Pumpkin Pie with Cranberry Glazing

Ingredients, Serves 4:

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 8 oz gingersnaps (you can find them in the cookie aisle)
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• Filling:
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground clover
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• Cranberry Glaze:
• 2 cups fresh cranberries
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Holidays are made for pies!  and Pumpkin pie rules!  Especially when you make the crust out of gingersnaps and walnuts and top it was a cranberry glazing... yummie!

First we make the crust.  Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.  Break apart the gingersnaps into smaller pieces and add them into a food processor along with the walnuts and grind until the mixture is a consistent crumb size.  Add in the melted butter and pulse grind until the mixture is consistently sticky.  Pour into a 9" pie dish and spread evenly around.

Now we make the filling.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, brown sugar, honey, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, heavy cream, eggs and salt.  Pour into pie crust dish and put into the oven.  Bake for roughly 35-40 minutes until the crust darkens slightly and the filling becomes firm near the crust.  If the crust looks like it is browning too much, cover it aluminum foil strips.  Transfer the pie to a baking sheet and let cool.  It is important to let the filling cool until it is firm otherwise, the cranberry glazing will sink when you pour it on top!

Finally, we make the cranberry glaze.  In a medium saucepan, whisk together the orange juice, water, sugar and flour until smooth.  Add the cranberries and cook on medium heat until the cranberries just begin to burst and the liquid thickens, roughly 5 - 8 minutes.  Carefully pour the glazing over the pie and refrigerate until well chilled.

You can serve as is, or sprinkle with your favorite topping like cinnamon or powdered sugar or even nuts!  Enjoy!

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Whole Turkey (Deconstructed)

Sous Vide Details: Cook turkey dark meat at 176F for 8-10 hours, cook turkey white meat at 145F for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours

Ingredients, Serves 4 - 6:

• 15 lb whole turkey (organic or natural works best)
• Your favorite poultry herbs (I love rosemary, thyme and sage)
• 16 oz duck fat
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Brine (needs to be done the day before cooking):
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoon peppercorns
• 1 gallon iced water
• 1 clean 5 gallon bucket with two bag liners

I LOVE Thanksgiving!  To me, giving thanks for my family through a wonderfully cooked meal is a perfect way to celebrate.  I've been cooking Thanksgiving dinner for as long as I can remember and have tried many recipes, although they all have involved cooking the turkey whole in the oven and doing all sorts of gyrations during the day to keep the breast moist and not over-done.  This usually meant opening up the oven many times to "baste" and "tent" and "re-read" the always foggy meat thermometer, which actually also prolonged the cooking time!  I thought of this "dance" as my badge of honor as a chef!

Well, this is my first Thanksgiving as a Sous Vide chef so I wanted to "change it up".  One of the important aspects of turkey is that the bird is actually made up of two types of meats: white meat and dark meat.  In the ideal world, the two types of meats should be cooked at different temperatures and for different amounts of time because they are completely different in fat and muscle composition.

With Sous Vide, cooking the white meat and dark meat separately at different temperatures and times is a snap!  The only difference is the "whole turkey" concept has to be "deconstructed" before cooking, not after.  That was fine with me since you do it the day before cooking the turkey, which is a "less stressful day" so you can take your time.

One note from the "Planning Department":  Remember that a frozen turkey takes a "LONG TIME" to thaw in the refrigerator, which is the safest way to thaw the bird!  DO NOT THAW ON THE COUNTER TOP!  You will be creating a perfect breeding ground for bacteria like Salmonella!  So the most important timing aspect of Thanksgiving turkey is buy it early so you have time to thaw it.  For a 15 lbs turkey, mine took 4 full days in the refrigerator (could have actually taking a 5th day) to thaw it out.  Add to that the preparation need the day before Thanksgiving and you really need to be thinking of purchasing your turkey 5-6 days before Thanksgiving!  That would be Nov 18th.  Put it on your calendar!

The day before Thanksgiving is the start of your sous vide turkey experience!  First, you want to prepare the turkey brine.  Brining is a method that uses osmosis to infuse the turkey meat with salt which causes it to retain more moisture during the cooking process.  Start by combining the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, and peppercorns in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Then remove from heat and cool to room temperature and then refrigerate.

