This Sunday was all about relaxing with Mark. Unlike me, he has to work tomorrow, so I made sure he had time to relax after his less-than-ideal dive on Saturday.
The morning started with grocery shopping at the Mountain View Farmer's Market, where we bumped into our friend Joann and her sister, which was a welcome surprise.
I then embarked on a 17 mile bike ride with Eddie and Mark, more for exercise rather than for fun. Also, it was a statement of doing things that Mark enjoys, because he suffered through the scuba diving yesterday, which I enjoy. But I had fun inspite of myself, it was such a beautiful day.
While waiting for the guys at Peets Coffee, I submerged myself in newspapers, pretending I was one of those politically savvy types who read multiple newspapers a day. I realize that I had stopped avidly reading the news since Bush Jr. ascended to the presidency. Why read news, when all news is bad news? Now that we will have a much better president (Republican or Democrat), I vow to read the news more frequently.
In other news, the 3 year old frozen turkey turned out well. Next time, I would like to brine the turkey longer (overnight instead of 6 hours) so that it tastes more salty and is more moist, also, I think I will roast the turkey for 1h45 breast side down, and only 30 min breast side up so that the meat is more tender, or at least until the center of the thigh is 120 deg F.
Right now, utilizing the turkey leftovers in creative ways has been occupying my brain. The Moroccan turkey stew that I created the other night was quite the success. (Next time, I would like to use less water, use golden raisins instead of the yam, use green Middle-Eastern olives instead of the black Kalamatas I used, and eliminate the chickpeas.)
Moroccan Turkey Stew Ingredients:
1 Turkey carcass
1/4-1/2 cup golden raisins
3-4 carrots, sliced in 1/4" pieces
4 celery spears, sliced in 1/4" pieces
3-4 handfuls of turkey meat, chopped in 1" pieces
1 cinnamon stick
2 tbs cumin
2 tbs of curry powder
1 tbs of cardamom
sugar and salt to taste
2 cups of cooked couscous
1-2 cups of halved, pitted Mediterranean, preferably Middle Eastern green olives
2 medium onions, cut into 1" slices
3 cloves of garlic, diced
1 handful of chopped Italian parsley
Moroccan Turkey Stew Instructions:
(1) Place turkey carcass, or large turkey thigh in large stock pot. Fill stock pot with water, maybe 8 inches deep. Cut carcass into smaller pieces if necessary. Boil vigorously, and then lower temperature to simmering. Leave on simmer for 1.5-2 hours. Remove carcass and bones. Skim fat off of soup surface if it exists.
(2) Over medium-high heat, fry the onions, garlic and cinnamon stick for 5 minutes or until soft. Pour onions into soup stock. Let stock simmer for another 10 minutes.
(3) Place chopped celery, and turkey meat into stock pot. Let stock simmer for another 10 minutes.
(4) Place raisins and carrots into stock pot. Simmer until carrots are done. Season to taste with sugar and salt. In parallel, make two cups of couscous according to couscous cooking instructions.
(5) Place 1-2 inches of couscous at bottom of bowls.
(6) Ladle over with the Moroccan turkey stew. Garnish with chopped parsley.
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