Turkey Breast is very easy to prepare. Let me back track……I start off with whole turkeys that I buy from Trader Joes in November and freeze the turkey in parts for latter use. I buy turkeys from Trader Joes because they sell brined and dry brined (kosher) turkeys. Who has all that room to bother brining turkeys…….Anyways…….A brined turkey (either wet or dry brined) always comes out a billion times better than from a turkey that wasn’t brined. These turkeys always come out very flavorful and juicy moist. They are the closest to a foolproof turkey for everyone.
So I have a split boneless breast that was rubbed with my Italian Chili Crisp (recipe on site or you can buy this these days). I put some canola oil in my fry pan on medium high heat. The split turkey breast goes skin side down for 10 minutes with a sheet of aluminum foil loosely covering pan. After 10 minutes turn the turkey breast over and cook the other side. Add the loose foil again. After about ten more minutes the turkey breast will be down or next to done. If you pound it then I’m pretty sure it will be done) (It might need 1-2 minutes more you can check with a thermometer. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture the turkey needs to be 165 degree F to be safe to consume.
It should come out at least like this without pounding on both sides.
When you pound it the turkey cooks up faster.
Let it cool off on a cooling rack with a pan underneath or a baking sheet.
Don’t clean out your fry pan because you will add stuff to it.
Add two sliced onions and cook about 20 minutes on medium heat stirring occasionally. Later you add a pack of dried figs and a pack of chestnuts both lightly chopped. (the fig and chestnut packs were around 3oz each)
The figs with chestnuts only need a few minutes.
Then I added maybe two Tablespoons of tomato paste. Cooked that out a couple minutes and then added maybe a cup of water.
Italian Chili Crisp Turkey with Onion Tomato Chestnut and Fig Sauce
I thought I’d do something slightly different with turkey quarters. I do note that I buy turkeys from Trader Joes (they only sell them in November). I usually only buy turkey from Trader Joes because they sell brined, and dry brined or kosher turkeys. When you buy brined turkeys you are getting the most BANG for your buck because brined turkeys always come out flavorful and usually moist. They are the closest to the most foolproof turkey that you can buy. The way this came out for me….I got my usual flavorful moist dark meat but what came out different was the skin. The skin got thin and crispy with a really great taste to it.
Today I marinated the turkey quarters (each weighted about 1 1/2 pounds) I mixed up normal ingredients like soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and ginger. This mixture and the turkey quarters went in a gallon ziplock bag and marinated over night. The next day you blot the turkey quarters dry. You dump around 1/2 a cup of flour and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a gallon ziplock bag. Shake and add turkey quarters and shake and bake.
I discovered after I made the turkey quarters I had liquid gold in my pan and it couldn’t be wasted. It had an amazing aroma and taste. The only thing I had at home to use was a cabbage so there we go. After all the turkey quarters needed an hour to cool off anyway. Just rough cut a cabbage and an onion. Toss it around the liquid gold. Put it in the still hot 375F oven for a total of around 45 minutes stirring after around 30 minutes.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
2 preferably brined or dry brined turkey quarters (mine weighed around 1 1/2 pounds each. They can be any size but timing will differ)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar (I used dark)
1 large head garlic – ground to paste
1 inch ginger – fresh grated
1/2 cup flour – (around this you don’t have to measure)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cabbage – core removed, rough cut
1 onion – skin removed – rough cut or slice
salt – to taste
pepper – to taste
Directions
To a gallon zip lock bag (you could use a bowl to support the bag) add soy sauce, sugar, garlic and ginger. Squish around so it is mixed. Add turkey quarters. Squish the liquid all around the turkey quarters. This needs to refrigerate over night. Occasionally keep turning the quarters so they marinate on all sides.
Next Day –
Pull the turkey quarters out and let them rest around 30 minutes.
Set oven to 375 and pour the oil in your pan. Set the pan in the middle of your oven to heat up.
Take the legs out of the bag and blot them dry.
Put some flour salt and pepper in a clean gallon ziplock bag. Add the turkey quarters and shake, shake, shake.
Pull the pan with hot oil out of the oven. Add the legs.
