I’ve had a bit of a domino effect week and it turned out really good so I figured I would post about it.
It all began last week when I was looking around for a recipe with barely so I could get rid of my extra. I found one, but it required turkey. Therein it began.
Sunday I purchased myself a 7 lbs bone-in turkey breast at the local Dominick’s (that’s a Chicago grocer if you’re not aware.)
Sunday’s menu was:
Herb roasted turkey breast and three cheese and garlic ogratin potatoes.
#1 Herb roasted turkey breast (ruthlessly stolen and modified from Allrecipes.com)
INGREDIENTS
- 1 (
5 1/2 pound 7lbs) turkey breast, fresh or frozen, thawed
- 4 teaspoons McCormick® Italian Seasoning (fuck that, just grab a bunch of herbs)
- 2 teaspoons McCormick® Season-All® Seasoned Salt (all I had was generic seasoned salt, but it worked)
- 3/4 teaspoon McCormick® Ground Black Pepper (I didn’t use McCromick and it fucked everything up)
- Who doest put garlic and olive oil in everything? I added a couple cloves minced garlic and two fingers of oil
- Some butter
- 1 cup water
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place turkey breast on rack in shallow roasting pan. Combine seasonings/butter/OO/garlic. Spread that shit under skin and over entire surface of turkey breast.
- Roast 2 - 2 1/2 hours or until internal temperature reaches 170 degrees F. Loosely tent with foil for first hour. Remove foil; add water to pan. Baste occasionally with pan juices.
- Remove turkey breast from oven. Let stand, loosely covered with foil for 15 minutes. Transfer to platter or carving board.
This recipe produced a damn good roasted bird. Onto the side
#2 Three cheese and Garlic Ogratin Potatoes
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced (I used russets, which could account for time/temp discrepancies)
- 2 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
- 4 slices provolone cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 1 1/2 quart or larger casserole dish with butter or nonstick spray.
- Layer half of the potato slices in the bottom of the casserole dish. Dot with half of the butter cut or pinched into small pieces. Arrange half of the garlic slices over the potatoes, then pour half of the heavy cream over. Sprinkle one cup of Cheddar cheese over the layer, and season with salt and pepper. Repeat layering of potatoes, garlic, cream and Cheddar cheese, then top with the slices of provolone cheese. Season again with salt and pepper.
- Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, then sprinkle the Parmesan or Romano cheese over the top. This will create a semi-hard cheese crust. Continue baking uncovered for another 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender when tested with a fork.
Stolen again from Allrecipes.com but the woman who wrote it must live in some sort of timewarp and/or slice her potatoes paper fuckin’ thin, because she says 325 for an hour which results in very undercooked potatoes. I’ve made the changes necessary and it’s closer to 350 for 1.5-2hrs.
Anyway, that dinner was excellent. Rave reviews, if I had a girlfriend I would probably have been repaid with fellatio.
Wake up Monday morning and what do I do? I make fuckin’ turkey stock that’s what I do.
See stock recipe from a few weeks ago, only use the bones/meat from the leftover roasted turkey. It made amazing stock.
Now the coup de gras
#3 Turkey Mushroom Barley Soup
| 5 |
T |
butter, divided |
| 1/2 |
c |
chopped onion |
| 1/2 |
c |
chopped celery |
| 1/2 |
c |
sliced carrots |
| 1/2 |
lb |
sliced fresh mushrooms |
| 2 |
|
serrano or thai chilis, split lengthwise |
| 2 |
qt |
turkey broth |
| 1-1/2 |
c |
chunked cooked turkey |
| 1/2 |
c |
pearled barley |
| |
|
leaves from 1 medium sprig of thyme |
| 3 |
T |
chopped fresh parsley |
| |
|
Salt and pepper to taste |
| 3 |
T |
flour |
| 1 |
c |
whole milk or blend of whole milk and light cream (optional) |
In a large pan, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Saute onion, celery, carrots, and mushrooms until tender. Add in split chiles, thyme and parsley and cook for a few more minutes. Pour in broth and add barley. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, 45 minutes; then add in cooked turkey. In a small saucepan, melt remaining butter (3 tablespoons). Add flour and cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly to make a roux.. Whisk roux into soup if making a creamless version. Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer 10 minutes.
To make a light cream version, slowly whisk milk into roux to blend; then add this to soup. Heat for 10 min but do not boil.
I just finished eating this and it was pretty fucking excellent. Best soup I’ve ever made, but it didn’t use all of my barley. So I guess I’ll have to find something else to use barley in.
At any rate, I certainly recommend all of these dishes and really encourage you to make turkey stock if you haven’t. It’s like chicken stock on crack.
I also made a simple salad, but that was mostly just to round out the meals. Nothing to show off on that one.