Turkey with a Twist: Roast Turkey with Mediterranean Rub

When planning your Thanksgiving Day menu, it’s important to not treat the meal as a crazy mishmash of flavors. If your sides tend toward light and citrus flavored, this twist on roasted turkey will be a beautiful and delicious addition to your holiday meal. If you are just researching recipes and are wondering what kinds of side dishes would go with this twist on the Thanksgiving classic, I would start by making your own cranberry sauce; a splash of orange juice and a little lemon zest will give you the perfect complement to this lightly flavored turkey.

To stay with your Mediterranean theme consider couscous instead of heavier starches. Your vegetables should let their own flavors shine, avoid recipes calling for creamed soup and lots of cheese. I know it may not be Thanksgiving without green bean casserole, but green beans with browned butter and almonds will be a lovely addition to this menu. While I am an avowed fan of roasted brussels sprouts, the strong flavor of the vegetable may overwhelm the turkey, stick with something a little lighter. A wilted spinach salad with dried cranberries and pecans would also make an excellent and colorful addition to your Thanksgiving meal.

Remember, your Thanksgiving table is a feast for the eyes as well as the mouth. If your Butterball turkey, whether carved or whole, will be acting as a centerpiece, halve or quarter a few lemons and tuck some  parsley leaves around the edges of the platter. The green and yellow will give a bright pop of color to your dish. If you want to bring some red into the color palette, cranberries would be lovely, too. Just remind kids that raw cranberries aren’t exactly as delicious as they look.

After I removed my turkey from the roasting rack, sprinkled it with the rub, I covered it with Reynolds Wrap® Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil (You see, sometimes even the most attentive cooks get distracted and what starts out as 15 minutes standing can turn into 20 or 30; the foil helps keep that turkey ready to serve).

I may or may not have drizzled the juices that collected on the platter onto my serving of turkey and I may or may not have sighed with pleasure. You are free to experiment with drizzling the juice over your own turkey, but please report back and let me know what you thought.

 

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Serves: 12 servings

Ingredients
1 Butterball® Turkey (14 to 16 pounds), thawed completely if frozen
1 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1/4 cup ground dry lemon peel
4 tsp sugar, granulated
4 tsp sea salt
4 tsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tbsp dry oregano leaves
2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Remove neck and giblets from turkey. Pat turkey dry with paper towels. Turn wings back to hold neck skin against back of turkey. Place turkey breast side up on flat rack in shallow roasting pan.
3. Roast turkey approximately 1-1/2 hours. Then, cover breast loosely with Reynolds Wrap® Aluminum Foil to prevent overcooking.
4. While turkey is cooking, combine parsley, lemon peel, sugar, salt and spices to make rub. Set aside.
5. Roast turkey another 1-1/2 hours, or until meat thermometer reaches 180°F when inserted into the deepest part of the thigh muscle.
6. Let turkey stand 15 minutes before carving.
7. Sprinkle rub on sliced Butterball Turkey or rub over entire turkey when it is removed from the oven.

NOTE: Recommend using rub within 24 hours for best results.

Enjoy!

It’s All in How You Cook It

Creative cooking is not my forté. I married a chef. Calculated? Perhaps. While I spent most of my life living a highly creative life (I’ve been an actress, a dancer and a writer), my creative cooking attempts have been more mess than masterpiece. Thankfully, there are guidelines, or directions that make cooking a turkey and everything that goes with it a piece of cake (BTW – cake I can make – baking is more of a science than an art).

For the past thirty-some years I have been hosting our family’s Thanksgiving Day dinner. At first, I had the help of my mother-in-law, whose finesse in the kitchen is amazing. Hubby would spend the day watching his hometown high school team defeat the next town’s team…so much for marrying a chef. Once we moved away from the extended family I was on my own and EXPECTED TO SHINE, since Thanksgiving is my husband and son’s favorite holiday.

The reality is that by buying a Butterball Turkey and following the directions that come with it, I can create a golden turkey that’s moist in the center. I know because I’ve done it…again and again and again. By remembering the 3 T’s of turkey cooking (thawing, temperature and two-hour rule), I never have to worry about my turkey being ready on time and perfectly cooked.

