I don’t think I have ever REALLY cleaned out our chest freezer and I think we bought it about eight years ago. (I know, time for true confessions.) I tackled it a couple of weeks ago. It was appalling the amount of food I threw away.
My idea for keeping food going into the freezer from never coming back to life is to mount a whiteboard above the freezer in the garage. (Hmm–or maybe a magnetic one on the freezer lid would be even better.) I’ll write down and erase what goes in and out. I will let you know how that works out. Hopefully, I won’t be confessing to throwing out a dumpster full of food next summer.
I did find a couple of treasures that I was able to salvage. One was a boneless turkey breast I think we bought last fall when we thought it would be an intimate Thanksgiving for two. We ended up with company (my mom, which was a good thing) and actually went out for Thanksgiving brunch (which was another REALLY good thing).
So, noticing the turkey breast was set to expire next week, I decided to roast it this morning. How to roast a summer turkey…? I didn’t want the traditional Thanksgiving turkey with butter, sage, and stuffing. The directions on the package suggested putting the turkey breast on a roasting rack. Since my roasting rack can accommodate a 25 lb. turkey, I thought it was a bit of overkill to get out the roasting pan for a 4 lb. breast.
My solution: I went to the herb garden and snipped a fistful of rosemary branches, came in, drizzled them with olive oil, and placed them in the bottom of the baking pan. I placed the turkey breast on top of that, rubbed more olive oil on the top of the turkey, sprinkled it with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, and it is roasting as we speak. The kitchen smells great!
I have modified that fabulous salsa verde recipe and am making a salad of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers to accompany our turkey.
Salsa Verde Tomato Cucumber Salad
2 T. cilantro
2 T. parsley
2 T. mint
2 T. basil
1 small jalapeno, seeded
1 clove garlic, smashed
4 T. olive oil
1 T. red wine vinegar
1/8 t. sea salt
1/8 t. fresh ground black pepper
2 large cucumbers, sliced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
Place first ten ingredients in blender and pulse until incorporated. Place cucumber and tomatoes in a sealable container. Pour salsa verde over vegetables and toss to coat. Refrigerate for 4 hours. Toss salad again to distribute dressing before serving.
What a great way to give thanks for fresh herbs, good olive oil, and just picked vegetables from the garden (not to mention finding a leftover turkey in the freezer!)—Thanksgiving in August!
