Leftover Christmas Turkey Lasagne

I reckon that in our family, turkey lasagne is more awaited than the Christmas turkey itself. It's a great way to use the stock from the bones plus the leg and thigh meat left over from your Christmas feast.

This dish is best prepared a day ahead, leaving the final baking for the day of serving. It can also be frozen before baking. This batch was big enough to make one large and one medium lasagne. The smaller one went in the freezer.

Preparation time: 3 hours

Baking time: 45 mins

Serves: 10-12

INGREDIENTS:

For the ragu:

- 1kg cooked turkey meat, roughly chopped

- 8-10 cloves of garlic, crushed

- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

- 1 glass of white wine

- 1/2 of a 200g tube of tomato puree

- 3 x 680g jars of tomato passata

- 2 teaspoons of salt

For the turkey stock:

- 2 onions halved (skin on)

- 3 medium carrots, halved

- 1 small celery stick

- 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil

- Turkey carcase, broken up

- 2 teaspoons salt

- Enough water to cover

For the white sauce:

- 2 tablespoons of plain flour

- 50g butter

- 400ml of turkey stock

- Salt and pepper to taste

For the final assembly and topping:

- 500g lasagne sheets

- 250g grated mozzarella cheese

METHOD:

First remove the meat from the carcass and roughly chop it. Then start off the stock by sauteing the onions, carrots and celery for a few minutes in a large stock pot (mine is 9 litres), add the turkey carcass, cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer gently with the lid partly on for 2-3 hours.

Once the stock has been started, begin making the ragu in another large saucepan (6 litres minimum). Add the crushed garlic, olive oil and tomato puree to the pot on a medium heat. Cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly so as not to burn the garlic, then add the white wine and cook gently for a few minutes until the base starts to thicken slightly. At this point, the smell is amazing.

Then add the 3 bottles of passata, bring to the boil and simmer very gently for 2 - 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. The turkey meat is already cooked so it goes into the ragu after the sauce is cooked and only for a further 20 minutes or so.

For the white sauce, melt the butter in a small sauce pan, add the flour and mix thoroughly before adding the stock. Cook gently whisking constantly until it reaches a thick but pourable consistency.

For the final assembly in a large shallow pan, poach the lasagne sheets 2 -3 at a time in turkey stock for just a couple of minutes to soften them slightly.

(After all this plus making a turkey pie filling (see photo below), I was left with almost a litre of stock which went in the freezer for another day.)

Get two lasagne dishes and start with a layer of pasta at the bottom. Then a layer of ragu, another layer of pasta, another of ragu and so on until finishing with a layer of pasta topped with a thin coating of the white sauce before the final sprinkling of grated mozzarella.

The lasagne can now either be baked straight away at 180 deg for 45 mins, or stored in the fridge for a couple of days before baking. Alternatively it can be frozen and enjoyed after the turkey mania has subsided a bit.

42 Ghanaian Chillies in a Jar

FIREFOODIE'S CHRISTMAS CHILLI - BATCH #2

This is the result of batch #2 following my previous Firefoodie's Christmas Chilli article posted earlier this month. I relented and purchased a tray of 60 very cute 3 oz jars with gold lids to overcome my label removal angst. I asked the green grocer at the market in Witney to get hold of a box of chillies for my second round of little gifts for me to collect the following week.

I collected the box early in the morning (see the gap above the fennel) and psyched myself up for another intense evening. This time, my son Charlie helped with the tailing of the chillies, and we managed the whole batch in just over an hour. 16 x 200g batches in the food processor to be precise. We worked out that we tailed just short of 1600 of the treasures by hand.

Once the garlic was added and the chilli was cooked down with the olive oil, vinegar (about 300ml of each), salt (2 tbsp) and a bit of water (Charlie had retired by now), I filled 38 jars with Batch #2 of my addictive relish. They were then simmered in a large baking tray and topped with extra virgin olive oil before sealing, cooling and labelling.

If you are amongst the privileged few in possession of one of these little jars, it's great with cheddar cheese and cracker biscuits. Add a nice cold beer, and you have found another room in firefoodie heaven.

Remember to add a bit of olive oil to the jar each time you use some, enough to cover the chilli. It will keep it fresh for ages and you will get more out of the jar. Enjoy.

Firefoodie's Christmas Chilli

I've been waiting all year for this. Since discovering that whole fresh chillies last forever in the freezer, I've been collecting them in preparation. This batch was made from about 3kg of chillies from various markets and enthusiastic friends with a few pots in the garden.

