So how long does it take a 22lb. turkey to thaw from frozen, in a fairly cool fridge? Hmmm.

 Eventually, I'd like to cook it before Thanksgiving. I'm going out for Thanksgiving, this year (Lake Elmo Inn's brunch!). Somebody else can go through all of that work & cleanup for 2 people, thanks very much!

 Hmmm. Hope it's thawed out by Wednesday, cuz that's about as long as I want to/can wait. I am going to make turkey soup, sammies, etc. Everything you get tired of, after eating so much for The Meal. Not me. This is the beginning of many delicious dishes that I am going to make, this month. Thirty-nine cents/lb., folks. That's a helluva lotta bird-- that's a helluva lot of cheap meals. 
 The bird is big enough to take a long while to make (for once, I actually need the size to compensate for time, so I can get it done while at work), plus provide me with a lot of meat, and a fabu carcass for soup base. Yummmms.

 And now.. I'm falling asleep at my keyboard. No bad thing, because it's about that time anyway.

 Cheers!
 
 

Gah!

There are some days when I simply can't handle stress, so I cook as soon as I'm able to. I frequently have an enormous amount of food in my refrigerator & freezer, with no one to help me eat what I make. Mind you, I do cook when I'm not stressed out, but being able to totally suck my brain into something else is very therapeutic. Pbblllthht. Anyway.

 It's the part where my brain gerbils become clever & somehow manage to re-route themselves to the source of the original stressor that's a problem. Not paying attention to things that need attention paid to them, like ohhh-- newly-sharpened knives-- isn't using the ol' schmartz bonnet... *sigh* My left pointer finger is throbbing like a speaker pushing high-volume hypno/house/acid /trance music. 
 At least I was mostly done chopping up the chicken when the brain gerbils attacked. I love me. My reaction to the copious amount of blood that was spilling everywhere, after the blade nicked me, was "Oh, crap. Did any blood get onto the food?" Nope. Huzzah, we are saved.

 ----------------------------------------------  time passes  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

 One hour later, my finger is still throbbing, but I have some fricking fantastic chicken barley soup to show for my injury. Mmmmm, you would just love to smell my house & have a bowl of soup right about now.  My only complaint is that I sort-of wish that I had not roasted the chicken yesterday; I thought I was going to use the chicken for something else, but I decided that I wanted soup (it's chilly here, right now-- my poor furnace actually kicked in, to keep my house 58, last night). I would have just simmered the chicken today & used the delicious stock instead of using canned broth, water & bouillon. Bummer. Oh well, the roasted chicken sure did make it super-flavorful. I forget how much I like barley. Good stuff. I should try it without the chicken. A vegetable barley soup, that is. I'm sure that a very good vegetable broth, along with all manner of veggies & perhaps even some potatoes, would be excellent. Hmmmm. Soup. Soup good. Cold sucks. 

 Oh crap. I guess I have two complaints... I completely forgot to make some bread machine bread. *sigh* Not enough time to make it before work. Grrrr, arrrrgh. Oh Well, I'll buy some big chunky bread on the way home, maybe.


And now... Now I need a nap.  Remind me to post the recipe for the soup when I get back from work later this evening. 

Cheers & All

 

 About an hour ago, I roasted a Cornish game hen, complete with my version of a basting sauce (based quite loosely on two recipes from About.com). You would SO love to walk inside my house & take a deep sniff of the olfactory marvelousness that resulted from my experimental cooking.  

                                                               Cornish Game Hen, a la Raineth
400 degree oven, lighter, small roasting pan or Corningware, etc. One hour to roast.

1 24-oz Cornish game hen, rinsed, patted dry, lightly rubbed with Kosher salt & ground black pepper inside & out
1 1/4 c. or so Riesling or sweet white wine
1/2 c. or so armagnac
4 TBSP honey
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
large pinch of dried thyme
large pinch of garlic powder
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp rubbed sage
pinch of dried orange peel
pinch each of salt & ground black pepper
2 TBSP maple syrup
1 TBSP olive oil
a small shake of Worst sauce
almost 1/4 tsp ground chipotle
Whatever else you decide should be in it.

Make a wine reduction. In the meantime, mix all other ingredients except bird into the armagnac & let it sit while wine is reducing (heavy pan, medium-high heat, until it's about half of what you started with). Add armagnac mixture to wine reduction. Light the armagnac on fire! It'll burn itself out, promise. Unless you've held the pan too close to the drapes... Let mixture boil slowly at medium-low heat for another 5 minutes or so. Stir as needed. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Baste bird with some sauce. Toss bird into oven, time for 15 minutes. Baste bird every 15 minutes or so. If sauce runs out, baste with pan drippings. If bird starts to brown too fast, reduce heat to 350 about midway. Use meat thermometer to test for 180 degrees. Especially if you have a piece of crap oven like mine. Roast for an hour or so.

Let the bird cool, once it's removed from oven. If not on a rack, remove bird from pan so juices don't make it too soft.


Yum yum yum.