Who Hash

I've been hosting Thanksgiving for the last four years. It's my holiday- my personal marathon. Plus, it's the easiest way to have all of my favorite dishes and I get to keep all the leftovers! Score!

Our usual Turkey Day gang consists of 21 of the nearest and dearest. Really, it's the immediate family, aunts, uncles, cousins, and one family friend.

I should mention that our house is somewhere near 975 sq. ft., which is approximately the same size as a postage stamp, give or take a few inches.

We somehow manage to squeeze everyone in, complete with a nosebleed section, I cook two turkeys, a mess of side dishes, other relatives bring appetizers, booze, and desserts. Then, we chow down.

The aftermath of all this cooking is a whole lot of leftovers. The Husband insists of having his fill of gobblers (the classic Thanksgiving sandwich), but once we get tired of those it's time to get creative.

This recipe is the embodiment of creativity.

Start by baking four small sweet potatoes at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Use those thirty minutes to go for a mile run. Or some such nonsense.


When you make two turkeys, you get 4 turkey legs. Only Aunt Linda eats a turkey leg at dinner. The other three languish in a Ziploc, until now! Slice baked sweet potatoes and let cool. Slice the meat off of the turkey legs and dice into a 1/2 inch.


Add turkey to a medium-sized bowl.


Toss in your seasonings. Stir.


Add one small sweet potato and really mash it in.


Dice up one small onion.


Add it to your turkey taters.


Stir it up. Dice the remaining three cooled sweet potatoes and add them to the mixture. Fold them in gently.

Put the mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes. Use this time to take the dog for a walk and listen to This American Life


Heat up one tablespoon of olive oil in a stainless steel pan over medium heat. Add the shredded cabbage.


Heat up one tablespoon of butter in a nonstick pan.


This is the shredded cabbage.


Cook the hash until it's as crispy as you like it. If you're at my house, you're getting it well done.


Cook cabbage until it browns a bit and then throw in some water. Get the steam flowing.



See those brown bits? Solid gold, baby.



The husband described this as, "insanely fun to eat!" I concur.



Who Hash- Serves 2, generously

4 small sweet potatoes
2 roasted turkey legs, approximately two cups turkey diced
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter

1/4 a savoy cabbage, shredded
1 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup water

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake sweet potatoes for 30 minutes or until fork tender. Set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, add diced turkey, cumin, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Mix well to combine. Peel one small sweet potato and add to the turkey mixture. Stir until sweet potato is incorporated. Add diced onion and stir again.

Once the sweet potatoes have cooled, carefully peel them and dice into small 1/2 inch cubes. Add them to the bowl and stir gently to combine.

In a nonstick pan, heat up one tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add a heaping cup of the hash and mash down into the pan. Cook until browned on one side and then flip - it will fall apart. Continue cooking until it gets as crispy as you like it. 10 minutes per cup should be enough.

While the hash is browning, heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a stainless steel pan. Add the cabbage and cook until browned, 3-4 minutes. Add 1/3 cup of water and stir to get the steam going. Cook until tender, approximately 5 more minutes.

Split the cabbage between two plates. Top with one cup browned hash. In the hash pan, fry an egg for each serving. Top hash with fried egg.

Simple Saturdays: Turkey Taco Salad

We've been experiencing this crazy hot summer along with the rest of the country. The humidity is out of control and our lack of air conditioning has made it downright unbearable at times. I've started taking cold showers- several times a day. This has made for super crazy hair.

The heat changes our eating habits. Instead of stews, chilis, homemade breads, and other big heavy meals, we look for lighter foods. Something that doesn't require the oven and takes minimal prep time.

That's not to say I haven't been baking- I have. Bikram baking. However, at the moment my camera is indisposed (read: lost). Pictures of recent cooking adventures- including campfire Quik-E pies to come.

This recipe is simple and easily adaptable. Change up the ingredients and seasoning to create your own customized salad!

Turkey Taco Salad

2 tsp olive oil
1 pound ground turkey
1 can black beans (I get the Cuban Style black beans from Trader Joes)
1 medium onion (red or yellow), diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp cumin
salt and black pepper to taste
3 dashes hot sauce, optional
2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1 bell pepper, diced
2 lime wedges
1/4 cup shredded cheese

Start by preheating a pan and olive oil over medium heat. Add turkey, onion, and garlic. Saute until turkey is browned and onions are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the black beans, with their juice. Toss in chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Stir to combine. Bring to a bubble and then reduce heat to low, to keep warm while you make your salad.

On a plate, combine lettuce, bell pepper, and any other vegetable you like. Squeeze the lime wedges over the salad. Top with a hearty scoop of turkey/black bean mixture and sprinkle with cheese.