Collecting the jars is a year long task. I'm constantly making sure that the jars and lids I sneak into the dishwasher don't end out in the recycling care of our enthusiastic kids. I'm sure I'm short this year and have already started thinking about buying jars in bulk heaven forbid.

Label adhesives. One of my bug bears. There needs to be some international legislation governing what type of glue manufacturers use to stick labels on to jars. I soak my jars in water, and this is ok for about 2/3 of them, but the remaining ones need either oil, white spirit or methanol to remove the adhesive from the glass. I've almost become an expert on the chemical make up of various adhesives, and even worse, have started to select brands in the supermarket based on how easy the labels are to remove! Retailers out there... take heed. Glass is great and needs to be re-used, but don't make it so difficult that no one bothers. Enough ranting.

This method is a good way to preserve chilli for the pantry which literally lasts for years. Once opened keep it in the fridge and it will still last a month or so if it's not all eaten by then. We put ours on toast with cheese, in sandwiches, and generally just on the table to add to anything for a bit of a kick. The unique garlicky taste is quite addictive. It is freshly 'peppery' in the capsicum sense of the word and the bit of olive oil used to finish it helps spread the heat and aroma when used.

It's labour intensive, but totally worth it. It took me about an hour and a half to trim the stalks off each individual chilli before putting them in 15 x 200g batches in our food processor to roughly chop them up. 4 bulbs of garlic were then separated, squashed, peeled and finely chopped (in the same food processor) before adding to the chilli in a large pot.

I added a cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of malt vinegar, 1/4 cup of cider vinegar and a tablespoon of salt. The mix was put on a low heat with a lid and stirred occasionally until the liquid released from the chilli and the mix then steamed in it's own moisture. For this amount it took about about an hour or so before it was ready to distribute into jars.

Then I tasted it. Beware if you have some (you will know who you are because this one is batch no. 1, and it's written on the label). I put a half a teaspoon on a water biscuit to test it and just barely survived. It's hot, so use sparingly and with love. The longer it lasts you the happier you will be. This batch made a mere 11 jars, about 250g net each, which is a lot of happiness. Upping the quantum is my next challenge, I mean 3 hours, 11 jars, 3kg chilli, that's about 20 minutes and 300g of chilli per jar. Commerce this is not.

Once in jars I placed them with the lids loosely on in a large baking dish of simmering water for another hour before sealing them for the long term. Once the lids are sealed, the contents then cool and create a vacuum in the jar with the minimum amount of oxygen and living organisms. Garlic is of course one of natures best preservatives, so you cant go wrong. I've had jars in the pantry for 2 years and they taste as good when opened if not better than when first made. Keep it moist with a bit of olive oil as you use it just to keep the nasties at bay. Enjoy.

Merry Christmas from Firefoodie.

Perfect Christmas Turkey on the Weber

This simple recipe is the result of many Christmas’s experimenting with turkey and other poultry in a kettle barbeque in both the English winter and Australian summer.

On this particular Christmas, we served an 8.5 kg (20 lb) turkey for a late afternoon Christmas dinner. The plan was to have plenty of leftovers for turkey lasagne, turkey pasties, cold meat and stock. It worked a treat. I managed to feed 9 with one breast, stuffing and one thigh (loads of trimmings and vegetables helped). The next few days were spent preparing and storing the remainder of our every-two-year turkey delights.

One advantage of the kettle barbeque is that it frees up the oven and you can cook a much larger bird than you would be able to in the kitchen.

This is from my archive and what really happened a Christmas (or two) ago.

CHRISTMAS EVE:

Collect your pre-ordered turkey from your local butcher. Enjoy the queues and conversations that go with it.

Pre-prepare in advance everything possible… like the bread sauce and stuffing for example, so all that is left to do is to cook the turkey and prepare and cook the potatoes, parsnips, brussel sprouts and carrots.

This year I planned a pre-dinner snack of home made sausage rolls and devils on horseback which were also prepared on Christmas Eve.

CHRISTMAS DAY:

Juggling catering obligations with gift opening demands of the kids and family is always a challenge. I write out a schedule a few days before so it is easier to judge the timing and arrange tasks on the day. The main job for the morning is to prepare and cook the turkey. Once the turkey is on the charcoal cooking fire, the preparation of the giblet gravy, vegetables and other compliments then simply falls into place.

I tried a new method for the giblet stock and gravy this time. The neck, heart, liver and kidneys were sauted in a dob of butter with a few whole carrots, bay leaves and peppercorns until lightly browned before adding water and a couple of unpeeled onions.

