Slippery Sunday

When I woke up at 5:00 to go to the bathroom, I could hear freezing rain hitting the windows. So, I went back to bed. I got up for real at 7:00 AM and it had changed to just rain (it was 34 degrees F.). Still, I was glad I had nowhere to go today...

I had thawed out a turkey breast yesterday, so this morning I put it in my stock pot with some brine (equal parts salt and sugar in cold water, whisked together). I put a lid on it and stuck it out in the garage to keep cool for the next eight hours or so (24 or 48 hours would be better, but it wasn't thawed in time).

Back inside, I washed the kitchen sink (its stainless steel, so I used a Brillo pad) and a few of the knives and wooden spoons I used yesterday. Then I emptied the dishwasher.

I checked my email and found a great birthday e-card from my brother Carl! Thanks, man! That Radio Flyer took me back...

Weird! It's after 9:00 AM, but still dark outside. It's a dreary, dreary day...

I took the last four strips of thick-cut bacon from those BLT's and warmed then up in a skillet. Then I made two over-easy eggs in the bacon grease and ate breakfast.

I didn't have much ambition to do things, so I didn't. I am blaming it on my right leg (hurts like hell today) but it may be I'm just a slacker.

About 3:00 PM, I bundled up and went out to fill the bird feeder. Since I was out there anyway, I got in yesterday's mail and picked what looks like the last of the herbs. The rosemary's still okay, but about half of the sage leaves are brown. The thyme is totally gone, BTW. Back inside, I chopped up about a tablespoon of rosemary and another tablespoon of the good sage leaves. I added a teaspoon of dried thyme (Lu's "Thyme in a Bottle" from last Christmas). I put all that in a bowl and added 1/2 stick of room temperature butter. Using a fork, I sort of mashed and smoothed it all together. I let that sit and get happy while I watched a Martha Stewart Christmas special.

At 5:00 PM, I retrieved the stock pot with the bone-in turkey breast from the garage (also bringing in an acorn squash and the last of the russet potatoes from my homemade root cellar). I rinsed off the turkey breast and patted it dry with paper towels. Then I worked my fingers under the skin and stuck in the herb butter. I set that in my small roasting pan (with the rack), breast side up.

I rough-chopped a carrot, some celery, a yellow onion and a whole head of garlic and put all that inside the cavity (not to eat, so I didn't peel any of it and I just cut the top off the head of the garlic, BTW. It's all just to perfume the meat as it roasts.)

Then I drizzled the turkey breast with olive oil and seasoned it with a LOT of kosher salt and even more fresh ground black pepper.

Meanwhile, I cut the acorn squash in half, seeded it and then added a pat of butter to each side. I threw in the remaining sticks of rosemary and a generous dash of dried thyme and stuck the squash in the oven (I decided to forget the mashed potatoes). Lastly, the turkey went in and I set the timer for two hours.

I basted it with the pan juices every 15-20 minutes or so. When it was finally done (closer to three hours, BTW) I took it out to rest and used the pan juices to make a nice gravy. Then I plated everything and ate my Sunday supper.

The turkey was fantastic! Moist and juicy with an excellent flavor!! The squash was good too and the gravy tasted so good I was wishing I'd made mashed potatoes like I'd originally planned.

I watched the rest of my Sunday night shows and then hit the sack.