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Brining Poultry

I am happy to report that our Thanksgiving feast for two turned out magnificently! Anyone who tells you that brining is useless CLEARLY has not brined! OMG the chicken was the best chicken I’ve ever had, hands down. Here’s my brine recipe (I’m sure it would be just as good for turkey but you’ll have to scale the volume up, of course) and how I cooked the chicken:

7# roaster chicken
5 cups water
5 cups apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup kosher salt (NOT table salt!)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2Tbl mixed peppercorns
4-5 bay leaves

Warm up the brine until the salt/sugar has melted. Cool it down to room temp before putting on the bird. I used a (too big) brining bag. Rinse your bird and put into a brining bag or vessel of some sort. Weigh it down if it floats. Let it brine for 4-8 hours in the fridge. Any longer and it’ll make the meat too salty. I brined this chicken for 4 hours. A turkey would need at least 8 hrs due to its size.

Pull out the bird for at least 30 mins before cooking to get the chill off. Remove from brine, rinse and pat dry.

I don’t put stuffing in the bird because it increases cooking time and therefore will make your bird too done. What I do is put the giblets back in the cavity along with lemons, rosemary, garlic and peppercorns. I also make a paste of garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, lemon zest and olive oil to put under the skin. A final touch is to put olive oil on the outside of the bird and season with S/P.

I roasted at 400ºF for about 30 mins, then turned down to 350F and tented with foil for about 2-2.5 hrs more. I use a thermometer to check that it’s 170F or more. Once you hit that, you’re done. The official recipe for chicken is 25 mins per pound of bird at 350F, but mine was a bit quicker due to the 400F start. Use a thermometer.

The chicken turned out succulent, flavourful and downright awesome. It was tangy and citrusy and perfectly seasoned. The only photos I have are semi-crappy from my iPod:

Chicken is on the back left, brussels sprouts back right, green bean casserole front right, boiling potatoes front left.

Clockwise from top right: chicken, sausage dressing, green bean casserole, sauteed brussels sprouts and smashed potatoes.

Everything was totally delicious and I’m glad I didn’t bother with the chocolate lava cakes! NO WAY we could have eaten them! I’m going to make them today instead. Since I’m a horrible baker, it’ll be interesting to see if they turn out.

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Angela’s Broccoli Rabe (rapini)

Broccoli rabe – pronounced rob – (raab, rapini) is an odd vegetable. It is bitter like kale, but sort of has a broccoli taste as well. You can also find Broccolini™ a trademarked hybrid of broccoli and chard, which is similar. We tried it for the first time at home and loved it! Here is the recipe to make a delicious side dish!

2 bunches broccoli rabe (it cooks down A LOT)
1 medium onion, frenched
3 cloves garlic, minced
butter
olive oil
salt
pepper
2 Tbl grated parmesan (reggiano is best!)

First, bring a big pot of water to the boil and add a liberal amount of salt. While the water is coming to temp, rinse the rabe, remove woody stems and cut into 2″ pieces. Blanch the rabe in the boiling salted water for about a minute, then strain into a colander and rinse with cold water.

In a large skillet, put in about 1Tbl of olive oil and 2Tbl of butter over medium flame. When the butter is melted, add onions and garlic. Sweat the veg (watch the heat and reduce if they are starting to brown, you want translucent, not brown) until limp. Add in the broccoli rabe and turn up the heat a bit. Don’t burn your onions/garlic. Saute until rabe starts to cook down, getting soft. Salt and pepper to taste. Easy on the salt since you’re adding a couple of tablespoons of parmesan NOW.

An excellent side to beef and potatoes!

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Quickie Chicken Bake

This is a very quick bake made with LOTS of store bought help – so it’s not one for the cookbook, but it’s still really tasty. SEE VARIATION BELOW!!

1 package Perdue Perfect Portions chicken, Italian flavour
1 box Uncle Ben’s Country Inn rice, chicken flavour
1 bag frozen cauliflower
2 cups chicken stock
half cup pine nuts
olive oil
marjoram
parmesan cheese

Heat up the chicken stock to boiling and add rice mix flavourings. Pour rice into 9×12 baking dish then pour in the hot stock. Stir and make sure rice is evenly distributed. Sprinkle in pine nuts. Put chicken breasts on top of rice. Put frozen cauliflower around edge and in between chicken. Douse the cauliflower with olive oil, S/P and a good amount of marjoram. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 375F for about 45 mins. Uncover, sprinkle generously with parmesan and turn up oven to 400F. Bake for another 10-15 mins or so until rice has absorbed the liquid and the veg and cheese has browned.

VARIATION!
Parsley Chicky Bake

Chicken thighs, boneless/skinless
1 box Near East Long grain and Wild rice mix
1.75 cups water and chicken stock (1 cup stock, .75 water) as indicated for rice!
1 large shallot, sliced (or half a red onion)
2 green onions, sliced
half a red bell pepper, diced
handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
S/P
Meyer Lemon and Sweet Lime marmalade (mine) or store bought orange marmalade
Olive Oil (EVOO)

9×12 baking dish, coated with food release (Pam). Add rice, water and flavour packet for rice. Toss in shallot, green onions and pepper. Season chicken thighs on both sides with S/P. Lay over rice cut side up. Toss in the parsley. Put about a teaspoon of marmalade on each thigh. Sprinkle with EVOO.

Cover with foil and put into a 400F oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil, turn up oven to 425F and let water cook out and chicken get brown for 10 more minutes. That’s it! Delicious!