When the brine goes into the refrigerator, you can start on "deconstructing" the turkey.  There are several videos on youtube that show you how to separate a chicken into pieces (click here for one example) and that is the same basic process for your turkey.  Here are the steps:

1. Place the turkey on its back (breast up) with one leg nearest to you.  Taking a sharp knife, slice the skin between the leg and the body exposing the thigh.  Stay as close to the leg as possible leaving most of the breast covered with skin.  Keep cutting the skin and eventually the meat while prying the leg and thigh away from the body.  Holding the thigh firmly, pry it down until you hear the "joint" pop. You should see the joint.  Work your knife to separate the thigh from the body at the joint.  Do the same for the other leg and thigh.  
2. Now we want to separate the legs from the thighs, If you place the thigh on the cutting board, skin side down, you will see a fat line across the leg/thigh joint area.  This is your "cut line".  Slice the fat line with your sharp knife and it should split the leg from the thigh right at the joint!  Taking a sharp knife, slice the meat away from both sides of the main thigh bone until you can get your knife "under" the bone.  Insert the knife end from one side of the bone to the other and slice the meat away from the bone, removing the bone from the thigh.  Do the same with the other thigh.  Place the legs and thighs in a large pan.
3. Next are the wings.  grab the wing near the body and pull it away from the body exposing the skin.  Slice through the skin near the body.  Again, hold the wing firmly near the body and pry it down, popping the joint.  Use your knife and carefully cut around the joint until you separate the wing from the body.  Do the same with the other wing.  Place them both in the pan with the legs and thighs.
4. Now, we separate the body.  On both sides of the body where the legs connected to the body, there are "sideways Vs" which you use as a guide to cut from the bottom of the "V" towards the neck of the turkey.  You are "splitting" the body in half, separating the back of the turkey from the breasts.  When you have cut both sides to the backbone, you should be able to take grab the breasts in one hand and the backbone in the other and pry them "open", like you're "splitting a wishbone"!  This exposes the joints near the neck.  Take your knife and working carefully, separate the joints and meat and cut through both sides of the backbone.  The back should separate from the breasts at this point!  Place the back in the same pan with the legs and wings.
5. Now we separate the breasts.  Place the breasts, skin side down, on your cutting board.  Using a meat clever make a small chop cut right in the middle of the collar bone between each breast.  This should allow you to pry both breast downward, cracking the breastbone right in the middle.  There is a heavy breast bone that you want to remove before actually splitting  the two breasts.  Using your knife, slice the membrane on each side of the breastbone, exposing it and then using your fingers, pry the breastbone out.  It will look like a "mini dagger"!  This is somewhat tough, but stick with it, you can do it!  Now you can take your clever or sharp knife and split the breasts in half, separating them.  Place them into a separate pan.  You did it!!!!

Now, line your 5 gallon bucket with two plastic bags and take your brine solution out of the refrigerator and pour it into the bucket along with a gallon of cold water.  Place all the turkey parts into the brining solution along with some ice.  The solution needs to be below 40F.  Place the bucket somewhere cool/cold (I placed mine outside).  You need to brine the turkey for roughly 7-10 hours.  When done, take the turkey meat out and thoroughly wash the meat under cold water.  Pat dry.

Now you're ready for seasoning and bagging the turkey.  Liberally salt and pepper all the meat to taste.  Place the dark meat in separate bags from the breast meat.  Depending on your bag size, you can either place all the separate pieces of meat into separate bags or place multiple pieces in single bag.  I have large bags so I places both legs into a single bag, both thighs in a single bag and both wings into a single bag.  Everything else went into separate bags.  Add your favorite herbs into each bag.  I used rosemary, thyme and sage.  Be careful not to over do the herbs, remember, with sous vide, the herbs concentrate in the bag.  I used only a few twigs of each herb in each bag.  Then place equal amount of the duck fat in each bag.  Duck fat gives the turkey a nice "depth" in taste. Vacuum seal each bag.  Make sure the sealing area of the bag is "clean and dry".  Use a paper towel if you have to.  This will allow the bag to seal properly.  When done, your turkey should look like this:

Turkey dark meat all bagged up and ready to go!

