Recipe Update

I have some recipes to share with you all, but before I do, I want to crab about this here blog-thing. 

I spent AGES writing a post about the holiday Daniel and I took in northern Idaho at the beginning of October.  I waxed lyrical, wrote witty photo captions, and selected some lovely photos to share. I previewed it to make sure everything was okay, hit the "publish" button, and then watched as most of it failed to publish... AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGH! 

Not only that, but I couldn't retrieve it.  There simply are not enough swear words....

It is probably out there in the ether somewhere at the moment feeling very lonely and scared, so if you see my post, could you please send it home?  Thanks.

In the meantime....

Here it is, The Best Turkey Recipe Ever.  There's a radio show over here called Splendid Table, and the recipe hails from their website.

I'm always a little nervous about cooking the Thanksgiving turkey.  I don't often roast things, and Thanksgiving is my favourite American holiday so I really don't want to stuff it up. I'm not sure this recipe is completely stuff-up proof, but I did manage to navigate it successfully and roast a bird that I was very, very pleased with.  I will warn you, though, it's time-consuming; so make sure you have plenty of said time before you commit yourself.

A few things I discovered: 

• The recipe itself is a little scattered, but it's not difficult to work out what is intended.  It's also fun to read, which is a nice change from all those terribly serious recipes out there.

• I had a 17-pound turkey, and the seasoning mix was a little more than I thought was really necessary.  It definitely seasoned the meat, though!

• Don't skip the gravy, but make sure you have a decent sized shallow tray to roast in.  Mine was a little small, and it took forever to reduce the stock down to the point where it became gravy.  The gravy itself doesn't need thickening; it's very, very rich and a little goes a long way, unless you're Daniel.

• When the recipe calls for lots of lemon, it means it.  I think that made all the difference to the seasoning.

• It doesn't have stuffing, but I'm sure you could add that yourself and adjust the cooking time accordingly.

I can safely say that it was the most tender, juiciest turkey I've ever had.  Daniel and Chris, both of whom have had more Thanksgivings than me, said it was the best turkey they'd ever had. Yay!  And it wasn't even a fancy turkey, just one from the supermarket.

Now I know it's hot over there, and stew is probably the last thing on your mind, but I also wanted to share this recipe with you from our friends at Taste.com: Catalan Beef Stew

Chocolate and orange in a stew; who'da thunk it? Apart from the Catalans, of course.

It is absolutely delicious, and this is from someone who thought she didn't really fancy stew all that much.  Pop it into your mental  filing system and drag it out the next time you get a yen for some stew.  You won't regret it.