Roast Leg of Lamb

4 lbs. leg of lamb, bone removed, from Fatted Calf.

Marinate for 4+ hours:
Red wine vinegar
6+ cloves of garlic, smashed
Rosemary, chopped
Sea salt
Black pepper, ground

Tie roast into a roll with twine.
Refrigerate.
Take out of refrigerator 2 hours in advance.

Roast at 425 F for 30 minutes.
Splash with red wine vinegar.
Roast at 350 F for 1 hour, or until meat reaches 120 F at center.
Let rest for 2o minutes.

Notes: On Christmas Day, we roasted it until it reached 135 at center. After resting, it was cooked to medium well done.

Baked Eggs & Ham

When making breakfast for family and friends, it's great to be able to serve eggs to the whole group at once. The trick is to roast the eggs in a muffin tin lined with ham.

Place eggs in a bowl of warm water.
Preheat toaster oven to 350 F (convection).

Grease muffin tin with olive oil.
Line each hole with smoked ham.
Crack an egg into each cradle of ham.
Top with grated cheese, pepper, and dried chives.

Roast for 18 minutes (for slightly runny eggs) or longer.

Place each egg on a toasted half of an English muffin.

Thanksgiving 2010

Oyster Stuffing

Makes 2 large pans

Mix

18 – 20 cups of bread crumbs
(used Whole Foods prepped "fresh" bread crumbs - 1.8 lbs by weight)

4 cups fresh parsley (chopped)

4 tablespoons lemon peel (grated)

Cook

1.5 cups olive oil

3 large onions (chopped or food processed)

2 lbs fresh baby spinach (wilted)

2 teaspoons black pepper (freshly ground)

2 teaspoons sea salt

Combine

contents of pan and bowl

Add

2 lbs of fresh oysters (from Albertson & Whole Foods, Henderson), cleaned, drained, and chopped

2 eggs

6 oz. chicken stock

Bake

375 degrees, 1.5 hours, uncovered. (Stir after the first 45 minutes)

Notes

Fill pans with a shallow layer of stuffing. If it’s too thick, it will have to roast longer, and then the oysters will overcook.

Also, it’s hard to time everything to finish at once. If you only have one oven, you may need to roast one pan of stuffing in the toaster oven on toast/bake setting.

[No notes available from 2010 on other recipes]

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2009 – Wang Family Recipes

Turkey

(adapted from 2009 Sunset Magazine)

Best turkey we have ever made!

16-17 lbs. fresh Amish free range turkey.

Brining plastic bag

Brine the night before:

Dissolve 1 cup sea salt (next time use kosher salt?) + ½ cup honey in 1 cup simmering water

(Next time add dried herbs?)

Add about 3 quarts cold or room temperature water

Cool pot of water on an ice pack

Put brining bag in the turkey pan without the rack

Put turkey in the bag, breast side down

Pour in water and seal

Use rubber bands to cinch the bag tight (so whole turkey covered by water if possible)

In the morning, flip the turkey in its brining bag.

Remove from refrigerator 1 hour before roasting.

Rinse off brine and place on rack in deep pan, breast side up.

Place quartered small onion and lemon inside turkey, pin legs together.

Rub turkey with olive oil and pepper.

Flip turkey breast side DOWN.

Do not cover turkey

Preheat oven to 350 F and remove all racks except bottom rack.

Roast turkey breast side down.

After 1 ½ hours, flip and baste turkey. Cover legs with foil (we did this since the legs looked really brown. I’m not sure what effect this had, but the turkey was perfect).

Roast another 1 ¾ hours. (Half way through, remove drippings and baste with oil from drippings)

Check temperature 15 minutes before it should be done: place thermometer into the fleshy part of each thigh (test both, close to but not touching the bone). When fully cooked, turkey should register 175F.

Let turkey stand at least 30 minutes. Temperature of thigh meat should eventually rise to about 180 F.

Cranberry Sauce

(adapted from the Time-Life Holiday Cookbook, 1976)

2 cups (1/2 pound) fresh cranberries, washed

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon finely grated orange peel

Combine cranberries and sugar in a small saucepan

Bring to a boil

Reduce heat to low, simmer uncovered for 4-5 minutes until the skins begin to pop

(Do not overcook to the point of mushiness)

Place into a 2 cup mold

Refrigerate 2 – 3 hours

To unmold, run a knife around the edge and dip the bottom in hot water

Oyster Stuffing

(adapted from the Time-Life Holiday Cookbook, 1976)

Mix 16 – 18 cups homemade bread crumbs

(2 loafs of bakery white bread – used Meijer Vienna bread in 2009 –

Toasted, broken by hand into fairly large pieces but not too big: they don’t shrink)

2 cups fresh chopped parsley

4 tablespoons grated lemon peel

Cook 1.5 cups olive oil (strong and grassy)

5-6 small onions (or 3-4 medium onions), chopped

24 ounce package of pre-washed spinach, wilted.

2 teaspoons black pepper (freshly ground)

2 teaspoons sea salt

Combine contents of pan and bowl

Add 2 lbs of fresh oysters (from Colony Market), not cleaned or drained, with juices

1.5 eggs (1 egg, 1 egg white)

½ of the turkey drippings (don’t add water to the drippings)

Bake 375 degrees

1.5 hours, uncovered. (Stir after the first 45 minutes)

Notes: Fill pans with a shallow layer of stuffing. If it’s too thick, it will have to roast longer, and then the oysters will overcook. Also, it’s hard to time everything to finish at once. If you only have one oven, you may need to roast one pan of stuffing in the toaster oven on toast/bake setting. I regret adding water to the drippings.