In my oven on the middle rack mine took 65 minutes to be done……YOURS MAY DIFFER! So you really do need to use a thermometer. According to the U.S. Department of agriculture the turkey leg meat is safe to eat at 165 degrees F but in my opinion it isn’t good at 165 F. I like it more at 180F or even slightly higher.I like mine to fall off of the bone and melt up some stuff in that area. Most people will agree 165F-180F is what you must aim for.
After 65 minutes.
Then I noticed I was left with liquid gold. The turkey quarters need to rest an hour. Take them out of the pan and place on a tray or preferably cooling rack.
Rough cut one cabbage (with core removed) and rough cut or slice a peeled onion. They go in your liquid gold pan. Mix up the cabbage and onion in the pan.
This goes in your still hot 375F oven. After around 30 minutes some of it will be lightly charred but stir and put back in for the remaining 15 minutes.
Add a good quality sea salt and any pepper you like. I used my homemade smoked pecan sea salt and Aleppo pepper.
If not in a very large oven safe pot then transfer to a large pan. (I used a half pan)
Top the pan with the parsley and then the chicken and cover tightly with foil.
This goes in the oven till the lentils are tender and the chicken is at least 165 degrees F. (but I prefer dark chicken to get to 180 F…..it will be very tender and not dry) ********Ovens DO DIFFER…..In my oven this took 2 hours but I had two other pans in my oven that might have added on extra time. I recommend to check at around 90 minutes you will have an idea on how much longer and also if you need to add a little more water. When the pan is done you will remove the chicken and throw out the bay leaves. Now when it’s steaming hot is when you stir in the fresh spinach if desired.
Chef Paxx Caraballo Moll was named a “Best New Chef” by Food & Wine Magazine. I thought his recipe for skirt steaks with carrot puree and braised cabbage sounded interesting. I didn’t do his skirt steaks because I just made an eye roast called FORKING GREAT Eye Roast with magical delicious rub (You can find on my blog in search) that I thought would go well with everything else from this recipe. I did only minor changes to his recipe….The recipe does have more steps than your average dinner but all the steps are very easy and most of them don’t really need directions. I wrote this as a dinner Idea because I think this same plate would be great with any grilled meat. You will want to do something similar over and over again. (For the photo I didn’t put much meat there because I wanted you to see everything else…The meat has it’s own recipe page.
FORKING GREAT Eye Roast with Magical Delicious RubFORKING GREAT Eye Roast with Magical Delicious Rub
Pickled Orange turmeric onions
1 large white onion – sliced thin
1 orange – the juice and zest
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
Mix together in a small bowl. Let sit out 30 minutes. Refrigerate and use when ready.
Basic carrot puree
1- 2 lb carrots peeled and rough dice
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 small brown potato – peeled and rough dice
Place in sauce pot covered well with water. Bring to boil. Medium boil for 15 – 20 minutes. Drain but save carrot water. Blend with a small amount of butter and add a small amount of honey. Add reserved carrot water till a smooth consistency.
Basic gremolata (gremolata is usually just parsley lemon and garlic…..This one differed so I made it different too)
1/2 cup parsley leaves – chopped
1/2 cup cilantro (fine stems ok) – chopped
1 lemon zest
1 teaspoon sambal oelek
2 Tablespoons scallions – chopped
4 Tablespoons oil (I used cilantro oil that I made from a previous recipe)
Mix the above together in a small bowl.
Braised cabbage…..not sure but I think there was a misprint in the magazine because plain thin cabbage was to go in a dry fry pan for 4 minutes until soft.????????????.
1 small head purple cabbage sliced thin.
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon sambal oelek
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
I would do this different next time……and just roast the cabbage with these flavors.
I started the cabbage in a pot and on high heat for around 5 minutes with the soy sauce. Then I added the rest and reduced to medium heat till liquid was absorbed.
Optional – I thought the cabbage was too soft so I crisped it up in a 400 degree F oven for around 20 minutes and I thought it was better.
Put it all together with whatever protein or grilled protein you made.
FORKING GREAT eye roast with braised cabbage, carrot puree, gremolata,and orange pickled turmeric onions
A Special THANKS!!!! To chef Paxx Caraballo Moll and Food & Wine Magizine so I could come up with what I got here.