I usually buy a frozen Butterball, because I can pick it up on sale and leave it in the freezer until I need it. Thawing it in the refrigerator is a snap. Simply remember that for every  four pounds of turkey, you need to allow at least one day of thawing in the refrigerator.

Did you forget? No problem, you can always cold water thaw in the kitchen sink – just leave your Butterball unopened wrapper breast down in cold water (don’t use warm water as it breeds bacteria). If you change the water every ½ hour your turkey should thaw at 30 min. per pound (6 hours for a 12 lb. turkey), then place in the refrigerator at 45 degrees or less until you’re ready to pop it in the oven.

Do you want your Butterball cooked PERFECTLY? It’s all about the temperature.  By using an easy to read meat safe thermometer, you can pop it into the thigh or stuffing and be sure that it’s going to be moist and delicious. If you use an instant read thermometer like I do, you simply place it just below the thigh bone. When it reaches 180° F, it’s done. Stuffed turkey temperature should be read in the stuffing and taken out when the temperature in the center of the stuffing reaches 165° F. A 10 – 18 lb. Butterball will take between 3 ¾  – 4 hours at 325° F in an open pan. Cooking a breast? Simply place the thermometer in the meatiest part and cook to 170° F.  If you’d like to see EXACTLY where to place the thermometer to get the perfect reading, watch the how-to videos on www.Butterball.com.

 One of the things that people forget is that turkey can only stay out for two hours. If your bird is cooked and the guests won’t arrive for a while, simply carve and put it back into the fridge. Be sure to place the stuffing and carved turkey into separate containers. Love the leftovers? Make sure to enjoy them within in 2 days or freeze.

I roast my turkey, using the open pan method. You’ll find the recipe on the booklet that comes packed with your Butterball, or you can watch the video at http://www.butterball.com/tips-how-tos/how-tos/roast/video.

They’ll never know you’re not a master chef if you follow the directions. I know, I’ve had my family fooled for YEARS.

Must-Have Shopping List for Thanksgiving

Big holidays like Thanksgiving can be intimidating, especially if it is your first time playing host or hostess. Beyond actually cooking the meal, there’s the pressure to make sure the house is clean enough. There are often questions like is there enough seating for everyone, will my mother-in-law be impressed or will she find fault with everything?

A big part of reducing that stress of Thanksgiving is to plan early and plan well.

In my house this means menu planning as soon as the guest list is pinned down. When menu planning for Thanksgiving I start with three lists, my dream Thanksgiving dinner, the Thanksgiving dinner my company expects, and I compromise between the two to make the final plan.  If you would like, I created a Thanksgiving menu plan printable.

Once your menu has been assembled, gather your recipes and your guest list. Use the following guidelines to work with your recipes (some may need to be doubled or tripled, if you are feeding a crowd) to plan your Thanksgiving Shopping List.

Serving estimates for holiday meals:

Whole Butterball Turkey* – 1 to 1^1/2 lbs. turkey for each guest up to a 14lb bird. Anything larger, estimate 3/4lb per person. (The skeleton of the turkey weighs less proportionally in large birds).

Stove Top Stuffing Mix – 3/4 cup per guest

Heinz HomeStyle Gravy – 1/3 cup per person; go 2/3rds cup per for buffet style

Mashed potatoes – 1lb of potatoes for every 2 guests. If you are serving two kinds (roasted and mashed) estimate 1lb for every 3 to 4 guests

Cranberry relish / sauce – 1lb of berries for every 5 people

Vegetables, including sweet potatoes – 1/2 cup per person of each type

Pillsbury Crescent Dinner Rolls – 2 per guest minimum

Rice – 1/2 cup per person

Dessert – 1 to 2 servings per guest

Don’t stop now, your Thanksgiving shopping list contains more than just the ingredients for your Thanksgiving dinner.

Do not forget the Reynolds Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil; tenting your turkey 2/3 through the cooking process is not the time to deal with flimsy foil that shreds if you glance at it cross-eyed.  You’ll also need the foil to cover the turkey as it rests before carving.

