Turkey-With-All-The-Trimmings Thanksgiving Meatloaf

Here it is for all of you who don't want to deal with the fuss and drudgery of making a great big, slippery, intimidating turkey, but still want to make a somewhat traditional holiday dinner. Traditional turkey,  tart cranberries, rich sweet potatoes and our favorite stuffing go-togethers...apples, sage sausage (turkey sausage to keep with the theme), celery, onion and lots of poultry seasoning truly makes this meatloaf a Turkey Day - or ANY day - treat!

Kimber and I started talking about making a turkey Thanksgiving meatloaf just a few days ago...today we mixed and tested, mixed some more...and tested some more, finally coming up with what we both think is the perfect combination of salty, sweet, tart and savory. Really, I don't want to over-hype it, but this is one of the best meatloaves I have ever posted to Dinner Plan-it. 

If you're looking for the tastes of a time-honored Thanksgiving dinner without spending hours and hours roasting, basting and carving, this might be just the thing. Add a nice bowl of fluffy mashed potatoes, a good green veggie or two, buy a pumpkin pie and a can of whipping cream and you've got a simple, delicious and relatively easy Thanksgiving dinner!

Now, gather those you love most, friends and family who mean the world to you...sit, talk, eat, laugh, treasure every moment. Enjoy the day without the big fuss and focus on what is most important...each other. Happy Thanksgiving and many blessings from us to every single one of you!

Turkey-With-With-All-The-Trimmings 

Thanksgiving Meatloaf

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, WITH lots of leaves, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 6 ounces turkey breakfast sausage, got mine at Whole Foods...LOVE this stuff!

• 3 pounds ground turkey (white meat)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and shredded (about 1 cup)
• 1 apple, peeled, cored, small dice - I used a Granny Smith
• 1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped coarsely
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more if you wish...I like MORE
• 5 tablespoons poultry seasoning
• 3 slices white bread, crumbled coarsely - a good firm white bread like Pepperidge Farm - to make this gluten free, I used Whole Foods Light White bread that has a similar texture and firmness to Pepperidge Farm - LOVE this GF bread!

In a skillet, melt the butter and add celery and onion. Saute until they start to soften. Add the sausage, crumbling well as it cooks. When it is cooked through, add salt, pepper and poultry seasoning, mixing well. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
 
In a BIG bowl, mix the ground turkey, eggs, cranberries, sweet potatoes, apple, salt, pepper and crumbled bread. Add the cooled (not cold) onion/celery mixture and mix thoroughly with your hands until the meatloaf mixture is evenly mixed.
 
If you wish, mound mixture into individual large foil muffin cups. If you do this, bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. I made 6 muffin cups and made 2 loaves out of the remaining mixture. I baked the meatloaves for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees.
 
Let sit for about 5 minutes after removing from oven before slicing the meatloaves.
 
Just like a complete Thanksgiving dinner in a meatloaf - turkey, stuffing, cranberries and sweet potatoes...YUM!

Bacon Dusted Japanese Sweet Potato Fries

There's nothing better than a simple recipe with a twist. One that somehow becomes more than the sum of it's parts.
That's exactly what happened with this recipe.

 Simple fries made with Japanese Sweet Potatoes, cooked in lard with BACON and finished with Sweet Bacon Dust take plain ol' fries to a whole new level. Yup, this one kind of blew my husband's mind. In a good way.

Michael Symon inspired the cooking method. After seeing him cook bacon in lard and then use the lard to fry chicken, the recipe below was born. The thought of infusing bacon flavor into whatever was being cooked in the oil sounded like a stroke of genius to me. (If you haven't had the lard-fried fries at the B Spot in Cleveland (also at Pittsburgh International Airport) you MUST! You will thank me.) Thanks, Cleveland boy!

The other inspiration came from the spectacular fries served at Winghart's on Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh. Always crunchy and brown on the outside and tender on the inside, I finally figured out what gave those fries their beautiful browning, their crunch and slight sweetness...the secret is sugar. That culinary discovery was confirmed by Blue....one of the cooks who perform the magic behind the counter at my favorite burger joint in town.

And so this recipe was conceived. Simple ingredients combined in a new way became a favorite in my kitchen and in Mark's heart. 