Turkey breasts all bagged up and ready to go!

Now here's where your first major decision point comes in.  Are you a morning person or not???  Do you have two water baths?  Since the dark meat takes 8-10 hours to cook, you have to decide whether you're going to cooking it starting Thanksgiving morning (really early) or start it the day before Thanksgiving at night and then re-therm it right before searing and serving.  Well... what are you???  I'm a morning person!  So I decided to get up at 5AM (which I normally do) and start the dark meet on Thanksgiving day so I didn't have to re-therm it.  If you're not a morning person or if you only have a single water bath, you need to start cooking the dark meat the day before Thanksgiving.  I would figure out when you're going to wake up on Thanksgiving day and subtract 10 hours and that is your start time for the dark meat!  So if you get up at 8AM, then start the dark meat at 10PM the night before.  Pre-heat the water bath to 176F and drop all the dark meat into the water bath.  Make sure you have a large enough water bath so that the meat will cook evenly.  Also since you are cooking at a high temperature, you might need to place a plate on top of the bags so that they don't float out of the water since some air (through steam) might accumulate inside the bags.  If you started the night before, you will need to pull the dark meat out on the morning of Thanksgiving and quick chill them in an ice bath for 45 minutes and then place the bags in the refrigerator.  You will re-therm them later.  Here is my dark meat cooking away:

About 4 hours before dinner time, you can start the white meat.  Pre-heat the water bath to 145F and drop the white meat in.  Here's my turkey breasts cooking away:

If you need to re-therm the dark meat, about an hour before the white meet is done, heat up a large pot of water to 145F, using a thermometer to track the temperature.  Drop the dark meat in the pot for 45 minutes to re-therm it to temperature.

When the white meat is done, remove all the bags, one by one, and open and using paper towels, pat the meat dry.  Pre-heat your broiler.  Place all the turkey meat that has skin on a broiling pan, skin side up.  Sear the turkey for approximately 3-5 minutes.  Be careful since you don't want to over cook the meat, since it is already cooked!  Don't sear any meat that doesn't have skin since all you're going to do is over cook the turkey meat!

When searing done, slice the breast, plate the turkey and enjoy!!!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving was a wonderful feast again this year, only better!  The white meat was so tender and moist, it was almost unbelievable!  I actually think I liked the white meat better than the dark meat and I'm a dark meat lover!  Once again, Sous Vide brought a truly transformative culinary experience to our home!  Can you say "Turkey for Christmas??"

Check my other blog entries for the other dishes in this picture!

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Mushroom Stuffing

Ingredients, Serves 4:

• 10 cups day old bread, cubed
• 3 cups low fat milk
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVO)
• 1 turkey liver, minced
• 1 teaspoon truffle oil
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 shallots, minced
• 2 cups finely chopped onions
• 3 stalks of celery, sliced cross-wise
• 2 lbs your favorite mushrooms (chantrelle, shitake, oyster), stems removed and coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon thyme, finely chopped
• Pepper to taste 2 large eggs, lightly beaten

This stuffing is earthy and has an incredible depth to it.  Pre-heat the oven to 350F.  Coat a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with extra virgin olive oil (use an oil spray if you have one).

Toss the bread cubes with the milk in a large bowl and set aside.  Occasionally toss to saturate evenly.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the EVO in a large skillet and add the turkey liver and cook until browned, roughly 2 minutes.  Transfer into a large bowl.

Add the remaining EVO and butter into the large, deep pan and heat over medium heat.  Add the garlic and shallots and cook until shallots are softened, about 2 minutes.  Add the onions and cook, stirring often, until they are softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the mushrooms  and truffle oil and cook, stirring often, until the liquid has leeched out of the mushrooms and mostly evaporated, about 8-12 minutes.  Add the mixture to the bowl with the liver.

Add the soaked bread to the mushroom mixture, discard any unused milk.  Add the celery, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper and mix everything together.  Add the eggs and mix again.  Transfer to the baking dish and distribute evenly.

Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until the top of the stuffing is golden brown.  Pull out and let set for 5 minutes before serving it up!