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Angela’s Beef Stroganoff

My spin on the classic Russian dish. I vary the ingredients by what’s in my fridge, but this is the basic recipe I use for a quick satisfying dinner. I love making this more of a French flavour profile with the tarragon.

1-1.5# Beef cut in thin strips (any cut is fine, but strip or tenderloin is the best quality)
flour for dredging
olive oil
1 med white onion, frenched
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small pkg creminis, sliced
2 tsp dried tarragon (classic taste is DILL)
1-2 Tbl L&P Worcestershire (more or less to taste)
.75 cup sour cream (substitute half of this w/ full fat Greek yogurt if you have it)
1 T Dijon mustard (more or less to taste)
Salt/Pepper

Wide egg noodles prepared and buttered

Start the onion and garlic in a large skillet w/ olive oil over med-hi flame. You’re looking to sweat them, not brown them, so watch the heat. Sweat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Season your food in every step; that means s/p each ingredient as it’s added. Push the veg to the sides of the pan and turn heat up a notch. Dredge the beef in flour (with S/P of course) and sauté in the center of the pan. Turn all the beef once to cook the flour, then add in shrooms. Add tarragon, stir. Add L&P, stir. Let the shrooms cook down a bit and the beef finish cooking for about 5-8 minutes over med hi heat. Don’t burn the onions. When the beef is cooked to your liking, cut the heat and add the sour cream (and yogurt) and dijon. Adjust S/P to your liking.

Serve over buttered wide egg noodles.

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Shrimp Ragout with Mushroom Polenta

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Shrimp Ragout and Mushroom Polenta

This recipe is akin to shrimp and grits. I call it ragout because it has more sauce and more veg than a typical shrimp and grits. I used polenta rather than grits, but they are very similar. Polenta is faster!
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Southern
Keyword mushrooms, polenta, shrimp
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 6 servings
Author misangela

Ingredients

Shrimp Ragout

  • 1 pound large raw shrimp, peeled/deveined pat dry, dust with smoked paprika (or ancho powder, or even Old Bay) and set aside
  • olive oil
  • 1 white part of leek, halved, cleaned and sliced thinly optional but recommended
  • 1 small zucchini, small dice about a cup, sub yellow squash or omit
  • 1 small red pepper, small dice or 2-3 minis, green pepper is fine
  • 1/2 cup red onion, small dice any onion is fine
  • 1/2 8oz pkg cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced any kind of shroom is fine
  • 10 grape tomatoes, halved sub 1/2 cup diced tomatoes, canned is fine
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp lemon zest do try to use a fresh lemon, if you use jarred lemon juice, omit zest
  • 1 tsp dried basil if you use fresh: 1 Tbl at the end of the cook
  • 1 tsp dried marjoram sub 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/3 cup dry sherry sub 1/4 c cooking sherry (it has salt in it)
  • 1 small can tomato sauce (8oz) sub 2 Tbl tom paste w/ 1/2 cup water
  • S/P to taste
  • 1 fresh lemon use juice juice to finish after cooking
  • fresh parsley, chopped garnish
  • shredded parmesan or asiago garnish

Mushroom Polenta

  • 3 Tbl butter
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 8 oz pkg creminis, thinly sliced any kind of shroom is fine
  • 1 tsp dried marjoram sub dried basil or 1/2 tsp dried oregano; DRY ONLY for this
  • 1 tsp lemon zest from the fresh lemon; sub 1 tsp jarred lemon juice if you must and add LAST
  • 1.5 cups chicken stock or shrimp stock if you have it
  • 3/4 to 1 cup polenta (coarse corn meal) NOT corn meal MIX, straight corn meal
  • 1/4 cup shredded parmesan or asiago use up to half a cup to your taste
  • 1-2 Tbl heavy cream to finish optional, adds a nice creaminess

Instructions

  • Put about 2 Tbl olive oil in a pan over med-hi flame.
  • Add in all the veg including garlic and begin to sweat. Turn down heat if browning occurs. 5-7 mins.
  • When veg gets soft, lemon zest, herbs, sherry and tomato sauce. Keep at low simmer for about 5-8 minutes. Add a bit of stock if it reduces and gets too tight.
  • Add shrimp, bring back up to simmer and cook shrimp until opaque, about 8 minutes. Add S/P to your taste, then kill the heat. Let rest.

Mushroom Polenta

  • In a 2 qt saucepan over med hi, add 2 Tbl olive oil, butter and garlic. Do not brown.
  • Add creminis, herb and lemon zest, cook shrooms until they release their juices, do not brown, just sweat. About 5-6 minutes.
  • Add stock and bring to a boil.
  • Whisk in polenta, a bit at a time to avoid lumps. You can make polenta very soft or firmer, adjust how much cornmeal you use to get the consistency you want. It WILL firm up when it cools, so I'd advise you to keep it pretty loose. Try about a cup of polenta, stir for 3-4 minutes and add more if you think it's too loose.
  • Still whisking, add in the parmesan. Add cream if desired. Adjust S/P.
  • Serve as pictured, with polenta on the bottom, ragout over that, fresh parsley and a bit of cheese on top. You can squeeze a little lemon over it if you want.

Notes

When reheating, you might need to add water to the polenta to get the right consistency again. It will tighten up when cooled. 
Fresh lemon is preferred for this recipe. The zest adds depth and the juice adds acidity that is needed. 
You can use other herbs if you like, but if I specify dried, that is the amount I'm using. In general, you use 2-3x  more fresh herbs than dried and you put in fresh herbs at the end of cooking.