Happy Thanksgiving! Brining a turkey, how to do it and does it work?

I always look forward to Thanksgiving; I love the food, the fall weather, leaves falling from trees and the coziness this time of year brings.  Most of all, I love the being in the kitchen cooking comforting food like Thanksgiving turkey dinner.

For the last number of years, I've soaked my turkey in a brine of water, salt, sugar and other aromatics prior to roasting it.  I've found that preparing my turkey this way ensures it comes out of the oven gorgeously juicy, moist and flavourful.  Most people have experienced a turkey so dry it conjures up images of the Griswold's Turkey in "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation", well brining your turkey prevents that from happening.

The first year I attempted to brine a turkey, I remember feeling a little intimidated by the whole process.  Fearing I would somehow irreversibly damage the centrepiece of the meal and effectively ruin Thanksgiving dinner. Despite my fears, I gave it a try and was so impressed with the result, I've become a complete convert!  Not to mention, the process of making a brine isn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.  The most difficult part is finding a container big enough to fit the turkey/brine in.  If you're able to find a medium sized plastic garbage pale with a snug fitting lid, that works beautifully.  This way, you store the container outside where it will stay cold (if you live in a cool climate) and the lid prevents any animals from trying to sample your turkey.  Alternatively, some grocery stores now sell plastic brining bags which can be stored directly in the refrigerator. However, I find that these tend to leak and it's difficult to fit the aromatics in with the turkey.


Here are the ingredients needed to brine roughly a 15lb bird (but don't get too concerned if your turkey is a little bigger or smaller - as long at the turkey is submerged in a salty and sugary liquid it will be fine).

6 to 8 litres of water (1 1/2 to 2 gallons)
1/2 cup of kosher salt
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 cinnamon sticks (bruised a little with a rolling pin to release the flavour)
2 star anise
small handful of coriander seeds
small handful of dried oregano
large bunch of fresh herbs (whatever you have access to like rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano etc)
1 yellow onion cut into quarters
3 to 4 celery stalks roughly cut into large pieces
2 to 3 carrots roughly cut into large pieces
2 to 4 small mandarin oranges cut in half

Start by adding salt and sugar to the container, then pour the water in while stirring to dissolve.  Be careful of filling the container with too much liquid; when you add the turkey the liquid it could spill over.  I find filling the container up to the halfway mark is a good rule of thumb; you can always add more water once the turkey's in.  Add the remaining aromatics and the turkey to the container, pushing the turkey down into the liquid ensuring water gets into the cavity.  Cover the container with a lid and leave to steep for 2 to 3 days.  Also, you could brine a frozen turkey leaving it to sit for an additional day or two in order to fully thaw.  After the turkey has sufficiently soaked, remove the turkey from the brine and place in a roasting tin to drain for a few hours. Then continue on with your usual turkey preparations such as slathering your turkey in herb butter or olive oil, then roast and enjoy your super juicy and flavourful bird!  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Salty Sticky Toffee Brownies

Like so many people, I absolutely adore the combination of salty and sweet.  When I'm baking a dessert, I almost always add a touch of salt for the depth of flavour it adds and to balance out the sweetness. However, there are some desserts that really lend themselves to an intense hit of salt; caramel (or toffee) definitely falls into this category for me,

You might be wondering why I chose to call this recipe "salty sticky toffee brownies" as opposed to using the word caramel in the description.  The reason is that I made a traditional sticky toffee pudding sauce to go with these brownies instead of a caramel sauce.   The toffee sauce is made by putting golden syrup, sugar and butter into a saucepan and bringing to a boil.  Alternatively, caramel sauce is made by putting sugar and a little water in a saucepan and cooking until the sugar turns amber in colour. The reason I chose to make a toffee sauce is the rich treacle flavour matches the deep fudgyness of the brownies so perfectly.  As well, I love the luscious consistency of the toffee sauce and how blissfully easy it is to make.

The brownie recipe is also very simple to make and doesn't involve any special equipment.  All you need is a mixing bowl, spatula, an 8 inch square pan and some parchment paper.  I would be remiss not to mention that using a kitchen scale to measure ingredients when baking (especially butter) provides a more accurate measurement.  However, it's fine to use the measurement guide that comes on a packet of butter.

Here's the brownie recipe:

1 cup (7 ounces) of semi sweet chocolate 

1/4 cup (2 ounces) of unsalted butter

3/4 cup of brown sugar

2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1/2 cup of all purpose flour (plus an additional 2 teaspoons of flour to mix with chocolate chips, which is explained in more detail below)

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips or chunks

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease 8 inch pan with butter and then line with some parchment paper.  Let the parchment hang over the sides of the pan to use as handles for easily lifting the brownies out after baking.

