Entrées

How to Spatchcock a Turkey

~ Judy's Chickens ~ 15 Comments

Different times call for different measures.

This year we do not need this 18-pound centerpiece for the table.

In fact, being #saferathome means my husband and I will be on our own for the Thanksgiving meal. And I am okay with that. If the pandemic has taught me one thing, it is how to manage my expectations.

Meanwhile, we still need 8-quarts of poultry stock and 7 pounds of turkey meat to make our twenty-quart pot of Bruce’s Turkey and Sausage Gumbo. My adult children and their families look forward to getting their Thanksgiving gumbo in to-go containers every year and it is my pleasure and honor to do this for them. It is my family I am most thankful for in my life.

Since it is 2020 and we have been trying all sorts of new things in every aspect of our lives, I decided it was as good a time as ever for my husband and me to try our hand at spatchcocking a turkey. He was game!

What does spatchcock mean and why do we do it? Spatchcock is a butchering technique where you remove the backbone of poultry. This allows you to open and flatten the chest cavity for faster and more even roasting.

When the bird is turned over, it looks like this.

I cooked this turkey in a 400º oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes. The meat was super moist and the skin was crisp.

The bird weighed 16.5 pounds to start. Once I removed the innards, the wingtips, and the backbone, it weighed 13.5 pounds. After it was roasted and my sweet husband took all the meat off the bones, we had 7 pounds of meat. Each breast provided us with two pounds. The bones all went into the poultry stock that had been simmering all day. I started the stock with frozen rotisserie chicken carcasses from the freezer. Read about that here.

How to spatchcock a turkey.

A Mennonite farmer once told us any job is possible if you have the proper tool. The proper tool for this job is a pair of poultry shears. This is crazy, but we had a pair of these shears in our house and I never knew what they were for. In fact, I almost got rid of them because they were not good at cutting paper when I couldn’t find the scissors I wanted!

Poultry shears have sharp, curved blades helpful for getting into hard to reach places when deboning meat. They remind me of pruning shears – the handles help you get a good grip so you can squeeze down hard as you cut. Plain scissors will work, but there will be a little more huffing and puffing involved.

How to Spatchcock a Turkey

Defrost the bird. Remove the neck and gizzards from inside the two cavities, one on each end of the turkey. Wash the bird inside and out. Pat dry.

Lay the bird breast-side down. The wings should be on top.

Remove the backbone with poultry shears. First, one side of the spine

and then the other. CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

Save the backbone for the turkey stock.

Flip the bird over and press down on the sternum, aka the breastbone, located between the breasts, as if to do CPR. Repeat, moving your hands down along the sternum, until you no longer hear crunching as you press.

We practiced spatchcocking two different sized turkeys during the week. The smaller one splayed out flatly with just the chest compressions. The larger one needed a little more help to flatten it. My husband turned the breast over and used a meat cleaver to cut into the sternum to split the chest open a little more.

 

.

How to Cook the Bird 

We cooked one in the oven and the other on the grill. I’ll show you the oven method first.

Preheat oven to 400º.

Arrange the bird on a roasting pan. Rub olive oil all over it, top and bottom, and season with a generous amount of salt and garlic pepper. I use McCormick’s Garlic Pepper.

The hottest part of an oven is the two back corners. Place the roasting pan in the oven, so the thick breasts are in the back.

I cooked the bird for an hour and fifteen minutes and then started checking the meat’s temperature every ten minutes. I checked the temperature in many spots — the thickest part of the breast, the thickest part of the thigh, etc. As long as every section registers at least 165º the turkey is safely cooked. I shoot for 160º because, after many years of cooking, I understand the concept of “carryover” heat and know that as the turkey rests, the internal temperature will climb to 165º. The concept is well described in this post.

I let the turkey rest on the counter for about 30 minutes and then poured off and saved the drippings for my poultry stock.

Before I added the drippings to the stock, I poured them into a fat separator to remove the fat.

When my husband and I spatchcocked the other turkey earlier in the week, we cooked it on a grill using indirect heat.

Don’t ask me what got into me; all that frilly seasoning was unnecessary! The flavor profile was a FAIL; too sagey and lemony.

Having said that, it sure was fun to decorate!

And it sounded lovely in all of its crackly glory as it roasted in the grill.

 

That turkey was 13.5 pounds before I opened the sack. It was done in 75 minutes. It was as moist as the oven-roasted turkey.

So, that is the end of my spatchcocking saga. I’ve got my eight quarts of gelatinous poultry stock and seven pounds of turkey meat.

Later this week, I will gather all the ingredients for Bruce’s gumbo and get busy chopping. For now, I’ll rest on my laurels

knowing this is in my future.

