Can I tell you how much I love Faith Middleton? Especially when she hosts Food Schmooze on WNPR.
A few weeks before Thanksgiving, she invited two editors from Fine Cooking, my favorite magazine, to talk about how to make a turkey and all the trimmings. It was a fun show, because, of the three, two stuff their turkeys while one does not. But what was absolutely the best was how Faith herself spun a wonderful story of Thanksgiving dinner at the Middleton house. Faith says she so loves turkey dressing sandwiches that a platter of Arnold bread is also showcased on the bedecked table so no one has to wait hours after dinner before they can start devouring turkey sandwiches.
What I like the most about Thanksgiving dinner is the turkey skin and the second Thanksgiving dinner around six hours later, after everything has been refrigerated. I adore the sandwiches, piled high with turkey, dressing, warmed gravy (if there is any more), and some extra Brussels sprouts. The next week, I’ll use my column for my adapted Weight Watchers’ soup.
Between Turkey Day and Weight Watcher’s soup, there is still some extra bird, I hope. I really enjoy using it up with this recipe from The New Basics Cookbook.
Turkey Hash Salad
From Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, The New Basics Cookbook (Workman, New York, 1989)
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
5 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup light olive oil (or good vegetable oil)
12 small red potatoes
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
12 large cloves garlic
8 ounces bacon cut into one-half-inch pieces
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 cups coarsely shredded cooked turkey
1 bunch arugula, rinsed, trimmed, and patted dry
2 bunches watercress, rinsed, trimmed, and patted dry
Whisk mustard and vinegar together in a small bowl. Slowly pour in three quarters of the oil, whisking constantly. Set the vinaigrette aside.
*** the potatoes all over with a fork. Combine remaining quarter cup of oil, salt, and 1 teaspoon of the pepper in a bowl. Add potatoes and toss until well coated with the mixture. Place the potatoes in a shallow roasting pan and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour, turning occasionally.
Remove potatoes from the oven and allow them to cool. Then cut them into 1/2-inch slices and place in a large bowl.
Place the garlic cloves in a small saucepan. Cover with water, bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain, allow to cool. Then peel.
Sauté bacon in a heavy skillet until crisp. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain, reserving the fat.
Add garlic cloves to bacon fat in the skillet and cook over low heat for 2 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon. Discard the fat.
Add red onion, parsley, remaining teaspoon of black pepper, and the vinaigrette to the potatoes. Toss gently.
Add turkey, bacon, and garlic cloves. Gently fold all ingredients together.
Arrange the arugula and watercress on a large serving platter and place the salad on top. Serve immediately.
Nibbles: A Recommendation by Lee
Some months ago, my friend Steve Slosberg told me about Five Guys Burgers and Fries and said it was great. I sort of forgot about it, because Mystic is about 25 minutes from our home, but on a recent trip to the Hanes Outlet I remembered Five Guys.
Why did I wait so long? For ambience? There’s little. Reservations? Forget about it. Fast food? Not so much.
You give your order, you pay, you get a number, you wait about 5 or 10 minutes. Meanwhile, you look for a place to sit and eat.
That’s what I waited for: the moment when you eat, you’re transported to burger and fries heaven. Both are a la minute, as the chefs say: made while you wait. The burgers and fresh toppings are delicious but those fries...oh, those fries. Sliced with the skin on, the regular portion is very large, the fries are lightly salted, hot and crunchy on top, creamy on the bottom. But here’s the best part: they are terrific even when they are a bit cool. Honest.
Five Guys Burgers and Fries
12 Coogan Boulevard
Mystic
860-572-1500
Lee White of Old Lyme has been a food editor and restaurant reviewer for more than 25 years. You can e-mail her at Leeawhite@aol.com.