Potstickers Revisited

Yes, I'm still alive.  No, I'm not cooking nearly as much as I used to, and when I do, it's not all that exciting.  That's one reason for the lack of posts.  Another reason is that I'm pregnant again!  Baby #2 is due on January 5, 2012 and we are super excited for the new addition!

So while the posts will still be far and few between, I promise that this blog is not dead and I will be back periodically with little additions here and there.  And today, I'm blogging about dumplings again!

I love that dumplings are so versatile.  You can use any meat, or no meat at all and any veggie(s).  This time, I used ground turkey, bok choy and ginger and that's it!  Easy, delicious, healthy and baby friendly too!

Ingredients:
- Ground turkey
- Bok Choy
- Ginger
- Soy sauce
- White pepper
- Oyster sauce
- Sesame oil
- Dumpling wrappers


Directions:
- Finely chop the bok choy.
- Grate the ginger 
- Mix the turkey, bok choy, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper and oyster sauce in a bowl

- Take a wrapper, put about a tablespoon of filling in the center, dab water around the edge of half of the wrapper, fold it over and squeeze closed, pleating it you've got the skills to achieve a half moon shape (you can skip the pleating if it's too difficult).

- When you're done wrapping all the dumplings, heat a nonstick pan with a bit of oil.  Line the dumplings in the pan, making sure the bottom of each one is coated in oil.  Add about a cup of water and cover the pan.  Turn the heat up to high and let it boil and evaporate.
- Once the water has mostly cooked off, take the lid off and let it continue cooking until the water has completely evaporated and the bottoms of the dumplings are nice and crispy.
- Serve it with your favorite dipping sauce.  I like mine simple, just black vinegar and soy sauce.

Thanksgiving Turkey

This year, we had a 20 pounder and I decided to do my own brining. I definitely think it was worth the extra hassle. The meat was juicy and flavorful and I believe that it definitely made a significant difference.

Last year, I bought a pre-brined turkey from Trader Joe's and I think this year was better, though it is difficult to remember and compare against something I had a year ago. Even if it wasn't, brining is not difficult, so I'd rather not pay more for the pre-brined and do it myself.

I used Alton Brown's brine recipe and used the same tips and tricks I used last year to get a nice juicy bird with perfectly browned crispy skin.

Here's a recap. The night before, brine the turkey. I put the turkey and brine in a gigantic brining bag and stuck the whole thing in the fridge overnight.

Brine Ingredients:
(adapted from Good Eats)
- 1 cup of kosher salt
- 1/2 cup of light brown sugar
- 1 tbs of black peppercorns
- 1 1/2 tsp of allspice berries
- 1 1/2 tsp of chopped candied ginger
- 2 gallons of water

Brining Directions:
- Heat 1 gallon of water and mix the rest of the ingredients in until the salt and sugar are dissolved.
- Let the mixture cool. I made mine 2 nights before and chilled it in the fridge overnight. If you don't have time to chill the mixture, add lots of ice to bring the temperature down (take that amount of liquid out of the 2nd gallon of water if you do).
- The night before, put the turkey in a large brining bag and pour in the mixture along with another gallon of water.
- Make sure the turkey is fully submerged and that the cavity is filled with the brining liquid instead of a big air bubble.
- Place the brining bag in a large pan (I used the roasting pan) to catch leaks and refrigerate it overnight.

