Author Archives: jackiscooking

Jack is Cooking Gravy

Posted on by under gravy, turkey

Well Hello Internet!

So GRAVY!  that’s pretty important in the whole meal…

what you’ll need:
turkey stock (you can make this from the giblets of the turkey while the turkey is roasting)
drippings from pan
kuzu root (2 tablespoons)
water (4-5 tablespoons
s+P
a little lemon juice
a little champagne

after you take the Turkey out of the oven, save the drippings and the pan.
in a bowl mix the kuzu root and the water together, until you have a paste.  it will be kind of like when you put corn starch and water together.

then over low heat, put the turkey pan with the drippings, and mix in the kuzu paste to make a kind of roux.  cook for about 4 minutes

then slowly pour in the stock, a cup at a time mixing constantly to prevent any lumping from happening.
season with salt and pepper and cook for a further 10-15 minutes over low heat.

i decided that a little lemon juice was necessary and also a little champagne!

mmmm mmmm delicious.

p.s. somehow no pictures were ever taken of the gravy.  sorry!

Rosie is Baking Mini (Gluten Free) Key Lime Meringue Pies

Posted on by under Uncategorized

Hi Internet.
This is Rosie, Jack’s (gluten free) sister. I don’t do a lot of cooking. I prefer to bake. So we can call today’s blog “Rosie is baking”.
When we lived in Bermuda we would always have a lemon meringue pie for dessert on Christmas day. This year we decided to reinstate the tradition but twist it around a little. I’ve always liked key lime pie better than lemon because it is slightly tarter and less sweet. But you can throw meringue on anything. So I started with a graham cracker crust. I managed to find gluten free graham crackers but I have only seen these at one store. (If you can’t find these you can make a delicious tart crust out of brown rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, butter and a little sugar.)
Here are all the ingredients you’ll need:
1 package gluten free graham crackers
3 tbsp butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup key lime juice
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
1/4 cup powdered sugar

For the crust:
Smash all the graham crackers into a fine crumble.
Add three tablespoons of softened butter  and a quarter cup of sugar and mix it all up into a crumbly sticky mixture. It won’t be solid at all, you have to press it into the bottom of the pie pan (or muffin and mini-muffin pans if you’re making minis).
Refrigerate crust for at least an hour. (If you make the crust without graham crackers you will need to bake them off for about 5-7 minutes or until they are slightly golden).

For the delicious key lime filling:
You need half  a cup of key lime juice. I’ve used fresh key limes and juice from a bottle and honestly it doesn’t make that much of a difference. And fresh key limes are tiny and take a long time to squeeze half a cup out of. But, make sure it’s key lime juice and not plain lime, they taste really different.
Mix the key lime juice with the can of sweetened condensed milk and the yolks of the three eggs. Save the whites for the meringue.
Mix it all together until it’s smooth and creamy. I usually taste a tiny bit to make there’s enough lime.
Pour this mixture into the mini crusts.

For the meringues:
Whip the egg whites you have left over until they are starting to get firm, then begin to slowly add in the powdered sugar. Beat until stiff. I didn’t really beat mine long enough and I used granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar so they weren’t really stiff enough. Oh well, next time. They still tasted delicious.

I scooped the meringue into a zip-loc bag and snipped one corner off. Then it sort of acts as a piping bag and you can squeeze little dollops onto the minis and sort of a circular swirl on the bigger ones.

Put them in the oven for about ten minutes until the meringues get golden on the top and the filling is slightly firmer. The meringue is the most important part because the filling does most of it’s hardening in the fridge so take it out as soon as the meringues have the right look.

I also made a few in regular muffin tins with red and green foil muffin cups for a little extra Christmas spirit.

Jack is Cooking Glazed Ham

Posted on by under Cloves, Glazed Ham, mustard, orange juice, Rice Syrup

Well Hello Internet!

Ok so the Other main event of Christmas Dinner is a Ham.  this year i decided to make a Glazed Ham, and of course since we’re on the Farm it came from Herondale Farm.  It is the BEST ham ever, end of story.

So this is almost easier than the Turkey
Heres what you’ll need:
1 Ham (with the Bone in)
a whole bunch of cloves
1/2 cup Maple Flavored Rice Syrup
1 Tablespoon Mustard
1/2 cup orange juice

Take the Ham and with a sharp knife, cut a grid pattern into the fat on top.  the grid should leave a whole bunch of 1 inch squares through the fat.  Then take a whole bunch of cloves, and poke one clove into each of these squares.

Put in an oven at 325° for 18 minutes per pound.

Meanwhile to make the glaze:
put the rice syrup, the mustard, and the orange juice, in a small pot and mix together.  then bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring, and careful not to let it boil over.

when the ham is 30 minutes away from being done, pour half of the glaze over the ham.  at this time you will have noticed that a fair amount of fat has pooled up around the ham.  take this and spoon it all over the ham too.  this will give it some extra deliciousness in the final moments of cooking.
when there is 15 minutes, pour the remaining glaze over the ham and baste again

Remove from the oven and let rest for 30 minutes, under tin foil.

mmmm mmmm delicious (more than delicious)

Jack is Cooking Roast Turkey!

Posted on by under butter, Stuffing, turkey

Well Hello Internet!

So the main event of the Christmas Dinner : Turkey!  well almost the main event, there is ham also.

But anyways, the Turkey!  this is actually pretty easy and almost impossible to screw up.
you can put whatever herbs and spices you want on it, but we had a heritage breed turkey, and honestly its so darn good that it doesn’t need anything except butter and stuffing!

So we took the turkey, and i put some of the delicious pancetta chestnut stuffing and i stuffed it in both ends.  then i took a whole lot of butter and rubbed it all over the turkey.

so somebody might notice that my turkey might be upside down.  however, i think its right side up.  and thats  because the skin on the breast is delicious, and if its in the bottom of the pan it gets soggy.  this way it gets really nice and crispy.  so BREAST UP!
after you’ve covered it in butter, put maybe an inch of water in the pan.  this is important.  very very important!  its the key to moist turkey!  then put tin foil over the whole thing.  but try to have it not touch the turkey.  imagine almost a tent of tinfoil.   this will contain some of the steam from the water, but let some out too.
Then roast it at 350 for about 20 minutes per pound, or until the internal temperature reaches 175°.  for our turkey it took 4.5 hours.  when there is going to be about 45 minutes to an hour left cooking, REMOVE THE TINFOIL  this will allow the skin to get crispy!
  take it out and let it sit for another 30 minutes to an hour
 it will eventually get to 180°
then get your carving tools out and carve away!  Save the pan and the drippings to make Gravy
mmmm mmmm delicious

Jack is Cooking Mashed Carrots and Swede (Rutabaga)

Posted on by under butter, carrots, nutmeg, rutabaga, swede

Well Hello Internet!

The other vegetable side dish in the Christmas Dinner that we made is mashed carrots and swedes.  this is something that my grandmother used to make, and is especially delicious.  In england the vegetable is called Swede, but here in america they call it a Rutabaga.

whatever you call it its pretty darn good.

This is the easiest thing we made!

heres what you’ll need:
carrots
swedes
butter
salt and pepper
nutmeg

so first peel and cut all the vegetables and put them in a pot covered with water.  boil until they are tender, but not mushy

remove and strain, and put them back into the pot. and mash up with a potato masher

add some butter, salt, pepper, and a little bit of nutmeg, and mash again!  keep it a little lumpy though, you don’t want this to be creamy.
so that’s the carrots!
mmmm mmmm delicious!