© Constantine William Spyrou
The single dish looked forward to the most out of all on Thanksgiving day is the centerpiece of the meal: Roast turkey. There's many different ways to do it, from deep frying the whole turkey to brining it before roasting. The method that I've chosen is to rub the turkey with a scented butter and then roast it, which keeps the turkey extremely moist. I've put a Mexican spin on the butter to give it some great aromatic flavors from ingredients like garlic, cilantro, lime, and the like that all help to boost up the turkey. Stuffing the cavity with even more vegetables will help to punch up the flavor even further, so I'll be using onions and citrus to help boost the flavor of the turkey. This will create a delicious, moist, and aromatic turkey!
Recipe will feed up to 20 people.
Ingredients:
1 14-16 pound turkey
1 cup unsalted softened butter
1 cup chopped cilantro
2 cloves minced garlic
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tablespoon toasted cumin seeds
1 large white onion, skinned
2 whole limes
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to season
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
2. Create your scented butter by combining the lime zest and juice, garlic, cilantro, cumin seeds, and butter together. Season to taste, then set aside.
3. Lightly separate the skin of the turkey from the breast. Take the butter and rub all of the breast and inside of the turkey with the butter. Use any remaining butter to rub down the legs and wings.
4. Season the inside of the turkey cavity with salt and pepper, then add in the onion and limes. Tuck the wings of the turkey under the legs at this point. The turkey is all ready to go, just rub it down completely with olive oil and season the skin.
5. Start the roasting at 475 degrees for 25 minutes to help crisp up the skin. Then, lower the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. This turkey will take about 2 to 2 1/2 hours to roast at this temperature, the internal temperature should be at around 165 degrees F. Make sure to baste the turkey every half an hour!
6. When the turkey is done, let it rest for at least an hour, covered with foil so it doesn't lose too much heat. You can always warm it up with a hot gravy, however.
This is one of my favorite ways to make and roast turkey, which will be succulent and delicious. don't forget to baste and rest, as these help keep the turkey juices and flavor inside of it!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
Thursday, November 28, 2013
NEW RECIPE: Spicy Vegetarian Stuffing (Thanksgiving Special, Part 1)
© Constantine William Spyrou
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I hope you all have had an awesome day with familiy and friends enjoying good company and food. I sure have! My favorite part about Thanksgiving has to be the food, and this year, I got to help my mom out a lot with making dishes! This is one of the dishes that I made for Thanksgiving. I actually made this actual recipe a couple of weeks ago with some of my friends, then transformed the recipe with some ingredients that my mom had in store for Thanksgiving. This recipe is the original, however, with a completely vegetarian recipe that has some interesting twists that will be interesting!
Recipe will serve up to 10 people.
For the Wet Vegetable Mix:
1/2 diced large white onion
2 large diced bell peppers
2 roughly chopped leeks
2 cups roughly chopped squash
1 cup diced carrot
3 cups finely chopped celery
4 cups vegetable stock
1 Serrano chili, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons dried sage
1 tablespoon thyme
1/2 tablespoon dried rosemary
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons cardamom
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon dill weed
3 tablespoons grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
Salt and pepper to season
For the Bread Mix:
1 2 1/2 - 3 foot French baguette, diced
1 tablespoon dill weed
Salt and pepper to season
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine the Bread mix ingredients together in your baking dish, then set aside.
3. Add some olive oil to a hot pan. Saute all of your vegetables and the garlic together with all of your herbs, spices, and seasonings until the onions turn translucent and the carrots and celery begin to soften. This should take about 10-12 minutes, and you should see the volume of vegetables reduce in the pan. When this happens, add your vegetable stock, bring to a boil, and slightly reduce.
4. Combine the wet vegetable mix with the bread mix, and mix well until thoroughly combined. Cover the top with your grated parmigiano reggiano, then bake for 45 minutes. Serve as part of a twist on Thanksgiving!
This stuffing has all of the traditional Thanksgiving flavors of sage and stock and bread, but the serrano helps to turn up the heat, the parmesean gives it a nice nuttiness and helps to calm down the heat of the serrano, and the cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg give it a really nice holiday lift that just helps you remember what kind of season it is!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change! If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I hope you all have had an awesome day with familiy and friends enjoying good company and food. I sure have! My favorite part about Thanksgiving has to be the food, and this year, I got to help my mom out a lot with making dishes! This is one of the dishes that I made for Thanksgiving. I actually made this actual recipe a couple of weeks ago with some of my friends, then transformed the recipe with some ingredients that my mom had in store for Thanksgiving. This recipe is the original, however, with a completely vegetarian recipe that has some interesting twists that will be interesting!
