Thanksgiving Dinner

My son loves Thanksgiving Dinner at home since it means he can have leftovers forever. My daughter is all for it too since this means her meals are more American than Indian.  So regardless of where we dine on thanksgiving day, we always have a turkey dinner at home the next day. Nearby family like H's cousin and family or my nephew may join us sometimes. This year too was not different. After a great time with friends, we regrouped to have our own little TG dinner on Friday. Dinner table was populated with the usual suspects from my tried and tested thanksgiving recipes with some timely adjustments geared towards making the process less complex.

Since dark meat is unpopular at home, I went for a simple turkey breast this time instead of the whole bird.  This was great on many fronts. There was no heavy lifting required to place the turkey in and out of the brine or for cleaning before and after the brine.  As my body is not getting any younger, it appreciated this change the most.  I also realized that any store bought brine mix will do just fine as the main character is salt anyways. On the carving side, H appreciated not having to wrestle with the bird on the cutting board and he carved away like a pro. All in all a win-win with all white meat for the kiddos, easy carving for H and less weight lifting for yours truly.

I didn't make stuffing this time which made the labor of love that much more enjoyable. Conveniently lifted off some leftovers from the friends place. Thought I'll make a list of TG items that I constantly go to for easy reference. Molu or Kannan, I hope you guys are reading this 😍

1. Brine
Store bought brine mix yielded almost similar results to the one made from scratch.

2. Turkey or Turkey breast
Whole turkey is mostly done per Alton Brown's instructions.

Turkey breast:
Used a boneless breast from WholeFoods weighing about 6lbs. Yielded more than enough with leftovers. Brined the same way as the whole turkey. Washed and rinsed and tucked with some fresh herbs like oregano and rosemary after rubbing with canola oil and the rub that came with the brine mix. First cooked at 500 for 25 min for skin color and then cooked covered with foil on top at 350 till inner temp reached 160F. This step took about an hour and a half of additional time. Added a few tbsp of water to the pan before the start of 500C and 350C steps to keep things moist. Keep covered in foil and let rest for 10-15 min before carving.

3. Gravy
Only caveat of having a turkey breast instead of whole turkey was the lack of drippings for a full fledged gravy. Still came out decent with Alton Brown's sure fire recipe that I follow almost to the letter.

4. Stuffing
I didn't make this stuffing this year but I have yet to find a stuffing that is better than this recipe we found on a Williams & Sonoma flyer many years back.

5. Mashed potato
 This mashed potato adapted from PW's has stayed true and delicious every time.

6. Cranberry Sauce
Made from scratch with organic cranberries. Simple and tasty.

7. Corn bread - Marie Callender's organic cornbread mix came out as good as ever.

8. Beans and Asparagus - Toss a bunch of each with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Air fry in 2 to 3 batches for about 3-4 minutes on each side. Done!

9. Hawaiian bread rolls are the favored dinner roll around here.

10. Pie and ice cream make for an ideal dessert on the thanksgiving table. But I think I am the only one who likes to eat the traditional pumpkin pie we can get from Trader Joe's or Boston Market. Hagendaz ice cream on the other hand had a few more takers.

Enjoy!

Air Fryer Banana Fry

I caught 2018 on the tail with the roasted potatoes and so want to be in a bit earlier this year. Culinary habits are quite dynamic in my neck of the woods and the Air Fryer occupies an exalted seat nowadays. Almost everything can be heated in it at 390C for one or two minutes and get awesome results. Even frozen porottas seem to get a new life with its magic touch!

Philips originally adapted the technology to introduce a consumer appliance for heating up french fries but this particular akshayapatra can turn quite a few tricks for the initiated. Latest to this series is that tasty snack which can sail a ship in one's mouth. പഴം പൊരി aka banana fry.😋 Shall we?

In The mix

Ripe banana - 1 (Plantains are the right variety for this)
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

How To Do

Preheat the air fryer at 390C for 3 minutes. Peel and cut the bananas into quarters. You'll get 4 pieces. Slather nicely with coconut oil and place in the air fryer basket. Close and cook for 5 minutes on each side. Wait a few minutes to cool and enjoy this delightful snack. You can sprinkle confectioner's sugar, coconut flakes, honey etc to dress it up but I love it just like this.

