Frying the bird, or There is Butter in my eye

We bought a turkey deep fryer 2 years ago when it was our turn to host Dude's family for Christmas. There are 4 kids in his family (and mine, but that is neither here nor there) and we rotate hosting Christmas in our homes. 2007 was the last time we agreed to host and last year we didn't get together with his family over the holidays. It isn't that we are anti-family; we just wanted to start creating our own memories and traditions with Hermit Crab and Drama Queen. We meet with my family after the new year begins so we can all be with our own families, and his family does a family fun night in January-good enough for us. Dude's parents are snow birds, so I have suggested time and time again that we do it in October before H and J leave for Florida, but that never flew with certain people in his family. So we just said "No" last year. This year his parents are home since his Dad is battling cancer and needs to go in for scans and checks and meds. We invited his parents here for the 23rd but we are going to get hammered with snow and we all felt it best that they did not make the 3 hour trip down. We bought a turkey with the thought that they would be here to share it with us, and even though they couldn't come, we still deep fried that sucker tonight. Not without some issues, as people on Facebook know. We have always bought an injecting marinade to use on the bird. We couldn't find one in any store so I tried to make one. When Dude came in and found me swearing about my injector missing again and he made a not so funny joke about me misplacing things, I almost stabbed him with the part I found. He was trying to make a needle work on the plunger it didn't belong to. He stabbed the bird, possibly hit a bone, and squeezed. Butter.Everywhere. On the fridge, on the stove, on the floor, on the cat, on my sweatshirt. And in my left eye. I love butter as much as the next person, but not particularly in my eye. We did get the bird in the fryer and I went to work on the spuds. I got the recipe off of Food Network and it is from Rachael Ray. I remember her doing these on 30 Minute Meals. They are similar to the Crash potatoes on Pioneer Woman.

Smashed Potatoes, Jacques Pepin style

3 pounds baby Gold Yukon potatoes (I used a tri-color baby spud pack)
3 cups chicken broth
3 TBSP butter
salt and pepper

Place potatoes in a deep skillet that has a lid. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour the chicken broth in pan until halfway up the sides of the potatoes, about 3 cups. Cover and cook until almost tender, 5 to 8 minutes (my stove doesn't have jet power, so it took my normal stove about 12 minutes. Remove lid and continue to cook until the broth has evaporated, another 6 to 7 minutes. When the liquid is pretty much gone, smoosh the spud with the back of a spoon to flatten, but don't squish the dickens out of it-just flatten a bit. Cook for a couple minutes on each side until they have a golden crust. Check seasoning and re-salt and pepper if necessary.

Holy cow these were awesome! Our kids wouldn't touch the purple potatoes. Okay, more for me!

After Dude went and cleaned the fryer and watched a movie with Drama Queen, he comes upstairs and says "Oh no, we forgot photos!" I told him I took shots of the left overs!

If I don't post again before Christmas, please have a happy holiday. I know I said it the other day, but had time to post more, so I'm just telling ya again-Merry Christmas!