A "Floribbean Turkey"

A Floribbean Turkey

This recipe was inspired by the "Cuban Thanksgiving Turkey" recipe in "Miami Spice" by Steven Raichlen. This is a GREAT book that I strongly suggest you purchase if you would like to indulge in truly-Floridean/Florribean cuisine.

1 11-12-0z turkey (brined)


1/2 head (several cloves) garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp salt
about 1 tsp black pepper
Other spice blends (optional)

Canola oil, with a pat or two of butter melted in (optional)


Thaw the turkey. The day before you plan to make it, "brine" the thawed turkey in a solution of water and kosher salt (at minimum). You can also add other spices, like whole peppercorns. The next day, drain the turkey, rinse and pat dry. Make a paste of the garlic, salt and lime juice (the best way is to mash with a pestel and mortar). Add the cumin and oregano and mix. Loosen the skin all over the turkey breast and spread a lot of the paste underneath it. Reserve at least 1/3 of the herb and lime mix for the top. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Oil the turkey all over (on the top and down the sides) with canola oil. The best approach is to use your fingertips to spread it all over. Afterward, spread the remaining herb and lime mix over the turkey. At this point, you can also add other seasonings to the skin. I added "Lawry's Perfect Blend Seasoning and Rub for Chicken & Poultry", "Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning" and "Goya Adobo All-Purpose Seasoning", which are optional. Cover semi-loosely with foil. Add a small amount of water to the pan for moisture (maybe 1/2-3/4 cup water?). Roast for around 2 hours. Baste the turkey. Turn the heat up to 350 degrees. At this point, you need to watch your turkey, depnding on size and elements. In this particular case, with a turkey just under 12 pounds, I loosened and half-moved the foil off (moreso leaving it over the breasts, which will tend to dry out quicker) for an hour. After that (at the end), turn the oven up to to 400 degrees and remove the foil and finish roasting the turkey for 15-30 minutes. You will have to keep an eye on it, every turkey and oven is a little different. When done, transfer to a platter and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before carving. Enjoy!

SIDES: Along with this turkey we served mashed sweet potatoes and green beans. To make: Peel, cut up and boil a 2-4 sweet potatoes (based on how many people you are feeding...a couple smallish ones for us fed two people). After boiling till soft, drain and mash with a pat of butter and a tbsp of mayonnaise. You can also add a tbsp of brown sugar and some cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and a pinch of white pepper, if you want. For our dinner, we only had the mashed sweet potatoes with a pat of butter, mayo and a pinch of white pepper. We steamed the fresh green beans and then while hot, added a pat of butter and a pinch of "Lawry's Seasoned Salt".

We served our turkey dinner with "Pepper Grove Pinot Noir".

"Surf N' Turf" at Home

Surf N' Turf at Home (for Two)

1 medium-sized boneless NY strip steak, cut in half equally
olive oil, salt & pepper or "steak seasoning"
2 lobster tails

Grill the steak over hot coals and oak wood (or Mesquite, your preference). Grill very briefly, depending on the heat of the fire. I find that steaks that are "medium-rare" (hot pink on the inside) taste best. You want to get a good sear on the outside while not overcooking the inside! You need a nice hot fire. Coat each steak with olive oil and seasonings and set over a hot/medium-hot fire. After a few minutes (maybe 3-5, depending on the heat), season the other sides of the steaks and flip over, cook for 2-4 minutes longer. All this depends on thickness and the heat of the fire. It is not an exact science, but that is partly what makes it fun! I find if you press on the center of the meat with tongs, if it feels sort of like the 'fleshy' part between your thumb and forefinger, it is probably at optimal temp (I like mine medium-rare.....seared on the outside and still quite red on the inside! Seems to be the most tasty!). You have to play around and experiment with it, especially since wood fire temperatures differ, as well as outside temperatures and thicknesses of steak. This is part of the fun!
Cut down the middle (on the belly) of the lobster (to allow for the flesh to expand). Oil the lobster tails and place on the grill, shell-side down. As the tails turn red, flip over and cook very briefly on the "belly" side. Slather with butter & serve.

For the Sautee'd Mushrooms

I sautee'd a few sliced white button mushrooms with a few slices red onion in olive oil/butter. I tend to prefer sweet onion, so you could try that instead of red. But you can also use whatever you have on hand, like I did. Partway through sauteeing, add a small splash of any dry white wine, then continue to sautee'. Season mildly with kosher salt and pepper. When done sauteeing, add a pat of real butter and stir around.

For the "Luscious "Cheese Sauce

Most steak preparations will call for blue cheese, and I will admit, I LOVE blue cheese, especially with steak! But on this particular night, I did not have a wedge of blue cheese. I substituted what I thought was the next most logicle cheese that I had on-hand...FETA!! Feta has an 'assertiveness' to it that can serve just as well. And it came out quite good!

Heat about 1/4 cup or so of heavy whipping cream in a saucepan. Add lots of coarsely cracked black pepper! Stir and stir as it thickens. Then add a narrow slice of Feta (or Blue cheese), crumbled, and stir to melt. Keep stirring until you see the sauce form as you like. Taste for seasoning. I also added fresh-cut, minced chives from my garden. If you prefer, you can add freeze-dried chives, minced dried onions, or just leave the sauce as-is. At the end, when you take it off the stove, add a pat or two of real butter and stir around.

After grilling the steaks, spoon some of the cheese sauce over them, followed by the mushrooms. Enjoy!!