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Rosemary Potato Rolls

Ingredients, Serves 4:

• 1 large russet potato, peeled and chopped into thumb size pieces
• 1 lb bread flour (or all purpose unbleached flour)
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground sage leaves

The smell of rosemary during the holidays is hypnotic!  Combine that with the fresh smell of baking bread and you have me at "Hello"!  These rolls make a great side dish for dinner and a great sandwich bun for the next day.  My son brought this recipe with him from school.  He's a budding bakery chef and a very good one at that!

First, boil the potato in water for 15 minutes until soft, then mash them up.

Combine the flour, potato, yeast, salt, pepper and rosemary in a large bowl.  Add the water and knead for 5 minutes,.  Add more water or flour until the dough is pliable but slightly sticky.  Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with saran wrap, and let the dough rise until is has doubled in volume, roughly 1 1/2 hours.

Flour your hands, remove the dough and knead it some more.  Break apart into palm sized dough balls and place them spaced out on parchment paper on a cooking sheet. Place more saran wrap over the dough and baking sheet and let rise again for 1 hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 375F.  Using a water spritzer/spay bottle, spray to top of the buns with some water.  Place them in the oven and cook for 20-30 minutes.  Watch carefully towards the end of the time as you don't want them to burn.  They are done when the tops are golden brown.

Pull them out and let them cool slightly, plate them up and serve them with a smile.  They'll be all gone shortly!  If you want to eat them later, you can microwave them for 15-20 seconds and they will soften right up.

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Brussels Sprouts with Frizzled Leeks

Ingredients, Serves 4:

• 2 1/2 lbs brussels sprouts cut into quarters
• 3/4 cup extra virgin oil (EVO)
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon grainy mustard
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup shallots, minced
• 2 oz anchovies, drained and minced
• Frizzled Leeks:
• 1 leek
• 1/3  cup wondra flour
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Vegetable oil

Brussels sprouts have a bad rap in some circles.  I used to be in those circles until I tried a couple recipes that used them.  Wow, they have a wonderfully deep taste to them which goes well in the winter and especially for holiday meals.  Here is a great dish for the holidays.

Pre-heat the oven to 425F.  In a large pan or wok (I used my trusty wok), heat 1/4 cup of the EVO on medium high heat.  Add the brussels sprouts and mix thoroughly with the EVO.  Cook over medium heat for 10 - 15 minutes until they are softened, stirring and rotating the sprouts so they don't burn.  Turn off the heat and set aside.

Spread the walnuts onto a baking sheet and put them in the oven. Toast for about 8 minutes until golden brown.  Let cool and then coarsely chop.

In a medium size bowl, whisk the vinegar, mustard and honey together.  Whisk in a 1/2 cup EVO until it is emulsified.  Add the capers, garlic, and anchovies and mix well.  Salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Cut the bottom and green top off of the leek.  Split the leek in half length-wise and flatten out each side.  Using a sharp knife, slice the leek into matchstick thin slices.  In a square baking dish, mix the flour, salt and pepper. Dredge the leek matchsticks in the flour.

In a large pan with high sides, pour in enough vegetable oil to a depth of 3/4".  Heat the oil until it reaches 325F.  Drop a handful of leek matchsticks into the oil and let them cook until slightly brown.  Remove them quickly and place them on a paper towel.  You can bend them and create a nice mount as you go.  Do this until all the leeks are done.

When ready to serve, re-heat the brussels sprouts, if necessary.  Add the brussels sprouts, sauce and walnuts to a large bowl mix well.  Pour into a serving dish and mound the frizzled leeks on top.  Serve it up!

