Everyday Donna's Grilled Cabbage

 What fun thing did you do today?  We met a friend for lunch and then checked out plants at the Farmer's Market and another garden center.  I came home with a few really awesome succulents, among other things.  Needless to say, I LOVE the weather we are having and am getting extremely excited to start filling all my planters.

In yesterday's post about the beer brined pork chops, I told you that I would post the recipe for this delicious grilled cabbage.  Do you like cabbage?  Did you eat it as a child growing up?  We did!  Every week.   And, you guessed it, it was usually boiled and it made the house smell terrible, but I always loved cooked cabbage.  Then, there is sauerkraut.  Yum.  Love it.  Dan hates it.  Also, there is the Indiana state vegetable, cole slaw, which is made from cabbage.  My friend that we met for lunch today called cole slaw the Indiana state vegetable years ago and it made me laugh so hard I have never forgotten it.  Our whole family refers to cole slaw as the Indiana state vegetable to this day.  Why did he call it that?  Because it is served at every picnic, pot luck, and restaurant in the state.  How much cole slaw have we eaten in our lives?  Waaaaay too much.

Ever tried kimchee?  It is also made from cabbage.  My research said that cabbage and bean curd are the two most used ingredients for cooking in China.  Wonder if they ever make cole slaw?

Cabbage is a very old vegetable, with cultivation beginning around 1000 BCE according to information I found.  Cabbage is a main ingredient in European cooking and Chinese cooking.  The most common use is by pickling, such as sauerkraut and kimchee.  Cabbage is really good for us.   It is full of anti-carginogens, beta carotene, and vitamin C.  Cabbage is related to broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower.  The reason many people don't like to cook cabbage in the house is because of the really strong smell that permeates the air.  Well, here is the perfect solution -- GRILL IT!  Cooking it out of doors keeps the smell out of the house.  Tadah!

Grilled cabbage is amazingly good, let me tell you.  It is easy to make also.  Here is how I made mine.

1 medium sized head cabbage, cut into wedges
4-5 slices bacon, uncooked
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Cut the head of cabbage in half and then into wedges.  I got 6 wedges.  However many wedges you have, tear that many pieces of aluminum foil about 12 inches long.

Place a wedge of cabbage in the center of each piece of foil.  Lay the bacon strips on top of each other and cut into 1/2 inch strips crossways.  These are called "lardons" of bacon.  Lay some of the lardons on each cabbage wedge.  Now, chop the onion and put some on each wedge.

Cut the 1/2 stick of butter into very thin pieces and lay some on each wedge.  Sprinkle fresh parmesan over each wedge, sprinkle with a small amount of salt and lots of black pepper.

Bring the long ends of the foil together and roll tightly down to the enclosed cabbage.  Roll the ends up tightly, so that there are no holes where the steam can escape while cooking.

Light your grill on one side, leaving the other side unheated.  Place the foil packets on the unheated side.  They should cook about 45 minutes total.  Turn the packets over about 1/2 way through.  Remove from the grill, open and serve.  Yum.  Yum.  One of the best side dishes ever for summer grilling season!

If your bacon doesn't look really crisp when you open your packets, put the pieces in a microwave proof bowl and heat for about 15-30 seconds to crisp it up and redistribute over the cabbage.  Some of mine were crispy, a couple not as much as I would like.  So, when you turn the packets over, you might also want to rearrange them on the grill so the outside packets are closer to the heat for a while.  Just a little FYI.

We really enjoyed this super delicious cabbage with our beer brined pork chops and sour cream mashed potatoes.  Oh so good!

When you are planning a meal and want to know how much cabbage per person, one wedge is plenty for most people.  The flavor of the onions and bacon with the buttery cabbage topped with the parmesan is a perfect combination.  It sure beats the Indiana state vegetable for every meal any day of the week.

Give this recipe a try.  It's delicious.  You are really going to like it.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.  Mark Twain

The Tale of The Phantom Turkey

 Hello to you one and all.  How was your weekend?  Hopefully, it was all you wanted and more.  We got a jump on Thanksgiving with my mom, sister, and nephew visiting for the weekend.  Since we would not be getting to celebrate Thanksgiving Day together, I decided we would celebrate on Saturday while they were here.

I spent the day cooking and talking, talking and cooking.  It was a pleasant way to spend the day, enjoying each other's company while doing one of my most favorite things - cooking for those I love.  Of course, the first thing that had to be done was to get the turkey in the oven.  Our oldest daughter worked at a cafe in New York City when she lived there and they baked a turkey every day for sandwiches and dinners.  It was, perhaps, the best turkey I had ever eaten and that is the way I prepare turkeys now.