** If you want, you can accompany them like we did: I made garlic mashed potatoes (for both of us, I peeled & boiled 3 medium-sized white potates with a tbsp. minced garlic. Then I mashed them with a couple pats butter and a tbsp. real mayonnaise, a splash of half n' half). We also grilled a packet of yellow squash, zucchini & vidalia onion (sliced and wrapped in foil along with olive oil, minced garlic, kosher salt & black pepper). Yum!

Optional Krab-Stuffed Mushroom Appetizer**

6 medium-sized whole button mushrooms, (wiped & de-stemmed)
Small amount of Krab, about 6 tbsp (broken up into smaller flakes)
1/2 cup thin-shredded cheddar
1/2 cup (or so) real mayonnaise
1/8 (or so) tsp dried dill weed (you don't want excessive dill, but a good amount can be quite
quite tasteful).
1/4 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs

Mix the filling ingredients together. Stuff into hollow of de-stemmed mushrooms (pile on!). Set in baking pan (sometimes I even set mine on a sheet on the Non-Stick Reynolds Foil in the toaster oven) at about 350 degrees. Watch them until the filling browns on top real well, like 10 minutes or so?

Enjoy!!

Steamed / Grilled Kielbasa and Veggies

This is a dish that you can throw together to suit your tastes.

• 1 lb of Polish kielbasa
• 1 zucchini
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow squash
• 1 broccoli
• garlic powder
• grilling spices
• pepper

Slice the kielbasa into round slices about 1/4 inch thick. Slice zucchini and squash into round thin slices, about 1/8 thick at most.  Slice the red bell pepper into long strips.  Cut the broccoli stems into short florets.

Take mixture of veggies and kielbasa and stir together, adding some spices, pepper and garlic to taste.  

Then put into the steamer until the veggies and meat are steamed through*.

Sprinkle on Parmesan Cheese and some Three-Cheddar cheese to your liking and serve.

Tonight's meal was tossed in Angel Hair Pasta.  Just one of the many ways you can make this dish to suit your tastes!!  Delicious!

(Okay, I am no food photographer...and I know you're supposed to "Stage" the food...but I literally thought to take the pic with my cell phone while I was cooking it. So....here you go!)

*You can chose to grill the mixture after steaming to bring out some additional flavors.  This is delicious, but optional. 

**Also, you can add and remove the veggies in the above list, to suit your tastes.  For example, you may chose to add onions and chili pepper to the steamer for a spicier dish.

3-Cheese Manicotti

• 1 lb of sausage
• 1 pkg of Manicotti Shells
• 8 oz of Ricotta Cheese (whole milk)
• 8oz of Cottage Cheese
• 1/4 of Parmesan Cheese
• 6 oz of 3 Cheddar blend Cheese
• 6 oz of Mozzarella Cheese
• 2 cups of Spaghetti Sauce
• 1 Cup of Water

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.  Spray the bottom of a 13 x 9 with cooking spray and take 1/4 of spaghetti sauce and spread on the bottom of the pan just enough to cover the surface.

Cook the sausage thoroughly and drain.  In a bowl, blend the cheeses and sausage together.

Stuff  the cheese mixture into the Manicotti shells raw and place them in the pan.

Microwave 1 cup of water for 2 minutes and add to the remaining spaghetti sauce and stir.   Pour spaghetti sauce over the shells and cover evenly.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and cook for 50 minutes.  Shells will cook in the covered dish and the sauce will not be thin at the end.

*For more flavor, fine chop baby spinach and parsley and add to cheese mixture for taste.

**If cooking for adults, try serving this dish with an Italian Merlot.

Homemade French Fries

• Russert Potatoes, about 1 per person
• Peanut Oil
• All Purpose Seasoned Coating Mix (Miracle Bake is a great brand)
• Deep Fryer

Peel Potatoes if desired and cut them length wise and then turn and cut again into a long rectangular shape. Use a Julienne cutter if available.

Soak the potatoes in cold water for about 15 minutes.

Put the peanut oil into the deep fryer and heat to 350F.

Take a plastic Ziploc bag and pour some seasoning into the bag. (Enough to coat about 1/2 cup of potatoes).

Take about a half cup of sliced potatoes, ( dry them with paper towel first) and put them into the bag with seasoning. Zip it up and shake to coat. Immediately remove the potatoes from the bag and put them into the deep fryer (please follow the instructions for your deep fryer).

Fry them for 2 minutes and pull them out and place them on a paper towel to cool. (The French Fries are not done at this point).

Repeat until all potatoes are cooked.

Now turn up your deep fryer to 375F.

Start with the first batch that cooled and insert into deep fryer. Cook until golden brown (usually 2-3 additional minutes).

Remove and place on clean paper towels to pull up excess grease.

Repeat until all the potatoes are done.

They are now ready to serve!! Enjoy!!

Spicy Pretzels

1 16 ounce bag of pretzels
1/2 cup of Extra virgin Olive Oil
1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
1/2 tsp of Garlic Powder*
1/2 tsp of Cayenne Pepper
1 1-gallon zip lock bag
Mix all ingredients above in your zip lock bag and shake well. When you get it all mixed together...they'll be ready to eat.
Use a paper towel to dab off the excess oil if needed.
Store in a dry container.
* You may use Garlic Salt instead of Garlic Powder but plan on it being salty!!

Peach Passion

• 3 large ripe peaches, halved, pitted, and cut into thin wedges (3 Cups)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 ripe passion fruit
• 1 pint of pineapple sherbet

1. In a large bowl, mix together the peaches, sugar, and lemon juice.

2. Cut the passion fruit in half and scoop the pulp onto the peach mixture. Stir gently to break up and coat all the fruit. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. (It can be stored up to 2 days like this).

3. When you are ready to serve, place 1 scoop of Pineapple sherbet into each dish and top with the fruit mixture. Serves 6.