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Whole Trout Asian Style on Bed of Broccolini and Mushrooms

Sous Vide Details: Cook whole trout at 132F for 1 hours

Ingredients, Serves 2:

• 1 whole fresh trout (2 lbs)
• 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced scallions 
• 1 cup thinly sliced ginger
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce (I use light soy sauce)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVO)
• 2 tablespoons sesame seed oil
• 2 tablespoons grape seed oil
• For the broccolini and mushroom bed:
• 2 bunches broccolini
• 2 cups shimeji mushrooms
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin oil
• 2 tablespoons your favorite vinegar (I used champagne vinegar)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

There's something about cooking a whole fish that is very satisfying as a chef.  Of course, maybe it's my Asian heritage that sparks that satisfaction since Asians typically cook fish whole.  It is a spiritual representation of live, the head being the beginning of life, the body the middle of life and the tail the end of life.  I used to cook whole fish using my handy fish steamer pot, a long and thin high walled pot with a perforated platform inside.  Nothing wrong with that method of cooking as it produced very tender and moist fish every time.  However, now that I'm a sous vide home chef, I decided to try whole sous vide trout!  First off to the market (Ranch 99) to get a nice fresh whole trout.  I found a nice 2 pounder that would fit inside a bag and inside my vacuum chamber, two key requirements.

Have the trout de-gutted and de-scaled.  In a bowl, mix the thinly sliced (Julienned) ginger, shredded carrots, julienned scallions and chopped cilantro and minced garlic.  Fill the trout cavity with the mixture.  Lightly salt and pepper both sides of the skin and place in a bag.  Add 2 tablespoons of the soy sauce and the sesame seed oil and seal.  Pre-heat the water bath to 132F and drop the trout in and cook for 1 hour.

To prepare the broccolini and mushroom bedding, bring water to a brisk boil in a large pot.  Blanch the broccolini for 2-3 minutes and then place them in an ice water bath to quickly cool them.  This helps retain their color.  Set aside for now.

When the fish has roughly 10 minutes to go, heat a large pan over medium heat and add the EVO and minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds.  Add the mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes.  Add the chicken broth, soy sauce and vinegar and stir until hot.  Add the broccolini and cook for 3 - 5 minutes allowing the liquid to reduce.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Take what's left of the ginger-carrot-scallion-cilantro mixture and add the EVO and the other 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and mix well.  Place in microwave and heat for 30 - 45 seconds until hot.

When the trout is ready, heat an iron skillet on medium high heat with the EVO.  Take the trout out of the water bath and bag and place in the skillet and sear both sides of the trout, roughly 30 seconds per side.  Use a wide spatula to turn the fish and be careful as it is fully cooked and can potentially separate.

For plating, arrange the broccolini/mushroom mix on a large plate as a bed for the trout.  Add the trout on top in the center of the bedding.  Take the heated ginger-carrot-scallion-cilantro mixture and spread it on top of the trout.  Serve it up!

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Fennel Crusted Ahi Tuna Steak

Sous Vide Details: Cook Ahi Tuna at 110F for 15 minutes

Ingredients, Serves 2:

• 2 Ahi Tuna steaks (fresh!)
• 1/3 cup fennel seeds (ground if you don't have a spice grinder)
• 2 tablespoons coriander seeds (ground if you don't have a spice grinder)
• 1 tablespoon white peppercorns (again, ground if you don't have a spice grinder)
• 2 tablespoons grade seed oil
• Click here for the diced vegetable salad

I love sashimi tuna so I decided to make an Ahi tuna dinner the other night for variety.  It was also the first time doing Ahi Tuna sous vide.  I checked a couple sous vide websites and got various temperature suggestions, but the important information I gleaned was "not to over cook the tuna".  Taking that to heart, I decided to use a low temperature and time (even for sous vide standards!).  Also, it's important to use fresh Ahi tuna!

Start with creating the fennel crust. If you have a spice grinder, you can get the seed version of the spices.  If not, just get the ground versions.  Mix the fennel, coriander and white peppercorns together and spread in a pan.  Coat the Ahi Tuna steaks liberally on all sides and place in bag and seal.  Pre-heat water bath to 110F and drop in the tuna.  Cook for only 15 minutes.

When the tuna is done, heat the grade seed oil in a iron skillet on medium high heat.  Remove the Tuna from the water bath and bag and pat dry with a paper towel.  Place in skillet and sear for only 30 sec per side until you have a golden brown crust.  Remove from the skillet and carefully slice with a sharp knife into thick slices.

To plate, I made a diced vegetable salad with a vinaigrette dressing and placed the ahi tuna slices on top.  Serve it up!

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