Candied Sweet Potatoes

(adapted from the Time-Life Holiday Cookbook, 1976)

1/2 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice

1 lemon’s squeezed juice

4 large sweet potatoes, cut into disks and then quartered

1/2 cup of sugar (slightly over) plus 1 packet Splenda (or 1 cup sugar)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons of olive oil (Pasolivo tangerine if available)

1 teaspoon lemon zest

Dissolve orange juice, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar in Japanese ceramic pot

Put sweet potato disks in layers in the pot.

Simmer over stovetop, covered (constantly baste potatoes in the orange juice)

Continue to cook until almost done (30 minutes?) and finish in oven if juice won’t congeal.

After turning off the heat, stir in lemon zest

Gravy

(adapted from the Time-Life Holiday Cookbook, 1976)

Neck, gizzard, heart and liver of the turkey

1 tablespoon salt

1 medium sized carrot, peeled and cut

1 small onion, peeled and quartered

4 sprigs fresh parsley

3 dried bay leaves

4 cups water

1 cup of turkey stock

2 tablespoons of cornstarch

Combine everything (except turkey stock and cornstarch) in a small saucepan

Bring to boil, and then simmer covered for 1 – 1 ½ hours

Remove everything but the broth

Stir cornstarch into a small amount of cold water, add mixture to gravy

Add turkey stock

Cook under high heat until the sauce thickens and is smooth

Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes

Brussels Sprouts

(adapted from Momofuku – GQ recipe)

Clean and cut stems off Brussels sprouts. (Next time, cut in half.)

Fry a slice of bacon from Colony Market, and remove.

Sear the Brussels sprouts in Le Creuset.

Roast for 8-12 minutes at 400 F

Toss with Sri Racha, lime juice and diced bacon

Also at the table in 2009

Mom, Dad, Missy, James, Tim, Steph, Henrika, Octavia

Challah bread, pumpkin pie and mini-apple pie from Zingerman’s.

Red wine

Chili con carne and vegetables

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground pork
cooked white beans

1 red onion (chopped)

2+ large carrots (chopped)
4+ small yellow squash (chopped)
green beans (chopped)

1 28 oz can of chopped tomatoes

1 can of Trader Joes beer

olive oil
sherry wine vinegar to taste
1 bag frozen corn

Spices and herbs:

1 bay leaf

4 cloves garlic (minced)

3 dried red chili peppers (ground)

Penzey's cocoa powder to taste
Penzey's hot chili powder to taste
ground ancho powder to taste
ground cumin to taste

ground black pepper to taste
ground cayenne pepper to taste

dried Mexican oregano

1/2 stick of cinnamon

Serve with:

fresh cilantro (chopped)

grated sharp cheddar
bread

Cook:

Heat oil in large cast-iron pot. Saute onions until light brown.

Add spices and herbs, stir.

Add ground meat and stir until no longer pink.

Add tomatoes, beer, sherry vinegar, and green beans. Add bean water if necessary to cover the mixture. Bring to a boil, then simmer partly covered for 20 minutes.

Add yellow squash and simmer another 20 minutes. Add white beans and frozen corn in the last few minutes.

Notes:

Yum!

Tim's Winter Minestrone

All amounts are general approximations

Rancho Gordo sangre de toro beans & liquor (@ 1/3 - 1/2 of a batch)
Chinese broccoli (1/2 bu)
2 cups chopped kale
1 pkg frozen peas
1/4 cup frozen homemade pesto
1/2 tsp Penzy's seasoned salt
1 tbsp balsamic
1 cup mushroom broth
2 cups cooked pasta
2 -4 cups water
salt & pepper to taste

for next time: add canned tomatoes, carrots

Turkey noodle soup

Ingredients:
2-3 turkey legs (or 3 - 4 turkey wings), bones cracked
kosher or coarse sea salt
black pepper
lemon pepper
olive oil
dried red chili pepper (1, ground)
bay leaf (2)
fresh thyme (a bunch, tied together with twine)
garlic cloves (4 chopped)
onion (2 medium chopped - yellow or red)
leek (optional - chopped)
lemon (1)
a can of tomatoes (32 oz, strained)
a can of beer (Trader Joe's lager)
celery (chopped)
carrots (chopped)
broccolini
white beans (vallarta or cannellini, cooked)
orrechiete or farfalle pasta or rice (cooked)

Planning:
7 hours before dinner - marinate turkey legs
3 - 3.5 hours before dinner - start browning turkey legs

A few hours in advance:
Rinse turkey legs, remove skin, cover in salt + pepper + olive oil + lemon pepper + olive oil

Brown turkey legs for 10 minutes on each side in cast iron pot
Remove.

Saute onions + leeks (optional) + bay leaf + fresh thyme + garlic cloves + dried chili pepper

Deglaze with lemon juice + beer

Bring to a boil everything above + turkey legs + water to almost cover turkey legs + strained tomatoes

Braise in cast iron pot for 1.5 hours at 375 F

Add to the pot celery + carrots + broccolini. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes

Serve with white beans + pasta