Turkey. Sigh.

I don't know about you, but I just get so tired of coming up with dinner. Which is kind of stupid, because, well, I write a blog about it, but what can I say, I'm human. Yesterday, trolling the Whole Foods, feeling both bored and poor, I stumbled across turkey cutlets. We are mighty tired of chicken, I thought, and tossed them in the cart. Fine. Whatever .

But turkey isn't that different from chicken, is it. And once home, staring at those turkey cutlets - while they were inexpensive - I felt so thoroughly uninspired I almost tossed them in the freezer and called the pizza guy. Except we just had pizza on Sunday - and I was bored of that too. I'm just bored of everything. Perhaps it's the weather. Bored. Bored. Bored. Aren't you bored of this post already? - I know I am. Perhaps I should just get to the dinner I made, because, while I was in quite a sad and sorry state of ennui when I came up with it - it did turn out nicely. And even though I sighed throughout the meal, Smith and the girls liked it a lot - plates were cleaned and seconds were asked for. And it was easy easy easy to make. Which was good because it gave me more time to drape myself over the divan and sigh...

Turkey Cutlets with Red wine Mushroom Sauce

Served, 4 (2 of em, kids -- for most families, this would serve 2 - so feel free to double the amount of turkey - but we are cheapskates and pile our plates with sides to make up for the lack of meat)

4 Turkey cutlets

sea salt to taste

pepper to taste

1 TBLSP of olive oil, or 1 TBLSP of butter or a combo of both

12 (or so) cremini mushrooms * (see below)

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup red wine (Used a tasty Zinfandel called "The Zin" which is on sale at the State store)

1 or 2 table spoons of half and half, or milk or if you don't have either a bit more of butter

So, wash and pat your turkey cutlets dry. If you don't dry them they won't brown, so do not skip that step, although I am often tempted to do so. Salt and pepper the cutlets on both sides.

Wipe the dirt off the mushrooms and cut them into thicks slices. Preheat your skillet. When it's nice and hot swirl in the oil, then toss in the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper, and cook until the mushrooms are brown on both sides. You'll need to do this in two batches, because as Julia Child said (and Julie Powell learned) the mushrooms won't brown if they are too crowded. When the mushrooms are browned and cooked through, slide them onto a plate and wipe out the skillet.

Preheat the skilled again, and once it's hot toss in more oil or butter (or combo - if butter is being used, let it get frothy). Meanwhile, dump the flour into a pie plate and dredge each cutlet through it, knocking off the excess before placing it in the skillet. Don't crowd the meat either - nothing browns in a crowded pan. Do this in batches if you have a small pan (like I do) and keep what's been cooked warm -- I like to put a cookie cooling rack in a 195 degree oven and put the cooked cutlets on the rack. Doing this prevents the loss of crispiness.

When the cutlets have been cooked, raise the heat a bit and pour the broth and wine into the pan. Scrape up brown bits, reduce a minute then add the cooked mushrooms and the cream. Adjust the seasoning, it might need pepper, or it might not. Serve IMMEDIATELY - or the whole thing will get soggy.

It helps to have made the sides before you cook the Turkey. I boiled up some egg noodles and some frozen peas. The sauce was awesome on the noodles.

And, no, my children did NOT eat the mushrooms, which was fine: more for Smith and me.

**- you can also soak dried mushrooms in about 1/2 cup of boiling water. After the mushrooms have reconstituted, take them out, squeeze them dryish and strain the water they soaked in through a paper towel. You can use the mushroom water in place of the chicken broth for a more mushroomy taste

Leftover Pie

I don’t mean pie that’s been left over, I mean leftovers baked INTO PIE. Well, pie crust. How could anyone say no to that? Not my children. Mad wandered into the kitchen, scanned what I was making for dinner and actually said, “That looks good.” And Em managed to eat almost half before declaring she was full. Well, in my mind, those ringing endorsements certainly meant this was a blog-worthy dinner.

I stole got the idea from Cooks Illustrated who made speedy beef empanadas by using Pillsbury Pie crust - which I like a lot and believe is the closest you can come to fresh pie crust without cutting all that butter into flour.

This exciting leftover meal originated last Sunday. Sunday was the final day of Winter Break, and almost Epiphany, which is, apparently, the 12th day of Christmas (did you know that annoying song is about the 12 days AFTER Christmas? I did not until I heard it on NPR, which is where I get most of my education these days) -- and I’m a big believer in drawing special occasions out as long as possible. (For instance, I firmly celebrate the birthday week). (Apparently, I’m also a big believer in the parenthetical.)

