Let's Go

Hi, y'all.

I grew up in Tennessee, the child of Midwesterners. I've lived in San Francisco for 25 years and, after many sidetracks and distractions (door-to-door canvasser, anyone? how about making seitan in the lower Haight when everyone's tattoos were, um, homemade?), wound up a lawyer, wife, and mother of three. I've slayed every oven I've ever owned, including the fancy Miele double ovens Spouse and I had before the children were eating solid food. Why? How? I love the fat. Roast a whole duck with turnips and potatoes? Certainly. Slow roast a pork shoulder with OJ and bay for carnitas ... turn up the fire for turkey and chicken rubbed with butter and herbs, and by all means slow roast a pork belly with apple cider syrup glaze. Oh yes. So, don't be afraid to open all the windows, crank up the hood, and clean your oven, grill, and smoker early and often. Let's start with tomorrow's menu:

MONDAY SCHOOL POTLUCK

Menu: smoked turkey and wild rice casserole
Music: it's Sunday, so the soundtrack to Children of Men (Tavener, not the pop thing)

Cooking sustainably (we'll get to that word soon) involves daily commitment. Even if you don't feel like knocking out a dish on a particular day, chances are you'll have prep and catch-up work to do. In this vein, I started the turkey breasts on Saturday (Marin Sun Farms has some nice ones). My prep for turkey is pretty simple. Wash, trim of excess fat, and pat dry. Dust with salt and white pepper. Put turkey on a jelly roll pan lined with wax paper, and lightly cover with wax paper, so the meat can air dry in the fridge before heat. Bring turkey to room temp while the coals get hot and smoke over indirect heat in a Weber grill. Sometimes I get lazy and half grill, half smoke. I use hardwood charcoal, and for turkey smoke I like soaked apple chips with a little hickory mixed in. There are lots of authorities on smoking, but I like Ronni Lundy for the basics. Ms. Lundy covers the subject of simple smoking in a Weber very well in Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes, and Honest Fried Chicken. Anyway, smoke the breasts (or leg & thigh, as you like), cool, shred, and refrigerate. On Sunday morning, I threw the week's left over hot dog and hamburger buns, and one end hunk of Acme pain de mie, in the food processor for bread crumbs. If you don't have a food processor, tear them into small chunks. Regardless of how you get there, spread the bread crumbs or chunks on a jelly roll pan and brown at 200 degrees. Let cool. You can mix with dried herbs if you want, but I didn't for this recipe. Pulverize the crumbs.

The next day (Sunday for me), boil 6 cups of homemade poultry stock (microwave is great for this), and cook 4 cups of wild rice mix (organic -- Lundberg is good). Spread the warm rice out in a giant casserole pan (I think mine is 6 quarts, but I will check and update.) Grate Parmesan to taste, and mix. Run a knife over 4-5 cups of smoked turkey (you'll probably have leftover turkey, which won't last long in my experience) so it's well chopped. Add to rice. Saute 4 leeks, one large onion, and two stalks of celery (all finely chopped) in about 3 tablespoons unsalted butter. Add a couple of tablespoons good sherry or madeira to finish. Mix with rice and turkey. Make veloute (3 tbsp butter/3 tbsp flour/add 6 cups stock slowly and bring to boil/Julia Child can give you the basic recipe) and off heat add a glug of sherry or madeira and the juice from half a lemon. Check seasoning.). Pour veloute sauce over the whole thing and mix. Sprinkle bread crumbs (mix with Parmesan while you're waiting for the veloute to come to a boil) and spread evenly over the top. Let cool and cover with aluminum foil. Refrigerate.

On Potluck day (Monday for me), bring pan out of fridge about 30-40 minutes before oven time. Preheat oven to 425. Pop in oven and bake until bubbly and top is brown. Cover with foil and wrap in newspaper. Casserole should make it to the preschool table piping hot. Too bad there's no wine at our school.

Let me know if you have questions -- there are lots of great resources for basics, which I will flag for you if you need refreshing or educating.