The recipe that is trending on my blog this morning is Karen’s Foolproof Make-Ahead Gravy. It is delicious!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! I am grateful to all the folks who read my blog, make the recipes, and write to share their experiences. Thank you. You give me joy!

If you need last-minute instructions on how to cook a few traditional sides and desserts for Thanksgiving, check out Thanksgiving Week on the Menu.

Follow Judy’s Chickens on Instagram and Pinterest @JudysChickens.

If you enjoyed this post, consider becoming a follower. Be sure to press “confirm” on the follow-up letter sent to your email address.

© 2014-2020 Judy Wright. All rights reserved. Photos, videos, and text may not be reproduced without the written consent of Judy Wright.

Sheet Pan Supper: Chicken, Artichoke, and Lemon

~ Judy's Chickens ~ 14 Comments

I sometimes daydream about foods that will taste and look good together on a sheet pan. This one hits all the buttons: it’s tasty, pretty, and healthy. It is loaded to the brim with chicken thighs covered in lemon slices, artichoke hearts, wedges of sweet red onion, bite-sized chunks of Yukon Gold potatoes, thick slices of zucchini, and sprigs of fresh thyme. It sparks joy.

You can change up the Yukon Golds to Trader Joe’s Potato Medley, and get a whole new color palette using the same recipe.

Sheet pan recipes are all about getting dinner on the table quickly, so theoretically, there is no time to devote to long periods of marinating meat. To get around that, I started my meal prep by mixing the olive oil, seasonings, artichokes, and chicken in a bowl, and setting them aside to briefly marinate while I washed and chopped the vegetables. It worked. The chicken marinated long enough to become flavorful.

I use either bone-in or boneless, skinless thighs depending on what I have on hand. To keep the meat moist while it cooks, place a slice of lemon over each thigh.

As I developed this recipe, I used frozen artichokes. They left a preservative aftertaste in my mouth so I switched to the canned and jarred varieties. They were much better. If using frozen, Trader Joe’s was the best tasting of the four brands I tried.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, McCormick’s California Style Garlic Pepper is one of the ways I push the easy button when it comes to quickly and tastefully seasoning food for roasting. I especially love it in my make-ahead recipe for Everyday Salad Dressing that doubles as a marinade for most varieties of meat and fish.

I used dried thyme in the marinade and fresh for the garnish. When substituting fresh herbs for dried in a recipe, the rule of thumb is to use three times as much of the fresh as called for of the dried.

Roasted Lemon Chicken, Potatoes, Zucchini, and Artichokes

Yield: Serves 4
Prep time: 15 minutes   Roasting time: 45 minutes

Ingredients 

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons McCormick’s California Style Garlic Pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, more for garnish
1 large lemon
1 pound boneless chicken thighs, or 4 bone-in thighs
1 (8½ ounce) can whole artichoke hearts packed in water, cut in half
½ pound red onion, cut into wedges
1 pound zucchini squash, unpeeled, cut into thick 1-inch slices
1½ pounds Yukon Gold, or colorful waxy potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1½-inch chunks

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400º. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper.

Prepare marinade: Pour olive oil, salt, garlic pepper, thyme, lemon zest, and sliced lemons into a large mixing bowl. I use a Microplane grater to zest the lemon. Remove pithy ends and cut lemon into four slices, one to cover each piece of chicken.

Prepare chicken: Trim fat and remove skin (if using bone-in thighs) so lemon slices can impart their citrusy flavor directly onto the meat.

Add chicken to marinade and toss until well-coated.

Prepare artichokes: Cut artichokes in half. Add to chicken. Set chicken and artichokes aside to marinate while you prep the other vegetables.

Prepare onions, zucchini, and potatoes as noted. Cut zucchini thickly so it won’t cook quickly and turn to mush.

Add vegetables to the bowl of marinating chicken and mix until everything is well-coated.

Spread ingredients onto sheet pan. The pan will be crowded, but everything will become tender as it cooks.

Roast for 45- 60 minutes. There is no need to stir. I have cooked this at 425º with good results, too — the vegetables brown a little more and the lemon slices cook enough to become edible.

This sheet pan supper recipe was originally published on Mason-Dixon Knitting, a beautiful and fun knitting website chock-full of well-written posts on knitting and life along with gorgeous yarns, patterns and notions for purchase.

Other Sheet Pan Marvels:

Italian Sausage, Peppers, Onion, and Potato Sheet Pan Supper

If you enjoyed this post, please share and become a follower. When signing up to become a subscriber, be sure to confirm on the follow-up letter that will be sent to your email.

