Roasted Turkey with Garlic & Butter
This recipe is inspired by Ben Barker at the Magnolia Grill in Durham, NC

Ingredients:
Turkey, fresh- 1 (21-25#) preferably free-range, brined
Sage, fresh- 8 large sprigs, washed and dry
Thyme, fresh- 8 large sprigs, washed and dry
Bay leaves- 6-8
Parsley, fresh- 1 bunch, washed, dry and chopped fine
Garlic, fresh and peeled- as many as you can stuff into the cavity of the bird (or at least 7 heads)
Butter- 1 1/2#, 1# melted-2 sticks room temperature
Salt and pepper to taste

Method of Preparation:
1. The day/night before, remove the turkey from its wrapper. Remove the giblets and neck and set them aside. Wash the turkey inside and out.
2. Place the turkey into the brine for 8-10 hours, turning once during the process. See the special instructions for brining a bird further down the page.
3. Approx. 4 hours before you begin to cook the turkey, remove it from the brine and dry it thoroughly, both inside and out. Put it, uncovered, into the refrigerator for 3 hours to dry the skin and cavity. Pull the turkey out of the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking to bring up to room temperature.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the chopped parsley and the room-temperature butter. Spread the parsley-butter mix between the breast meat and the skin of the bird. Divide the sage, thyme, and bay leaves between the body cavity and the neck cavity. Shove as many of the peeled garlic cloves into each cavity as possible; tie the ends of the legs together with twine.
5. Using a silicone brush, coat the entire skin of the bird with the melted butter. Season liberally with salt and pepper and position the bird in a roasting pan, breast side down.
6. Roast the turkey, breast side down, for 45 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven. Remove from the oven and, with an assistant, turn the bird breast side up. Using the silicone pastry brush, baste all the surfaces of the melted butter/turkey juices from the bottom of the roasting pan.
7. Return the turkey to the oven and continue to roast for 10 minutes more per pound. Be careful not to overcook. A thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh meat should read 155 degrees. The juices should be barely “pinkish” or clear.
8. Remove the turkey to a cutting board and rest for at least 30 minutes, preferably 40.
9. Carve the turkey and transfer meat to a platter.
Serves: 14 hungry family and friends

Sweet Potato Casserole with Bourbon Syrup
This recipe has been graciously shared by Dr. Rebecca Woo, M.D. and family.

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked sweet potatoes (fresh or canned)
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
½ stick butter, melted
½ cup milk
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg

NUT TOPPING:
½ CUP BROWN SUGAR
1/3 CUP FLOUR
1 CUP ROUGH-CHOPPED PECANS
1/3 STICK BUTTER AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

Method of Preparation:
1. Mash sweet potatoes.
2. Add sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk, vanilla and spices.
3. Mix well.
4. Pour mixture into shallow baking dish sprayed with vegetable oil.
5. Combine nut topping ingredients in a medium-size bowl.
6. Top the sweet potatoes with pecan nut topping.
6. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.
*If you do not use the nut topping, you can add marshmallows to the top of the casserole after 30 minutes of baking and then return to a 400 degree oven for 5-10 minutes or until marshmallows are brown.


Bourbon Syrup

Ingredients:
Sugar, white granulated- ¾ cup
Water- ¼ cup, warm
Lemon juice, fresh- 1 tsp
Bourbon- ¾ cup
Ginger, fresh- 1 inch piece, chopped

Method of Preparation:
1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, lemon juice, and warm water until sugar begins to dissolve. Clean saucepan sides of any residual syrup and bring mixture to a boil over high heat. Continue to cook, evaporating the water, until the inverted sugar begins to caramelize. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook until the all of the sugar has turned a deep amber color. This entire process should take about 4-5 minutes.
2. Once the sugar has caramelized to a deep amber, remove the saucepan from the heat and add the bourbon. Return the saucepan to the heat and continue to cook until all of the sugar has dissolved into the bourbon.
3. Once all of the sugar has dissolved, remove the saucepan completely from the heat and add the chopped ginger. Brew the ginger in the syrup for 5 minutes, then strain out ginger using a fine strainer.
4. Cover and refrigerate the syrup immediately.
5. Drizzle the bourbon syrup over the sweet potatoes as they are being carried to the table.
Yield: ¾-1 cup

Cinnamon-Honey Glazed Apples and Carrots

This is one of my favorite dishes to prepare during the holidays. It possesses an interesting flavor profile. Sweetness from the apples, carrots and honey are backed up with the savory sweetness of the shallots. Adding just a touch of salt and pepper at the end really brings out the flavors. I love to mix just a bit of this with my mashed potatoes during Thanksgiving dinner. Warm mashed potatoes add just the right amount of smooth creaminess tot he heavily-spiced apples and carrots.

Ingredients:
Granny Smith apples- 4 each, washed, peeled, cored and sliced thick
Baby carrots- 1-16oz. bag, washed and cut in half lengthwise
Shallots- 4 each, minced
Butter- 1 TBSP
Honey- ½ cup
Cinnamon- 2 tsp
Parsley, fresh- ¼ bunch, washed and chopped fine
Salt and pepper to taste

Method of Preparation:
1. In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, heat butter until completely melted and beginning to foam.
2. Add carrots and shallots and saute until slightly browned, about 1-2 minutes, then add apples and saute mixture for an additional minute.
3. Add honey and cinnamon and combine entire mixture with a silicone spatula until all of the cinnamon has dissolved.
4. Reduce heat and continue to cook mixture until carrots are just barely tender. Be sure to keep heat low enough so that the syrupy sauce does not reduce too much and burn.
5. Once carrots are at desired doneness, remove heat from pan and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper a little bit at a time.
6. Cover and keep warm for service. Add fresh parsley just before service.

Serves: 6

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

4 lb baking (russet) potatoes
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into bits and softened
1+ cups heavy cream or half-and-half, heated until hot
Salt & pepper to taste

Special equipment: potato ricer or food mill

Peel potatoes and quarter. Add potatoes to salted water (enough to cover potatoes by 1 inch), then bring water to a boil. Gently boil potatoes until tender, about 20 minutes, and drain in a colander. Dry potatoes in either the oven or return them to the cooking pot to dry. Force potatoes, while still warm, through ricer into a large bowl. Add room-temp butter and stir with a wooden spoon, letting butter melt completely. Add 1 cup warm cream and incorporate by gently stirring with wooden spoon, adding more cream to thin to desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

** the temperature of both the butter and cream are important. You want cool/room-temp. butter and warm cream for the potatoes to turn out creamy.

Makes 8 servings.

Turkey Brine

Ingredients:
Vegetable broth- 1 gallon
Salt, Kosher- 1 cup
Brown sugar, light- ½ cup
Pepper corns- 1 TBSP
Ginger, fresh- 1 inch piece, chopped
Juniper berries- 1 TBSP
Cinnamon- 1 TBSP

14 hours of prep time!!!!!!!!!

Method of Preparation:
1. Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and cool the brine to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until needed (can be made up to 2 days ahead of use).
2. Add brine to a large bucket or cooler. Add 1 gallon heavily-iced water (at least 3/4 ice) and stir to combine.
3. Add turkey, breast-side down, and keep submerged for 4 hours. After 4 hours, turn turkey so that the legs face down in the brine. At this point, add, 1 gallon of ice and another cup of salt. The idea is to keep the bird cool and in a solution that is not a haven for bacteria.
4. After 8-10 hours, remove turkey from brine and pat dry with paper towels. Allow the turkey to sit in the refrigerator, uncovered, for a few hours more to completely dry the skin. This will promote a crispy skin once the turkey is roasted. The turkey is now ready to roast.