Bacon Dusted Japanese Sweet Potato Fries

• 1 pound lard (find it in the grocery store in the Meat Department)
• 4 slices bacon, thick slices - reserved after cooking

• 2 large Japanese sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/4" X 1/4" sticks (Russet potatoes or regular sweet potatoes work just fine, too!)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 4 slices crisp cooked bacon (reserved from above)

Melt lard in a deep, narrow pot. When the lard is liquid, add the bacon and cook at 375 degrees until the bacon is crisp. Remove the bacon and set aside.

Toss the peeled and cut potatoes with 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon Kosher salt until every fry is coated.

Maintaining the oil temp at 375 degrees, gently add potatoes to the oil in several batches. Fry each batch until crisp and golden and drain each batch on paper towels. 

While the potatoes are frying, make the Sweet Bacon Dust. Just whirr up the bacon and 1/2 teaspoon sugar in a blender or food processor until fine. There you are, Sweet Bacon Dust! Yum.

As each batch comes out of the oil, sprinkle with Sweet Bacon Dust. Keep warm until all batches are done.
 
NOTE: Don't want to bother with Bacon Dust? Finish the fries with Salish Alderwood Smoked Salt. Deliciously easy.  
   

  

Japanese Sweet Potato Red Curry Soup with Coconut

How do YOU choose a sweet potato? You know, to be sure you get the sweetest, most flavorful of the bunch?  I was taught that the darker the outside of the sweet potato, richer and sweeter the flavor.  And I've found it to be true over the years.  Which brings me to how I ended up finding a whole new variety I never knew existed...and that I think is even better than all the rest, though decidedly different. 
 
I was stalking the perfect sweet potato in the aisles of Whole Foods just looking for the best ones possible for Christmas dinner. At the top of the display there were some very dark red, almost purple, sweet potatoes...that HAD to be the best ever.  The sign said "Garnet Sweet Potatoes."  Great!
 
Christmas dinner preparations began and the sweet potatoes were tucked into the oven for a good roasting. Later, upon cutting them open at the dinner table, we found not soft, dark orange flesh, but a firmer potato of a soft golden color.  My selection method had failed!  But did it really?  


Once buttered, seasoned and TASTED, we soon found these were no ordinary sweet potatoes.  Both the texture and taste were somewhere between an Idaho baking potato and a sweet potato. And we like them even better! And we wanted more!
 
The next trip to Whole Foods, I headed straight to the same table and found the sign had been changed. The "Garnet" designation now had been moved to another area and a new sign declared my new favorite potato "Japanese Sweet Potatoes."  Aha! So I bought another bunch of them and spread the word to potato pickers next to me.  They bought them, too. Now what to do with them other than a simple baking...not that there's anything wrong with that.
 
And so I adapted the old standard Houlihan's Baked Potato Soup into a whole new recipe.  I used coconut milk in place of milk, I added Thai Red Curry Paste and toasted coconut, a curry hot sauce that I recently got as a gift from a dear, sweet friend ...plain old potato soup was transformed into something a little sweet, a little hot, and just a little exotic.  And totally delicious!

Japanese Sweet Potato Red Curry Soup with Coconut

• 2 med Japanese sweet potatoes, baked, peeled and cubed
• 3 T butter (or even better, coconut oil!)
• 2 cups diced onions
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup instant potato flakes
• 2 t hot sauce (I used a lovely curry hot sauce, but use your favorite) 
• 2 T Thai red curry paste
• 1 t Thai fish sauce
• 1 cup fat free evaporated milk
• 1 can light coconut milk
• salt and pepper, to taste
• sliced green onions
• 1/2 cup toasted coconut flakes

• Melt butter (or coconut oil) in soup pot & add onions. Saute over low heat for 10 minutes or until onions are translucent.
• Add cornstarch and Thai red curry paste to onions and cook 4-5 minutes, stirring well.
• Add potato flakes to a large bowl, gradually add chicken stock stirring to incorporate well. 
• Add slowly to onion mixture, stirring constantly over medium heat and continue cooking to a gentle simmer.
• Add evaporated milk and coconut milk, stirring until smooth and slightly thickened. Simmer gently for 15 minutes. Do not boil.
• Add potatoes, hot sauce and fish sauce, simmer gently for another 15 minutes.
• Remove from heat, ladle into bowls, top with sliced green onions and toasted coconut flakes.

Orange Roasted Chicken with Fall Veggies

Sundays should be slow and easy.  And so should Sunday dinners.  In that vein, here's a simple post for a simply delicious Sunday dinner.  Enjoy!

