Rosie Makes Giblet Gravy,

All the Hawthornes love giblet gravy, but one little turkey doesn't have enough organs for us.

I ended up buying extra parts -

more livers, gizzards, and hearts. Don't forget the mushrooms.

Be sure to trim the gizzards. You need to cut off that fibrous silverskin. The pile at top left is the trimmings.

Get some homemade turkey stock out of your freezer ...

... and thaw it out.

Melt some butter in a pan over medium high heat. You might want to add just a bit of oil (to raise the smoke point) so the butter doesn't burn.

Add in the giblets.

Add in the shrooms.

Cook for 3-4 minutes until browned.

Add in a little more butter.

A few tablespoons of flour. And cook the flour for about a minute to get rid of the raw.

Slowly and gradually add in the stock, stirring, until you get the consistency you want.

Add in the turkey drippings for extra flavor.

And there you have a lovely, delicious, lump-free gravy. You're welcome.

A Rather Eclectic Meal. But My Boys Liked It.

After butterflying and grilling the hen the other night, I still had the neck and giblets left over. So I'm doing a quick giblet gravy for the boys.

First, I melted my butter with a bit of oil and browned the neck on all sides.

Next, I added in some sliced mushrooms. Rosie's Tip #241: Never salt the mushrooms when you're sauteeing them. If you salt first, then the salt brings out the water in the shrooms and they'll end up steaming and not browning. Always wait until the mushrooms are cooked before adding any salt.

When the shrooms were browned ...

... I added in the trimmed and diced giblets. (I always trim off the tough silverskin.)

Stir and cook for a few minutes until giblets are cooked through.

Next, I deglazed the pan with a little sherry.

Here, I'm separating the giblets and sherry and cooking a bit of the sherry off.

And this is what I cook around. Here's Giada just a little too close to Dixie's comfort zone, but Dixie is tolerant.

Here's lil Junior, chilling.

Junior and Dixie, regrouping.

Then Beau, not wanting to miss out on anything, gets in the kitchen too.

And Giada waits.

And Beau waits.

Dixie and Junior wait in their corner.

I thought this was a nice family shot of all the puppies, except for the vacuum cleaner in the background, but that's par for the course here, since the vacuum cleaner is never put away and is used to suck up dog hairs about 6-10 times a day. Yes, you read that correctly.

And Little Buster from next door always drops by in the evening for a treat. And Junior is checking out his business. Here are all the dogs paying attention as best they can. Giada, as you'll see, is extremely vocal. Here are Giada and Beau. Giada's still trying to talk and Beau is looking at me like I'm an idiot. (I guess that's not too much of a stretch.) Immona have her saying "Mama" by the end of the summer.

Now where was I? I was cooking something I think.

Oh yeah. Giblet gravy. Just sprinkle in some flour. I used about 1/4 cup.

Then cook the flour to get rid of the raw, flour taste.

I slowly added in about 1/2 can of low-sodium chicken stock, stirring until thickened.

Then a little bit of milk for richness.

What to do with a leftover can of chicken stock?

Pour it over the leftover rice for extra moisture and extra flavor.

Beau has moved back to Mr. Hawthorne's lap ...

... and has gone to sleep.

Mr. Hawthorne's legs are quite shapely.

This is where the meal gets weird. A friend had gone deep-sea fishing and brought us some cobia.

I had put the cobia in my bastardized version of the Alinea marinade for an overnight bath.

I sliced the cobia in half ...

... and added it to my hot iron skillet with extra light olive oil and butter. And I got a little flare up there. You know how I love my pyrotechnics.

I seared the cobia all over.

Then heated the marinade to a boil

and spooned it over the cobia.

That's a pretty fish.

Ta daaaaaa. Here's dinner. And yes, it is weird and a bit eclectic. We have the seared cobia with the citrusy marinade flavor; we have buttered corn on the cob; we have celery and carrots and asparagus; and we have rice. Half of the rice has the marinade over it. The other half has ... giblet gravy. Hey, I had to cook the giblets that night, so don't squawk about it.

Wosie Cooks Wascally Wabbit

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY EVERYONE !

Mr. Hawthorne decided at the last minute to grill rabbit for dinner the other night. Since rabbit meat is relatively low in fat it can be tough, making rabbit stews and braises popular. I usually fry my rabbit pieces first, then put them in a casserole with an herbed crust and they come out tender and extremely flavorful. Check out my rabbit casserole and the herbed crust I made for Easter. I called it my Easter Bunny Pie. If I'd done that when my children were wee bitty things that probably would have made them cry. Now they just look at me and shake their heads. Since Mr. Hawthorne wanted to grill rabbit, I needed to marinate it first to get the meat nice and tender.

My marinade ingredients: Olive oil fresh rosemary garlic wild onions from my garden orange

I grated the zest of 1 orange then added the juice and pulp.

Sliced garlic and onions went in.

Rosemary.

Olive oil.

And some white wine.

Then I gave it all to Mr. Hawthorne for him to smash the garlic and onions. Normally I would have let this marinate overnight, but because of time restraints I came up with an idea. We got out our vacuum sealer, put the rabbit pieces and marinade in the bag, and vacuum sealed it. I thought this might cut down on the marinating time.

Here's the vacuumed sealed rabbit in the marinade.

I love the giblets and so do the rest of the Hawthornes so I'm going to make a giblet gravy.

I chopped the giblets and sliced the mushrooms and garlic.

First, I sauteed my mushrooms in butter.

When the mushrooms were browned, I added the chopped giblets. Rosie's tip #45: When sauteeing mushrooms, do NOT salt them. Salting brings out the moisture in the shroom and they will end up steaming. Only add the salt after they've cooked and browned.

Next I added in about 3 tablespoons of flour and cooked it.

Then I gradually added in a can of low-sodium beef stock, stirring and cooking until nicely thickened.

Don't forget the white wine.

After marinating for about 2 hours, Mr. Hawthorne put the wabbit on the gwill for about 15-16 minutes on low, turning a few times.

I took the marinade and brought it to a boil to pour over the rabbit.

Delicious, grilled rabbit. Tender and flavorful. The marinade was quite good. You could taste every ingredient.