Tip - Turkey Tips

Use a roasting pan with a rack, and cook your turkey upside down.

Start with the bird with the breast up, and cook it for about 25 minutes at about 400 degrees. Drop the heat to 325, open the oven, remove the turkey, and carefully flip it breast down. This is a good time to put a remote thermometer into the thigh or breast.

Put it back in the oven and finish cooking it upside down to ensure you get juicy white meat.

Tip - Glass Top Stove Care

Ever burn a serious amount of grease splatter right onto the heating element on your glass-top stove? Fun, right? I just went through this while making Chicken Marsala, and I tried a bunch of things to clean it.

The less-successful attempts were:
Soft Scrub (Which is what I normally use to clean the stove)
Soft Scrub with a Scotch-Brite (Which is what I normally use to clean the stove when it's filthy)
A Razor Blade (Not uncommon when the stove has a small spot of burnt-on grease)
A cleaner designed specifically for cleaning burnt-on grease from a glass cooktop (I'm not going to mention the name, because the produce was worthless)
Dish detergent left to sit on the grease for several hours
Some cussing (Didn't work, but helped my mood tremendously)

All of that failed. The only thing that seemed to make a dent was the razor blade. I poked around the kitchen and garage and found two things that worked, with very little effort and fantastic results:

A fresh razor blade.
A Mister Clean Magic Eraser.

That's it - nothing fancy. If you can't figure out how to make that work, put down the razor blade and don't play with stoves anymore.

Recipe - Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients:
12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cubed into 1" cubes. (Don't bother with white meat, the thighs are better here)

Marinade Ingredients:
1 Cup Plain Yogurt
1 Tsp. Chile Powder
1 Tbsp. Garlic Paste
2 Tbsp. Ginger Paste
2 Tsp. Cumin
1 Tbsp. Garam Masala
1 Tsp. Paprika
1/4 Tsp. Turmeric
1/2 Tsp. Ground Coriander
1/2 Oz. Lemon Juice
2-3 Pinches Salt

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl, whisk together, and add the chicken pieces.
Stir well to cover all the chicken and put in refrigerator, preferably overnight, but, for at least 8 hours.

Sauce Ingredients:
2 Onions, Chopped
1 Tbsp. Butter
2 Tbsp. Oil (Vegetable is fine)
1 Tbsp. Ginger Paste
1 Tbsp. Garlic Paste
1 Tsp. Cumin
1 Tsp. Ground Coriander
1 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Garam Masala
1 Tsp. Paprika
1/2 Tsp. Turmeric
1 Pint Heavy Cream
1 Cup Plain Yogurt
6 oz. Tomato Paste
Salt

Preparation:
Begin making the Sauce:
Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan or chef's pan. Once heated, add the onions and a pinch of salt, and caramalize the onions.
Get the Heavy Cream ready, and add the Garlic and Ginger pastes to the onions. As soon as the pastes begin to stick to the bottom of the pan, add the heavy cream, then, the rest of the ingredients.
Stir well, and then stir occasionally while you cook the chicken.

Cooking the chicken:
There are several ways to accomplish this. The tastiest way by far is to grill the chicken. In the past, I've skewered the chicken pieces and grilled them. Great flavor, however, quite time consuming.

Alternately, a large skillet will suffice, however, don't crowd the pieces in the skillet, as they'll end up boiled instead of pan-seared, and you'll lose the marinade. As the chicken finishes cooking, add it to the sauce.

Another method that works quite well is using a clamshell grill. It's fast, maintains the marinade on the chicken, and is easy to clean up afterward. Again, once the chicken finishes cooking, add it to the sauce

Once all the chicken is combined with the sauce, cook over low heat for an additional 15 minutes or so to let the flavors incorporate.

Plating:
Serve with or over saffron-infused rice, and with naan.

You're going to need:
Aside from the spices, nothing special.

Serves:
4-6, easily.

Tool - Jerky Shooter

Picked this tool up at Gander Mountain.

It's a Guide Series Jerky Shooter, and its advertised capacity is 1 1/2 pounds of ground meat, although, I find it holds a bit more than that.

I adapted a stuffing horn from a small grinder to fit the collar on the end, and find that this is much faster and much more controllable than using the grinder to stuff sausages.

Once you're in the groove, it takes about two minutes to prepare, stuff, and tie off a 1-pound ring of sausage.

Recipe - 24 Hour Pickles

These are nice and crisp, and easy to make.

Ingredients:
2 Quarts Water
1 1/2 Cups White or Apple Cider Vinegar
1/3 Cup Salt
1/4 Cup Sugar
2 or 4 Garlic Cloves, Chopped
1 Cup (or more) Fresh Dill
1 Tsp. Mustard Seed
Cucumbers, Cut or Sliced to taste

Preparation:
Wrap the Dill and Mustard Seed in Cheesecloth, this will allow you to avoid straining the brine and adding more garlic later on. If you don’t have cheesecloth, double the amount of garlic.

Bring the Water, Vinegar, Sugar and Salt to a boil; boil 3 minutes, then remove from heat.

Add the Dill/Mustard Seed Packet and Garlic, and allow mix to cool.

Once cool, remove the packet with the Dill and Seeds, or if you didn’t use cheesecloth, strain the mixture into another container and add more garlic.

Put cucumbers in a Glass or Plastic container, and pour the cooled liquid over them. Let stand unrefrigerated for 24 hours. After 24 hours, refrigerate pickles.

You're Going to Need:
Container(s) for the pickles.

Serves:
Makes about 3 jars of pickles.

Recipe - Rigatoni Aglio E Olio

Ingredients:
1 lb. Uncooked Rigatoni
6-8 Cloves Garlic, Sliced
4-6 Leaves Fresh Basil, Chiffonaded
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Water
Grated Parmesan Cheese

Preparation:
Bring a pot of water to a boil and salt the water. Add the Rigatoni.
Once the pasta is almost done cooking, heat about 4 Tbsp. Olive Oil in a skillet.
Once the oil is hot, add about 2 Tbsp. of sliced garlic, brown, but don't burn.
When the pasta is finished cooking, drain, and add a portion's worth of cooked pasta to the skillet.
Toss quickly to prevent the pasta from sticking, and then add about 1/4 cup water, and a small pinch of basil.
Toss again, and serve, topping with a little bit of grated Parmesan cheese.

You're going to need:
A Stock Pot
A Skillet

Serves:
4

Recipe - Gazpacho with Avocado and Crab

Ingredients:
4 Heirloom Tomatoes - Rough Chopped
2 Large Cucumbers, Skinned and Rough Chopped
3 Cloves Garlic
1 Cup Fresh Cilantro
1/2 tsp. Ground Cumin
1/2 tsp. Fennel Seed, ground
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Lime, juiced
6 Oz. Lump Crab
1 Avocado
9-10 Fresh Basil Leaves
Kosher Salt
Cayenne Pepper

Preparation:
Blend the Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Garlic, Cilantro, Cumin, Ground Fennel Seed, Olive Oil, and Lime Juice until smooth. Taste and season with Salt and/or Cayenne Pepper. Chill.

Before serving, prepare the Avocado, Crab, and Basil -
1. Chiffonade the basil.
2. Drain the crab and remove and cartilage or shell. Lightly salt and toss with some extra virgin olive oil.
3. Halve the Avocado, and remove the pit. Using a small knife, cut thin slices lengthwise, but, don't cut through the skin.
4. Fan the avocado slices around the side of the bowl, ladle in some gazpacho, and top with the seasoned crab and a small ball of basil.

You're going to need:
A fairly respectable blender
An old coffee grinder or mortal and pestle (for the spices)

Serves:
4-6, comfortably