Orange Roasted Chicken with Fall Veggies

• a 6 pound roasting chicken, washed, dried, giblets removed - I threw them out...you do what you wish with them

• 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 pound parsnips, peeled and cubed
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
• 1 large leek, cleaned carefully, dark ends removed (and reserved), root end removed and discarded, remaining piece cut into 3-4" pieces
• 2 small fennel bulbs, fronds removed, set aside; stalks removed, set aside; remaining bulbs cut lengthwise into wedges
• 1 orange, zested, then juiced, reserve what's left of the orange halves and cut into large pieces
• 3 sprigs thyme, large ones

• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• fresh ground black pepper, lots

• orange juice, reserved from above
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, preferably white
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350.
 
In the bottom of a roasting pan, scatter sweet potatoes, parsnips, leeks, garlic and fennel wedges
 
Mix the rub: orange zest, 2 tablespoons minced fennel fronds, leeks, 2 springs of thyme - leaves removed and minced, 2 T. Kosher salt and lots of freshly ground pepper.  Mix well.  

Gently run your fingers between the skin and the flesh of the breast creating a pocket.  Gently (again) rub 2/3 of the rub between the skin and the flesh.  Rub the rest of the mixture all over the outside of the bird.
 
Mix the leek ends, remains of the orange, rest of the thyme and the rest of the fennel fronds and stalks.  Cram them into the cavity of the chicken.  Settle the prepared chicken on top of the veggies in the pan.

What a pretty chicken all ready for roasting!

 
Roast the chicken until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast reads 180 degrees and the legs move loosely when wiggled. Remove from oven and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.

NOTE:  The carcass will be turned into a wild rice and fall veggie soup...the dark meat became a Shepherds Pie with a topping of half and half mashed potatoes and cauliflower.  You know how I love my leftovers!

Chili Dusted Duck Fat Sweet Potato Chips with Avocado Scrambled Eggs

After the craziness of two big nights under the fancy white tents at Savor Pittsburgh and judging all those fantastic dishes, our Sunday morning was a lazy one.  Whew!  What a non-stop few days!  Come this morning, Mark and I need a break - if only for a few quiet hours.

I'd like to say we just kind of lounged around and relaxed, sipped Bloody Marys and noshed on this beautiful brunch dish, but the relaxing occurred AFTER the cooking...then it was really well-deserved!  Had we thought ahead, the crema and chili salt could have been done the night before and would have made this morning's prep much easier.  

Still, it was worth it! Duck fat sweet potato chips dusted with chili salt, crowned with avocado cubes cuddled oh so tenderly into softly scrambled eggs (with a little jalapeno kick!) and drizzled with cilantro lime crema were just the way to chill.  

Sounds strictly like a brunch dish? Ha!  It will make killer leftovers for breakfast tomorrow!  

 

Chili Dusted Duck Fat Sweet Potato Chips 

with Avocado Scrambled Eggs

• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder

• 4 ounces sour cream, or use Fage Greek yogurt - 0% fat is what I used
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, minced
• 1 teaspoon tabasco sauce, the GREEN kind!
• Kosher salt, to taste

• duck fat
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 avocado, cubed
• 1/4 medium jalapeno, cut into 1/2" strips and then across into slivers
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Chili Salt:  Combine and set aside.
 
Crema: Combine and set aside.
 
Chips:  In a medium pot, heat 3" worth of duck fat to 375 degrees.  While the fat is heating (watch carefully!), using a vegetable peeler (I like my nice swivel blade one that's about 3-4" wide), cut thin sliced of the peeled sweet potato and let them sit until the fat is hot enough.  When the fat is at temp, fry the sliced potatoes several at a time - maybe 12 or so - until they nearly stop bubbling.  Remove with a spider or slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate.  They won't seem crisp, but will crisp up in seconds once they're out of the oil. Don't let them brown or they will be overdone.  When they're all done, keep them warm in the oven.
 
Eggs:  Melt the butter in a skillet.  In a bowl, scramble the eggs, water, jalapeno and salt with a whisk.  Pour the eggs into the skillet and gently move them with a spoon until they start to set a little.  At that point, add the avocado cubes and continue until the eggs are just how you like them.  I like mine slightly wet and not overcooked.
 
Assembly:  Mound the chips on a serving plate, sprinkle with the chile salt, mound the eggs in the center and drizzle with the crema.  Garnish if you wish.
 
NOTE TO SELF:  Make the chile salt and the crema the night before to make Sunday morning just a little more relaxing.  


