Turchetta: Turkey Breast Prepared in the Style of Porchetta

Hands-down, the best turkey breast I've ever had.

This recipe takes work, but once you've prepared the roast you stick it in the refrigerator for a couple of days and the final roasting is a breeze.

My cooking co-captain and I start talking about and thinking about what we want to cook for Thanksgiving at least as early as September. This year we decided to change-up a few things: 1. Instead of cooking a whole turkey we were going to do a turkey breast on the rotisserie and make a small-ish Porchetta. A couple of years ago we found Judy Rodger's genius recipe for "Mock Porchetta" and make it at least three or four times a year. 2. We decided to 'go simple' as far as sides go: gravy (yes, on Thanksgiving that can be considered a side), mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries and a salad. 3. We would prepare the meat on Tuesday and everything except for cooking the meat and making the salad on Wednesday.

Then I sent her an instant message. I found this on the Serious Eats site and thought that it was cool and that we should consider this for the next Thanksgiving. Truly, my intent was not to go rogue and try and change 'The Plan'.

A little later, I received  an email:

Subject: Oh kaaayyy.

You just had to throw a monkey wrench in our works. I want to make that Turchetta but we can't make a porchetta too.

It just looks too good to pass up. We should do it. Sometime in February we can rotisserie a turkey breast but let's make the damn Turchetta....oh you just had to go looking for recipes.

...and so, we did. Here's to monkey wrenches!

Here is a link to the Serious Eats article, The Food Lab: How to Make a Turkey Porchetta by J. Kenji López-Alt. There is also a slide show link and a link for the recipe. I'm not going to post the recipe here because we did not adapt it beyond a few changes, and have additional notes on what we will and will not do the next time (see NOTES, below), and there will definitely be a next time - it was delicious.

Browning the Turchetta

NOTES:

1. Changes to the spice and herb mix: we added the zest of 1 lemon, making the mixture identical to the one we use for Porchetta.
2. Other
• We made gravy, instead of a jus and used a different method to make the stock.
3. What we will change the next time:
• Stick with the turkey breast size called for in the recipe. We had a larger (2 times larger than the size called for) breast because we were worried about having enough leftovers for sandwiches (5 diners), and we had extra meat that was too much to roll up and fit. We ended up using much less of the breast meat and there are no problems with the leftovers for sandwiches. We probably ended up with a little more meat used in the roll than was called for in the recipe. If I had to feed a larger crowd, I'd make two (as the recipe suggests). Once you're done preparing it (or them) they can (and should) sit in the refrigerator for two days and two would still take up less room than a whole turkey.
• After you've separated the meat from the skin. Chill them both down for 30 min in the refrigerator. It will be easier to trim the fat pockets from the skin and to handle the meat. 
• Tying up the roast: After putting on the roasting bands (very useful - and re-usable - in many applications), we realized that we should have tied it up, as shown in the recipe, with butcher's twine. We did, before roasting, add butcher's twine along the length of the roast but next time it will be all butcher's twine.

Applesauce: Make It Today, But Don't Eat It Until Tomorrow

Seriously, your applesauce will taste 10x better the day after you make it. I am an applesauce purist. No sweeteners, no cinnamon, no cloves or nutmeg. Okay, mostly a purist. I added a teaspoon of ground Grains of Paradise (my winner for "Best Spice Name" and a great spice for apple pie. Or gin.), to this batch but I could have easily left it out. If I want apple spices, I'll make a baked apple, or a pie. (Mmm, pie!)

Sierra Beauties. Washed, then cut into quarters or eighths.

 The only tough decision you have to make is whether you want to do the heavy lifting up front (peeling and coring the apples) or at the end (getting rid of the cores and seeds and skin), by using a food mill after the apples are cooked. I prefer the latter.It also reminds me of when my mom made applesauce. She'd cook the apples, but whatever kid that was old enough and that was closest to the kitchen was pressed into duty milling the cooked apples with the Foley Food Mill (still around, but made for Mirro). For some reason, she always referred to it by all three names, as I do now. Mine's an OXO - smaller than my mom's, with three disk sizes - coarse, medium and fine. I use the medium for applesauce. The fine disk is perfect for milling tomato sauce. The fine disk also makes quick work of raspberries (and similar berries) when I make sorbet.

If I don't have time to mill, I can stick it in the refrigerator for a day but most important, you don't lose the taste and the color of the skins.

If I had to choose just  one apple from which to make sauce, I think I'd choose Jonathans or maybe Gravensteins, but applesauce can benefit from 2-3 types of apples. Think tart + sweet or tart + sweet + floral. Whatever you choose, applesauce is best made from the fresh fall-crop apples.

After about 15 minutes of cooking, after the water came to a boil.

Liquid? You can add water, cider or juice, but just enough so that the apples don't scorch. A batch of 5 pounds of apples takes about 30-ish minutes to cook and you need to be vigilant in the those last 15 minutes, stirring every minute or so and adjusting the heat down if necessary.

Your Wooden Spoon Doesn't Belong Here...

Your best friend in those last 15 minutes of cooking is not a spoon or a silicone spatula but an angled paddle. Stirring and turning the apples, clearing the sides and bottom of the pot and getting into the corners is what this tool was made for.

