Recipe on Monday - Apple-glazed Turkey with Herbs

Apple-glazed Turkey with Herbs

This savory herb filling will surely enhance your turkey for the holiday table. In its part sweet apple glaze is a snap to cook and has a really delicious and original taste.

1 turkey
1/2 cup butter
2 onions, chopped
1 large carrot, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 cups bread crumbs
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

For the glaze:

1/2 cup apple jelly

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.    Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat. Add breadcrumbs and mix well, then add thyme, parsley, sage, salt and pepper and mix the mass. Pour in broth and fluff gently.

2.    Heat oven to 400 F. Remove giblets and neck from cavity. Fill the large turkey cavity and the smaller neck cavity, if you have enough stuffing. In the case you want to cook the stuffing separately, put in the oven 40-50 minutes before the turkey will be ready.

3.    Roast turkey about 2-2 1/2 hours. Then cover it with foil and, reduce the heat and continue cooking 30-40 minutes more.

4.    Melt apple jelly in a pot. Combine with cinnamon, pepper and salt and mix thoroughly. Brush turkey with apple glaze and cook about 3-5 minutes without foil until it’s browned.

5.    Take the turkey out, cover with foil and let rest for half an hour before carving.

Herbal Holiday Decorating Ocasional Series part 2 or 5

I enjoy using herbs for seasonal decorations.  I love certain herbs and how their scents enhance holiday and event experiences.  This season I wanted to share a few of my favorite herbie holiday ideas, which includes food and beverage recipes as well as decorating tips and gifts that use herbs.  This is Part 2 in an occasional Series of 5, to read part 1 on Herb Scented Dough, click here.

One of the downsides of living in Zone 5 is that certain plants are not capable of wintering over outside.  One of those is Rosemary.  Rosemary also does not do well in a dry environment.  So usually you bring in the plant and it dies in January because running the heat dries out the air and the lack of humidity kills the Rosemary.  My solution to this problem is water my rosemary every day from the bottom while the pot sits on a tray filled with pebbles.  If I plan to travel during the holiday and won’t be home to water daily, I cut the plant and use the sprigs to scent my Christmas cards.  In the language of flowers rosemary is for remembrance, so when I remember my family and friends with an annual holiday card rosemary is a perfect item to include and the pine-like scent makes it even better.

Christmas Gift Tags

Speaking of Christmas cards, one of my favorite things to do with those I received in years previous is to make scented gift tags for this year’s gifts.  I craft or purchase a potpourri, then trim the cards into playful shapes and seal the edges with craft glue or double stick tape, leaving one small opening for adding the potpourri.  Once the card is filled, I seal the opening.  When the glue is dry I punch a hole in a corner, thread it with ribbon and using a permanent marker, I write the names of gift recipient on the face.  Tied to the gift they make an additional gift themselves which can be slipped into a drawer or boot.

Garland of Mittens

I don’t know about you, but my hall closet seems to be populated with several seasons of unpaired mittens and gloves.  I kept trying to throw them away, but I would convince myself that might find the other half of a pair if I just waited.  Finally instead of delaying, I turned them into decorations.  I created a garland by pinning them to a red scarf to create a swag, then filled them with potpourri. I hung them across the front door so you brushed them as you entered the house everyday.  Here is a photograph of last year’s garland.  This year I am going to add a few colorful  thrift store mittens and encircle the door.

Scented items

Scented items are an easy way to enjoy the holiday.  Something I enjoy making, which is also rather easy, is a cinnamon stick hotplate.  It makes a great gift, especially when coupled with a tea pot or kettle.  Try making this for the upcoming season and see if you don’t get hooked too!

Cinnamon Stick Hotplate

Cut a 6” x 6” square of luan or plywood (about ¼” thick) using 3-inch cinnamon sticks, glue the sticks into a checkerboard pattern with white clear-drying craft glue or silicone glue (do not use hot glue.)  Felt feet on the bottom are nice too.  When used as a hot plate it releases a great cinnamon scent.

This is an occasional series, which means I will not be putting it up at the same time every week, but if you miss it, you can search for it under "Holiday" to find all five posts.  I still have more recipes and hand-crafted gift ideas, so stop back.

And for those who enjoy spiced cider, hot chocolate and spiced teas check out our holiday listings in our e-store:  www.backyardpatch.etsy.com

Holiday Decorating Occasional Series part 1 of 5 - Scented Dough

The contributors and members of The Essential Herbal yahoo group have been discussing and trying to locate recipes for Herb Bowls.  We eventually located a description that included powdered spices.  That put me to thinking of two ways that I had been using to make scented ornaments that might also be used to create these bowls.  So to start my winter decoration and gift giving series I decided to share those recipes.  You can make them as either ornaments or bowls as the recipes create rich and seasonally scented items, that if stored properly can last several years.

Recipe One - Herbal Dough

This first is a non-edible Herb dough that can be rolled and cut with cookie cutters to make ornaments and also formed around a shape to make bowls.

Herbal Dough Ornaments

(Non-edible)

2 cups bleached (white) flour

3/4 to 1 cup steeped Cinnamon Spice Tea *

1/4 cup Salt

2 T. Cinnful Dessert Blend *

1 T. powdered orris root

Ground and whole cloves, nutmeg, and allspice

Food coloring, if desired

Boil water and steep tea for three to five minutes one bag of Cinnamon Spice Tea.  Then mix the flour, tea, salt, dessert blend, and orris root.  Mix well.  The final product will be uneven shades of beige, tan, and off-white.  At this time, you may wish to divide into several batches for tinting with food coloring.  Form the dough into 2” diameter balls by rolling between your hands or against a non-stick counter top.  OR roll flat and utilize your favorite cookie cutters to make festive shapes.

Sprinkle the ground cloves, nutmeg and allspice, either combined or separate, into a flat dish. Roll the balls in the ground spices or lightly press the cookie cutter shapes into the spices.  Then decorate using the whole spices. 

Insert a metal ornament hanger or an unfolded paperclip.  Bake in a low heat (no more than 150 degrees) for about 90 minutes.

These make wonderful homemade ornaments for a tree, wreath, garland, or holiday basket.  It is easy to do and gets the whole family involved in the decoration process.

* An exclusive, Backyard Patch herbal product, you can substitute any cinnamon based tea and plain ground cinnamon for these items.

Recipe Two - Applesauce Scented Balls

The second dough is a base of applesauce blended with ground spices.  I use this recipe to make scented balls which I hang on my herb and pine wreathes.  I have made this recipe with Girl Scout and adult groups many times.  The dough is sticky, but dried to a hard surface in a couple of hours and thoroughly dries in a few days.

I made up a batch last night and fashioned a few bowl shapes about 1 to 1-1/2 inches in diameter, thinking I can hang them from my tree this year.

Scent Applesauce Dough

(non-toxic, but I would not recommend eating htem)

1 cup applesauce, divided

¾ cup ground cinnamon

2 Tbls. ground cloves

1 Tbls. ground allspice

1 Tbls. ground nutmeg

Start with ½ cup applesauce and add spices, stir with a wooden or plastic spoon.  Add up to ½ cup more applesauce as needed to make a sticky but not runny dough.

To craft scented balls for wreathes and trees roll the dough into 1 inch balls.  Use a skewer to piece the center for ribbon to hang them.  The balls will dry to the touch in a few hours, but will take several days to become fully dry.

To see the detailed photographs of actual bowls made with ground spices, see the post for today 10/11/10 on the Essential Herbal Blog.