Of course, after Thanksgiving, I had to make soup with the carcass. I decided to make it a spicy, Cajun style. I make a pot of wild rice and set it aside. In a big pot I sautéed some garlic and onions, added a bunch of veggies, including carrots, eggplant, cabbage (savoy), celery. I used some powdered veggie stock to flavor the broth, but added a bunch of a salt free Cajun spice mix my sister gave me. (most Cajun spice mixes are FULL of salt) Plus I added some fresh oregano I had leftover from the week before. Oregano is a universal spice. It goes with everything savory. Then I added a pinch of star anise powder, which is quite fragrant and sweet. I did this to sweeten the spicy flavor. I added a bunch of water and plopped in the turkey, meat left on it and all. (This was only a turkey breast, still plenty big)

After the soup was done simmering an hour or so, I turned it off and removed the carcass to let it cool and remove the meat. I then added the meat back to the soup and added the cooked rice. I had to season it a bit more with cayenne and salt, but it was wonderful! The subtle smoked turkey flavor tasted great with the spicy flavors.

It tasted gorgeous. (The salmon was even better!) I recommend a smoker to anyone. For a 5 lb breast it took about 5 hours. The way it works is to steam the meat with smoke flavor. It wasn’t dry. It wasn’t too salty, as some smoked meat is. It wasn’t even that smoky and had a subtle, fresh cooked flavor. I also added some wood chips directly to the heating elements, which added a bit more real smoke taste.

This week I borrowed a smoker from a friend. I’ve wanted one in the past, but resisted, wondering if I would use it. Now I can give it a try. I plan to smoke a turkey breast. I’m using hickory chips, purchased at the local store, nothing special. I’ll add some bourbon to the water and perhaps a lemon rind. Since there are two racks to smoke on in the model I borrowed, I thought I’d try smoking a piece of fresh salmon. I’m not a huge fan of fish, but I LOVE smoked fish. So here goes. I’ll let you know how they turned out.

For Thanksgiving dinner, I’ll be serving smoked ham, which I get fresh from a local meat farmer, “BluesCreek Farms Meats“. They raise most of their own meat, free range and healthy. They also do their own smoking. Now I know you’re asking “Why’d he smoking everything”? (I’ve been asking myself that since I was in High School, but I can’t remember why. Ha-ha.) It’s become my tradition to have a ham, since turkey is not my favorite. So smoked turkey sounded appetizing.

For veggies; I found a sale on potatoes, so TONS of garlic-chive mashed potatoes will be on the menu. Acorn squash is a favorite of mine. But after years of preparing it with maple syrup and butter, I’m going to season it with walnuts, Parmesan cheese, fresh rosemary and thyme. There will be NO STUFFING this year. My dinner, my menu. Tradition, Shmadition. I will, however, serve one traditional dish: green beans baked with mushroom sauce. The mushroom sauce will be from scratch, with cream, butter and sherry for richness.

The best part of the meal will be: a huge, luscious, gorgeous, mouthwatering, SALAD! It will include escarole (a touch bitter), romaine, crunchy fennel bulb (anise flavor), roasted beets, cucumber, carrots, avocado, canned (oh my god) mandarin oranges (always loved those as a kid), candied walnuts, and a garlic balsamic vinaigrette. (garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, French mustard, maple syrup, thyme, salt, pepper)

Oh, and dessert will include homemade key lime pie. Made with real key limes; I love squishing all those cute little green balls for the pie! And a friend will make his to die for apple pie.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

I threw together a chicken stew tonight, using my favorite method, the pressure cooker. I used some pre-marinated chicken I get at a local family run food market. This had a tequila lime marinade. That inspired me to continue with the citrus theme. So I added several clementines to a mix of chopped savoy cabbage (mild flavor), sweet potato (cut up), peas (cleaned out the freezer), some leftover tofu, and I can’t remember what else. Oh yes, eggplant, cubed.

You’ll get used to me sharing my pressure cooker recipes. I almost always start by sautéing several cloves of garlic, sliced, and a shallot, chopped, to either olive oil or a butter/olive oil mix. Then I add the chicken and brown it a bit. Then I throw in all the other veggies with some good broth. I used a concentrated veggie broth this time. The brand it “Better than Broth”, which has excellent flavor and is not too salty.

For the seasoning I used sweeter spices, tarragon, cardamom, marjoram. But I always add something for zest. I squeezed a lemon, sprinkled a little cayenne and threw in some pink peppercorns.

I pressure cooked it for 10 minutes. And, voila. Delicious. Oh, I cooked up some white Basmati rice to go with it. Just LOVE basmati, with its nutty flavor. Normally I’d try to use the brown version, but I didn’t want to wait the 45 minutes it would take. The white only takes 20.a