So, in an effort to draw Christmas out to its absolute last day, I made a big dinner of everyone’s favorite comfort food: Turkey Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes. We had candles, and wine glasses filled with orange cream soda - ok, Smith and I had a nice red Zinfandel - I fired up the Christmas music one more time, and after dinner we lit candles in the fireplace and opened one last present each. It was really nice. Our girls sat with us for a full ten minutes after the present opening before dashing off to their respective electronic devices, and then Smith and I drank a bit of 12 year old Scotch and watched the candle flames flicker until the dog managed to swipe an un-rinsed dinner plate off the counter, and we had to rush into the kitchen and pull bits of china from her jaw. Good times.

I'd made a huge meatloaf thinking people would eat it for lunches -- nothing better than a cold meatloaf sandwich with extra ketchup -- then somehow, no one did eat if for lunch, and I realized that if I didn’t do something else with those leftovers soon it would go bad and there is nothing I hate more than throwing out something that could have been made into something else (hence, my packed attic, but that’s an entirely different story.)

But after seeing the empanadas, I suddenly thought, I could chop up the meatloaf and reheat it with the mashed potatoes then wrap it up in pie dough. I just threw the meatloaf, potatoes, as well as several 1/4 bags of vegetables I had lying around the freezer, along with a tablespoon or so of Ketchup and a 1/4 cup or so of chicken broth, into my cast iron skillet and stirred everything around until it was hot. Then I cut the 2 pie crusts in half, placed them on a parchment lined cookie sheets, and plonked a spoonful of my turkey mixture in the center of each and sprinkled it with some shredded cheddar. I closed up the pies by folding them over into little triangles, dampening and smooshing the edges together to make a pocket. Then I baked them at 400 degrees for about 24 minutes. (See pictures below - it will all become clear)

One little pie for each member of the family, like a little present left to open. See? I can make Christmas stretch as long as I want to, baby.

How to Cook a Chicken

It's actually roast a chicken, but I couldn't resist the MFK Fisher reference. Anyway - I know you've missed me. We had a bunch of family things, plus a pile of birthday/Thanksgiving/Christmas stress and I took a little break from blogging here - now, I'm back - and I roasted an awesome chicken the other day that I want to tell you about.

But first, a little story:

So, several years ago I had this friend (who has since moved far far away), with whom I had an ongoing conversation about chicken. We wanted the ultimate crispy skin, tender meat, not dry, not under cooked. She was all about pan searing the bird before sticking it in the oven - which for me (as anyone who has read this blog on a regular basis knows) is just WAY TOO MUCH WORK. Plus, an extra pan to wash. I don't think so.

At the time I was in love with Barbara Kafka's book Roasting - which is all about cooking things at 500 degrees. Which we tried. Great crispy skin, although the meat was a little drier than I would have liked. However, I also had (and still have) a crappy kitchen fan which was louder than the tarmac at La Guardia the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. So, even though the 500 degree method was easier than pre-pan-searing, it was either a whole house stinking of roast chicken for three days, or requiring everyone in it to pop in a pair of Hearos. It also required me to clean the oven after roasting. Yeah, like that is going to happen.

Others told us stories (perhaps apocryphal) of people roasting their birds upright on beer cans, or on specially made devices that look like beer cans, but we never got around to trying that before she moved away, far far away, and I went back to baking chickens in a 350 oven because tender meat was more important to my family than crispy skin.

It’s a terrible story: one that has been haunting me chicken after chicken... so many chickens...

At one point, I did improve upon my baked chicken when I stole got the bright idea of cutting the back out of the chicken before cooking it, which greatly reduces the amount of time it takes a bird to roast. Which I have been doing for years and which everyone likes.

Until, suddenly, last Sunday, I thought, OMG why not roast, at a very high heat, for a very short time, then bake the damn thing until it is perfect! It was like a light shone down from heaven and illuminated the pale little plucked chicken before me. Angels sang (although I did have my friend John Treacy Egan’s Christmas cd playing on the ipod so perhaps I was confused...)

I roasted that chicken at 500 for 15 minutes, then dropped the whole thing down to 350 for about 40 -- And it was: Perfect. Crispy, juicy, and it’s only taken me five years to come to this. Five years, when you all probably figured out what I was heading towards in my first few paragraphs. When many of you have, most likely, been roasting your chickens in this very manner for ever. It’s just so obvious, yet for me, so very elusive. I have no excuse.

I’d post pictures, except I don’t have any because we all ate the chicken so fast I’ve got nothing but carcass. Plus, if I waited to roast another chicken (which I might do tomorrow, but still...) I’d probably never post this chickeny story, and those of you whom I see on a regular basis would still be asking me when I’m ever going to post again.

