Ah Summer Cooking

Since I had a 'leftover' turkey still in the freezer, it seemed like a good time to defrost it & put it on the grill.   In a large reusable foil pan I put one stick of melted butter, a well salted and peppered turkey (giblets removed), and half a bottle of my standard cooking wine: Seven Daughters - a blend of Riesling, Symphony, Chardonnay, Orange Muscat, Gewurtztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc & French Colombard.   If I had my druthers, I'd just use French Columbard, but lately it's been hard to come by.  All went onto a pre-heated grill that remained at 400 degrees, for about 2 1/2 hours (14 pound turkey).  I did baste it about every half hour with the 'broth' in the pan.

Meanwhile, I made the dough for cookies - Pebbly Beach Fruit Squares from Alice Medrich's Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-your-Mouth Cookies.  The dough needs to be chilled for at least two hours.

Next, I put together the recipe for Slow Cooker Green Bean Casserole (from the Oct/Nov 2010 Cooks Country magazine).  Think mushrooms, garlic and thyme melded into a wonderful sauce punctuated by ground up dried toasted onions all melted into a chicken broth and heavy cream sauce.  Fresh green beans are added and then cooked for two hours (in my crock pot) . . . until bubbly and tender.

On to prep my other side:  Cauliflower, Leek and Potato casserole made from a recipe in Bake until Bubbly.  Contrary to the recipe, I prefer to slice the potatoes and halve then slice the cauliflower so that they can be boiled for 20 minutes together with the sliced leeks.  Once tumbled into a casserole, they are topped with their signature sauce.  The sauce was made from a roux then adding heavy cream with gruyere cheese melted into it.  

While all the above were cooking or baking or grilling, I finished making the cookies, using 1/2 cup of finely chopped candied ginger and 1/2 cup of dried cherries, soaked in red wine for the filling.  Oh my - the really did turn out chewy and yummy.  And, these cookies are supposed to keep for up to two weeks . . . don't think they'll last that long!

The beautifully browned turkey was allowed to stand for 20 minutes while tented with foil.  While carving the turkey, the Cauliflower, Leek and Potato casserole went back into the oven to reheat.  It only takes 20 minutes initially to bake.  Since we were already to eat, the last side didn't get made.  Perhaps tomorrow we'll have spinach salad with strawberries for lunch!  The turkey yielded a wonderful amount of 'broth' that will be cooled in the fridge so the fat can be skimmed off and then possibly made into soup with some of the leftovers.