Reconstructed - The Good Plate

Turkey Wellington

What's on Your Plate

Turkey Wellington swaps pricey beef tenderloin for turkey breast from a whole bird. The breast gets dry brined, injected with butter and white wine, and cooked in a 140°F water bath, then brushed with Dijon and wrapped in Black Forest ham, sherry mushroom duxelles, and puff pastry. A 400°F oven browns the lattice crust and brings the turkey to a juicy 165°F. You get holiday elegance on a weeknight budget. Although the recipe may look difficult, in reality, it's not if you have the right tools for the job.

Risotto Corned-Beef Stuffed Peppers

Risotto and Corned-Beef Stuffed Peppers are an easy-to-make dinner. Serve them with a light tomato cream sauce. Great with Colcannon.

Nesco Honey Baked Cola Ham

The Nesco makes a great Honey Baked ham, whether you're just warming one up from their store, or making your own. I hope you'll try my Nesco Honey Baked Cola ham.

Just Say No to GMO Box Tops for Education

Say "Hell NO!" to GMO Box Tops for Education. General Mills spends millions of dollars to prevent labeling of processed, GMO foods.

Thousand Island Dressing with Balsamic Toasts

Recipes in this Post

Why would anyone want to write about Thousand Island Dressing? It's yucky! It's that reddish stuff that sits on the salad bar and congeals because no one wants it, and rightly so. It's the "secret" sauce on the Big Mac and has become so common that you probably don't even notice it on your sandwich anymore. That's a pity because this is a grand dame of salad dressings with an interesting and honorable history.

Thousand Island Dressing is named for the archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada-U.S. border in the Saint Lawrence River. Some of the islands are very small indeed. The one pictured above supports a single tree and two bushes. The dressing was popularized by May Irwin, a Canadian vaudeville star in the 1890s. She had a home in Grindstone Island, one of the Thousand Islands. She said that the dressing reminded her of the Thousand Islands, and enjoyed the dressing so much that she requested the recipe from Sophia LaLonde, a fishing guide's wife who frequently made the dressing for her husband. Miss Irwin then gave the recipe to George Boldt, the proprietor of the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, who instructed his the hotel's maître d'hôtel, Oscar Tschirky, to put the dressing on the menu. In 1950 the dressing became a standard and started its decline into the gloppy mess we have today.

One of the things we do at The Good Plate is to reconstruct packaged foods, so they taste better, and don't have the preservatives common in packaged foods. I knew that venerable Thousand Island Dressing deserved a better place, and making it from scratch would make it one of my favorites, especially for seafood salads.

I made a crab salad for the dressing, and some Balsamic Toasts to go with them. This was amid Spane and his friend making Play Dough on the stove. There are little bits of homemade Play Dough all over the place. Time to clean!

Jambalaya in the Nesco

In the midst of the last move, I forgot to close out the old gas bill and was not reminded when I turned the new gas on. I got a nasty letter from the gas company saying that they are going to turn off my gas in the new place if I don't immediately pay the old bill and that I have to call a certain phone number when I make the payment. To make sure that the payment is properly recorded, I went to the local gas company on July 2, 2013, and paid the bill in person. Then I called the special number at about 3:30 pm and got a recorded message that the gas company was open from 8:00 am to 5:15 pm. I figured that in the information age, the payment would be recorded and all would be well.

The Problem

I was wrong. When I got home yesterday, Monday, July 8, 2013, Spane and I were hungry, so I started dinner early, at 4:30. I chopped the vegetables, cut the meat, put butter in the pan, and turned the knob - and ....... nothing. No gas. I called the gas company, the special number and again was told that the office was open from 8:00 am to 5:15 pm, a full 45 minutes before the office was supposed to close. When calling the regular number, I got a nice woman to whom I kept on apologizing to because I was so mad, and she said the gas would be turned back on tomorrow, Wednesday, July 10, 2013, between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm, and to make sure that all pets were secure and gates open. I chuckled and said, "Humph, you didn't seem to have any problems turning it off, did you?"

The Solution

That meant that today, I don't have gas. I have been on the phone with them, and have asked for a supervisor. I'm still waiting for a callback, but I'm not waiting anymore to make dinner. I have a small *Nesco, and I'm going to make my Jambalaya in it. This is one of the reasons I have this wonderful roaster oven, so I can cook no matter what.

My recipe for Jambalaya follows and I have more recipes for foods perfect for the Nesco.

I also have an updated recipe for Jambalaya in the Instant Pot. It's a set it and forget it kind of recipe, just as spicy and delicious.

Instant Pot Jambalaya - Dinner? Done!

This spicy Instant Pot Jambalaya is quick and easy to make, perfect for a work night meal. Serve with sour cream and a green salad.

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Chicken and Rice Paprika Inspired By Hieronymus Bosch

This chicken and rice paprika is very easy to make and is comforting. You can spice it up if you wish, and it comes together in under an hour.

Homemade Charcoal Chimney Starter, Burgers Topped with Cheddar and Coleslaw

Recipes in this Post

Raleigh Burger - Coleslaw Cheddar on a Kaiser Roll

There used to be a wonderful coffee-shop in Santa Monica called Nick's. One day, I went in there and ordered something called a Nick Burger. It had coleslaw and swiss cheese on it. It was so juicy you had to eat it over the plate. It became my favorite burger, and tonight, I decided to recreate it, with a little zip.

I've been becoming very brave of late with my Weber. First I started out with Match Light coals because they were pre-soaked, and easy to get started. Then, I graduated to using charcoal fluid and regular coals. Then today, I realized I had run out of fluid, and the corner store was closed. I knew that there are specially made charcoal chimney starters, and I thought I could make one from scratch. It wasn't difficult at all making a homemade charcoal chimney starter. No more relying on charcoal fluid for me!

Lobster Rose Petal Salad with Lemon Butter Dressing - Great Grandmother's Recipe

When I was a little girl, my mother used to go on about how she loved going to her grandmother's house when she would serve Lobster and Rose salad. I was always hoping that my mother would recreate the recipe, but she never did.

When my great-grandmother was making this salad, lobster was a lot less expensive. I decided that for my birthday, despite to cost, I would recreate Christina Jacobsen's recipe myself.