The stock simmered on the stove for almost as long as the turkey was in the Weber. Masses of gravy was produced, enough for the meal and plenty left over for the turkey pasty filling.

A 20 lb turkey will take about 3¼ hours to cook in a kettle barbeque and then a further 30-60 minutes to carve and serve. Having it ready early is fine as it will stay hot carved or un-carved under foil for an hour or more. The fire will take 30-40 minutes from scratch to mature, so you need to work out at what time it needs to be lit to ensure that your meal will be on the table when you need it to be. Remove the turkey from the fridge early in the day so it returns to room temperature before cooking. This is important especially in the winter as the barbeque will be under enough stress to keep hot as it is.

Get your pre-prepared stuffing ready (I use a well seasoned mixture of sausage meat, fresh breadcrumbs and a bit of grated lemon rind - see Chapter 3) and then put your hand in the neck cavity and carefully work apart the skin from the breast meat with your fingers. Then, a bit at a time, push small handfuls of stuffing under the skin and squash it down to create a thick (up to an inch or so) layer over the whole of the breast. The main cavity is best left open to allow the heat from the fire to cook the turkey from the inside without interfering with your cooking times.

Rub the whole skin with some olive oil and sprinkle with salt before placing the turkey on a large baking dish on the rack of the barbeque. The baking dish will ensure that you safely reserve cooking juices and fat for basting during cooking. Open the lid of the barbeque every 45 minutes or so to check the fire and allow it to re-oxygenate while you baste. You will probably need to add just a chunk or two of charcoal to each side of the barbeque during these times to keep the temperature fairly steady. Don’t worry if the breast starts looking a bit overdone, this is just the stuffing layer doing its job of protecting the white meat during cooking. If the turkey is just gently sizzling, you will know that the temperature of the fire is just right.

Once cooked, serving the turkey should be easy. Cover it with foil and let it stand for half an hour or so, and then with a pair of tongs and a short sharp knife, carefully remove an entire breast in one piece and set it aside. Then remove a thigh with a bit of wiggling and a bit of help from your knife. Remove the thigh bone before slicing the meat across the grain of the muscles. Slice the breast in the same way, across the grain in ¼ - ½ in slices, leaving a thick layer of aromatic stuffing on the outside of each slice. The stuffing may be a little burnt on the outside, but this has only helped to protect the more delicate breast meat from over cooking and drying out.

Protect the uncarved turkey with foil to keep it moist for later. Place the carved meat onto a warmed tray and cover with foil to give you time to serve the vegetables and trimmings onto hot plates before serving the turkey slices and finishing with piping hot giblet gravy.

Merry Christmas!

P.S. For some photos of our 2009 Christmas turkey have a look at Perfect Christmas Turkey in the Weber - Chapter 2. I'm already planning the 2010 version, it's just a few weeks away...

Ben's Boerewors Braai

This is the South African version of good old bangers and mash.

A few weeks ago my South African friend Ben gave me a proper boerewors made to his Mum's recipe by our local butcher and mutual friend Clint.

A blustery, wet autumn Saturday with the (false) promise of a dry evening was enough to inspire me to fire up the brazier. My Mum was with us from Australia, and all of the kids were away except for our youngest, and I know how he loves a fire.

The boerewors had been in the freezer for a couple of weeks, and once I decided it was to be our meal for the night, I rang Ben for some advice on accompaniments. I had forgotten that he was on holiday in Croatia, so the rest of the afternoon involved much texting. Including suggesting I go to Waitrose for some Mrs Ball's South African Chutney. Which I did.

Our brazier has recently been enshrined in a circle of slate, and this was the first time a meal has been prepared there since I laid the paving. The fire was started with paper, twigs and kindling, and once established, charcoal was piled on top. Luca couldn't leave it alone despite my reminders that this was a 'cooking fire', and not to mess with it. My trusty braai tool was deployed and the sausage grilled nicely as the evening set in. Luca experimented with toasting some stale baggettes which had to be relocated each time the brai tool was turned over. Once cooked, I kept the boerwors warm in the oven so I could finish off the vegies and red onion sauce.

On the hob, the red onions had been cooked slowly in red wine and butter for a good hour, and the potatoes prepared for the mash. Some frozen petit pois added some nice colour and Mrs Ball's chutney was a super-sweet experience. Made only from fruit, spices and loads of sugar, you can see how most of South Africa is addicted to it. In Ben's words, 'the only thing it doesn't go with is ice cream!'

So thanks Ben, the boerewors was delicious.

