The Bolek Family Turkey with Apple Sausage Stuffing

Turkey and stuffing represents a combination of the New and Old Worlds.  The explanation begins with the following scene ... Sixteenth Century Spanish explorers or conquistadors traveling through the New World region that would become part of northern Mexico.  As they pass through town after town, the Spaniards notice that the indigenous people have domesticated an odd, aggressive bird that struts around, "gobbling" all the time. The indigenous peoples may have roasted or stewed the turkey meat, but they did not stuff the birds.  When the Spaniards found that turkeys were delicious and decided to bring the birds back to the Old World.

The popularity of turkey spread throughout Western Europe.  It was a change from the swans, herons and peacocks that graced the plates of the wealthy.  European cooks began to prepare turkey incorporating their own cooking styles, creating a myriad of different recipes.  One such cookbook, Martha's Bradley's British Housewife (1758), collected several of those recipes: Roasted Turkey with Onion Sauce, Roasted with Oysters, "Forced the Italian Way" (i.e., stuffed with a sausage-like mixture), the Dutch Way, with Cray-Fish, au Bourgeois, Boiled the Dutch Way, Stewed, in a Pudding in Guts (sausage links), Glazed, and in a Cullis (sauce). Thus, the Old World way of stuffing birds combined with a New World bird most likely gave rise to what is often the centerpiece of holiday meals here in the United States.

This recipe does not come from any old cookbook.  Instead, this Turkey with Apple Sausage Stuffing recipe is my mom's recipe.  She makes this recipe for Thanksgiving, and, every year, she expertly produces an amazing dinner.  The turkey is always juicy and the stuffing is perfectly made.  I wanted to make this dish for a group of our friends who were coming over to our house for the Easter holiday.  I followed the recipe (with a couple of changes, such as the substitution of turkey stock for chicken broth) and everything turned out well.  However, it was not as good as my mom's Turkey with Apple Sausage Stuffing.  I guess I will need some more practice.  It is a good thing that holidays come several times a year....

THE BOLEK FAMILY TURKEY WITH

APPLE SAUSAGE STUFFING

Recipe provided by my Mom

Serves a lot

Ingredients (for the turkey):

1 whole turkey (about fifteen pounds)

1 cup of fresh thyme, chopped 

1/2 cup of unsalted butter

Salt, to taste

Ground pepper, to taste

Ingredients (for the stuffing):

1 loaf of bread (white or white)

16 ounces of turkey stock (you can substitute chicken stock

     or chicken broth)

3 tablespoons of unsalted butter

4 tablespoons of chopped onions 

1/2 to 3/4 cup of chopped celery

1 to 2 apples, peeled and diced

3/4 pound of mild Italian sausage, browned

1 cup of water

1 egg, beaten

Salt, to taste

Ground pepper, to taste

Ingredients (for the gravy):

5 tablespoons of all purpose flour

3/4 to 1 cup of water

Reserved turkey stock (or chicken stock or broth)
A few drops of Gravy Master

Instructions:

1.  Begin to make the stuffing.  If the bread is fresh, leave on the counter overnight to get stale.  Heat a the butter in a skillet over medium to medium high heat, add the butter, then the onions and celery.  Cook it slowly and stir often to make sure that it does not burn.  Once the onion and celery are soft, remove from the heat. 

2.  Continue to make the stuffing.  Pour the turkey stock into a medium bowl.  Take a couple slices of bread and dip them into the broth.  Squeeze out all of the broth and put the slices into another bowl.  Repeat this process until you have used the whole loaf.  Strain the breadcrumbs and the stock for use later in the gravy.   Pour 1 beaten egg, about a  teaspoon of salt, and a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper, and some poultry seasoning.  Add the apples and the sausage.  Mix everything well.  Set aside.