RECIPE: APPLESAUCE

Delicious Dippers: Cantucci (or Cantuccini, or Biscotti)

Biscotti derives from the Latin  "bis coctus", or "twice baked". Cantucci (or cantuccini) is a"dry" type, first documented in Prato, Italy in the 13th century as "biscotti di Prato" These cookies were made for dipping - originally in vin santo (sweet wine) but I think they taste good dipped into just about any beverage but not so easy to eat alone - you could chip a tooth on these things if you don't dip 'em. They taste wonderful when dipped and I'm serious about not waiting until you get your hands on some vin santo - dip them with whatever's at hand.

My hair stylist brought these in (along with a selection of other delicious cookies) when I went in for a pre-Christmas appointment. With no vin santo in sight, I dipped my cookie into herbal mint tea and kind of fell in love and my stylist very kindly sent me the recipe, which I adapted slightly.

There are endless combinations - next batch is going to be dried sour cherry and hazelnut.

One of the two logs, after kneading.

The only liquid besides sugar - which in baked goods world is considered a wet ingredient - are the two eggs and the dough looks impossibly dry and crumbly. When you knead it, it just barely holds together.

Slightly flattened, before the first bake.

After the first bake.

After the first bake, when you cut the logs into 1/2" slices, there are some end pieces left over, a.k.a. "the cook's treats".

You stand them up to bake the second time and they're done when they're just a little soft in the middle.

After the 2nd bake, let them cool completely.

RECIPE: CANTUCCI

Roasted Delicata Squash

This is dead easy and all you have to remember if you want crispy edges is, "the magic number is three". The Delicata squash half-moons are cooked on one side, turned to cook on the other side and then turned to cook on the original side once more for crispy edges and creamy flesh.

There may be other ways to achieve this, but this is my method learned by trial, error and, finally, success. Sometimes, as I did this time, I add about 1 1/2 teaspoons of brown sugar per squash when I'm tossing them with a very small amount of olive oil, salt and pepper but you can omit that if you wish. Occasionally I sprinkle some balsamic vinegar on the slices instead of brown sugar before they go into the oven. I liberally sprinkled the half-moons with Ras el Hanout, but mostly what I was left with was a mild aromatic flavor and some of the heat from that spice mixture. 

Delicata squash is a more-or-less dirigible-shaped white or yellow squash with green or orange-gold longitudinal striations and a pale yellow-orange flesh. It's classified as a winter squash, but is very thin-skinned. When roasted, the skin is very easy to eat. You can roast it, stuff it and bake it, saute or steam it.. It's not as packed full of beta carotene as some of the other winter squashes, but has good fiber, potassium, and vitamins C and B.

RECIPE: ROASTED DELICATA SQUASH

Get Yer Groats On: Make Ahead Steel Cut (Irish) Oatmeal

Irish (steel cut) oatmeal with mix-ins: chopped, toasted almonds, un-sulphered, organic dried cranberries, a dash of cinnamon and a sprinkle of granola.

Once it gets chilly, I start thinking about adding oatmeal to my breakfast rotation. A bowl of oatmeal can be delicious, warming and nutritious. If you look at the types of oats available: hulled and whole (whole groats), steel cut (Irish), stone ground (Scottish), rolled, quick-cooking or instant, they are all whole grain and bring the benefits of that with them. The downside to the more highly processed oats is that the more a grain is processed, the easier it is digested which raises its glycemic level. To counteract this, eat your oatmeal with some protein, even adding milk can help.

Steel-cut a/k/a Irish Oats Steel-cut oat can come in several sizes (grades): pinhead (the largest), coarse, medium and fine. Which grade is pictured? I have zero clue, but I suspect pinhead. 

Quick-cooking and instant oats are like rolled oats (rolled and steamed) but rolled thinner and steamed longer. Also, if you buy prepackaged and flavored instant oats, check the ingredients. They often come with a bunch of sugar, fats, preservatives and even some mighty unnatural-sounding "natural" ingredients. I like steel-cut oats for their taste, texture and nuttiness.

I toasted these almonds in the toaster oven this morning, but you can do that ahead of time, or buy pre-roasted nuts.

Even if you stick with making your steel-cut oatmeal from scratch YOUR add-ins: milk, half-and-half or cream, fruit, sugar and butter - to name a few - while delicious, might counter-balance the nutritional pay-off. 

I like the taste of steel-cut (a/k/a Irish) oats but to prepare from scratch takes 30 to 40-ish minutes, including bringing the water to a boil. Soaking steel-cut or stone ground oats the night before cuts the preparation time to 10 minutes, but if you want to cut that down to 3 minutes for one or two servings at a time, this method works well.

I bring water to a boil, add the steel-cut oats and boil - not a furious boil, but more of an "angry simmer" - for 10 minutes, uncovered, stirring a couple of times. After 10 minutes, I turn off the heat, move the pan to a cool burner and put the lid on. Then I let it sit for a couple of hours without removing the lid. After that I pack the oatmeal in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator where it will easily store for 5-7 days. 

RECIPE: MAKE AHEAD STEEL-CUT (IRISH) OATMEAL