Crayfishing at Minster Lovell

These bad boys are Satan spawn. Intelligent or stupid I can't work it out. A 150mm critter will think it is worthwhile to attack me for example. Super aggressive, cannibalistic, and pillagers of our environment, American Signal Crayfish were introduced into the UK in the 1970's to supply restaurants with their exotic flesh.

This titbit from The Telegraph published in June 2008 says it all:

"...SIGNAL CRAYFISH FACTS

The female breeds from the age of about two when it is 40mm long.
She breeds once a year and averages 275 eggs.

The eggs are fertilised by the male in October/November.
They are carried by the female folded within her tail until May when the young are released - if they can escape her jaws.The Signal is bigger and more aggressive than native crayfish.
They are less fussy in what they eat and more successful and rapidly colonise new areas.
The Signal carries a fungus which is fatal to native crayfish.
They can live up to 12 years..."

Therefore, I delight in pulling them from the rivers and plunging them into boiling water alive.

One humane way to kill shellfish is to freeze them, so they enter into a dormant state before they die and then boil them, but watching them swim in boiling water just proves their resilience and warrior like temperament.

Last Saturday, myself and my good friend Cai took our seven year old boys down to the river by the ruins of Minster Lovell Hall near Witney for some crayfishing fun. In just over an hour we landed over 20 using a simple technique involving raw meat tied to the ends of pieces of string. I have a lump of venison in the freezer that gets dragged down to the river's edge, then chunks get cut off it, and it is re-frozen after each time we go crayfishing. This lump must be at least three years old. Amazingly still fresh and just pungent

enough to act as perfect bait for these unfussy eaters.

Between us we laid five lines along the river bank, and after ten minutes or so, were pulling one if not two from each line. By the time the five lines had been worked, more crayfish would be nibbling on the first line to start the process all over again. We managed 20 in an hour, and if it weren't for time pressure, I could have kept going all day.

I use white kitchen string with a 2 x 2 cm piece of venison tied to the end. The bait sinks slowly to the river bed, and the colour of the string makes it easier to see if the bait is being nibbled at. I then slowly pull the string so that the crayfish follows the bait until I can get it close enough to the bank to scoop up the catch with a hand held net. So much fun, especially when you get more than one at a time.

A group near us were using small net bags (the type that you put washing tablets in a washing machine), filled with some kind of meat. I have to say that my method intuitively feels better, as the crayfish can properly nibble away at it for a while until you start to pull it towards the net, so they perhaps feel more like chasing it. Who knows. Great fun all the same.

I gave my share of the catch to my friend Cai, mainly because I didn't have the time this particular weekend to shell and prepare the meat. Not much flesh comes from each critter so you need a lot for a meal, at least 15 for a starter or as many as 30 for a main course for one person. There is a good couple of hours de-shelling for this many so make sure you have plenty of time. If you're up for it here goes:

FRESH CRAYFISH

15-20 live crayfish per person

Humane method: Put the catch in a bag and freeze before plunging into boiling water

Sadistic method: Plunge the catch in a very large pot of boiling water (one at a time or the water cools too much and they stay alive for a bit too long)

Once the crayfish have turned orange and the tails are coiled up into a tight ball, remove them from the cooking water and let them cool (or cool them under cold running water).

Break off the claws and remove the body from the tail.

Discard the body, and remove the shell from the tail, pulling out the tube running down the tail as you go.

Using a small hammer, gently tap the claws to crack them so that the shell can be removed and the flesh inside recovered.

Put aside the flesh in a bowl, and gather the fragments of shell (not the bodies) together and rinse them under cold water.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan and gently saute the shell fragments in the butter. Strain the shells from the butter and drizzle the shell flavoured butter over the crayfish flesh.

Serve with warm bread and a green salad.

American Signal Crayfish flesh is quite bland in flavour, but this method extracts the crayfish flavour from the shell. A squeeze of fresh lemon or dash of vinegar helps too.

Buon appetito!

(See this article in "theblogpaper")

Roxy Joins the Family

Roxy is our newly aquired 1972 VW Dormobile camper van. I've been commuting to Oxford in her for a week or so now and have started to become more used to the details and idiosyncrasies of the 37 year old camper. Having been a teenager in the late 70's really helped, this type of driving was normal then and it really makes you realise how you come to expect the luxuries of modern motoring. She has a top speed of about 55mph and we are busy researching great locations within a couple of hours drive from home.

We're still doing a bit of work restoring her original interior fittings, so meanwhile, I dream of days out and weekends away with Roxy and the 'go anywhere' Weber barbeque. The rotisserie will definitely feature in future outings too.