I got lots of odds and ends in my freezer that I have to use. I also stocked up on chicken breast because Safeway has had them on a sale often. I ended up making something like a pie with chicken breast as the bottom crust. It came out delicious. If you fill the butterflied chicken breast with mostly moist flavorful fillings the chicken should come out moist and flavorful. Depending on the filling you might need to add an egg or maybe two so it holds together. I’m guessing that this makes around 6 servings for most people….. I wrote down everything I made the chicken with but I don’t have exactly how I made the corn bread stuffing topping…because I winged it on Thanksgiving and used turkey drippings instead of oil. You can use any flavorful cornbread…I also used the end of my cranberry pickled beets. You can use a chunky not very drippy cranberry relish as a substitute if you want.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 lb chicken breast – butterfly and pound thin
1 lb pumpkin cooked and drained – I used real pumpkin
3 oz chipotle in adobo (fine chop any jalapeño)
1 Tablespoon fancy mustard (I used a dijon with some grain)
1 Tablespoon honey
3 eggs beaten (2 go in the corn bread and one holds together the pumpkin)
8 oz corn bread – cut in cubes
1/4 cup fresh parsley – chopped
bbq seasoning blend (I normally never buy a blend…think I got this was a gift and finally used it…It’s a combination oof salt, garlic, onion, bell pepper, unknown spices, natural smoke and paprika) Chicken gets seasoned well with this on both sides.
non stick spray
Directions
Set oven to 350 degrees F. NOTE I did set my oven at 350 degrees roast. My oven might not be accurate. I think my oven runs slightly less but it’s close enough.
Spray a loaf pan with non stick spray
Season butterflied and pounded chicken breast on both sides and place in pan so it’s like a crust shape.
Add Parsley.
In a medium bowl add the pumpkin, chipotle adobo, mustard, honey and one beaten egg. Mix well and that is next layer.
Next add cranberry or cranberry pickled beets……
In a bowl mix up the corn bread cubes with the two beaten eggs and that is the last layer.
Cover tight with foil and place on middle rack of preheated 350 degree F oven.
Timing will differ because we might not have pounded out the chicken the same. mine was done in 45 minutes. I uncovered mine and put it back in for ten minutes so the top would brown up a bit.
Don’t be alarmed at the juice that is around chicken.
I set mine on counter to cool and then refrigerated over night.
The next day I drained the juice and will serve with the slices.
It came out delicious! Even the chicken is very moist and flavorful from all the flavors.
I throw together this chicken and got the idea to marinate it similar to the way I did ramen eggs. It was pretty easy to stir fry and came out FORKING AMAZING! After I stir fried the chicken I stir fried quick cooking vegetables with a little garlic, oil, soy sauce and mirin. WOW! It taste as FORKING AMAZING as it smells! My husband gave me the greatest compliments on it too and he usually isn’t a fan of Asian Food. The chicken also came out super moist delicious and perfect. I wasn’t planning on publishing this so I didn’t measure exact but this is really easy to wing.
Ingredients for around 2 dinners
1 – 1/2 breast of chicken (around a pound raw) without skin and bone – butterfly and remove tender – half the butterfly – cut across into strips about as wide as your finger.
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup mirin
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
around 4 cups vegetables mostly soft (I used a carrot sliced like spaghetti, 1/2 onion slice thin, handful snow peas, handful snap peas, cup cabbage (chopped) and maybe 2 cups zucchini that was spiral cut.
1 hot pepper sliced paper thin or fine chop (I used a Serrano)
3 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane
2 tablespoons canola oil
splash soy sauce
splash mirin
4 pinches toasted sesame seeds (to finish)
fresh cilantro (around two Tablespoons to finish)
few shakes togarashi if you have it.
crushed sea salt to taste (not much)
fresh ground pepper to taste
optional non stick spray (I started the chicken in a regular fry pan that isn’t non stick)
optional ramen eggs to finish with.
Directions
Depending on the pan you are using you need to add a little oil or non stick spray and put your pan on high heat. The chicken only needs only a short time and you start pushing the pieces around so it browns all over. Maybe a total of two minutes to cook the chicken. Put the chicken to the side in a big bowl.