By the way...my report on BOTH nights of Savor Pittsburgh is coming up in a day or two.  Stay tuned!

Bacon, Sweet Potato, Onion and Apple Hash - Another New Sweet Potato Recipe

No big story tonight, just a really good recipe.  Because I love potatoes.  Not just regular old white potatoes, but sweet potatoes, too.  These gorgeous orange beauties are so versatile...and so good for you!  All that Vitamin A and C, manganese...woo!   

Smoky, salty bacon, bright orange sweet potato, purple onion and sweet/tart Granny Smith apple hash makes a wonderful accompaniment to a simple meat, fish or chicken.  Last night we sizzled up some center cut pork loin chops dusted with a little Cajun seasoning, added bright green broccoli...with the beautiful orange hashed potatoes we had a colorful plate of dinner deliciousness!   

Like the sweet potato mash recipe I posted a little while back, this sweet potato dish can be the star of the show!  Squeeze a lime wedge or two over the top to balance the flavors out.  Mmmmmm.

Bacon, Sweet Potato, Onion and Apple Hash

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled, cubed
• 1 large red onion, large dice
• 4 slices bacon, thick sliced, cut into 1" pieces
• 1 large Granny Smith apple, cored, cubed - leave peel on
• 2 large garlic cloves, peeled, sliced
• oil
• salt and fresly ground black pepper, to taste
• lime wedges

In a heavy skillet, saute bacon until nearly done.  Remove from pan and set aside.
 

In the bacon fat, add sweet potatoes and saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add onion, garlic, apple and a little more oil if needed. Continue cooking until the onion and apple start to soften a little.
 

Add bacon back into pan and continue cooking until the hash is crispy and browned in spots and the potatoes are all cooked through.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. 
 

Serve with wedges of lime to squeeze over top.

Duck Fat Fries at Home

 

Duck fat. Never, ever would I have imagined a couple of years ago that the fat of a duck would some day be such a delicacy.  Duck fat was something undesirable when you ordered the fowl in a restaurant. Nobody likes fatty duck!  When preparing duck at home, you try to cook the fat out of the duck. You prick the hell out of the skin to allow all the fat to escape.  It certainly never occurred to me that very same unwanted stuff in the bottom of the roasting pan would become liquid gold!  

Here we are a few years older, not necessarily wiser, and I'm finding duck fat fries all over the menus of the best of restaurants.  They are cooking with the dregs in the bottom of pans across the world and making delicious, crisp, flavorful potatoes that I could cry over they're so good! 

Did you see the episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate on Food Network where Michael Symon strolls out of Lola (his premier restaurant in Cleveland on 4th Street) walks a few doors down to The Greenhouse Tavern, sidles up to the bar and simultaneously waxes poetic about the glories of their Duck Fries and giddily devours them?  Once I saw that episode those fries became a goal, a quest, a raison d'être.  It's a good thing Kimber lives in Cleveland!  We sidled up to that very same bar at The Greenhouse Tavern ourselves and put in our order.

You know how the anticipation of something can be a let down when you actually achieve it?  NOT IN THIS CASE!  Kimber and I shared them.  Savored them. Waxed poetic ourselves over them.  We may even have been giddy over them ourselves!  Sigh.  And then we (okay, I) craved them.  Oh sure, Kimber lives in Cleveland and can hit up 4th Street and Lola and The Greenhouse Tavern at will.  But not this poor soul, I still had to dream about their goodness.

So I decided to make them at home.  And I BOUGHT duck fat!  Oh yes I did.  I paid good, hard-earned money for the very same stuff I'd been turning my nose up at and throwing away for years. And on Superbowl Sunday I made them.  In fact, I made TWO kinds of potatoes in the precious previously maligned magic substance.  Sweet potatoes and white potatoes floated and bubbled and sizzled in the golden fat until they, too, were golden.  You know when you make French fries from scratch and your whole house smells like grease for days?  Not with duck fat.  The house smells heavenly....like roasting duck.  The air is perfumed with it!  And it was easy to do.  Simple, actually. 

When I was a kid, my mom always made fries from scratch.  There weren't frozen fries back then.  I remember her cutting the potatoes - Russets - into long sticks and soaking them in ice water for a while.  Then she'd pour off the water, lay out a terrycloth towel, lay the drained potatoes across the towel, roll it up and remove every bit of moisture before cooking them in hot oil.  So I went back in time and made my new-fangled fries the same way my mom had made hers so many years ago.  Roots.  I've got 'em.  Once they came out of the oil, I sprinkled them with a little Kosher salt and just a kiss of vinegar.  And they were heaven. 

