Olive Oil

Unless you’re a serious “foodie”, you probably don’t think much about the oil you use in cooking or what kind of olive oil you have.  We all have heard a million times how healthy it is and how we’re supposed to use olive oil instead of some other oils, but I’m one of those folks that will try to use up whatever I have as much as possible so as not to waste the money.

But this past May I went on vacation to Wisconsin’s Door Country.  There are very many different boutiques and mostly cater to the kitchy, touristy, chatchky-loving folk.  But you don’t have to look hard to find gems.  One of those gems is the Oilerie.  It’s a boutique where you have an exceptional selection of olive oils and olive oil products (such as soaps).  The one thing that hooked me was that you can taste the olive oils and the vinegars. When was the last time you were able to do that in your grocery store?

No bread; just pure, uncluttered, and true taste of the product.  It was spectacularly delicious, so I bought 3 bottles.  I bought 25 Year Old Balsamic Vinegar, Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar, and Garlic Olive Oil.

The Garlic Olive Oil is subtle but you can definitely taste the sweet garlic.  Perfect on salads for that unexpected hint of garlic as well as a perfect addition to any savory dish calling for olive oil and garlic.  I’m so glad there is now a location in Brookfield.  Saves me a 3 hour trip to Door County, but even if there weren’t a closer location, they do ship and the trip would still be worth it (if they didn’t ship).

Oh, and the soaps are great too.  Doesn’t dry out your skin, especially in this terribly cold weather.

So the next time you go grocery shopping, think about the oils you use and if they need an update.  See if you can find a place where you can taste this ubiquitous product.

Roasted Tomatoes

Fresh Roma Tomatoes

I found this recipe on The Perfect Pantry and decided to give it a try.  I followed the recipe closely, but not exactly.  Since ovens vary, I actually roasted my tomatoes for around 14 hours (started late in the evening and turned it off in the morning).  Also, I didn’t add the thyme.  To me, it makes everything taste moldy.  Yeah, I know, it’s odd.

But just to recap, here is what happened.

Ingredients:
Several pounds of Roma tomatoes
Olive oil (if you have garlic olive oil, it would be PERFECT! here)
Garlic (a lot/to taste)
Salt
Black pepper, freshly ground

Seasoned Tomatoes

Steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Cut the tomatoes lengthwise. Salt and pepper liberally. Place on a cookie sheet.
3. Sprinkle minced garlic (this should be to taste and it should depend on how many pounds of tomatoes you have).
4. Drizzle olive oil and place the tomatoes into the oven.

The phenomenal smell emanating from the oven will be ridiculously hard to resist, but please do. The results will be well worth the wait.

Roasted Tomatoes

Turkey – Thanksgiving and any other day

Turkey - Extra moist and delicious

I was completely new to baking a turkey a few years ago.  In fact, the first time I tried to make a turkey (for Thanksgiving) I almost burned down my kitchen.  You see, I was following 2 different turkey recipes at once and made a pie earlier.  When the pie filling oozed out ever so bubble-ishesly right between the heating coils, I didn’t give it much thought.  Until I needed to crank the oven to 500 degrees.  That was the day I found out that burned sugar and high temperatures don’t mix, for when I went to put the turkey in the oven, I saw flames! shooting up inside the oven.  You have to image this: me standing in front of the oven, barely holding pan with a very heavy turkey at eye level, in complete shock.

In the end, it all worked out.  We had a really moist and tasty turkey.  So moist that people with dentures were able to enjoy it as well.  You can see in the picture that it’s so moist it’s practically falling apart.

Here is the recipe that I adapted from Alton Brown’s on the Food Network.

Brine:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
• 1 gallon heavily iced water

Baking the Turkey:
For this, I use Reynolds Oven Bags. Here are the instructions from Reynolds (which are also found inside the packagin):

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Shake flour in Reynolds Oven Bag; place in large roasting pan at least 2 inches deep. Spray inside of bag with nonstick spray to reduce sticking, if desired.

3. Add vegetables to oven bag. Remove neck and giblets from turkey. Rinse turkey; pat dry. Brush turkey with oil. Combine sage, thyme, rosemary and seasoned salt. Sprinkle and rub herb mixture over turkey, turning to coat evenly.
4. Place turkey in oven bag on top of vegetables.

5. Close oven bag with nylon tie; cut six 1/2-inch slits in top. Insert meat thermometer through slit in bag into thickest part of inner thigh. Tuck ends of bag in pan.

6. Bake 2 to 2 1/2 hours for a 12 to 16 lb. turkey, 2 1/2 to 3 hours for a 16 to 20 lb. turkey, and 3 to 3 1/2 hours for a 20 to 24 lb. turkey, or until meat thermometer reads 180°F. For easy slicing, let stand in oven bag 15 minutes before opening.