Add oil to the pan. Start frying up the harder vegetables till they are almost done. Remove them and add them to your bowl of chicken. Add the sauces and garlic and softer vegetables. Add them to bowl. Salt and pepper slightly or to taste. Serve it up and top with cilantro, sesame seeds, optional togarashi. Finish with ramen eggs if you already made them.
Ramen eggs are easy to prepare and are very delicious. Slow boil eggs for 7 minutes and then they go into ice bath. They need to marinate over night in equal parts of soy sauce mirin and water.
Stir Fried Chicken and Vegetables
Then when I threw this into a bowl to eat it looked like this.
I was watching chef Richard Blais on the Rachel Ray Show and all the food he made looked and sounded so delicious that I wanted to make it. This was during the coronavirus pandemic and I couldn’t make all his recipes yet but I was able to make his salsa verde and put it on a NY Strip Steak and a day or two latter but it on a salmon and IT WAS FORKING DELICIOUS! I didn’t have carrot tops to add to the recipe but even without the carrot tops it still was amazing. I also enjoy his restaurants. I loved my amazing meal I had at his restaurant in San Diego. I also liked his casual restaurant in Las Vegas called the Crack Shack. A special THANKS to chef Richard Blais for sharing this Forking Delicious Recipe.
ingredients for around 6 servings
1 teaspoon anchovy paste (I filled a teaspoon heaping with anchovies)
1 Tablespoon raisins (I used golden)
1 garlic clove (ground to paste or microplane)
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup fresh tarragon
1/4 cup carrot top greens (this I left out because I didn’t have)
1 Tablespoon fine chopped jalapeño
2 Tablespoons capers
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon – (just the fresh squeezed juice)
fresh crushed sea salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper too taste
Directions
Blend and add salt and pepper to taste.
How I made the steak. I salt and peppered it. added a small block of frozen olive oil and vacuum sealed it in a bag. Put it in a 130 degree sous vide machine for three hours. Dried it off with a paper towel (still had paper towels). Fried it in a pan with some canola oil at high heat about maybe a minute on all sides to sear and added salsa verde.
Both dogs were there but it was hard to get my bigger dog in the photo.
Richard Blais Salsa Verde on NY Strip Steak
We all Forking Enjoyed The Richard Blais Salsa Verde on the NY Strip and Latter on Salmon!
A special THANK YOU to chef Richard Blais for sharing his FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS DELICIOUS Salsa Verde recipe!
I was watching Rachel Ray and chef Richard Blais was on and he made a really nice, interesting and healthy chicken dinner. I made a few of his side dishes that are suppose to go with the chicken and each one was FORKING DELICIOUS! I highly recommend his tomato celery salad (would come out better with a leafy Chinese celery or you need like three celery for enough leaves)) I also recommend his salsa verde (best I ever tasted). My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. This made 6 – 4 oz dinners and two 3oz lunches for me.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 whole chicken (I used a fryer because that is all they sell here) (you need to remove the spine and spatchcock it)
1 Tablespoon fennel seeds
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 Tablespoon dried basil
1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 Tablespoon onion flakes
salt & pepper
2 Tablespoons butter (I used canola oil)
Directions
Set oven to 375 degrees F.
Blot off the chicken with a towel to dry it.
In a small mixing bowl add all the spices and coat chicken with the spices on both sides.
Heat up a fry pan with the butter on medium high.
Put the chicken skin side down in the pan for 5 minutes.
Remove from pan and place on a pan in oven till done.
Recipe reads 25-35 minutes but mine took 70 minutes….(I cooked it till it got to 170 in the thigh) … I’m thinking mine took longer because I didn’t flatten out the chicken enough…or maybe because my oven sucks????
AnyWHO – It came out FORKING DELICIOUS!
Richard Blais spatchcocked chickenRichard Blais Tomato Celery Leaf SaladRichard Blais Salsa Verde on NY Strip Steak
A special THANKS! to chef Richard Blais for sharing his Forking Delicious recipes!