In a small bowl, combine 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate and butter and melt in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, pausing to stir the mixture occasionally, until melted..  Alternatively, this could be done in a heat proof bowl over pot of gently simmering water (also known as a bain marie).  I find it easy and just as effective to melt the chocolate and butter mixture in the microwave.  It's not a bad idea to use a glass mixing bowl (since metal or plastic shouldn't go in a microwave) to melt the chocolate and butter in.  That way, you can easily carry on with adding the remaining ingredients to one bowl and not have more dirty dishes to clean.

In a medium sized mixing bowl (or the same glass mixing bowl mentioned above) combine together the chocolate/butter mixture with brown sugar and vanilla, mixing until incorporated.  Then add one egg at a time, stirring after each addition until combined.  Then add 1/2 cup of flour and salt mixing until the batter comes together, then set aside for a minute.  In a separate small bowl, toss the chocolate chips in the remaining 2 teaspoons of flour.  This will ensure that the chocolate chips don't settle on the bottom of the brownies while baking in the oven.  Then incorporate the flour coated chocolate chips to the brownie batter, then pour into the prepared 8 inch pan.

Bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes.  However, every oven cooks differently, so the cooking time I've listed is really just a guide.  I would set your timer for 20 minutes to check on the brownies and if they're not ready put back in for 5 minutes at a time until done.  You'll know the brownies are just right when you jiggle the pan and the middle of the brownies doesn't move much. Inserting a cake tester (or toothpick) into the brownies to test for doneness doesn't really work for this recipe.  The chocolate chips tend to make it hard to get an accurate reading on whether the brownies are ready when using a cake tester.  Let the brownies sit in the tin on a cool surface or a wire rack for at least 20 minutes to cool off and ensure the brownies can be removed from the tin without breaking or cracking.  While the brownies cool in the tin, get started on preparing the toffee sauce.  

Here's the salty toffee sauce recipe:

1/4 cup of golden syrup or golden corn syrup (I use http://www.lylesgoldensyrup.com/)

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup (2 ounces) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons of whole or homogenized milk
large pinch of sea salt plus a bit more for sprinkling on the brownies later (I use fleur de sel http://www.saunierdecamargue.fr/home.html)

Method:

In a small to medium sized heavy bottomed saucepan; combine together the golden syrup, brown sugar, butter and bring to a simmer over medium high heat, constantly stirring with a rubber spatula. Once gently bubbling, add the milk while continuing to mix - be careful as the sauce may boil up and could splash.  Continue to stir until the sauce has cooled slightly, then add a good pinch of salt.  Pour the sauce over the brownies letting it ooze over the side of the brownies. Sprinkle the whole thing with some more sea salt and serve.

Once again, here is the final product!

  

For the love of mussels!

When I was in culinary school, I learnt how to make an appetizer called "moules sétoise" and fell in food love!  The recipe hails from a port/resort town called Séte in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France.  I recently made this as an appetizer to bring to a party; it was an absolute hit and scooped up within minutes.

It starts by making a compound butter with garlic, shallots, tomatoes and herbs (just the aroma of this butter makes my mouth water!).  Then spreading the butter onto a steamed mussel (half shell), sprinkling some bread crumbs on top and finishing under the broiler.  The compound butter is extremely versatile and could be slathered on a chicken before roasting in the oven, added to some steamed baby new potatoes, or a pat onto a nice grilled steak for finishing.  I might even try slathering it on my Thanksgiving turkey before roasting it this year!

There is a fair amount of chopping and preparation for this dish.  However, the finished product is so worth the effort and using a food processor to make the compound butter substantially eases the work involved.  Also, I regularly double the compound butter recipe and freeze the left overs.  That way, the next time I want to make this dish I have the wherewithal to do so in the time it takes to defrost.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup (1/2 pound) of unsalted butter at room temperature
2 shallots finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 fresh tomatoes de-seeded and chopped into a small dice (I prefer to use the tomato concassé method of removing tomato skin which I will explain below)
2 tablespoons of tomato paste (I hate recipes that don't use the whole tin...  Nonetheless, I freeze what's leftover for the next time I make something like a spaghetti Bolognese).
Handful of chopped parsley (I use Italian flat leaf, but really any parsley will do)
Handful of chopped basil
Pinch of ground fennel seed
2 sprigs of chopped fresh thyme, leaves removed from stalks (or 1 tablespoon of dried thyme)
Large pinch of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of salt (or add to taste)
Zest and juice of a lemon
1 1/4 lbs (500g) of fresh mussels scrubbed and cleaned
1/2 cup of dry white wine
1/4 cup of finely ground bread crumbs