3.  Prepare the turkey.  The turkey should be defrosted.  (The best way to do this is buy the turkey a couple days in advance and let it sit in the refrigerator.  If it is still frozen on the morning you intend to serve it, place it in cold water for a couple of hours.)  Before taking off the wrapper, read the instructions regarding how long it will take to roast the turkey.  The instructions are usually fairly accurate.  Once you remove the wrapper, wash the turkey thoroughly, inside and out.  Remove the giblets, set aside. 

4.  Stuff the turkey.  Place the turkey in a roasting pan.  Stuff the turkey, starting in the back of the turkey.  Do not pack the stuffing, but make sure that the stuffing fills the cavity.  Also insert some stuffing at the head of the turkey.  (If you have leftover stuffing, place it in a glass baking dish and add it to the oven when there is about an hour left in the cooking time of the turkey.)  Lace the skin over the closures.  Place pats of butter in crevices or on top.  Add water to the bottom of the pan. 

5.  Roast the turkey: Cover the turkey with the roasting pan lid or foil and put the turkey in a 325 degree preheated oven.  About one hour or so before it is done or maybe sooner depending on size of turkey, baste turkey with drippings from bottom of pan, this will help brown up the turkey.  Also add more hot water if necessary so the turkey wont stick to the bottom of the pan.  Also baste any stuffing that is sticking out of turkey. When turkey is almost done, (1/2 hour or so before) uncover it and let finish roasting uncovered.  Also keep basting it if necessary.  When turkey is a nice golden brown, and the drumsticks are loose from turkey, it is probably done  You can use a thermometer to check.  Usually the pop up thermometers in the turkey are not too accurate.  Take from oven, let sit for a couple of minutes.  Pull turkey from roaster and carve.

6.  Make the gravy: Separate fat from juice in the drippings.  Put into medium size kettle.  Bring to a  boil.  Add saved chicken broth and maybe another can if necessary and bring to a boil again.   Use a mixture of several heaping tablespoons of flour to about 3/4 cup to 1 cup of water and shake together to get the lumps broken down.  Put into kettle and stir.  Add Kitchen Magic to make it a darker color.  Gravy should thicken.  Keep stirring and bring to a boil.  If it doesn't, repeat the flour/water mixture but not as much flour or water.

PAIRING THIS DISH

As with chicken and pork, the conventional pairing for turkey -- a white meat -- would be a white wine. Most white wines would work well, with the sole exception of sweet wines.  Some possibilities include Riesling wines from Alsace or Germany, along with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc wines from California, Washington, State or Oregon.  Lesser known varietals, such as Viognier, or lesser known wines, like Vouvray, could work well with turkey.  A couple of white wines that I have previously reviewed that would work with this dish include the following:

Dr. H. Thanisch's Bernkasteler Badstube -- Riesling Kabinett (2009)
100% Riesling grapes
Mosel Valley, Germany
Flavors of green apples and pears

Black Ankle Vineyards -- Viognier (2009)
100% Viognier grapes
Mt. Airy, Maryland, USA
Flavors of pears, along with a little vanilla and oak

Some red wines will also well with turkey and stuffing dishes.  The wine that jumps to mind is a Pinot Noir, but also a Syrah from France could pair well with this dish.  A couple of red wines that I have reviewed that I think would pair well with this recipe are the following:

Thomas Henry -- Pinot Noir (2009)
100% Pinot Noir grapes
Napa Valley, California, USA
Flavors of dark cherries and strawberries

Privé Vineyard -- Le Nord (2006) or Le Nord (2008)
100% Pinot Noir grapes
Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
Flavors of cherries, pepper and spice

ENJOY!

For more on the history of turkey and stuffing, check out The American Turkey and Thanksgiving at The Journal of Antiques.

Handmade Fettuccine with the Bolek Family Tomato Sauce and Chef Bolek's Lamb Meatballs

For many years, my grandparents would make a pasta dinner entirely by hand.  They made the pasta from eggs, semolina and flour.  They made the sauce with fresh tomatoes, including tomatoes grown by my grandfather in his garden.  And, they would make the meatballs and sausage by hand.

