WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2017
Turkey trials:
Perfecting a
holiday meal
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A17
FEATURES
Home cookin’ at the Herald
By TAMMY MALGESINI
COMMUNITY EDITOR
If you’re stressing out about pre-
paring a Thanksgiving turkey, I may
be able to offer some tips.
I recently read that most peo-
ple only roast whole turkeys once or
twice a year. That doesn’t provide
much of an opportunity for "practice
makes perfect."
I’m no expert. In fact, I can count
how many whole turkeys I’ve made in
my life on one hand. Actually, I can do
it with a peace sign.
That’s right, I’ve thawed, stuffed
and roasted a total of two turkeys in
nearly 58 years. To maintain the tra-
dition, I’m due to make another one
in 2047.
Although I’ve only prepared two
big birds, I have perfected the process
of making a traditional Thanksgiving
meal, complete with turkey and stuff-
ing that tastes like it came right out of
the bird.
But really, to stuff or not to stuff is
a personal choice. Some people fear
food poisoning due to bacteria from
the bird’s cavity absorbing into the
stuffi ng. The turkey isn’t some sort of
decoration to be admired. Put the bird
in the oven right after stuffi ng it. Prob-
lem solved.
Rather than a whole bird, I now
purchase turkey breasts. This rem-
edies the issue of wasted dark meat
since John and I prefer white meat.
I used to prepare the stuffi ng in a
casserole dish. While it was good, it
lacked the unique moistness of stuff-
ing that has baked inside a turkey.
To replicate the in-the-bird taste, I
decided to layer the turkey with stuff-
ing in between. I may not win any culi-
nary prizes for attractive appearances,
but the end result is mighty tasty. And,
there are plenty of leftovers for turkey
sandwiches, much to the delight of my
husband.
I suppose if I wanted my food to be
pretty, I could modify the technique to
create a stuffed turkey roll. To do that,
you butterfl y the turkey breast, pound
it out to an even thickness, top it with
a layer of stuffi ng, roll it into a long
cylinder, tie it with kitchen twine and
then roast it. That just seems like too
much effort.
Creating the layered turkey breasts
has solved several problems:
•I don’t have to worry about truss-
ing the turkey.
•No worries about the complicated
process of carving a turkey.
•I no longer have to perform math-
ematical equations to fi gure out how
long to allow for defrosting the bird.
I love turkey. And, in the Malge-
sini household, turkey isn’t just for
Thanksgiving anymore. However,
John will be preparing homemade
Italian pizza on Thursday.
CRYPTOQUIP
The Hermiston Herald staff had a Thanks-
giving meal of our own on Monday.
These are a few of the recipes featured:
Flaky Pie Crust
From John Malgesini
A tasty, fl aky pie crust is really easy. You
simply MUST follow directions. That’s it.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups fl our
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 dash sugar
3-6 tablespoons ICE water
Potato-cheese pie
Potato-Cheese Pie
From Jayati Ramakrishnan
Ingredients:
2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, boiled, peeled
and sliced
2 cups pepper jack or cheddar cheese,
grated
2 cloves garlic, grated fi ne
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp fl our
2 cups milk
breadcrumbs
black pepper and salt, to taste
To make cream sauce:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2) In a small saucepan, melt butter on
medium heat. Once melted, add garlic
and black pepper and fry lightly
3) Stir in fl our slowly
4) Lightly brown fl our in pan on low heat
5) Remove from heat and slowly pour
in milk while stirring continuously to
avoid lumping
6) Return pan to stove. On low heat, stir
mixture
7) Turn to medium heat and let boil,
stirring continuously
8) Turn off and remove from stove
9) Add salt and let sauce sit and thicken
Assembly:
10) In a 9x9 glass dish, layer potatoes,
cheese and sauce
11) After last layer of potatoes, cover with
remainder of sauce and cheese
12) Sprinkle top generously with
breadcrumbs
13) Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, or
until cheese is bubbling
14) Add more salt if necessary
For best results, enjoy with ketchup.
Sweet potatoes can be substituted for
a healthier alternative.
Directions:
1. Mix 1 1/2 cups fl our, salt & sugar
2. Cut butter into mixture. If you do not
have a pastry cutter, the knife method
will work; mixture must be cut evenly.
Once the mixture comes to pea-sized
crumbles, cut in the rest of the butter.
As that becomes even, add in the
last cup of fl our. Once the pea-sized
crumbles return, stop. Do not over cut!
3. Begin to add ice water. Start by
sprinkling three tablespoons over the
mixture. With a large-headed spatula or
pastry slicer move the mixture around,
adding 1/2 tablespoons of ice water. Do
not go over 6 tablespoons.
4. Flatten mixture onto one side of bowl.
With spatula or slicer, half the mixture.
Knead until solid. Form into a hockey
puck-sized disc and set back in bowl.
Do same with other half.
5. Set discs aside for 20-40 minutes. You
can refrigerate to speed process.
6. Knead briefl y to get dough pliable.
7. Use as needed for single or double
crust pie, following directions for
whatever pie fi lling you choose to use.
Flaky pie crust
whenever baking with fl our, always add
a sprinkle of sugar. It adds to the fl avor.
(Note: When baking with yeast, add a
sprinkle of sugar to the water and the
yeast will activate with a heightened
vigor).
This recipe will generally provide three
crusts, the third being the trimmings
of the fi rst two. I generally mold into
a disc and throw it in the freezer. After
two times through the recipe, I have
enough for an additional two-crust pie.
Pumpkin chocolate chip muffi ns.
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffi ns
From Jade McDowell
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups fl our
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
Directions
1) Mix together dry ingredients
2) Make a well in the center and add wet
ingredients
3) Mix until moistened, then add
chocololate chips
4) Place in greased muffi n tin and bake on
400 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Hints:
When baking there is NO substitute for
butter!
After step 5, you can freeze for several
months. When you want to use thaw
until room temperature. Knead briefl y
to make pliable.
Ice water is as important as the butter. It’s
the temperature of the ice that causes
the butter to react. The colder the
water, the better the reaction.
The dash of sugar is optional. I learned
from a master baker (Thanks Ella) that
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