Follow Judy’s Chickens on Instagram and Pinterest @JudysChickens.

Always check my blog for the latest version of a recipe.

© 2014-2020 Judy Wright. All rights reserved. Photos, videos, and text may only be reproduced with the written consent of Judy Wright.

Sheet Pan Supper: Italian Sausage, Peppers, Onions, and Potatoes

~ Judy's Chickens ~ 9 Comments

Last fall, my friends, Ann Shayne and Kay Gardiner, asked if I would develop quick and easy dinner recipes for their readers at Mason Dixon Knitting. Specifically, they wanted recipes for sheet pan suppers.

The first one I created was called Sheet Pan Supper Italiano. Here is a link.

Their introduction to the new column was generous and kind.

Knitters, we bring help. In the quest to increase time for knitting, we proudly present a new series devoted to cooking. Simple cooking. Beautiful cooking. Cooking that you can pull together faster than you can drive through the Burger Weenie. Cooking that cleverly requires a one-hour oven time so that you have a built-in hour to knit while your delicious dinner is roasting away.

Who is our guide to this life-altering way to cook? Our adored gardener, food blogger, and maker: Judy Wright.
—Kay and Ann

Ann and Kay know how to make people feel good. They do it every morning with a daily, upbeat post. It’s one of the reasons their blog/e-commerce website is so popular. You never know what they are going to write about. Take a look at this country music parody they co-wrote and starred in called Pardon Me, I Didn’t Knit That for You. They are a crack up!!

Ann and I are neighbors and have had a lot of fun cooking together at The Nashville Food Project, too!

The first recipe I wrote for their website was a spin-off of the Italian Sausage and Peppers I grew up eating. It was served over pasta at the dinner table and in an 8-inch crusty roll at cookouts and street festivals.

At the time I wrote the sheet pan version, I was on Whole30, a nutritional “reset” diet. To make the recipe Whole-30 compliant, I switched out the pasta with white and sweet potatoes.

This recipe is also a good one for feeding a crowd. I once quadrupled the ingredients and served it at Room in the Inn, a winter sheltering and hospitality program in Nashville. The men paid me the ultimate compliment when they exclaimed, “You put your foot in it!” When they saw me look a little disheartened, they laughed and said that was a good thing. Those men made my day.

Here’s how the piled high and deep ingredients looked when tossed together and spread out into four sheet pans. The key to getting the ingredients to cook evenly is to chop the potatoes into smaller, bite-sized pieces.

Yield: Serves 4
Prep time: 15 minutes   Roasting time: 1 hour

Ingredients

3-4 sweet bell peppers (1 pound)
4-6 potatoes, a combination of sweet and white (2 pounds)
1 sweet onion (½ pound)
1 medium head of garlic (1-1½ ounces)
4 or 5 whole Italian sweet sausages (a 1¼ pound package) Do not pierce.
1 teaspoon fine salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400º.

Prep peppers: Remove pepper cores and seeds. Cut into 1 to 2-inch chunks. Add to parchment-lined sheet pan.

Prep onions: Remove the outer layers of skin. Trim off root. Slice thickly. Add to sheet pan.

Prep potatoes: Scrub potatoes. Do not peel. Cut into bite-sized chunks. Add to sheet pan.

Prep garlic. Smash the whole head with a meat mallet and remove outer layers of skin. Then smush each clove with the flat edge of a knife and peel off the loosened fine skin. Add to pan.
 

Sprinkle mixed vegetables with salt, pepper and olive oil. Toss together in the sheet pan. Add sausages and toss again. Spread ingredients uniformly. Place roasting pan in oven and cook for 30 minutes. Remove pan from oven and turn ingredients with a spatula, including the sausages, for even browning. Roast for 30 minutes more.

Since there are only two of us in the house, I often have leftovers to scramble up with eggs for breakfast the next morning. Yum!
 

You can find instructions on how to roast various vegetables by clicking on one of these links: eggplant, cauliflower, beets, tomatoes, zucchini, butternut, patty pan, pumpkin, and spaghetti squashes.

Other Dinner Ideas:
Judy’s Mom’s Meatloaf
Yummy Shepherd’s Pie
Baked Ziti with Roasted Eggplant, Mozzarella, and Marinara Sauce
A New Take on Chicken Marbella
Chicken Cacciatore
Pot Roast with Herbs and Root Vegetables
Brooks’ Pork Tenderloin with an Amazing Marinade

Apples are in season and this is my absolute favorite apple pie recipe. The crust is made of crumbled cheddar cheese, butter, and flour. It is incredible. The recipe is from my mother.  Here is a link.

LET’S STAY CONNECTED!