My grandparent's "workshop," so to speak, was in their basement, where they had a big pasta table, a second stove and a second refrigerator, not to mention a walk in pantry.  When making pasta for a big dinner, such as our multiple-course dinner on Christmas Eve, the preparations and work began many hours in advance.

I do remember, as kids, my sister and I helped our grandparents make the pasta. Obviously not wanting us around a hot stove making sauce, or working with raw meat, our grandparents assigned us to help them with the hand-crank pasta machine.  We dutifully cranked out fettuccine pasta, setting the stage for what was always a great meal. 

 THE PASTA

As my grandparents grew older, they stopped making most of the meal by hand.  When they stopped making pasta they began to rely upon fresh or boxed pasta from the grocery store.  As for myself, I did not make pasta again by hand for more than twenty years.  It was not until after a culinary Renaissance (that is, my trip through Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany), that I started making pasta on my own.  I took a class at L'Academie de Cuisine, which provided me with some basic instruction on the old volcano technique; and, ever since then, I've basically taught myself to make pasta by hand.  

I am still a novice, usually making pasta with one egg and two or three cups of flour at a time. I also stick to basic pastas, such as fettuccine, linguine or ravioli.  These restrictions slow down the process, but I avoid a lot of headaches, such as the mess from eggs leaking out onto the counter. The following recipe is the simple recipe that I use to make basic fettuccine.

HANDMADE FETTUCCINE
Makes about a quarter pound of pasta.

Ingredients:
1 egg
2-3 cups of flour

Directions:

1.  Make a mound with the flour and a well in the middle of the mound.  Reinforce each side of the mound with the back side of a spoon.  Crack the egg into the middle of the mound.

2.  With a fork, carefully begin to beat the egg.  As you are beating the egg, add a little flour at a time into the egg.  Continue beating and adding flour until the dough begins to form.  This may take a little while.  Always be mindful of the sides of the well and make sure that there are no cracks where the egg can escape.

3.  Once the dough has formed enough to pick up (it may still be a little runny), scoop up the dough into one of your hands and cover it with flour.  Continue to work the dough into a ball in your hands by adding flour until there is no more "liquid."

4.  Return the dough to a floured surface and begin to kneed the dough with the palm of your hand and your fingers.  Continue to kneed the dough for about ten minutes or until the dough no longer seems "wet."  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap to sit for about ten minutes.

5. Follow the directions on your hand-crank machine, running the dough on the widest setting and working toward the narrow setting. Sprinkle flour onto the dough if you feel any "wet" spots.

6.  Let the dough sit for a couple of minutes.  Then use the attachment for whatever type of pasta you would like to make.

7.  As you cut the pasta using the attachment, make sure that the pasta noodles are separated from one another by either hanging the noodles on a pasta rack or arranging the noodles in a way that will prevent them from sticking together as they dry.  You should also sprinkle flour over the noodles, which will help to keep the noodles separate.

Although the pasta may be "basic" in technique, the end product is a pasta that is light and actually somewhat airy, especially if you are able to run the pasta through the thinnest setting on the pasta machine before cutting it into fettuccine.  You should let the pasta dry before using it in a meal.  Also, because an egg is used in making the pasta, you should refrigerate or freeze the pasta if you are not planning to use it the same day.

THE BOLEK FAMILY TOMATO SAUCE

The process of making pasta is only the beginning; it is like preparing the canvas in order to paint a work of art.   And, for chefs and cooks alike, the "paint" is the sauce.  In my family, the tradition is to make a smooth sauce, one laced with herbs and spices and whose velvety texture coats the noodles in a thin layer of goodness.  My grandparents always made a smooth sauce, and my Mom follows in that tradition.  Although I have experimented with a more chunky sauce (that is, a sauce with bits of tomato, onions, garlic and other vegetables, like carrots), I have to say that there is nothing like what I now call the Bolek Family Tomato Sauce.


