Try this surprise smoothie for an on-the-go breakfast that's packed with the nutrients of hearty greens but tastes like a perfect blend of fruit.
The technique: Rub the bird with an herbal, citrusy salt mixture and let it chill overnight. As the turkey sits, the salt draws moisture to the skin. During roasting, the flavorful liquid seasons the meat and keeps it moist.
The payoff: A superjuicy bird with crisp, browned skin.
Yield: Makes 8 to 10 servings
Active Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 21 hours 45 minutes (includes salting and roasting time)
Too many cooks give up at the end of a Thanksgiving meal and resort to canned cranberry sauce. That’s a shame. It’s surprisingly easy to create a simple cranberry sauce that looks and tastes nothing like the canned version. Here’s what we discovered:The standard back-of-the-bag recipe is a little soupy. Cranberries contain a lot of water, and cutting down on the additional liquid yields the ideal consistency.
Too many cooks give up at the end of a Thanksgiving meal and resort to canned cranberry sauce. That’s a shame. It’s surprisingly easy to create a simple cranberry sauce that looks and tastes nothing like the canned version. Here’s what we discovered:The standard back-of-the-bag recipe is a little soupy. Cranberries contain a lot of water, and cutting down on the additional liquid yields the ideal consistency.
Adding cranberries to an apple pie can result in out-of-balance flavors. Cranberries in an apple pie can overwhelm the subtle perfume of the apples and shed a lot of liquid, making for a soggy bottom crust. We wanted to find a way to combine these two classic fall fruits so that the full flavor of both came through and the crust remained crisp. Cooking the cranberries with a little sugar in a saucepan allowed the berries to completely break down (whole berries delivered a sour burst in the mouth) and the cranberry juice to thicken, eliminating the soggy crust.
A confession: Every Thanksgiving I cringe (I hope not enough for others at the table to notice) when the inevitable dish of marshmallow-topped or otherwise candied sweet potatoes appears. Sweet potatoes possess such an individual, earthy sweetness of their own, I can’t help but wonder why cooks push it into overdrive? Here is a recipe that gives Thanksgiving sweet potatoes a slight spin, keeping the sweetness in check with savory and piquant complements: black beans and radishes in a salad.
A confession: Every Thanksgiving I cringe (I hope not enough for others at the table to notice) when the inevitable dish of marshmallow-topped or otherwise candied sweet potatoes appears. Sweet potatoes possess such an individual, earthy sweetness of their own, I can’t help but wonder why cooks push it into overdrive? Here is a recipe that gives Thanksgiving sweet potatoes a slight spin, keeping the sweetness in check with savory and piquant complements: fresh ginger and chili pepper in a spicy dish with tomato.
Some people say that the best part of a big roast turkey is that it lasts: not just the meat, but the bones, which you can simmer into something wonderful the next day. If you’re a small group for the feast, you can make a boneless breast, but when it’s gone, it’s gone. Or you can roast a half breast on the bone and when the celebration is over, the fun begins. In this case, the breast roasts over a bed of butternut squash, red onions, and russet potatoes.
Some people say that the best part of a big roast turkey is that it lasts: not just the meat, but the bones, which you can simmer into something wonderful the next day. If you’re a small group for the feast, you can make a boneless breast, but when it’s gone, it’s gone. Or you can roast a half breast on the bone and when the celebration is over, the fun begins. In this case, the breast roasts over a bed of butternut squash, red onions, and russet potatoes.
You can use peeled butternut squash, if you like; allow 45 minutes only for the initial baking.