Grill-Roasted Turkey

Try this method and you’ll never use your oven again. The turkey cooks in half the time recommended for oven roasting, and it remains moist and juicy with just one basting. But stifle the impulse to open the grill lid for a peek — the heat in the grill will drop significantly and slow your cooking.

Yield: 18 to 20 servings (with plenty left over for turkey sandwiches)

• 18- to 20-pound turkey (not self-basting)
• Olive oil spray or 1/2 cup olive or canola oil
• Salt and pepper

Thanksgiving Day:
Preheat gas grill for 10 minutes with all burners on low heat (400 degrees F). Rinse turkey and pat dry. Stuff turkey with Herb Stuffing (see recipe). Coat skin of turkey with olive oil spray or brush skin with oil. Season skin with salt and pepper. Place turkey in a disposable aluminum foil roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Create a tent of aluminum foil over the turkey and seal tightly. Place pan on the grill rack and close lid. Cook 3 hours (for a 20-pound turkey) or until popper is exposed or turkey leg can be pulled away from the body. Remove tenting. Baste turkey with drippings (remove 3 tablespoons drippings for gravy). Close grill lid, raise heat to medium, and cook 15 minutes more or until bird is golden brown. Remove turkey from grill. Allow bird to sit 10 minutes. Remove dressing to an ovenproof bowl and place it in a warm oven until serving. Carve turkey, place on a large platter, and serve.

Traditional English Dressing

Yield: Makes enough to stuff a 16-pound turkey.

• 4 stalks celery, with leaves, thinly sliced
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, broken or sliced into medium-size pieces
• 1/4 pound butter
• 8 to 10 fresh chestnuts, boiled 10 minutes, then peeled and chopped
• 1/4 pound (3 to 4 links) maple-flavored sausage, casing removed, cooked, drained, and crumbled (optional)
• 1/2 pint freshly poached oysters, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup oyster broth
• 1 or 2 tablespoons of sage, depending on your taste
• salt and pepper to taste
• 12 cups 2-day-old bread, crumbled into medium-fine pieces
• 4 cups water, approximately

1. Saute celery, onion, and mushrooms in butter until softened. Stir in chestnuts and cook another 1 or 2 minutes.

2. Combine the sauteed mixture with everything else except water, then slowly add water until bread is thoroughly saturated. Mix together with your hands for at least 2 minutes, squeezing to form a heavy, thick consistency. Stuffing should be pasty, not crumbly.

3. Refrigerate promptly and age at least 12 hours, tossing with a fork as often as possible before use.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe

• 1 large head of garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt & pepper
• Step Two: Mashed potatoes
• 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, quartered
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 stick of butter
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut head of garlic in half across the top, drizzle with olive oil, season to taste with salt and pepper. Wrap in aluminum foil and roast for about one hour until garlic is tender. Remove garlic by squeezing each clove. Set aside. Put potatoes in saucepan, cover with water, season with salt and pepper and boil 15 to 20 minutes until fork tender. Drain. Add salt, pepper, butter, heavy cream and roasted garlic. Use mixer until desired consistency.

Blue Ribbon Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Yield: Serves 6-8.

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 3 large eggs
• 1-1/2 cups mashed pumpkin, or 1 can (not pre-mixed pie filling)
• 1 cup light cream or evaporated milk
• 9-inch pie shell, unbaked (recipe follows)

Mix first 8 ingredients together. Beat in eggs. Stir in pumpkin and cream. Pour into pie shell. Bake in a 400 degrees F oven for 50 minutes, or until knife is clean after inserting in center of pie. Cool completely before serving.

Flaky Pastry

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup Crisco shortening
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 5 tablespoons cold water
• 1 tablespoon vinegar

Pie crust: Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening and butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Add water and vinegar, mixing with fork. Form into ball and chill. Roll out to form 2 crusts. This is foolproof. Makes enough for a double-crust pie.

Checkout the Old Farmers Almanac For more Recipes

What will you be cooking this Thanksgiving?

I usually would not do this but my family has started a biggest loser contest, with weekly weigh ins and all.  It is kind of fun heckling those who are behind (my family way).  Have you ever noticed when your on a diet all the good food you see.

I guess it like when your buying a house, in the Reno/sparks area,  you start to see all the for real estate signs.

So I came across this recipe today and it sure does look good tell me what you think.

White Peach Pie

8-12 ripe white peaches, washed, split, pits removed and wedged into 8ths (leave peels on!)

1 cup vanilla sugar (I use two or three vanilla beans, split and scraped, submerged in 5 lbs. sugar)

1 lemon, cut in half

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

3 tablespoons corn starch or tapioca flour

pinch of kosher salt

Grab a big bowl and go to town on the peaches. Wash them gently, cut in half and take out the pits. Use a paring knife. Then cut each half into eight wedges. Use a big spoon to gently mix with remaining ingredients and squeeze lemon juice over everything. Set aside while you make the dough.

Here’s what you need to know about pie dough. There are those who use shortening, and those who use butter. By now you should now I am the butter kind. So. Just use it.  At the restaurant, we make about 20 balls of pie dough at a time. This is the scaled back version.

2 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour

2 sticks COLD sweet salted butter, chopped up into little bits

ice water

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or just a mixing bowl if you’re working by hand) add the flour. Add the chopped up COLD butter. Quickly mix on medium low speed so the butter is in little bits. With the motor running on low dribble in a bit of ice water. Keep dribbling until the mixture comes together, but isn’t too dry or too wet. Just watch. It will happen. Stop the motor…..if you are working by hand, dribble the water and work the dough until it comes together. At this point, you can make two disks, wrap in plastic wrap and store in the fridge. If you want to make this for the freezer, wrap in plastic wrap, then store in a freezer bag. Defrost on the counter or in the fridge.

To roll out: flour a board or counter with a little flour, and start rolling with a pin from the middle out.  Roll north, south, east, west. Then flip the dough, adding more flour if you need to. Roll again, north, south, east, west, until it’s bigger than a pie plate, about 12 inches across. Spray a glass deep dish pie plate with cooking spray. Lay the crust inside, giving a little room for shrinkage. Roll out the second crust. Fill the first crush with fruit and dot with butter. Lay the top crust over the fruit, sealing and crimping the edges. Score the top and sprinkle with sugar. Bake on a sheet pan lined with parchment or foil for 1 1/2 hours at 375 degrees until the center filling reads 180 on an instant read thermometer and is bubbling.  Cool on a rack and eat warm or room temperature. Enjoy!

This happens to be one of the recipes from Dish Cafe and Catering Co.  You can see more of her recipes  at http://dishingup.wordpress.com/

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions or comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted.  I can be reached by email at  chance at ballard-company.com or http://www.myspace.com/chancegates