If you will truss your turkey, you’ll need cooking twine. However, Butterball makes it easy as their turkeys have their legs naturally tucked.

Are you considering frying a turkey?  Then Masterbuilt has a Butterball Electric Indoor Turkey Fryer.

Are you serving wine with your meal? There’s a handy free app, Drink-U-Lator for iPhone and Android that helps hosts calculate the amount of wine based on the number of drinking-age guests. The estimation is based on tried and true catering standards and has been reduced by a slight amount to help hosts feel assured they are being responsible with the amount of alcohol provided. If you’re not sure of which wines to provide for your guests, Butterball is a big fan of the Cavit Wine Collection.

Do you have enough serving-ware for your meal? How about large spoons, both slotted and not?

Do you have enough storage-ware for your leftovers?

If you are hosting a large crowd and do not have enough place settings, rental companies often have these available. This is significantly cheaper alternative to buying dishes, flatware, and glassware that will have to be stored the rest of the year.

Napkins, paper towels, and bar towels (these are sold in bundles are work as a great supplement to your regular cotton kitchen towels) will be needed in abundance. To prevent cross-contamination, especially when cooking for company (you don’t want to be the one to land great-aunt Matilda in the ER, do you?) be sure to deposit any towel that has come in contact with raw poultry or meat immediately in either the laundry or trash, as appropriate.

Last but not least, don’t forget the ice. If you do not have a lot of extra room in your refrigerator, a large cooler can help reduce the strain.

Make your list, check it twice, Thanksgiving will be here before you know it.

Lust List: Tips to Make Your Thanksgiving Better This Year

Thanksgiving is easily one of the best holidays of the year. It’s packed with all the good things in life; the things we lust after on a daily basis. Like fabulous food, good friends and family, and lots and lots of love. One thing your holiday shouldn’t involve is stress! You should be getting excited about Thanksgiving and shouldn’t get the nervous jitters every time you think about it.

Here are our tips for making your Thanksgiving better this year:

Start planning early! It’s never too soon to begin planning for the holidays. We recommend getting out a pen and a piece of paper right now (well, as soon as you’re done perusing the Butterball website!) and writing down a couple lists. Start with writing a list of all the things you need to get done before Thanksgiving. And then write a list of all the food you want cook for the big day. Once you see everything you have to do in writing, it will become much more manageable for you. You can start assigning a date to everything and getting some of your chores done ahead of time.

Don’t try to do too much. When you’re having guests over, it can be easy to feel the need to impress. And while showing your best stuff is always a good idea, you also need to make sure it’s enough for you to handle. So, make sure you’re not trying to experiment with too many new dishes this year or making yourself believe you can handle craft projects, cleaning, cooking, and decorating. Stick to a few tried and true recipes that you’re comfortable with and don’t be afraid to buy some pre-made items (e.g., pie crusts, rolls, etc.). Even better? Ask your guests to contribute to the dinner! They’ll likely be happy to help and you’ll find yourself feeling much calmer come the big day.

Do your research. There’s nothing worse than setting out to cook a recipe and then realizing you need to cook the dish for 6 hours or that it needs to marinate overnight. Make sure you read over each of your recipes and understand exactly what needs to be done before the big day. If there are any techniques or processes that you’re unfamiliar with, experiment with them before Thanksgiving. Of course, we also recommend reading over some of the tutorials and watching the how-to videos on Butterball.com to learn a lot of turkey techniques that will make Thanksgiving dinner feel like a breeze.

Set out your dishes and servingware before the big day. Along with doing your research comes mapping out exactly what you need to prepare for a successful Thanksgiving. Certain recipes require specific servingware and the last thing you want to do the day before Thanksgiving is head out to the store in search of the right size casserole dish. When you set everything out far in advance it will be simple to take inventory and figure out exactly what you need.

Have fun. Just because you’re hosting the dinner or playing a large part in bringing it together, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be having fun and enjoying yourself. It’s your holiday, too! Make sure you take the time to remember what Thanksgiving is all about, step out of the kitchen, and spend some time with your family and friends. At the end of the day, your guests will remember the time they spent with you over the food you made. The food is just a delicious added bonus!