Mr. Turkey was an 18 pounder and had been thawing in the refrigerator for several days.  He had to be brined on Friday for cooking on Saturday.  Have you ever brined a turkey?  If not, this holiday is the perfect time to start!  It makes the most delicious, flavorful, succulent turkey you have ever eaten and it is really quite simple to do.  I used our Coleman cooler for the brining process, or you can get a new 5 gallon bucket at a home improvement store (like Home Depot) to use.

Make sure you remove all the extras from the turkey that are hiding inside and trim any extra skin and fat from the neck cavity.  Now, make your brine by adding 1.5 cups of coarse salt to a pan containing a quart of water.  Cook and stir until the salt has dissolved.  Remove from the heat and let cool before pouring over the turkey.

When the brining water has cooled, put the turkey in the cooler, or bucket, and pour the cooled brining water over the turkey.  Keep adding water (NOT hot), until the turkey is covered.  You will need at least 7 quarts of water and maybe more.  Add a bag of crushed ice to the water and close the lid of the cooler.  Turkey can be brined up to 24 hours before baking.  If you are using a bucket for the turkey, cover the turkey with water and set the bucket in a cooler and place ice around the bucket.

When you are ready to bake the turkey, remove it from the brining water and wash it thoroughly to remove any remaining salt residue.  Place the turkey in the roasting pan.  Now for the fun part.  This is how I bake the most delicious turkey ever.  In the cavity of the turkey, place one apple that you have cut in half, one large onion that you have cut in half, a quartered lemon, 3-4 garlic cloves, and a handful of fresh thyme sprigs.   You may have to push and shove to get it all arranged, but it is SO worth the effort.  Now, put your hands under the skin on the breast and gently pull the skin loose by moving your hands up and around as far as you can go.  Place fresh thyme sprigs under the skin, as much as you can get under there.  Now, wasn't that fun?

Next, turn the wing tips so they will lay under the body of the turkey so they don't burn during roasting.  This is a really awesome trick I picked up from Alton Brown on the Food Network.  It takes a little twisting and turning to make it happen, but again, it is SO worth the effort.

Now, make a tent of aluminum foil over the turkey, leaving the ends open.  It took two pieces of foil to cover this big boy.  Now, you are ready to begin the roasting process.  Place the turkey in your 350 degree preheated oven.  Recommended cooking time is 15 minutes per pound for a turkey that is not filled with stuffing.  So, if you have a 20 pound turkey you are looking at 20x15, or 300 minutes or 5 hours.  Figure roasting time by multiplying the weight of your turkey times 15 divided by 60.  BE SURE AND ALLOW ENOUGH TIME FOR ROASTING THOROUGHLY!  When a meat thermometer is inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, the temperature should be 180 degrees.  Now, you can remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest at least 20 minutes before carving.

I was so busy getting all the side dishes ready, and the grandsons were starving and begging to eat, so I got in a "get er done" mode.  My daughter asked what she could do to help and I said you can carve the turkey.  I finally had everything ready to go and a loud cheer went up (no, not really), but the mothers started preparing their son's plates when it hit me.  NOOOOOOOOOOOO.  I did not take a picture of my beautiful turkey.  Probably the most perfect turkey I had ever roasted.  It was beautifully golden, not one burned place anywhere.  How could this be?  It was like the moment in A Christmas Story when the Bumpusses' dogs had eaten the Christmas turkey.  I was devastated.  I had worked all day to make this beautiful bird and there was nothing but the carcass.  NO. PICTURE. TAKEN.  WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.  So, I did the next best thing and took a picture of the carcass just to prove there was a turkey.  A real turkey that I had cooked.  It isn't a phantom.  It was a beautiful, delicious turkey.  It was all I could do.  You can see the beautiful golden skin and the ruins.  I know, it's not the same, but it's what I got.  That's what happens when you take pictures of the food you are getting ready to eat.  This is not a photo op, this is not food that is prepared just for pictures, this is hard core dinner food.  No food stylists here, just Grandma trying to get the food on the table.

I did get a picture of some of the awesomely delicious white meat left on the platter.  This turkey was so good that I wish you could taste it.  Brining is the way to go my friends and adding an apple to the cavity helps the turkey retain moisture.  The onions, garlic, lemon and thyme add more flavor than you can ever imagine.  Yes, this is the way to roast a turkey and it got rave reviews from everyone in attendance.  Even our oldest grandson who may be the world's pickiest eater loved it!  Grandson #2 kept asking for more turkey again and again.  There wasn't much left of this big boy, just enough to make a turkey pot pie and a couple of sandwiches.  I guess that's a worthy testimonial eh?

If you are planning to roast a turkey and don't know how you are going to do it, give this method a try. You will be glad you did.  You will have only a carcass to prove you actually roasted that bird.  And a smile on everyone's face.   And that is the tale of the phantom turkey.   Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Be thankful every day, not just on Thanksgiving.  Live with an attitude of gratitude.