To make Forking GREAT Untraditional Masa Matzah Balls you need to Achiote marinate and stew a chicken (4 pounds with skin and bone whole or parts). Stew it with herbs and vegetables. Then chill it over night in the refrigerator so you can scrape off the flavorful fat to make the delicious masa matzah balls. I had enough soup for maybe 4 bowls but after I cooked the masa matzah balls they drank up the soup and became amazing but I was left with only two bowls of soup. So it’s up to you…so you might want to cook off the balls in separate chicken broth so you have all that delicious soup. You will also have plenty of pulled chicken for around 4 dinners and two lunches. I must note that this recipe is not suitable for passover. I also note that my idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. The Masa Matzah Balls come out delicious fluffy and very flavorful. I made 4 large balls because that is the size they normally are but next time I think I’d make 8 smaller balls and freeze my leftovers for another time. This recipe make 4 large traditional sized masa Forking delicious masa matzah balls.
Ingredients for 4 servings (plus extra chicken)
4 lbs chicken with skin and bone (whole or parts)
1/2 achiote brick (half of 3.5 oz brick)
1 cup water
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice
1 lime – just the fresh squeezed juice
2 carrots – peeled, sliced or chopped
2 celery ribs – chopped
1 large onion = chopped
6 guero chili peppers (or any combination of hot and mild peppers)
13 garlic cloves – chopped
2 bay leaves
bunch fresh espazote (mine weighed .08 oz)
4 sprigs fresh mint
1 cup water
2 cups cilantro stems
4 chiltepin peppers – crushed
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground achiote (annatto)
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons matzah meal
1/4 cup corn masa flour (harina de maÃz)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 garlic clove – ground to paste or microplane
2 Tablespoons scallions – chopped
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon water
2 eggs beaten
2. 1/2 Tablespoons chicken fat
Directions
Heat up one cup of water and add the 1/2 brick of achiote lemon, lime juice, and oil. Let it cool. Then put your chicken in a gallon ziplock bag and add the achiote mixture. Squeeze all the air that you can out of the bag and zip it shut. Squish the liquid around the chicken. Let sit out one hour.
Set oven to 350 degrees F.
Get a big casserole dish or a buffet 1/2 pan and fill the pan with the carrots, celery, onion, peppers, garlic, bay leaves, epazote, mint, water and chiltepin peppers. Set to side.
Remove chicken from liquid and blot off.
in a small bowl combine the salt, garlic, black pepper, oregano, cumin and ground achiote. Rub this all over all sides of chicken. If you have a whole chicken stuff the cilantro stems in the cavity. If you are using parts get set then down in the middle of the filled pan so you can easily remove them later. Set the chicken or chicken parts over everything in the pan. Cover tightly with foil.
Cook till at least 165 degrees F too be safe to eat or up to 180 degrees F. Timing will differ. This usually takes 105-120 minutes. It can take longer.
When done remove the chicken and let sit out to cool and pull meat when cooled down. Refrigerate.
Remove and discard cilantro stems and bay leaves. Pour soup into a container. Leave on counter till it is cool and then refrigerate over night.
The next day you scrap off the fat for the masa matzah balls.
Set oven at 350 degrees F.
In a small to medium bowl combine the matzah meal, masa, baking powder, baking soda, garlic clove, scallions, salt, black pepper, water, egg and chicken fat. Mix well. This mixture needs to chill at least 20 minutes in the refrigerator.
The mixture will make 4 traditional sized large balls.
You can either cook the balls in half of the soup (but this uses up all the liquid) or you can cook the in additional chicken broth so you can keep the soup. After 30 minutes flip balls so that both sides are thoroughly cooked.
5 minutes before serving add some pulled chicken and top with fresh cilantro and some scallions.
Untraditional Masa Matzah Balls in Mexican Style Chicken Soup
I saw these Folios cheese wraps at Costco. This sounds like a commercial but I read on the package that they are 100% parmesan cheese so I thought they would be fun to play around with.
I made a cheese wrapped cheese steak with the partially cooked cheese slices.
I think it was pretty easy to prepare. The cheese slices are wrapped in parchment and then you bake them at 375 degrees F for 6 minutes. Let them cool and bend them in the shape you want and then fill them up.
Here’s the back of the package.
My husband wrapped eggs in cheese. (sorry I didn’t photo them)
He really liked the cheese steak!
I had fun cooking with the cheese wrap. Maybe you can too!
