Holiday Entertaining
Dinner is served, Colorado style. In last Sunday’s Style section, we set the table with wares from across the state. Today we add the food, serving up a delicious dinner and easy-to-follow recipes that work as a centerpiece for your Thanksgiving meal.
Colorado Roast Turkey
Heirloom turkeys are still, uh, rare birds in Colorado. Converts to these heritage fowl love the moistness and greater proportion of dark meat. Buyers should be forewarned that these birds are no Butterballs in that they have much less breast meat. After all, heirloom breeds still know how to fly.
Make ahead: No
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: Use a 15-minute- per-pound rule of thumb for a stuffed turkey; allow time for turkey to rest outside the oven, at least 15 minutes before carving.
Ingredients
For roast turkey:
Directions
Preheat oven to a high heat (an unconventional trick but worth trying) of 400 degrees.
Melt butter in small sautee pan.
If you wish, separate the skin at the top and neck of the turkey from the meat; insert two to three whole fresh herb leaves between skin and meat, about 2 inches from neck cavity.
Liberally salt and pepper both cavities of the turkey.
Stuff both ends of turkey not quite to capacity with stuffing. Some may choose to sew the cavities shut or use fancier contraptions; we simply plug each end with one to two large apple halves, peel side facing out; the same may be done with whole onion. For the tail-end of the turkey, you may also fold the extra skin under.
Place stuffed bird in roasting pan, one that will also work for making your gravy on the stove.
Place sheet of cheesecloth in melted butter until well soaked, then lay it on turkey; repeat with remaining cheesecloth until turkey is completely covered. This will look a bit like a mummy turkey, but trust us, it produces a golden-brown beauty of a bird.
Place roasting pan with turkey in oven; reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
Once the turkey has roasted for 45 minutes and the pan is filling with juices, use a baster to drizzle the juices around the bird; repeat every half hour or so.
To test whether the turkey is properly done, stick a thermometer in breast or thigh: It’s ready if the breast measures 165 degrees or the thigh is 170-175 degrees. Or check at the base of the drumstick with a knife inserted through skin to bone to see if juices run clear. Turkey is ready only if juices are clear.
Remove turkey and allow to rest at room temperature for a minimum of 15 minutes or up to 25 minutes. Remove the cheesecloth just before carving.
Garnish turkey on large serving platter with sprigs of fresh herbs and local pears and apples.
Western Slope Pear Chutney
A perfect substitute for traditional cranberry sauce. This compote would taste wonderful with whole pork roast or as a side to serve with pate. From Big Bang Catering, serves 8-10.
Make ahead: Up to five days prior
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
Directions:
Melt butter in sautee pan. Add all spices until well-blended. Warm the spices for 5 minutes. Add onions and sautee until translucent. Add cider vinegar and stir. Reduce liquid by half. Add pears, raisins, toasted pine nuts and water, and cook for five minutes. Add sugar and continue to cook until pears are softened but not mushy.
Set aside and refrigerate if made a day or days prior. It can keep up to a week.
Giblet Gravy
This is the one recipe that can only be made at the last minute for Thanksgiving supper. Pour a glass of Colorado wine for the cooks, pull out your fully roasted turkey and let it rest at least 15 minutes, during which time the wine tastes fine and the gravy is made. From Big Bang Catering, serves 8-10.
Make ahead: No
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
Directions
Make a roux: Over medium heat, melt butter in small sauce pan and add white flour until it just thickens and binds; stir continuously with a whisk until it takes on a golden tan hue; set aside.
For gravy: Carefully remove roasted turkey from pan and set aside on carving board. Allow to rest for 15 to 20 minutes with the cheesecloth cover on top.
Place the roasting pan for the turkey on stove top over one to two burners; add minced giblets and neck meat and 1 quart of turkey stock. Over medium heat, stir with a whisk to blend; add 1 tablespoon of roux and whisk into mixture, continuing to stir as the gravy thickens; continue to add remaining stock and roux, alternating, until you have the desired thickness, always scraping the bottom of the roasting pan for brown bits left by the roasted turkey. Salt to taste.
Make lots of gravy to fulfill the real reason for the Thanksgiving feast: the leftovers!
Turkey Stock
Ingredients
Directions:
Place onions, celery, carrots, parsley, bay leaves, turkey neck and giblets and salt in a stock pot and cover with water (at least one gallon)
Heat at a low simmer for 90 minutes to two hours
Strain the stock in a colander and retain the cooked neck and giblets; set stock aside
Remove skin from neck; mince giblets and neck meat and set aside for gravy.
Use stock to moisten stuffing and as base for gravy.
Quinoa Wild Mushroom & Green Chile Stuffing
From Big Bang Catering, serves 8-10.
Make ahead: One day prior
Prep time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 1 hour if baked separately from turkey, or inside turkey or whole chicken
Ingredients
Directions
To rinse quinoa, place quinoa in a fine sieve and thoroughly rinse in cold water and let drain; place in a heavy stockpot; add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil; turn down to a low simmer and cover with a lid; cook for 25-30 minutes and allow to rest off the stove with lid on.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons of olive oil; sautee the onions and celery until translucent; add parsley and sage, and sautee for additional 5 minutes. Set aside.
In a 14-inch sautee pan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Add mushrooms and stir, cooking at a high heat for 3-5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of white wine. Sautee an additional 3 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of white wine and allow to cook until wine is absorbed.
In a large bowl, mix cooked quinoa; cubed bread; sauteed onion, celery, chiles and mushrooms. Moisten with at least 2 cups of turkey stock. Salt to taste.
Set aside for no more than one hour until the time is right for stuffing turkey.