The mention of the herbs and spices brings me to the difficult part.  This sauce recipe has been passed down from generations in my family and, the one thing that each generation has in common is that no one measured the herbs and spices that went into the sauce.  There was no attempt to reduce the basil, oregano, garlic powder, or crushed red pepper to cups, tablespoons or teaspoons.  Rather, whether it was my grandmother, my Mom or myself, we rely upon our senses, both of smell and taste, to determine what is the right amount.  You begin by adding a good amount of each spice (but not too much) and continue to add herbs and spices as the sauce cooks, to reach the taste that you want.  

THE BOLEK FAMILY TOMATO SAUCE

Serves Many

Ingredients:
2 cans of tomato puree
3 cans of tomato paste
Dried basil, to taste
Dried oregano, to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Crushed red pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Pour the two cans of tomato puree into a big pot.  Fill each can with water to get the remaining tomato puree out of the can and pour it into the pot.  Add the tomato paste, one can at a time.  Whisk the puree into the sauce before adding the next can of tomato paste.

2.  Add the herbs and spices.  The only general rule is that I add 2 parts of basil for 1 part of oregano.

3.  Let the sauce cook for a couple of hours to reduce.

CHEF BOLEK'S LAMB MEATBALLS

And, last but not least, there are the meatballs.  Traditionally, meatballs are with a mixture of ground beef, pork and veal.  For that reason, supermarkets sell ground meat for "meatballs" that often includes all three types of meat.  There are also endless variations on the other ingredients used to make meatballs, such as using different types of breadcrumbs, cheeses and binding agents, such as milk and eggs.  Generally, I try to keep the meatballs simple ... using meat, Italian breadcrumbs, and an egg.

As for the meat, I prefer using ground lamb for two reasons.  The first reason is that meatballs are a  mainstay in Abruzzese cuisine (with Abruzzo being the region from where my relatives emigrated) and are featured in many dishes such as Maccheroni alla Chitarra and Minestra Maritata.  The second reason  is that lamb is much more predominant in Abruzzo than beef and veal.  When my relatives lived in Abruzzo, shepherds tended to sheep and lamb more than cows.  The relative scarcity of beef meant that it was reserved for special occasions.  I'm sure that the situation is different today, with modern distribution networks and refrigerated storage making beef much more available than in the past. 

So, whenever I make meatballs, I pay homage to the past in Abruzzo by using lamb, in a simple recipe that requires only bread crumbs, eggs, herbs and spices.  As with the Bolek Family Tomato Sauce, the amount of herbs and spices added to the ground lamb is not measured, but done using a "gut sense" as to what is just enough to make a good meatball.  (And, for me, that is to make sure that the meatballs have a good, spicy kick to them.)   

CHEF BOLEK'S LAMB MEATBALLS
A Chef Bolek Original
Serves many

2 pounds of ground lamb
1 cup of breadcrumbs
1 egg
Dried basil, to taste
Dried oregano, to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Crushed red pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.  Mix the ground lamb, breadcrumbs, egg, herbs and spices in a bowl.  Make sure to mix everything well so that the herbs and spices are spread throughout the meat and that every meat ball will have an adequate amount of flavor.

2.  Make medium-sized meatballs by taking an amount of the mixture that is smaller than a tennis ball but much bigger than a golf ball.  You are looking to make meatballs that are about two inches to two and one half inches in diameter.  Put another way, you should get about twelve meatballs per pound and, for this recipe, you should get about twenty-four meatballs. 

3.  Heat a pan on medium heat.  Add several meatballs to the pan at a time.  Brown the meatballs until the pinkness of the meat is no longer evident on the outside of the meatballs.  You should not cook the meatballs entirely on the pan.  Instead, once they are browned, remove them and place them on a paper towel to collect the excess oil and grease.

The reason why you should never cook the meatballs entirely on the pan is that you should always add the meatballs to your sauce.  By adding the meatballs to the sauce, you will give that sauce a lot of extra flavor. The herbs and spices in the meatballs, as well as the lamb meat itself, will reinforce the herbs and spices in the sauce.  (And, for that reason, if you are planning to have meatballs with your pasta and sauce, you may want to add a little less of the herbs and spices when you make the sauce). 

