongrass paste (a tube usually found with herbs in produce section)
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400oF.
Wrap the aromatics, each in their own foil pouch, and place on a sheet pan to roast. (20 minutes for the turmeric; 1 hour for the shallots and garlic)
Shallots – peeled, placed in a foil pouch and drizzled with olive oil
Turmeric – well scrubbed, placed in a foil pouch and drizzled with olive oil
Garlic – loose outer “paper” removed, tops of each head trimmed, placed in a foil pouch and drizzled with olive oil
In a small sauté pan, heat one Tablespoon olive oil and add all the spices. Sauté, stirring, for about two minutes until the spices start to release their aroma. Transfer to the work bowl of a food processor.
Once the aromatics are cool enough to handle, transfer the shallots and turmeric to the bowl of a food processor. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into the processor, picking by hand any that linger behind. Discard the garlic “paper”.
Add the lemongrass paste and sea salt. Puree until desired consistency.
Transfer to airtight container and refrigerate or freeze.
Notes
This will last longer than if it were made with raw herbs or aromatics, and it also freezes well.
Prep Time:10 minutes
Cook Time:1 hour
Category:Sauce
Method:Blender/Processor
Cuisine:Indian
Keywords: turmeric, curry
Now that you have that tasty curry, how about whipping up a Coconut Curry Buddha Bowl, filled with hearty and soul-warming sweet potatoes and earthy greens and topped with pumpkin seeds. It’s vegan and you can feel great about that for so many reasons.
Coconut Turmeric Curry with Winter Vegetable Buddha Bowl
Serving suggestion – rice or brown rice* (See note below)
Start the rice.
In a wok or deep skillet, heat the olive oil and sauté the ginger for 2-3 minutes until soft.
Add the sweet potatoes, curry paste, coconut cream and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered, stirring periodically, for about 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender and sauce is thickened.
Add the greens and stir until wilted.
Divide rice among bowls and top with sweet potato curry. Garnish with scallions, pumpkin seeds, and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.
Serves 4.
*Brown rice note: I really prefer brown rice but you’ve likely heard the bad news about arsenic. Because it is a whole grain, it has more potential for danger than white rice which has been stripped of its outer hull (and for that matter its nutritional value). Truth be told, I really don’t eat it very often – once a month or less – so I’m not that worried but I do take a couple precautions. Brown basmati from California, India and Pakistan are the best choices – about 1/3 less risk than other brown rices according to Consumer Reports. The other thing I do is rinse it several times, and then cook it like pasta in a 6:1 water ratio (instead of the normal 2:1) and drain the excess water. That will help wash away the evil-doers lurking in your lovely whole grain. My Grandmother always said “you’ve gotta eat a peck of dirt before you die”. I’m guessing she wasn’t talking about arsenic, but she did make it pass 90. Just sayin.
, about 2-3” deep (I prefer “stick” over non-stick – that results in a nice dark brown gravy), a 
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to skim off fat and pour the rich stock from the bottom of the vessel, and anything written by Rick Rodgers, including 
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. I can safely say everything I know about turkey and gravy I learned from Rick. He IS Mr. Turkey.
. Because ground turkey is a blank canvas, you almost can’t over-season it. In other words, more heat, more spice. Please.
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