Duck Fries

• 2 7-ounce tubs D'Artagnan duck fat (Giant Eagle Market District carries it - ask) (believe it or not, you can order it on Amazon, too!)
• 2 pounds large Russet potatoes - peeled and cut into French fry sized sticks - make them pretty!
• 1 pound sweet potatoes - peeled and cut into the same size pieces as the Russets
• Kosher or sea salt
• vinegar of your choice - I used cider vinegar, but malt vinegar would be wonderful....just not for we gluten-free folks

  

Using a large, deep heavy pot, heat the duck fat to 375 degrees.  CAREFULLY lower the fries into the oil and fry until crisp and golden brown.  You'll need to do this in several batches...do not crowd!  

As each batch is done, remove to a paper towel-lined baking sheet and keep warm in the oven (200 degrees) until all the fries are ready.  Sprinkle with the salt, splash a little vinegar over and get ready to enjoy some of the best, most flavorful fries you've ever had!

Do NOT throw out the fat!  Let it cool, pour it back into the original containers and store it in the refrigerator until the next time.  And there will be a next time, trust me.

NOTE:  I use a deep pot because the cost of the duck fat is prohibitive to using in a fryer.  The duck fat is $5.99 a small container at Giant Eagle.  The same as it is online, but you don't have to pay for shipping and you don't have to wait for it!  Of course, if you don't live where you can get it in the store, it would be worth having it shipped, in my opinion.

One interesting thing...to me anyway...when you open the container, the fat is white.  When it melts, it turns gold.  And when it solidifies again?  White again.  And there was NO loss of fat in the cooking process!  That's a sign of a good cooking temp AND a good fat.  

One more thing.  Next time I make duck, I am SAVING the fat!  No more dissing the duck fat for me.  Duck fat respect.  Amen.

Okay....another thing.  The picture above?  Obviously the fries are in the back, the Old Bay Wings are in the front. 

 

Thai Green Curry Sweet Potato Mash

Sometimes we tend to view someone we know one way, one way only.  We don't see other possibilities of their personalities - never see other aspects that may exist in their out-of-office, everyday life. Think of a co-worker you know as a dedicated professional dealing with the ins and outs of the office day after day...dependable, conscientious, dedicated.  Serious.  You have a certain mindset about what and who this person is.  Then, you find out that serious, staid individual performs in musical comedy several times a year. What?!  Well, how interesting!  Who knew?!  A new appreciation develops, a new admiration.

There are foods like that, I think.  Peas comes to mind.  A simple dish of buttered peas is just about how we all enjoy them.  And then there are sweet potatoes.  Oh sure, we jazz those up at the holidays...maybe with brown sugar or marshmallows or we even go wild with a few toasted pecans. There's the standard baked sweet potato with butter, salt and pepper - or even (getting wild again) with cinnamon and brown sugar.  What else can you do with sweet potatoes besides the usual...besides the day-to-day staid, expected?  

Do I have a recipe for you!  An entirely new way to look at AND serve sweet potatoes.  With a little spice, a little tart, a little heat, a touch of sweet....you've got potatoes with pizzazz!  These are sweet potatoes with so much personality that I recommend serving them with a simple protein...grilled steaks, grilled pork chops or broiled chicken because these potatoes shine, folks...they become the star of the show that is dinner.  I'm talking Thai Green Curry Sweet Potato Mash! (Maybe next time we'll take on the humble green pea.)  Oh, and that aforesaid performer?  Real.  Really.  Tax people can be SO surprising sometimes.

Thai Green Curry Sweet Potato Mash

8 servings

• 2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled, cubed
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/3 cup shallots, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon green curry paste
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/3 cup light cream
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Cook potatoes covered with water until tender.  Drain, return to pan, keep warm.
 

Melt butter in small skillet over medium heat.  Add shallots, cook until just soft.  Stir in brown sugar, salt, green curry paste, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne; cook a minute, stirring constantly.  

Add mixture to potatoes along with cream and lime juice.  Mash with potato masher and serve.  So pretty!  So good!  So good for you!  1 serving has only 120 calories and is super high in potassium and vitamins C and A.

NOTE:  I like to serve these with a small wedge of lime to squeeze over the top before enjoying!