Making a meal by hand -- the pasta, sauce and meatballs -- is a lot of work.  But it is rewarding work, because the end product is an amazing meal.  This is a meal that has been shared and enjoyed by family and friends on Christmas Eve for decades.

And, for this year (2010), I was fortunate enough to make it for family and friends on Christmas Eve.  I also lucky enough to have the able assistance of my beautiful wife, Clare, her parents and my parents.  Their assistance in making the pasta, the sauce and the meatballs contributed to the great success of the dinner on Christmas Eve.  I am very grateful for all of their help in making this meal, as well as their company as we dined together for the holiday.

ENJOY!

The Bolek Family Standing Rib Roast

The centerpiece of the Bolek's Christmas dinner is the standing rib roast, which is a truly amazing cut of beef.  A full rib roast is seven ribs, from the sixth rib to the twelfth rib of the cow.  Each rib will have enough meat to serve about two people and the full standing rib roast is about fifteen pounds. And it is called a "standing rib roast" because the beef "stands" on the ribs while it is roasted.

Traditionally, when we order a rib roast, we should ask for the butcher to separate the bones from the meat and then tie everything back together.  The separation of the bones from the meat will make the carving of the roast much easier when it is done.

For years, my mother made the rib roast and every year she would make an excellent roast.  The origins of this recipe come from a butcher at a local grocery store, who used to work for a local steakhouse.  The butcher told my mom that, at that steakhouse they would use dried french onion soup mix, like Lipton's, during the cooking process.  More specifically, after searing the meat at a high temperature, you take the out and use the dried onion soup mix as a rub, thoroughly rubbing the mix all over the meat.  You return the roast to the stove at a reduced heat to cook.  The result is that the soup mix will create a very tasty crust.

When I started making this roast, I decided to add some additional flavors to the onion soup mix.  I usually add fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, fresh or ground garlic, and other herbs and spices. 

STANDING RIB ROAST

A Bolek Family Recipe
Serves 10-15

Ingredients:

10 pounds of standing rib roasts, with bones

3-4 packs of dried onion soup mix

1/2 package of fresh rosemary, chopped finely

1/2 package of fresh thyme, chopped finely

1/4 cup of fresh garlic, minced or 3-4 tablespoons ground garlic.

Ground pepper, to taste

Salt, to taste

Directions:

1.   Sear the rib roast.  Heat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.  At this point, you want to sear the meat to lock in the juices for the long, dry heat of the cooking process.  Place the rib roast in a roasting pan, with a little water on the bottom of the pan, and put in the oven for about forty minutes. When you pull out the roast, you want to see the roast stating to brown.

2.  Prepare the rub for the rib roast.  While the rib roast is searing in the oven, it is time to prepare the rub.  Combine the packs of dried onion soup mix, rosemary, thyme and garlic, along with ground pepper and salt.  Make sure that everything is mixed thoroughly. 

3.  Add the rub to the rib roast.  Remove the roast from the oven and place on top of the oven.  Take small handfuls of the rub and begin to rub the all of the meat.  Be careful when doing this because both the rib and the roasting pan will be very hot.  Use all of the rub and try to get the rub on all sides.  

4.  Continue to cook the roast. Lower the temperature of the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Return the rib roast to the oven, covered, to cook for about three hours.  I usually try to cook it for about two and one-half hours initially, and then check the temperature.    About once per hour, you should baste the roast with the juices; however, do not keep the roast open for long, as that will prolong the cooking.

5.  Let the roast rest.  When the roast has reached about 125 to 130 degrees, which between rare and medium rare, I pull the roast out and let it rest for about fifteen minutes.  The roast will continue to cook and increase about ten degrees.  (I like the rib roast to have a good pink center to it.)

Generally speaking, 120-125 degrees is rare, 130-135 degrees is medium rare, 140-145 degrees is medium, 150-155 is medium well and 160 plus is overdone (at least in my opinion). I have to say that when you cook with a gas range, as opposed to an electric one, the cooking times may be a little less and you may want to check the roast more often during the cooking process to make sure that it does not overcook.

