Saw a recipe for a bizarro variation on the lovely and wonderful Monte Cristo sandwich yesterday. The variation sounded like a sodium overload and hence, a stroke on a plate. Bt it did make me crave the classic Monte Cristo. Ran down to the bang 'n' Dent and picked up some turkey and provolone -- had everything else. 3 sandwiches later, I think my Monte Cristo cravings may be sated for a bit.

My Monte Cristo (not that gawd-awful batter-dipped deep-fried monstrosity from Memories Grill in Rio Rancho... *shudder*). 

Turkey Soup

Okay, wazzup with the men I live with? Vegetables are anathema. Which exxplains how it is that I made a bitchin' turkey noodle soup with my turkey carcass -- and no one ate any of it except moi. After about a week, I was well sick of it despite its inherent deliciousness. Tired of looking at the pot and attempting to imagine how long it would take me, by myself, to consume a gallon of it, I decided to bundle it up and take it to my mother's house.

I got over there, soup in arm, and told her she could freeze whatever didn't get eaten right away. Then she told me that earlier this week when she went to visit my aunt Sammie, she was also gifted with leftover turkey soup. She was gracious about it, however, and pretended to be pleased.

Turkey Noodle Soup

1 turkey carcass
2 onions, chopped
2 celery ribs (include leafy ends) chopped
1 16 ounce bag of frozen peas and carrots
8 oz pasta of your choice (I'm fond of multi-hued rotini)

Fill a large pot with enough water to cover the carcass. Place over high heat. Upon boilage, reduce heat to low and simmer until the bejesus is cooked out of the meat and it falls off the bone. Turn off heat and allow to cool.

Separate bones from skin and meat. I put the skin in one pile to go in the dog's dish and dispose of the bones. Puppy girl loves me now -- at least until her next bath or manicure. Place meat back in the cooking water and bring back to a simmer.

Place onions and celery in the pot.  About 15 minutes prior to serving, add pasta and peas and carrots.

Freeze leftovers.
Servings: small army

My Favorite Thanksgiving Memory

(cross posted to my other blog InkPaperWords and OpenSalon)

This was several years ago, when I was a single mom with 2 kids living outside Albuquerque. I wasn't making much but AOL, my employer at the time, was handing out turkeys to employees. So I picked up mine and straightaway began dreaming of all the leftovers I would make out of this huge sucker -- turkey sandwiches, turkey pot pie, turkey mole enchiladas...

My younger brat was just a toddler then (he's 16 now), and had a bad habit of leaving doors (front entry, back yard, refrigerator, whatever, it didn't matter to him). The big day came and went and the three of us feasted. The carcass was summarily parked in the frig to be attended to later.

Later that afternoon, I came into the kitchen and discovered the refrigerator door open. I knew who the culprit was. As I went to close the door, I noticed the turkey was not in the frig. We had 2 dogs at the time and I can just envision the scene:

Brat leaves door open, dogs discover turkey. Dogs drag carcass to the backyard, where they proceeded to have their own Thanksgiving feast.

All that remained of my hopes and dreams for leftovers was naught but a grease spot on the tile floor in front of the refrigerator.

Turkey Day ... and Beyond

I hadn't planned on doing a turkey since my mom invited us over to her place for ham. I ended up getting one anyway because I love turkey and besides -- they're on sale! I love the leftovers and salivate whilst dreaming about them.

Today I roasted the bird. Wasn't terribly sure what I'd do with it. The last few years I've been intrigued by both the brining and deep frying concepts, but both seem like I'd have to go get specialized equipment and I don't want to bother. As for the deep frying, I don't even deep fry chicken because it A) makes a mess and B) uses too much oil.

Anyhoo, here's what I did. I started with a mash up of Ina Garten's recipe for alleged "Perfect Roast Turkey" and Giada de Laurentiis' citrus-stuffed bird. Except I had grapefruit, not oranges and did not feel like making a special trip to the store. So I quartered half the grapefruit, a lemon and onion and halved a head of garlic to stuff the cavity.

Then I rubbed olive oil over the outside and made a rub of salt, pepper, chilè con limón, oregano and cayenne. It smelled like grocery store barbecue rotisserie chicken while it was roasting. End result: moist, juicy meat, flavorful crispy skin. I can hardly wait for the enchiladas!

Oh, and about Mom's -- Honey whipped up some bread dough out of which I made Parmesan-topped bow knots. Also took a bag o' salad and a batch of my very own Cranberry Crisp Bars (recipe follows).

Cranberry Crisp Bars

Crust:
1 c flour
1\2 c cold butter
1\2 c finely chopped walnuts (I didn't have any walnuts so I used oatmeal instead and it was fine)

Cut butter into flour and nuts until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Press evenly into the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Filling:
1 15 ounce can of whole berry cranberry sauce

Spread the cranberry sauce over the warm baked crust.

Topping:
1 c old fashioned rolled oats
3\4 c flour
3\4 c brown sugar
1\2 softened butter

Combine topping ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over cranberry layer and continue baking 30 more minutes. Cool.

Makes 16 servings.