Recipe will serve up to 10 people.
For the Wet Vegetable Mix:
1/2 diced large white onion
2 large diced bell peppers
2 roughly chopped leeks
2 cups roughly chopped squash
1 cup diced carrot
3 cups finely chopped celery
4 cups vegetable stock
1 Serrano chili, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons dried sage
1 tablespoon thyme
1/2 tablespoon dried rosemary
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons cardamom
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon dill weed
3 tablespoons grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
Salt and pepper to season
For the Bread Mix:
1 2 1/2 - 3 foot French baguette, diced
1 tablespoon dill weed
Salt and pepper to season
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine the Bread mix ingredients together in your baking dish, then set aside.
3. Add some olive oil to a hot pan. Saute all of your vegetables and the garlic together with all of your herbs, spices, and seasonings until the onions turn translucent and the carrots and celery begin to soften. This should take about 10-12 minutes, and you should see the volume of vegetables reduce in the pan. When this happens, add your vegetable stock, bring to a boil, and slightly reduce.
4. Combine the wet vegetable mix with the bread mix, and mix well until thoroughly combined. Cover the top with your grated parmigiano reggiano, then bake for 45 minutes. Serve as part of a twist on Thanksgiving!
This stuffing has all of the traditional Thanksgiving flavors of sage and stock and bread, but the serrano helps to turn up the heat, the parmesean gives it a nice nuttiness and helps to calm down the heat of the serrano, and the cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg give it a really nice holiday lift that just helps you remember what kind of season it is!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change! If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
Monday, November 11, 2013
NEW RECIPE: Vegetarian Chili
One of the best things about college is getting together with your friends and doing awesome things. This weekend, I did just that, spending yesterday making chili with my awesome friends Ashley and Lauren. This is the recipe that we made last night using that chili recipe. We all very thoroughly enjoyed it (and the cheddar biscuits we made using a quick online recipe) and it just made for an awesome night of community, fun, and chili.
This chili recipe is a spin on my mom's chili recipe. She loves using dark chocolate in her chili, and it's something I've come to appreciate because it darkens the color and deepens the flavor. Combining that with a cavalcade of spices and a variety of vegetables, and this becomes an extremely flavorful chili with flavor profiles hitting on all levels!
Recipe serves up to 8 people.
Ingredients:
6 cups vegetable stock
1 medium can corn kernels, drained
2 cans kidney beans, drained
1 can black beans, drained
2 ounces dark chocolate, roughly chopped (we used 86%, anything darker works just as well. This is about 2-3 squares.)
1/2 large white onion, diced
1 medium red onion, diced
4 baby bell peppers (about 2 large bell peppers), diced (pick your colors)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cloves minced garlic
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon coriander
1 teaspoon thyme
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon avocado oil
Salt and Pepper to season
Chopped Green onions, Chopped Cilantro, Sour Cream, and shredded Cheese for garnish
Cooking/Assembling:
1. Fry the onions, bell pepper, and garlic in the avocado in a large pot. Season with salt, pepper, thyme, half of your cumin, half of your chili powder, and half of your onion powder.
2. When the onions turn translucent, create a hole in the middle of the pot. Add your tomato paste, let it cook out for about 30 seconds, then stir into the vegetables.
3. Deglaze the pot with Worchestershire sauce. Add your stock, tomatoes, beans and the rest of your spices. Bring up to a boil.
4. Add your chocolate and stir in until it is all melted and incorporated. Let the pot reduce by a tiny amount, then bring to a simmer for 45 minutes.
5. About a minute before the chili is ready to go, stir in your corn. Serve warm with your favorite garnishes from the above and your choice of bread (cornbread, toast, or our choice: cheddar biscuits).
This is an awesome one-pot dish that you can leave for a while and still have fun with your friends. It's a lot of fun to cook with others and is a delicious dish with a little kick and a dark, rich color and flavor. This is a more liquid chili than normal, but it works in this case.
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)
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