Don’t miss a recipe! Become a subscriber and have every post delivered to your Inbox.

Follow my stories about how to grow vegetables in your backyard, raise a small flock of chickens, or come up with healthy dinner ideas on Instagram and Pinterest at JudysChickens. 

Always check this website for the most up-to-date version of every recipe.

© 2014-2019 Judy Wright. All rights reserved. Photos, videos, and text may only be reproduced with the written consent of Judy Wright.

Simplified Chicken Marbella

~ Judy's Chickens ~ 11 Comments

For many a new bride in the Eighties, recipes from The Silver Palate Cookbook were among the most exotic we had ever prepared.

Chicken Marbella, the memorable entrée that called for chicken marinated for 24 hours with flavor-packed ingredients like oregano, bay leaves, capers, olives, and prunes, was the most exotic of all. It could feed a crowd, be cooked in advance, served hot, warm, or cold, and looked beautiful arranged on a platter. It was the perfect company dish.

With all this high praise, it may seem blasphemous to write that I have tweaked this recipe. Times have changed in thirty-five years. People are keener about decreasing sugar intake. Thus I have omitted the cup of brown sugar. There are more options for buying specific cuts of chicken with bones in or out, skin on or off. I now use skinless chicken thighs instead of quartering a fryer. Nowadays, there is less time for food prep and shortcuts are championed, so I marinate the meat for four hours instead of twenty-four, and sometimes I don’t marinate it at all! This marinade is so savory, I cook the chicken in it using a Dutch oven instead of roasting the meat in a shallow baking pan.

Yes, I’ve messed with this recipe, but hopefully, I’ve simplified the process so people might start enjoying this delicious entrée more often instead of saving it for company.

Yield: 8-10 chicken thighs

The Marinade

In this recipe, the marinade is the star. In fact, once lined up for a photo, I had the urge to say, Ingredients, take a bow as if they were all part of an orchestra. I give thanks to cookbook authors, Julee Rosso and Shelia Lukins, who were revolutionary when it came to bringing uncommon flavors together.

Ingredients
I head of garlic, cloves smashed, peeled and then chopped
6-7 fragrant bay leaves (buy new ones if they don’t smell woodsy)
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup dried oregano (¾ cup, if using fresh)
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ cup capers, drained (3½ ounces)
1½ cups dried prunes
½ cup green olives, drained (about 3½ ounces)
1 cup white wine
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
5 pounds chicken thighs, bone-in or boneless, skin and visible fat removed

Cooking Tip: Prepping Garlic Cloves
An easy way to prep garlic cloves is to put them in a bag, smash them with a meat mallet, and remove the skins. Rough chop afterward.

 

Instructions
Add all of the ingredients into an oven-proof pot. I use a Dutch oven such as this one from Les Creuset.

Add chicken, stir until chicken pieces are well-coated with marinade. Cover and put in the refrigerator for up to 30 hours tossing occasionally. About an hour before you plan to cook the chicken, remove from fridge and allow to come to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350º.

Cook for 45 minutes for boneless chicken or an hour for bone-in. About halfway through the cooking time, open the oven and stir the chicken to evenly coat it with juices and marinade. Remove from oven and let rest until time to serve.

I was all set to post my recipe with the modifications when my husband said, “The only thing that could make this recipe better would be to use boneless, skinless thighs.” Arghh! Seasoned cooks know how much flavor bones bring to a broth. I was reticent but curious, so I made two versions for dinner one night, one with bones in and one with bones out. I invited family over for dinner and had them try both versions.

The verdict was tied until early the next morning when I received this vote, in a text, from my friend, Corabel Shofner, who was already back on tour for her fabulous YA (young adult) novel, Almost Paradise.

Bone-in won by one vote. Know that when serving this dish to a crowd, when people are not seated at a table, it’s easier to eat boneless chicken than bone-in.

Dinner was served: Simplified Chicken Marbella over brown rice.

Other Fabulous Dinner Entrées
Yummy Shepherd’s Pie
Judy’s Mom’s Meatloaf
Easy Roasted Salmon with Olive Oil and Garlic Pepper
Brooks’s Pork Tenderloin with the Most Amazing Marinade
Pot Roast with Herbs and Root Vegetables
Rachelle’s Italian Sausage, Onions, and Peppers

Don’t miss a recipe! Become a subscriber and have every post delivered to your Inbox.

Follow Judy’s Chickens on Instagram and Pinterest @JudysChickens.

Remember to always check this website for updated versions of a recipe.  

© 2014-2020 Judy Wright. All rights reserved. Photos, videos, and text may only be reproduced with the written consent of Judy Wright.