Roast turkey with braised brussel sprouts

Has anyone seen that Perdue commercial about the mom who has "roasterphobia"?

See this if you haven't.

Anyways, the premise is that roasting poultry is SO scary and hard to do, and now Perdue has come in with its pop up timer to make sure that we never have to think again.

Boo to the pop up timer! Roasting is NOT THAT HARD. I swear. You must try it- preferably with some good turkey breast. I bought my kosher split turkey breast from Trader Joe's. It comes presoaked and salted (think- brined), which helps keep it juicy.

Nigella is the one who helped me understand the key to good roast chicken/turkey. You should

read this:

It will teach you the basics in such a conversational and easy to understand way. It's more than just recipes- it's part-diary, part-encyclopedia, part-cookbook. It's my go-to guide for most cooking questions...my modern Joy of Cooking (a book I don't own and probably won't ever).

At any rate, I could discuss my girl-crush on Ms. Lawson ad nauseum, but I'll move onto the turkey.

Roast chicken basics: 400 degree oven, 15 minutes per pound + 10 minutes. Use a meat thermometer if you're really skittish- meat should register 165 (the FDA says 180- use your own discretion).





You'll need the following:

Split turkey breast- mine is 2.4 lbs
Olive oil
Sea Salt (I said goodbye to Morton's sometime circa 2003)
Pepper
Roasting pan with rack
*Note- if you don't have a roasting pan, don't rush out an buy one. If you have a cookie sheet/jelly rolly pan (gotta have some sides to catch the grease) & a cookie cooling rack, you could substitute those. Heck, you could skip the cooling rack altogether and put this turkey directly on the cookie sheet, but the rack will help with the circulation of heat & provide more even roasting.

Here's how I do it:

Before you unwrap the turkey- do this:
Preheat the oven to 400- you will have this turkey breast prepped before the oven is ready to go- it's THAT fast.
Put some oil (eyeball a 1/4 cup) in a bowl. Add a few generous pinches of sea salt and 4-5 grinds of black pepper.





Place bowl inside the roasting pan.


I swear- there is a method to my madness!






THEN, and only then, unwrap the turkey breast and place it on the rack next to the bowl.

Don't bother with rinsing it- I never do.

Why is the olive/salt/pepper paste prepared in advance and placed in the rack?

For ease of use, of course.

Once you touch that raw bird, your hands need to keep off any other surfaces to avoid cross-contamination. With the oil mixture pre-mixed and in the pan, you can scoop/pour/rub the turkey breast to your hearts desire without icking up anything else.

Now, gently separate the skin from the meat. Pour some of the oil/salt/pepper under the skin and rub it around. Pour some on top of the skin and rub that in- pretend you're putting sunscreen on a fair maiden- you want to make sure you cover all the important bits. Now, flip the breast over, and add some of that good oil on the bottom- it needs love, too.

It should look like this when you're done oiling it up:


Move to the sink and scrub those hands BEFORE putting the pan into the oven. I was watching Food Network the other day and Anne Burrell was touching everything with her raw turkey-juiced hands- EW!

After you're cleaned up, place the pan in the middle of the oven, set the timer for 60 minutes and take the dog for a walk.










After coming in from the cold, and once there are about 20 minutes left on the clock, start your brussel sprouts.

I know, who eats brussel sprouts any more? Didn't they go the way of lima bean?

No, and here's why. When prepared properly (read- braised), they.are.delicious. Sublime, even.

Prep ~12 oz. of sprouts. If your brussel sprouts are large, slice in half. In a large saute pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat on medium until shimmering slightly.

Add brussels.

Let them get some color, stirring occassionally. You want to brown the outside to give them some depth of flavor and bring out their natural nuttiness.










Color on brussel sprouts looks like this:

See that gorgeous sprout in the lower right hand corner? You want that on 80% of the sprouts before you move to the next step.

Once you've achieved proper brussel browning, add ~1/2 cup chicken broth. Immediately cover with the lid and let brussels steam and get tender for 5-10 minutes.

Uncover, sprinkle with a bit of sea salt, and add a pat of butter (think a tablespoon). This butter step is optional, but it creates a luscious glaze that coats the sprouts and makes them even more irresistible. Scouts Honors.

In the end, the brussel sprouts look like this:


You will like these brussel sprouts, even if you are a skeptic. Even if you don't like food, you will like these sprouts. My mother-in-law, who only loves Cameo cookies, sneaks these out of the pan before dinner.








By now, your turkey should be done. I'd show you a picture of that finished product, but the husband came home and promptly stripped the bird of all it's crunchy skin, leaving it naked and less than photo-ready.

Let turkey breast stand at least 10 minutes before carving to let the juices redistribute- again, this keeps it juicy.

We ate this last night and drank some 2 buck Chuck Cabernet alongside. Very classy, indeed.