Here's my method:

1 lovely chicken (get mine from Whole Foods - its usually about 3lbs)

2 stalks of celery

2 fat carrots

1 onion, cut in half and peeled

olive oil

sea salt or kosher salt

1/4 to 1/2 cup chicken broth (optional)

Preheat the oven to 500.

Wash your bird, dry it thoroughly, then flip it over and cut out the back using sharp sheers or a boning knife. Flip it back over and press down on it to flatten it some. Rub oil, salt and pepper over the whole thing, front and back. Then, in a low sided roasting pan, create a little rack with the celery and the carrots - lining them up next to each other and putting the chicken, breast side up, on top. Tuck the onion halves under the bird.

Stick it in the oven, put the timer on for 15 minutes (20 if it was a pretty big bird) - turn the fan on and endure the noise - or your children will complain the house stinks every time you walk into it for the next week.

When the timer goes off, turn the oven down to 350. Pull the bird out and - if you have it - pour the chicken broth over it. Stick the bird back in the oven and roast for 20 min. Pull it out and bast with pan juices (you don't have to do any of this, I just like to do it and think it improves the flavor of the skin - but everything will be fine if you don't). Put the bird back in for another 20 minutes. Take it out and check it - you can either slice it at the thigh and look to see if the juices are running clear, or you can stick a meat thermometer in the fat part of the thigh and be sure it hits between 160 and 165 degrees.

When it's done, take the bird out and resist the urge to dig right in -- tent it with foil (so you don't steam out any of the crispiness of the skin) and let it sit as long as you can -- between 7 and 10 minutes is about all I can stand. I usually spend this time making a salad or some sort of vegetable.

This bird is a beautiful thing - I suggest you volunteer to put away any leftovers so you can stand at the counter and surreptitiously stuff into your mouth what ever is left of the skin.

Because I'm a Moron

I haven't been writing much in the "blogosphere" (I really hate that word) lately because I signed up to write a 50,o00 word "novel" (and I use the word loosely, very very loosely) in one month with NaNoWriMo. So far, it's week 2 and I have 7,000 words. Not enough, obviously. I should have at least 12,000 if I ever hope to finish. The good news is that I work well under pressure. The good news for my family is that because I have been fairly preoccupied I've been hammering out tried and true recipes - things I don't even have to think about to make for dinner. The good news for YOU, dear readers, is that one of those recipes is turkey chili which I made a couple weeks ago to feed some Halloween revelers, and which I made recently for my sister and her kids, all of whom are suffering from the dreaded H1N1. (is it just me, or does H1N1 remind anyone else of the word heinie?- is that how you even spell heinie? Smith thinks its hynie -- my spell check has no idea - ok, clearly I am sleep deprived. This is what attempting to write a novel in 30 days does to you. Ok. Moving on.)

So, turkey chili. Very easy, very delicious, and my favorite kind of recipe because you just dump into it all sorts of things you have hanging about your refrigerator. I made it two slightly different ways: in one I used a link of turkey kielbasa and in the other, because Whole Foods was out of turkey kielbasa, I used this Tuscan sausage they made. I liked the kielbasa better.

Serves 4-6 - (easily doubled)

3 TLBSP of olive oil

1 onion diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

1 carrot diced

1 or 2 cloves of garlic either pressed or sliced (you decide!)

1 -2 TLBSP of taco seasoning (either buy a packet or make your own - click here for my recipe)

1/4 lb of ground dark meat or thigh meat turkey (* see note below)

1/4 lb of ground white meat or breast turkey

1 or 2 links of turkey kielbasa or any other type of turkey sausage you think would work (some sliced chrorizo would be awesome - though too spicy for my kids)

1 can of beans drained and rinsed - I like black beans, pinto, or white beans

1 14ounce can of whole tomatoes

1TLBSP of tomato paste

salt and pepper to taste throughout

Cilantro or parsley, coarsely chopped (optional)

jalapenos (optional)

sour cream (optional)

Heat a dutch oven over medium high flame and swirl in 2 TLBS of olive oil then add onions. Cook onions until almost translucent, add celery and carrots and let cook for a bit - until they soften some (10 min or so) stirring so they don't burn or stick. Sprinkle some of the taco seasoning over everything and cook another minute or so.

Take everything out of dutch oven and reserve, swirl in your last TLBSP of oil then when oil is hot, add all the ground turkey and cook over medium heat. While this is cooking you can either saute the whole sausage in another pan with a little water and oil then slice it when it's browned and add to chili after you add the beans, OR, remove sausage casing and add it to the ground meat RIGHT NOW. Either ways is yummy.

