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Why kill yourself making things nobody really wants to eat. Instead, focus on making a few elements of your holiday turkey dinner perfect.

holiday turkey dinner

Holiday turkey dinner. Are there words that strike fear in the hearts of cooks more effectively than holiday turkey dinner? Probably not. Turkeys are just not made oven friendly. Add the 17 sides that everyone expects and you have a ridiculous task in front of you. Stop. Think. Why do you need 17 sides? What is the point exactly? Have you ever been to a great restaurant that put 17 sides on the plate? It makes no sense at all. None.

Why not execute 5 things perfectly instead? Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy and one vegetable. Who wouldn’t be happy with that? Quality over quantity. Pick your battles. Pick the ones you can win.

Dry brine for perfect roast turkey every time!

dry brined roast turkey

A perfectly cooked turkey is not a difficult thing. Pick a good quality bird, keep it under 14 lbs, don’t stuff it and dry brine it. Dry brined roast turkey deserves a whole lot more attention than it gets. It works. Well.

Pan fried steak with a dijon white wine mustard sauce is quick to make but big on flavour. A bit more work than grilled but absolutely delicious.

pan fried steak with dijon white wine sauce

 

While a grilled steak can be pretty good I’m not happy unless there’s a sauce. For me, a pan fried steak is where it’s at. A splash of wine, a bit of stock – in this case veal stock – and a couple of flavour highlights and you move into serious territory.

The French have mastered at least 100 different pan fried steak dishes – and yet there’s no grilled steak recipes in the Cordon Bleu at Home…

French chicken in a pot top view on oval plate

french chicken in a pot

French chicken in a pot. It’s a great way to mix up the Sunday roast chicken. It infuses the chicken with rich flavours and creates an unbelievably delicious sauce.

This is a simplified version of the poule-au-pot. It’s not stuffed. It’s not poached. It’s roasted. But it’s not really roasted because it’s sealed in a pot. Confused? Just go with it. It’s really, really good.

Lemon thyme and chicken thighs come together beautifully in a simple pan roasted dish perfect for a special weeknight dinner.

lemon thyme chicken

Lemon thyme chicken. Some flavours just work together. You see them over and over. Nothing original here but it works. A bit of white wine and some crushed chili flakes round it out. Just tasty. This is a great place to use concentrated chicken stock if you have some on hand. If you don’t, consider it seriously…

There’s not a lot of sauce though. Just a spoonful per serving. Leaves you wanting more. Lemon thyme chicken is fast enough for a weeknight but flashy enough for the weekend.

panzanella tuscan bread salad

panzanella – tuscan tomato bread salad

Panzanella is a tuscan tomato bread salad from the land of endless summer. If you like tomatoes and you like bread you owe it to yourself to try it at least once.

Where I live tomatoes are trucked for miles in winter. I think they’re tomatoes. That what the sign says. The taste says nothing. Nothing. Dust. In summer though, picked at the peak of ripeness from nearby farms the tomato is a magical thing. For me, it just screams summer and I work them into almost every meal for as long as they last.

Easy to make - this creole chicken is pure cajun comfort food.

creole chicken

Creole chicken. Spicy, creamy, a little bit rich. Satisfying. Maybe not what jumps to mind when you think comfort food but satisfying in a way only a fricassee can be.

Rotisserie chicken cooked over fire. Spit-roasting self bastes the bird. The result - a succulent, crispy bird served up with a simple board sauce.

rotisserie chicken

Chicken, fire, flavour. So simple. So good. Take a good quality chicken, season it to your taste and spin it over fire, letting it self-baste until it’s done. Let it rest, make a quick board sauce and enjoy. Easy. Delicious. Rotisserie chicken.