ENJOY! 

Minestra Maritata (Italian Wedding Soup)

One of the Christmas Eve traditions in my family is to have Wedding Soup. I love this soup.  A sumptuous chicken broth, punctuated by pieces of tender chicken and browned meatballs, surrounded by escarole.  The recipe has been perfected by my great grandmother, my grandmother and my mother.  Now it is my turn, as the recipe, which has been passed down from my grandmother to my mother, now finds itself in my hands.

I've always wondered about the origin of the name "Wedding Soup."  Was this soup served at weddings in Italy?  Well, from what I've been able to determine, the etymology of the name "Wedding Soup" does not come from the marital bliss of many Italian couples.  Instead, the name originates from what cooks use to say about the ingredients of soup ... vegetables and meat ... se maritato bene or or they have married well.  (On a side note, it is kind of like Clare and me ... vegetarian and carnivore, we have married well.)  In the case of the soup, which is a Neapolitan green and meat soup, cooks would say that the flavors of the greens and the meat married well together as they cooked together in a pot over a wood fire.  

The version typically cooked in kitchens throughout Campana used different cuts of meat, usually from a pig.  In other regions, cooks used meats that were common for them.  For example, in Abruzzo, cooks used meatballs.  And, given the relatives on my mom's side of the family came to this country from two small towns in Abruzzo, Rivisondoli and Roccaraso, meatballs figure prominently in the recipe handed down through the generations in our family. 

MINESTRA MARITATA (Italian Wedding Soup)
Serves many

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
3 bunches of celery
1 bunch of carrots
2 large onions
1 pound of escarole lettuce
1 pound of ground beef
1 can of low sodium chicken broth
Water
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Wash the chicken thoroughly.  Put the chicken in a kettle and add water until chicken is covered.  If you can't cover the chicken completely, that is okay.  Just place the chicken breast down and bring the water to as high of a level as possible.  Bring the pot to a boil and skim off the top.  Add salt, pepper, the tops of the celery stalks (including leaves), some of the carrots and onion.  Bring to a boil again and continue to simmer, covered, until the chicken is done, which may take two to four hours depending on the size of the chicken.

2.  While the chicken is cooking, wash the escarole lettuce and break it into little pieces.  Begin filling the pot with the lettuce.  When you have put about a third of the lettuce in the pot, add a layer of carrots and celery.  Repeat this twice until the pot is filled about half way.    Add water to cover, about 1/2 to 3/4 full.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and continue to simmer.

3.  Take the ground meat, and add some salt and pepper.  Mix the meat.  Then make small meatballs, making sure each meatball is compacted.  With one and one-half pounds of meat, you should be able to make about one-hundred, forty-four meatballs.  Brown the meatballs in a frying pan just enough to take the pink out of the meat.  Using a slotted spoon, remove them from the frying pan and put them into the pot with the escarole.  Keep the pot simmering, as the water cooks down.

4.  When the chicken is done, pull it out and de-bone it.  Break the chicken into small pieces.  Chop the cooked celery and mash the carrots.  Strain the chicken broth into the kettle.  Add the chicken, celery and carrots.  Also, add the chicken broth.  Stir to mix the ingredients and bring to a boil.

5.  Allow the soup to simmer for about an hour or two.  Stir the soup occasionally.  Refrigerate the soup overnight to allow the fat to congeal at the top.  The next day, carefully skim off the fat from the top of the soup.

6.  Bring to a boil and allow the soup to simmer until you are ready to eat. If you want to add pastine, add about five minutes before serving.

To serve, ladle some of the soup into a bowl.  Make sure that you get a lot of the individual ingredients -- chicken, meatballs, carrots, celery and escarole -- into each bowl.  Then top each bowl with a healthy amount of grated Pecorino Toscano, Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano.

ENJOY!

For more about Minesta Maritata or Italian Wedding Soup, check out Supereva or About.com