When the turkey is almost cooked (don't cook it completely through or it will be tough later) add the beans, tomatoes with the juices, the tomato paste and the rest of the taco seasoning. Put the vegetables back in the pot. Give it a taste and see if it needs salt and pepper - add to taste. If you sauteed the sausage, add it now.

Let all this simmer down until you like the way it looks. If you want a thicker chili add another can of beans and adjust the seasoning.

* You can also use leftover turkey (THANKSGIVING ALERT!) - just chunk it up and toss it in after the vegetables have cooked a bit - you don't have to remove the vegetables. Add the tomatoes right away. I've also thrown in some baby spinach, or a frozen pack of peas, or some chopped kale or swiss chard which you can saute with the vegetables.

To serve, put it in a bowl with a little sour cream, jalapenos and chopped cilantro sprinkled on top. Or, if you prefer to tell your kids it's a taco, warm some taco shells and plonk the chili in - the kids will eat it up.

This is easy and filling and something even a moron like me who agrees to write a novel in one month (ONE MONTH!) can pull off . I've been a little shouty in the this post, I can't help it, I'm SLEEP DEPRIVED.

Melissa - This One's For You!

We had an excellent Halloween this year. Which is especially wonderful because Halloween for us almost always goes sour: trick or treating plans don't work out, or the "you need a coat/I don't need a coat" fight goes nuclear, or the costume (despite a certain amount of parental nagging) isn't what it was imagined it would be. There are ALWAYS tears. But not this year - this year I took it all in hand and invited the parents and kids my kids had plans with. We had wings (which I made, but which didn't have nearly enough kick, so I'll save that recipe for later) and cheesy bread Mark and Barry brought, and a very yummy guacamole/salsa thing from Laura. She even went the extra step of creating a spider's web out of her dip. It was very cute, and I wish I'd taken a picture. So we ate, and drank red wine or Guinness (the kids had apple cider mixed with ginger ale) and we hung out so long it began to rain before we got out the door, so I had to race back for umbrellas and coats, and then everyone was back inside of an hour, but no one cared, and in fact parents were happy because that meant less candy, and the kids sat on the floor and traded for their favorites, and the grown ups had more red wine or Guinness and talked about Scientology and how creepy Tom Cruise is and Melissa said, I loved your Cauliflower soup recipe, but I kept looking for the actual recipe and it wasn't there. And indeed it wasn't, because I got a little lazy that day, and never actually wrote out the recipe, so here it is, because Melissa got one of those nifty hand blenders and she's itching to use it and this is the perfect recipe with which to try out a new hand blender.

Potato, Leek and Roasted Cauliflower Soup

1 head of cauliflower, roughly chopped into pieces that are about the same size

Olive oil

Sea salt

1 leek, or one small onion, or some scallions or a couple of shallots, chopped

3 potatoes, diced into 1 inch pieces

2 fresh sage leaves

Leaves from 3 thyme stalks

3 to 4 cups of chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste (I use sea salt, always)

1 lemon, cut in half

Set your oven to 450 degrees. Toss your cauliflower with a spin of olive oil and sever good sized pinches of sea salt, then layer on a parchment lined cookie sheet and roast until golden bu still crispy, about 10 - 15 min. (You'll have to eyeball this because I don't remember how long I cooked this - 15 min sounds right)

Meanwhile, heat up a large dutch oven or stock pot on your range and then swirl in some more olive oil, (about 1 tblsp of olive oil and half a tblsp of unsalted butter) Toss in the leeks and the sage and cook until soft. Season with a small pinch of salt and a good amount of pepper (if your family likes pepper). Add the potatoes and thyme and cook for a minute or two. Add your chicken stock and simmer until the potatoes are almost tender - about 10 minutes. By this time your cauliflower should be done, so toss that into the stock pot, and squeeze 1/2 of a lemon into the soup. If you plan to puree this soup, take it off the heat and let it rest a bit. Obviously letting it cool makes it safer to puree, but I always let soup rest because Lydia Bastianich (See Lydia's Italian-American Table) says to let soup rest and I always do as Lydia asks.

Once you're pureed your soup, taste it and adjust seasonings. You may need more salt, or more pepper or another squeeze of lemon juice.

This is very yummy soup - feel free to leave it unblended, or to roast broccoli instead of the cauliflower, or to toss in some already roasted chicken, or a nice sliced pre-cooked turkey kielbasa.