Favorite Turkey Cooking Method: Personal Tips and Tricks

If you’ve been sticking to your turkey-cooking tradition, you may not even realize how many different ways there are to cook your Thanksgiving turkey. From roasting to grilling, you can even cook your turkey in a microwave in some cases! But one of our favorite ways to enjoy a Thanksgiving turkey is fried.

There seems to be a common misconception that fried turkeys are automatically greasy and unhealthy, but believe it or not, this isn’t true! In fact, if you check the level of oil you use before and after you fry your turkey, you’ll see that barely any oil is actually absorbed into the turkey. But frying it does make for an extra juicy, tender turkey. It’s absolutely amazing! Taking it one step further, Butterball even makes an oil free turkey fryer. Yes, you can fry a turkey without any oil involved at all! Plus, Butterball is offering a way to save on your turkey fryer purchase.

If you’re not convinced that a fried turkey is the way to go, we recommend having two turkeys at your Thanksgiving meal: one roasted and one fried. It will be a great way to get your guests talking and it’s always fun to try to experience new foods and cooking methods with family and friends!

Of course, no matter how you’re cooking your Thanksgiving turkey, make sure you give the turkey enough time to thaw (check out Butterball’s thawing schedule, so you can be sure to do it right) and that your turkey is at the right temperature before you dig in (Butterball has a chart for that, too!). While cooking a turkey may seem overwhelming, with these few key facts, it’s actually incredibly easy. While sometimes it’s nice to go with a tried and true cooking technique on Thanksgiving (especially if you’re entertaining many guests), trying something new is always fun, too. And Butterball makes it incredibly easy. Before you know it, you’ll want to try cooking your Thanksgiving turkey a new and different way every year!

My First Butterball University

I’m addicted to turkey. It’s true, I’ve already made four turkeys this year and there will be at least that many more before New Year’s.

This is a turkey

 Thankfully, there is no twelve-step program and Butterball has become my biggest enabler.

Over the years I have learned a few things about making a turkey. Not only do I deep fry my turkeys for the major holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas), I also roast a few during the season to ensure I have plenty of turkey goodness to store in the freezer and tide me over until the season begins again.

I was thrilled when I was contacted by Butterball and asked to attend Butterball University.

What do you mean you haven’t heard of Butterball University? It’s the training given to the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line experts (1-800-BUTTERBALL (800-288-8372)). You don’t think they let just anyone answer your turkey related questions, do you?

Yes, they thought it was funny, too.

I mean really, who wouldn’t jump at the chance to talk about turkey for 9 hours? Well, perhaps it takes a special breed, but Butterball knows how to find them and I was lucky enough to have the chance to meet a few wonderful turkey experts.

You should have seen me sweat when Mother Nature threw a wrench in my plans. She caused a canceled flight, a missed connection, and one heck of a Chicago-style traffic jam, but I was on a mission and I had turkey on my radar. Do you think a little wind and cold could prevent me from participating in 9 hours of turkey focused talk? Not a chance.

I was in heaven.

These experts take their turkey seriously and I was thrilled to accept the invitation. You see, the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line has been going strong for more than 30 years. The Turkey Talk-Line has grown from 6 home economists answering 11,000 questions in 1981 to this year’s team of 50 experts who anticipate helping more than 1 million cooks this holiday season, not only over the phone, but via Butterball.com, Facebook and Twitter, too.

This room won’t be quiet for much longer. Soon it will be buzzing with noise and cooks across the country call with all kinds of turkey related questions.

I have been cooking turkey for years and I have pages of notes. Where else can you have intense discussions of stuffing versus dressing?

We learned about buying, thawing, and safely prepping the turkey. Later we moved on to cooking methods such as cooking in an oven bag, foil wrapped, open pan*, cooking in a convection oven, using a covered roasting pan, an electric roaster, and even – dare I say it – how to microwave a turkey. Trust me, I know that microwaved turkey sounds like heresy and while it’s not my first choice for cooking turkey, it definitely wasn’t what I expected. And no, it was actually a pleasant surprise.

