Thursday, March 17, 2011

turkey...and roasted vegetables with maple-balsamic glaze


When we moved to Montana, the lovely ladies of the church filled our cupboards, freezer and refrigerator with food so we would have something to eat right away.  Due to our personal insanity, we moved right before Christmas, so they included a turkey in our freezer.  I didn't have the energy to tackle a turkey AND a move over Christmas though, so it remained there for a few months.

But my mother-in-law and brother-in-law came to visit this weekend and since we were going to have more people around to eat said turkey and since I needed some space in my freezer (given the existence of Costco), I decided it was time to make the turkey.

I have never prepared a turkey entirely on my own until this weekend.  The intimidation factor was lowered quite a bit the year I prepared a turkey with Christopher's help, using the step-by-step photo-accompanied directions of Ree Drummond.  But to prepare it entirely alone, without the help of Williams Sonoma's turkey brine...ack!  Scary!

But this weekend, I did it!  I found another lovely recipe to use as a guide and I prepared my turkey much as I would a roast chicken.  I filled it with herbs, lemon, celery, garlic, and onion.  I sprinkled and rubbed in coarse salt and pepper.  I slathered it down with butter.  I was mightily nervous.  But I also felt pretty good about the job I had done.  I popped it in the oven and the photo above is the BEAUTY I ended up with!  I was so proud!

I had planned to serve it with mashed sweet potatoes, but the Mrs. has been inspiring me to use up more food that is in my fridge and stop wasting so much, so inspiration hit me and I came up with a new idea.  Roasted sweet potatoes, celery, onions and carrots with a maple-balsamic glaze.  It's amazing how well tired refrigerator vegetables will stand up to roasting.  And I had bought a GONZO bag of celery from Costco a couple weeks ago that was quickly losing its relevancy to the world.  I was very happy with the results of my roasted vegetables.  They were warm and inviting, savory and slightly sweet.  I got seconds.

ROASTED VEGETABLES WITH MAPLE-BALSAMIC GLAZE
3 large sweet potatoes, cubed
5-6 celery stalks, sliced
1 yellow onion, cut into chunks
1 cup of baby carrots

For the glaze
1 TBS balsamic vinegar
4 TBS olive oil
1/4 cup real maple syrup
1 tsp. of cumin
1/2 tsp. of ginger
Fresh-ground salt and pepper

Mix the glaze in a separate bowl.  Toss with the cut-up vegetables.  Cover with aluminum foil and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for about an hour or until vegetables are tender.  Enjoy!


6 comments:

  1. Looks awesome! Of course, I'm so entrenched in baby food world that my first thought was "I bet I could grind some of that up pretty easily for Lady Bug - she'd love it!" Then I remembered that I would probably love it, too :)

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  2. #1: I'm glad we're not wasting food together - this recipe sounds delicious, and not just because it's lunchtime here.

    #2: "I slathered it down with butter" - And you were worried?

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  3. Embers, that is hilarious! What does becoming a mom DO to our thinking processes??:-)

    Mrs., too true, too true.

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  4. Yummy. Looks like a great meal.

    BTW, remind me to get to you the turkey brind recipe that I use. It is too wonderful for words. I took pictures of my first turkey because it could have come off the cover of Better Home and Gardens. I've used it two times since. Hubby asked if I wanted to try a different recipe. Sure, sometime, but not for a bit holiday, maybe when we have just turkey for family, but for a holiday, I want tried and true. I also so love the apple taste and wine of the one I've been using.
    It uses granny smith apples, wine, fresh herbs, it really is amazing.

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  5. That sounds DELICIOUS, Lucinda...would love to see the recipe...

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