Paleo

Dry Brine Turkey

/ Christina Moore / Leave a comment

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I just love making a turkey. When I first made a Thanksgiving turkey (back in 1994), I was super intimidated. It took me all day, and was a ton of work. Over the years I’ve pieced together several alterations of recipes (including my mom’s), to make a turkey that not only is super moist, but takes about half the time to cook. This year it only took 3 hours to cook a 15 lb. bird. We were so busy having it for dinner, that I neglected to get a good photo of the final product, sorry.

TurkeyDryBrine

Ingredients

  • 15 lb. fresh turkey (thawed)
  • 1/4 cup kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup fresh sage (chopped)
  • Microplaned orange zest from one large orange, or 4 Mandarins
  • Fresh ground pepper

Directions

24 hours before your dinner, remove the turkey from its packaging and pat dry with paper towels. I discard the neck and the giblets, but you might save them for other uses. Place the turkey on a platter.

Combine the spices, and rub under the skin of the turkey breast and legs. Truss the turkey as you normally would. Here’s a link to a video if you’re unfamiliar with the process.

Place the turkey, uncovered on the platter, in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Place your oven rack in the bottom rung, and heat to 400°. Begin your turkey breast side down, uncovered, in a roasting pan V-Rack for 1 hour.

Using silicone oven mitts, turn the turkey over breast side up. Lower the heat to 325°, and continue cooking until a meat thermometer registers 165° in the thigh (without touching the bone), approximately 2 more hours.

I baste the turkey with melted butter (and eventually drippings) every 30 minutes until the turkey is done. Once the skin has become the shade you prefer, cover loosely with aluminium foil.

When the turkey is resting, you can make the gravy, and warm up or cook the other dishes.

Notes

  • Turkey is an inexpensive protein, so I like to buy 2 around Thanksgiving and freeze one.
  • I use a Food Saver vacuum sealer, and freeze the leftover meat in 1 lb. portions. It’s great for soups, pot pies, and casseroles for the next year.
  • When I first started cooking, the advice was to wash your turkey. The powers that be have since retracted that. It turns out that you are spraying your whole kitchen with nasty bugs when you do that.
  • Another thing I don’t do anymore, is to stuff the bird. I’ve found that I can make a flavorful and moist stuffing baked in its own casserole dish.

 

Cran-Apple Pork

/ Christina Moore / 3 Comments

This dish is all about the sauce. You can either use half of it as a glaze, while roasting your pork tenderloin, or serve it on top of your grilled pork chops. I’ve included both methods in the instructions below.

cranapplepork

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. pork tenderloin, OR 4 thick pork chops
  • 1 cup cranberries
  • 1 cup apple, pealed and chopped
  • ¼ cup onion, minced
  • ½ cup brown sugar, packed
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 tablespoon powdered ginger
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder
  • ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 tablespoon McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil melted

Directions for Pork Loin Version

Preheat oven to 350°. In a sauce pot, combine cranberries, apple, sugar, water, onion, ginger, curry and pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, trim the fat off of the pork loin and rub with the steak seasoning. Place the pork into an oiled 13 x 9″ pan. Uncover and simmer the sauce for 2 minutes more, or until thickened.

Cool 10 minutes, place in a blender, and blend until smooth. Divide the sauce in half. Brush the pork with half. Bake for 30 minutes, or until desired doneness (using a meat thermometer).

Serve pork with remaining sauce.

Directions for Pork Chops Version

In a sauce pot, combine cranberries, apple, sugar, water, onion, ginger, curry and pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, heat a large frying pan with the coconut oil. Sprinkle the chops with the steak seasoning. Fry the chops until desired doneness.

Uncover and simmer the sauce for 2 minutes more, or until thickened. Spoon the sauce over the chops and serve.

Notes

  • Side dish suggestions: Roasted potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts, stuffing, steamed green beans, corn on the cob
  • If you don’t have steak seasoning on hand, use whatever your favorite pork chop seasoning is. Salt and pepper work just fine too.
  • Don’t like spicy? Remove the red chili flakes, and cut the curry in half.
  • I like to keep the sauce chunky when I’m making it for pork chops, but it is just the same when blended.
  • Want to make it Paleo? Don’t add sugar. Easy peasy.

Almond Chicken Bake

/ Christina Moore / 19 Comments

I got this recipe from my friend Heather, way back when I was first looking for good Paleo recipes. It’s high in protein, gluten-free, and the whole family loves it.

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs chicken breast tenderloins
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup almond meal (or nut flour)
  • 2 tbs chili powder
  • 1 tbs Italian seasoning
  • 1 tbs garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400º. Line a 13 x 9″ baking pan with foil and grease it.

Mix all dry ingredients on a plate. Beat eggs in a shallow dish. Dip chicken in egg and then dredge in dry ingredients. Place coated meat into baking dish and bake for 7 minutes each side.