*Butterball recommends the open pan method of roasting a turkey at 325°F.

It wasn’t all talk. Butterball knows that you can’t really talk turkey until you have a few under your belt. Each of the participants was assigned a turkey and a cooking method. I was given the cutest, little turkey I have ever seen. I didn’t realize they came small enough to cook in a toaster oven. Did you?

Look, the thermometer is almost bigger than the drumstick!

Did you know if you buy a very small turkey there isn’t a lot of fat development which can lead to drier meat. Don’t worry, there are ways to compensate, it’s just something to keep in mind when determining your cooking method.

During the hands on portion of the training, there were demonstrations of how to place the thermometer in the thigh to ensure an accurate reading

After lunch we returned to the classroom and learned even more. This time we covered outdoor cooking methods: deep frying, grilling on a charcoal or gas grill, smoking turkey, and using an oil-less fryer. I’m excited to try grilled turkey and I think this just may be the year I break down and buy a smoker.

Finally it was time for the turkey line-up, carving, and of course tasting.

See the itty bitty turkey? I told you it was tiny.

How do you sum up nine hours of intense turkey education?

Delicious.

Your Thanksgiving Meal for Less

Doesn’t it seem like you spend a month’s worth of your food budget on Thanksgiving? That’s the way it used to be for me as well, until I got smarter about saving. When I’d look over our Thanksgiving Day menu with five different hors d’oeuvres, a spread that meant I needed to set up an extra table, desserts that would feed a small town and an empty wallet - the fun of getting together would turn to worry about how I would finance it all!

Things are much different now. I’ve come to realize that with good planning, that I can whittle down the expense of the meal from outrageous to tiny. How do I do it?

I begin planning at least 30 days in advance, by creating a basic menu. By watching the sales circulars from the grocery stores and even checking some of the online shopping outlets, I will rework my menu based upon the sales and coupons that I collect from the newspaper, magazines and of course online.

Here’s how I do it ~

*October 24 – Create a menu.

*Be Flexible – By keeping your menu flexible you’ll find the biggest savings. If chicken wings go on sale and you were planning on beef teriyaki, you could be missing out and your guests will never know the difference.

*Butterball Turkey – Check Butterball.com for coupons and holiday partner savings (Reynolds, Pillsbury, Heinz and more!). They offer a $1 off coupon for a Butterball turkey. Coordinate them with the in-store sales for even bigger savings. I find that the turkey is the EASIEST part to save on.

*Search For and Clip Coupons – Don’t limit yourself to what you find in your newspaper. Search online at places like www.coupons.com, your local newspapers website, and deal bloggers for coupons.

*Buy in Advance – I make sure that my freezer is almost empty, so that I can stock up on foods on sale all month.  You don’t want to have to pass on a savings of $1.00 a pound because you have no room to store your food.

*Cook in Advance – Some dishes can be cooked in advanced and frozen, making your Thanksgiving Day a bit easier. I often bake cakes and freeze them, only to take them out to defrost and put the frosting on the night before.

 By staying organized and shopping smarter, your Thanksgiving can be a wonderful celebration without breaking the bank!

Title: Eat, Pray…Exercise?

In my family, Thanksgiving kicks off six weeks of feasting. Lunches out, dinner parties, happy hours, plus all those kid-centric celebrations — and then we wake up just before Epiphany and realize that none of our pants fit. Happy New Year!

This year, though, things are going to be different.

Last spring, I started running, after 20 years of yoga and long walks. In February of 2011, I’m planning to run a half marathon. In order to stay on schedule, I’ll be training right through the holidays, running four times a week. I’m willing to bet that this year, my pants will all still fit in January.

But running 10 miles isn’t the only way to get moving after a big holiday meal. According to Butterball’s survey, the family football game is still a big part of the holiday; younger family members (ages 18-40) are likely to get out the pigskin after dinner and burn off those mashed potatoes.