Method:

Chop shallots and garlic, set aside.  Melt a couple tablespoons of the butter in a skillet and saute the shallots and garlic until slightly translucent (not browned).  Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, beat butter, cooled shallot and garlic mixture, tomato paste, chopped herbs, fennel seed, diced fresh tomato, cayenne pepper, salt, lemon zest and lemon juice. Alternatively, this could be done in a food processor by tossing everything in (not already chopped up) and blitz until combined.  However, if you choose to make it in a food processor, leave out the diced tomatoes, garlic and shallots until after you've blended everything.  The butter is not meant to be so well blended that it's completely smooth, but instead have a bit of texture to it.

I like to peel the tomatoes since the skin doesn`t lend much in the way of texture.  This method is referred to as concassé and effectively peels off the tomato skin while leaving the whole tomato intact.  Therefore, bring a saucepan of water to the boil and in the meantime use a very sharp knife to remove the stem and make an x shaped incision on the bottom of the tomato.  Blanche in the boiling water for 30 seconds or so and then plunge into ice water and the skins with easily slide off the tomatoes.  Then cut the tomatoes into four quarters and remove seeds and pulp, then cut into a small dice.

To steam the mussels, add the wine to a large pasta pot, dutch oven or any pot with a secure fitting lid and bring to a simmer.  Clean mussels and remove the beard from each one (each mussel will have stringy bit hanging off of it) by tugging it toward the hinge of the mussel.  I recommend using a clean tea towel to get a firm hold on the beard.  Then plunge all of the mussels into the simmering wine, cover with the lid and let steam for about 5 minutes or until all the mussels have opened.  If you have one or two that won't open, discard them as they most likely aren't safe to eat.  Remove mussels to a cookie sheet lined with some paper towel and cool enough to handle.  Don't forget to save the steaming liquid; it freezes beautifully and there's so much salty delicious flavour in that broth which can be used in a seafood risotto or a chowder.

Once mussels have cooled slightly, remove half of the shell and the loosen the mussel from the connective tissue so the mussel will easily slide from the shell when eaten.  Not to mention, the connective tissue is very much like gristle, making it un-palatable.

Using a butter knife or small offset spatula, spread some of the butter over each mussel and place back onto a cookie or jelly roll tray lined with aluminum foil.

Once all mussels have been buttered, sprinkle each one with some bread crumbs, bake under the broiler for about 3 minutes or until the butter has melted and the bread crumbs are slightly browned.

Bon appetit mes amis!
  

Birthday party food.

My sister in law recently celebrated a birthday and her mom (who was throwing her a surprise party) asked me to make a lemon birthday cake for the party.  So, I made a lemon sheet cake with cream cheese icing.

I decided to make a layered sheet cake as opposed to a round layer cake since I didn't think a round cake would be large enough as there were 16 to 18 people attending the party.  This recipe turned out to be the perfect size, allowing for everyone to have one piece and several people to have seconds.

In the past, I've experimented with using lemon zest and juice as a way of adding lemon flavour. However, the cake ends up being much to dense and heavy.  As well, the icing will have little bits of lemon zest in it, which some people find off putting.  Thus, in both the cake and the icing I used pure lemon oil to add a vibrant lemon flavour without being too much.  I used Boyajian Pure Lemon Oil http://www.boyajianinc.com/baking.html

I also used an unusual method of preparing the cake batter that I've often heard called the "paste method".  Instead of creaming the butter and sugar together, then adding the eggs and so on.  This method starts by mixing the flour, leavening with sugar and then adding room temperature butter. The idea is that by mixing the flour with the butter, it insulates or coats the flour making for a very tender crumbed and moist cake. One note: this recipe works best when using a stand mixer or a handheld mixer.  It could be done by hand, but I've found it very difficult mixing the flour butter portion without over mixing and ending up with more dense a cake than desired.

I also made a really lovely cream cheese icing that has great flavour and holds it texture while icing the cake.  I've tested many cream cheese icing recipes in the past and often found they end up too runny and slide off the cake (especially in the summer months).  What I've found is that by increasing the amount of butter and decreasing the amount of cream cheese.  You end up with light and fluffy icing that holds it shape beautifully (staying put on the cake) while still having that distinctively tangy cream cheese flavour.

Here's the cake batter recipe and method:

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups white sugar
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup of whole milk (also known as homo milk), at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract (still need this even though the predominant flavour is lemon)
1/4 teaspoon of lemon oil
4 large eggs at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, grease two standard jelly roll sheet trays (I used a 9 x 15) with butter or lard, and line with parchment paper.  Then grease again (over the parchment) and coat with all purpose flour (not pastry flour, which will clump up and be difficult to work with in this instance).