Like flowers in spring,  fall leaves paint the world in a myriad of colors.  I leave you with a glimpse of what is around me.

Oven Roasted Potatoes

2018 has been a very busy year but that is not an excuse not to do at least one post! For the life of me I cannot find a picture to go with this roasted potatoes recipe but I am posting anyways. HAunt had sent us an air fryer and I now use that more than the oven. To cook this in the air fryer, use an air fryer basket and bake at 390F (~200C) following the same steps.

Roasted red potatoes are always popular around here. I thought I had a post on this somewhere among the thanksgiving posts but couldn't find it when I was looking for it recently. So this is a must to add it here. As all other oven recipes, this is also easy but not as fast as I'd like it to be. We'll solve  that problem at a later time. Now it it time to record this tried and tested recipe.

In The Mix

Small red or white potatoes - 1 1/2 lbs
Olive oil - 1/8 cup
Kosher salt - 3/4 tsp
Freshly ground black pepper - 1/2 tsp
Garlic cloves, minced - 3 /1 tbsp
Fresh rosemary leaves, minced - 2 tbsp

How To Do

Preheat the oven to 400F. I like using the small toaster oven for this.

Cut the potatoes in half or quarter so all sizes are even. Combine all the above ingredients in a bowl and toss the potatoes until well coated. Place the potatoes in a single layer to a foil lined cookie sheet. Roast for about an hour. Flip every 20 minutes using a spatula for even cooking. Keep an eye during the last 5-10 minutes to avoid over browning.

Let sit for 5-10 minutes and enjoy as a snack or with some form of meat protein to balance out this delicious carb.

Banana Nut Bread - 2

Banana nut bread is really easy to make. It is a nifty appetizer too when you think about it. Who can seriously resist warm, moist slices of freshly baked BNB?  It is also a great way to reuse those bananas gone black that all of a sudden no wants to eat.  Definitely better than reserving it for H's compost can, however tempting and responsible that may be.

It's been a while since I'd made this bread and so forgot that I actually had a recipe in my blog. Off I go to the great wizard of google to ask for a recipe. The effort paid off and I landed on an even better one at the countrycook's! Both kids love baking just as much as I do. Kannan is the local (in-house) pound cake baker and molu of course is a natural at these things. She makes the greatest of crepes when she is in the mood. She loved the idea of BNB and signed on from the beginning. I just had to call out the recipe and she did everything else almost all the times we've made this recently. I didn't add the streusel on top suggested in the original recipe as that makes it a bit too sweet for us. It sure is a neat way to fancy up the bread a bit.

In The Mix

overripe bananas - 3
eggs - 2
butter - 1/3 cup melted (= 5 1/4 tbsp)
vanilla extract - 1 tsp
sugar - 1/2 cup
all purpose flour - 1 3/4 cup
baking powder - 2 3/4 tsp
salt - 1/2 tsp
cinnamon - 1 1/2 tsp
walnuts - 1/2 cup chopped or hand crushed

How To Do

Preheat oven to 325F. Spray a loaf pan (9x5) with non-stick spray.
Mash the bananas and combine with eggs, butter, sugar and vanilla. Mix well and add flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add in the walnuts and stir together.

Pour batter into the pan and bake for about 55-60 minutes. Bread should spring back when done. Insert a fork to see if it comes out clean. Cool a bit, cut a slice or two and go bananas!

Broiled Chicken Drumsticks

As I said, it is oven, oven all the way here. Drumsticks play an important role in this scenario. Magic words of clean, fast and easy came true in this excellent recipe adapted from simplyrecipes. Thank you simplyrecipes for making this a staple for us.

I did have a yummy recipe for chicken legs but the oil step was making it a messy proposition to clean up after. So it is that this nifty recipe came to save our lives. Really, to help me not to do the cleaning.

In The Mix

chicken legs/drumsticks - 12

For the Marinade
green onion stalks - 10 , white & green parts, diced
serrano chilies - 3, seeded, quartered
garlic cloves - 3, peeled, crushed
lemon thyme - 1 tbsp, chopped
cilantro - 1 tbsp, chopped
white wine vinegar - 2 tbsp
garam Masala powder - 1 1/2 tsp
freshly ground pepper - 1 tsp
kosher salt - 1 1/2 tsp

kosher salt - to sprinkle
pepper powder - to sprinkle
olive oil - to coat the broiler pan

How To Do

Turn the oven broiler to high/450F.  Make sure to place a rack at the center of the oven before it heats up. Wash and drain the drumsticks and pat dry with paper towels. Set aside.