Unfortunately, that’s only half of what families will do during their holiday time together. Nearly a third of all respondents ages 18 to 64 will grab a Wii controller after dinner. A gentle reminder: a rousing game of Wii tennis isn’t anything like a real match. Don’t substitute virtual workouts for actual calorie burning.      

Make an effort to get off the sofa and away from the television this Thanksgiving. Take a walk — if there are little kids at your holiday meal, bring them with you. Pushing a stroller or chasing a preschooler is a great way to burn calories and bond with the next generation. Toss a football with older kids or shoot play basketball — or bust out the hula hoops and see if you can still swing those hips like you did in middle school.

I’m planning to look for balance in my Thanksgiving exercise this year. I’m finally able to beat my sons at Mario Kart, so my plan is to run early in the morning, before we eat, and then settle in for some Wii racing after dessert. The key to staying healthy during the holidays is moderation and consistency; don’t quit exercising, and don’t go overboard with the goodies. Who knows — you might even celebrate the New Year a few pounds lighter than you started!

How do you stay active during the holiday season?

Staying Organized Over the Holidays

With the chaos the holidays can bring it’s so important make sure you stay organized. Here are our top tips for staying organized and keeping it all together during the busiest time of year!

• Set dishes and platters out a couple days beforehand so you’re aware of what you have and what you need. With a post it note or scrap piece of paper, label each platter with what dish you intend to use it for i.e. turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes. Also, set out all pitchers, glasses, and flatware you intend to use. You want to make sure you have all of these items handy, cleaned, and ready to go so you’re not scrambling around last minute!

• Make a timeline of all the food you’re cooking so you’ll know what can be made ahead of time and what needs to be prepared the day of. A lot of dips, appetizers, and desserts can be prepared a day or two in advance so make sure you fully read all of your recipes to save yourself some time.

• When entertaining, we always think the little touches are important especially the things that will make your guests’ visit easier. Make sure all areas of the house where guests will be are cleaned and organized. Have fresh bathroom towels and soaps ready to go. Always have a couple of extra rolls of toilet paper in a visible location so when you run out your guests can find it without having to ask.

• Make sure you have bowls of snacks scattered about for guests to munch on before the big meal or in between courses.

• Break down your grocery list by aisle or section of the grocery store. Produce, refrigerated, condiments, deli, etc. That way you’ll only have to go to the grocery store once and won’t waste time in a crowded store running back and forth between sections.

• At the end of the holiday go through the recipes you made and make notes on them for the following year so you’ll remember what changes you’ll have to make, if any. Organize all recipes you made in a binder or recipe box so they’ll be easily accessible.

• Make sure to keep track of what your guests offer to bring. We typically make a list of all of the dishes we need or want to include on the menu and as guests offer, we simply cross items off. This keeps us organized and if another guests asks if they can bring something it’s easy for us to see what else is needed.

• Enlist the help of family. Whether it’s having the kids break bread for stuffing, having the teenagers chop vegetables, or having someone else carve the turkey. Don’t be afraid to let it be known that their help is much appreciated!

Leftover Ideas Everyone Will Love

The possibilities for Thanksgiving leftovers are endless. All of the traditional Thanksgiving flavors combine so nicely to create their own unique dishes. Here are some of our favorite ideas for stretching the Thanksgiving feast out for a few more days:

• Use leftover cranberry sauce as a spread on crostini
• Leftover Butterball turkey for use in creative sandwiches such as a BLT with turkey or a turkey, cheddar, and apple, sandwich or in soups (turkey tortilla soup, turkey and rice soup)
• Stuff mushrooms with leftover stuffing and sprinkle with a dash of Parmesan cheese before baking for a great snack or appetizer
• Create a panini out of turkey, cranberry sauce, and any leftover salad greens
• Turkey chili
• Turkey pot pie is good to freeze so you can enjoy it at a later time in the year
• Turkey tacos
• Use cranberry sauce as an ice cream topping
• Top homemade nachos with turkey
• Sweet potato and turkey risotto

Use leftover cranberry sauce or sweet potatoes to make muffins or experiment and try them together!

 Just have fun and try different flavor combinations to discover your new favorite dish! If you need more recipe ideas visit www.Butterball.com.