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large mixing bowl if using a handheld mixer), sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and add salt.  Then with the mixer on low speed, add the room temperature butter bit by bit until completely incorporated (should take approximately 3 or 4 minutes) until you have a pebbly mixture.  In a wet measure jug, combine the milk, vanilla, lemon oil and eggs, whisking until fully combined.  With mixer on low speed, slowly pour milk mixture into the flour mixture.  Scrape down the sides of bowl with a spatula and turn mixer up to medium high and mix for another minute or so until the mixture is fully combined.  Occasionally pause to scrape down the sides of mixing bowl again.  Once batter is well mixed (but don't over do this, just mix until well combined), give the mixture a good scrape and stir with the spatula once more to ensure that there are no clumps left at the bottom or sides of the bowl.  Now pour the batter into the prepared jelly roll tins making sure to distribute the mixture evenly.  Bake for approximately 15 to 20 minutes (every oven cooks a little differently so I would set timer for 15 minutes, check for doneness and put back in the oven if needed). The cake is done when the surface springs back when touched or a cake tester comes out clean or with minimal crumbs.

Here's the recipe and method for the cream cheese icing:

*Please keep in mind the icing quantities are very large as this is a large cake.  It may seem like too much icing, but in order to properly ice the cake you really need quite a lot.  There is nothing worse than making a cake and running out of icing or having bits of the cake visible through the icing.  Not to mention, in the event you end up with some left over - it freezes beautifully in an air tight container.

Again, it's makes your life so much easier to use a stand mixer for this (with the whisk attachment, not paddle attachment) or a hand held mixer.  I've attempted to make this by hand and it's just too difficult to incorporate enough air to create a light and fluffy texture.  I should also mention that I use a Kitchen Aid 5 quart Pro Series stand mixer which can accommodate this large of a recipe.  If you're using a smaller 3 quart stand mixer, you'll need to cut the recipe in half and make it in two stages.

6 cups (3 pounds) of unsalted butter at room temperature
3 cups (3 packages) of cream cheese at room temperature
1 tsp of vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon of lemon oil
pinch of salt
2 to 3 cups of icing sugar, sifted
2 drops of yellow food colouring

Add butter and cream cheese to the bowl of a stand mixer (or large mixing bowl if using a handheld mixer), using the whisk attachment, combine the ingredients together.  Then turn the speed up to high and whip the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy (approximately 5 minutes) occasionally scraping the sides and bottom of bowl with a spatula.  Turn off mixer and add the vanilla extract, lemon oil and pinch of salt and mix again until absorbed into butter and cream cheese.  Then on the lowest setting, gradually add sifted icing sugar 1/4 cup at a time (scraping sides occasionally) until the icing is nicely sweetened and still light and fluffy in texture.  I've listed 2 to 3 cups of icing sugar in the ingredients list because I find making frosting isn't always an exact science (for me at least). Sometimes I end up using the whole 3 cups of sugar and other times I only need 2 cups.  Nonetheless, after adding 2 cups of icing sugar I recommend stopping the mixer and tasting the icing to see if it needs more sugar or not.  As well, the more sugar that's added, the softer and runnier the icing becomes.  Thus, I recommend being mindful of how the texture is looking while adding sugar.  Lastly, once sugar is added, turn mixer up to high speed for a minute, then scrape the sides and bottom of bowl once more.

Remove 3/4's of the finished icing to a separate bowl for frosting the entire cake.  The remaining 1/4 of icing left can be used for piping the edges and writing a message on the cake.  Thus, add a couple drops of yellow food colouring to 1/4 of remaining frosting and continue to mix.  The result is a base icing that's a soft white in colour and decorative icing for piping that is a nice lemony yellow colour.  

Here's are the tools I used for frosting and decorating the cake: Ateco ultra medium 8 inch straight edge spatula to ice the entire cake and create an ultra smooth surface, Wilton disposable piping bags, Wilton # 32 Open Star for piping the edges, Wilton # 5 Round for the Swiss dots and writing on cake. I also used a Wilton 14 x 20 lace cake board to serve the cake on.  I taped two of them together to ensure the weight of the cake would be supported.

Once again, here is the finished product!

My first post!

Well here goes...  My first blog post!  My husband has been telling me for a long time to start a blog that displays the food I make everyday and for special occasions.  As well, I want to share clever techniques and recipes that might make your life easier or just that much more delicious... Cleverlicious!

Please stay tuned for my next post which will include recipes for a birthday cake and an amazing appetizer.

Bon Appetit,

Jennifer