Thanksgiving Traditions

We have our own tradition at Thanksgiving, and that is to never serve a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We do this mostly because the three of us don' t like turkey very much and hate having it left over for three days more than anything.

This year I came up with Beef Wellington, and to appease those turkey loving guests that were invited, I found a recipe for Turkey Wellington on BBC Good Food. I think that's BBC's version of the Food Network, so I went with it. Here's the link.
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1083/roast-turkey-and-cranberry-wellington

The first thing I had to do was translate some of the ingredients and the measurements. I mean really, what is a "knob of butter" and what the heck is "gas mark 6"? The second thing was to find a turkey breast. I had no idea how hard it was going to be to find just a breast of turkey at Thanksgiving, but it was. Finally I saw them on sale at Albertsons, but of course I went to my local store twice to find they were sold out. Finally I was able to get one at the Albertsons near my office, so I was ready to Wellington!

I opened up my thawed breast of turkey and found them still attached to the bone. Ok, got two large breasts off, and trimmed the rest for the stuffing, and continued on.

What I learned was that you need a really big skillet (read use your roasting pan) to brown this beast. Tie him up tight and brown well.

Next thing I found was that chestnut puree is not an American thing, but if you stick some roasted chestnuts (World Market! My favorite place to find odd ingredients comes through again!) in the food processor and drizzle in some oil, you get a nice puree.

The stuffing on this was a bit odd since only the onions were precooked. It was a mushy gooey mess that got spread on the bacon. (Hint on the bacon here, once you have it rolled out, lay it out on some plastic wrap so you can roll the whole thing up, thats a tip from most Beef Wellington recipes.) Great thing about Wellington is you can do ahead up to the point where you wrap in the puff pastry, do that right before baking for best results. Wrapped in plastic wrap, the meat can hang in the fridge for most of the day, overnight or even get wrapped in foil and frozen.

The Wellington did nicely at 400 in a convection for an hour and 15 minutes. I egg washed twice as suggested and it was beautifully browned. The sauce you will want to start about 1/2 hour before you get the wellington out of the oven. Regardless of the instruction, the reducing by half takes a while, but the sauce is very good (worked really well on the beef too).

This was a great meal. The Beef Wellington recipe was from Tyler Florence and the only thing I changed was to use a grainy mustard to rub on the meat rather than a dijon, mostly because Ron hates mustard and the grainy has a less mustardy taste. (I used a 7 oz jar and it was yummy!) The mushroom hating children at the table never suspected they were eating mushrooms either!
here's the link to that recipe. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/the-ultimate-beef-wellington-recipe2/index.html

I hope you all create your own holiday traditions. enjoy.

Coconut Curry Mahi-Mahi with Couscous

I made this up last night and it was really yummy. Ron and Samantha raved. Samantha wanted the sauce over chicken (she is a big fan of gravy for some reason and thought this would be good).

Coconut Curry Mahi-Mahi with Couscous
(serves 4)

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 Mahi-Mahi Filets (4-6 oz each)
1 teaspoon Jalapeno Garlic Salt (or just salt and pepper if you don't have my concoction)

1 14 oz can coconut milk (be careful not to shake)
2 cups couscous
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 shallot, diced (about 1/4 cup, or 1/4 cup diced onion)
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon red curry paste (or more to your taste)
salt and pepper to taste

Season Mahi Mahi with Jalapeno Garlic Salt on both sides.

Heat skillet large enough to hold all fillets to medium.

Add 1 tablespoon oil and place fillets in pan. Cook fillets until opaque all the way through, turning once to lightly brown both sides. Do not overcook. Set aside. 5-8 minutes total.

Meanwhile carefully open can of coconut milk without shaking. Scoop cream into small bowl, (you will get about 3/4-1 cup), reserve. Pour watery milk into liquid measuring cup, add water to equal 2 cups. Put coconut water mixture into small sauce pan, heat to a boil, add couscous and stir. Cover, remove from heat and set aside 5 minutes for couscous to absorb water. Fluff with fork.

When mahi-mahi fillets are cooked, add remaining oil to skillet. Add shallot, ginger, garlic and curry paste. Cook stirring constantly until shallot is softened, 1-2 minutes. Add coconut cream, stir and lower heat to keep from boiling. Season with salt and pepper. When mixture comes together, add mahi-mahi back to pan and spoon mixture over fillets. Heat for a minute or two just to bring flavors together.

Scoop couscous onto plates, put a mahi fillet on top, spoon some sauce over and enjoy.