Mix all of the marinade ingredients and  grind to a paste. Immersion blender does this job well.

Marinate the chicken legs with the paste for 30 minutes at room temp. If you set it to marinate overnight in the fridge, make sure to take out and keep at room temp for 30 minutes prior to baking.

Boiler pan is best as it can take the heat of the broiler. Other pans may warp. Coat the bottom pan with some oil with a sprayer or paper towels. Cover the top slit pan with aluminum foil for easy clean later. Coat the foil also with oil. Make sure to open some slits of the top sheet for juice to run into the bottom pan.

Arrange the drumsticks on the pan and sprinkle generously with kosher salt. Add pepper as needed. Broil for 10 minutes, turn the pan and turn over chicken pieces and bake for another 10 minutes or till the juices run clear when poked with a knife.

Enjoy with hot sticky basmati rice & yogurt or with fresh baked bread.

Broiled Tri-Tip Steak

Indian cooking has taken a hiatus in our home lately. As always this dull period is caused by lack of demand from customers. I do push the occasional fish curry, and idli/chutney or egg curry whenever I can but poor oven's been working overtime to meet the increased demand on its output.

My daughter loves to eat steak and so it was that I discovered tri-tip steaks. The important thing is to broil them so it becomes a fast and easy thing to do for dinner on those busy week days. They are relatively less expensive than other cuts of steaks I think and so an easy choice for regular cooking. The trick as with any meat, is to cook them just right so it doesn't dry out. Now that the kid palette's are expanding, there is a demand for flavor. In my quest for flavor I chanced upon this marinade recipe with everyday ingredients and full of flavor. 

In The Mix

Tri-tip steak - 2 lbs

Salt - sprinkle to taste

Steak seasoning - sprinkle to taste

(Steak seasoning can be substituted with just black pepper if you don't want it to be too spicy)

For the Marinade

Soy sauce - 2tbsp

Apple cider vinegar - 2 tbsp

Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Garlic cloves, minced - 4

freshly ground black pepper - 1/2 tsp

How To Do

Wash and drain the steaks. They come in large single pieces or medium sized pieces. Mix all the marinade ingredients with the steak and keep overnight for the flavors to set in. On the day of cooking allow the meat to sit for half an hour at room temp. If you are not doing the overnight thing, just marinate outside for half an hour on the day of cooking.

Preheat the broiler oven to 375. Make sure the broiler element is on in the oven. 

It is best to use the broiler pan for this. It usually comes with the oven when you buy it. If the broiler pan is not available, you can just use an oven safe pan. Spread oil on the bottom pan and cover the top pan with aluminum foil. Spear through gently so some of the slits on the top pan are open.  Spray the top foil also with cooking spray or oil. This helps to get the steak off after cooking.

Keep the marinated steaks on the top sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and seasoning or ground pepper. Do this for all sides.

Place the pan in the middle of the oven and cook for about 15 minutes. Then turn the pan, turn over the steaks and cook for another 14-18 minutes to get to medium rare.  Better to watch the last few minutes and take out before the meat gets too dry.  

Let sit for a few minutes and slice against grain. Serve with oven roasted potatoes or fresh bread.

From The Garden

Starting with this cute little assorted corner in the backyard, I wanted to add the latest snaps of my curry leaf plant and the little lime tree in a barrel. The very sight of them, all clad in such pretty green, brings me joy every time I step out into the backyard these days.

I happened to have some garlic cloves that sprouted while in storage. Thought I'll plant a few in the lime tree barrel and was quite surprised to see them coming up so well there in the back if you can spot'em. The parsley and cilantro I had there are almost done but the poppies and other little flowering plants seem to be doing OK. Love seeing flowers come up in spring.

Didn't think the curry leaf would have survived through winter times! Have already harvested a few bunches form this nifty little group.  Hope to see them through the many winters. Spring is such a beautiful time!

We had quite a spectacular run of H's roses as always and a few of my nasturtiums from last year decided to show up as well. So beautiful!