Turkey Ingredients:
- Vegetable oil
- Rosemary
- Garlic
- Lemon zest
- Salt
- Pepper
- Aromatics (such as onions, apples, lemons, oranges, etc)

Turkey Directions:
- Take your brined turkey out of the fridge.
- Dump all the brine down the sink and rinse the turkey well (be sure to get both the inside and the outside)
- Carefully use your fingers to separate the skin from the meat whereever you can reach (mostly the breast).
- Either pat the turkey dry, or put it on the baking rack in the roasting pan and place it in the fridge for a while to dry out the skin.
- Flip the turkey so that it's on the baking rack, breast side down.
- Place a bag of ice inside the cavity, resting against the breast and another bag of ice underneath the turkey breast.
- Let the rest of the bird come up closer to room temperature while icing the breast. Since the breast tends to cook faster than the dark meat, this will help the two reach the perfect temperature at the same time, resulting in perfectly cooked and juicy light and dark meat.
- Mix the oil, finely chopped rosemary, minced garlic and lemon zest together in a bowl.
- Remove the ice bags from the turkey.
- Slather the mixture all over the outside of the turkey and underneath the skin in the areas that you were able to separate it from the meat.


- Generously salt and pepper both the inside and outside of the turkey.
- Stuff the turkey with the aromatics.
- Place one probe thermometer in the deepest part of the breast without hitting the bone and another in the deepest part the leg and the body, without hitting the bone.
- Put the turkey into a 500 degree oven for 30 minutes until the skin is crispy and browned.
- Cover the breast with foil and turn the oven down to 350 degrees and cook until both thermometers reach 161 degrees.
- Take the turkey out and tent it while letting the turkey rest for at least 15 minutes.
- Carve the turkey and serve it to your hungry guests!

Thanksgiving Turkey

We hosted our second Thanksgiving this year and I'll slowly post all the recipes as I get time. But for now, I'll start with the most important part - the turkey!

I did a few things differently from last year and I think for the most part, they were good changes. Here's what I did this year along with a few tips and tricks that I've learned.

• The biggest difference is that I bought the Trader Joe's fresh pre-brined turkey instead of the usual Butterball. Both were good and juicy and I'm not really sure if I have a preference. I think next time, I'm going to try brining my own and see how that goes.
• I put the turkey uncovered in the fridge for a few hours because I heard that helps with a crispier skin. I did get a crispier skin this year, but I'm not sure if this is the reason or if it was because I used oil instead of butter. Either way, it's not much trouble and the turkey is much easier to work with after being in the fridge since the skin is much drier and not so slippery, so I'll probably continue to do this in the future.
• Last year, when the breast was perfectly cooked, the dark meat still needed more time in the oven. I learned a little trick from America's Test Kitchen to ice the breast so that the cooking time for white and dark meat even out. It worked like a charm! Just leave the bird out for a while to come closer to room temperature, then flip the bird breast side down on a bag of ice and stick some ice inside the bird too to cool down the breast meat.
• I then slathered the turkey with a rosemary, lemon zest, and oil mixture that I made in the food processor. I definitely prefer this to the butter, rosemary, and lemon zest mixture I used last year. Last year, I stuck butter under the skin and on top, but it was difficult to get the butter to stick on the skin of the turkey. Oil is much easier. Plus, I think the oil made the skin much crisper than the butter, though that may also have been from leaving it in the fridge uncovered to dry out the skin.
• Next, I heavily salt and peppered the skin all over.
• I also like to stuff the bird with slices of apple, lemon, orange, and rosemary twigs for extra flavor and moisture.

• Stick a thermometer probe in the deepest part of the breast and another in the deepest part between the leg and body, being careful not to hit the bone, and then pop the turkey in a 500 degree oven for 30 minutes. I learned this trick from Alton Brown. Doing this step will give you nice, perfectly browned skin.
  
• After 30 minutes, cover the breast with foil and turn the heat down to 350. Cook until the thermometers read an internal temperature of 161 degrees. My 17.5 pounder took a little less than 4 hours.
• Take the bird out of the oven and let it rest for at least 15 minutes. I served mine on a platter with a lemon flower, a few cranberries and steamed broccoli.
• After presenting the turkey and taking a few pictures, the hubz took it and carved it and put it back on the serving platter. Didn't he do a great job?
  

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

This is also my submission to Joelen's Tasty Tools event featuring roasting pans. Check out Joelen's Culinary Adventures to see what other goodies people made using roasting pans.