(upbeat music) Well, it's time to spice
up your traditional Thanksgiving dishes, and
Olga's in the kitchen with Ingrid Hoffmann,
who's showing us how to up our turkey game.
(playful music) - That's right, Julie, this
morning we have a feast.
Ingrid Hoffmann is in the kitchen.
She's in the house this morning, and she's gonna show
us how to add some traditional variety to
a Thanksgiving meal.
(laughter) Good morning.
- Thanks for having me.
- Welcome, are you kidding?
Whenever you come, we're all happy.
- Well, you know, again, we must add a little bit of spice
- Yes.
- To our regular Thanksgiving.
- And we're gonna do something, actually,
that I've only done once in my life.
- Oh boy.
- Which is, we're gonna encounter what a fried turkey
tastes like.
- [Ingrid] Delicious, my favorite.
- I loved it.
So, before we get to the turkey, tell us what you're doing here.
- Very simple.
I call it my jewel rice.
So we have pistachios, pomegranate, and saffron,
but of course we start with this delicious
Star extra virgin olive oil.
- And I know you're using Star, you know, is the
ultimate trusted expert in Mediterranean food.
- [Ingrid] It's delicious, it's my favorite.
- [Olga] Okay, and you're also using the Star.
- [Ingrid] And preheat it.
- [Olga] Okay, fantastic.
- So now we're ready to go.
So, we've got shelled pistachios.
We're gonna try and just give them a little bit
of a toast in there quickly.
- [Olga] You can hear it already sizzling.
- You can hear it, that's why I had my pan
nice and warm.
Now we're gonna add golden raisins.
And I know it sounds a little bit of a strange mix, but
trust me, it all comes together.
It is going to be beautiful.
So while these guys stay toasting on their own,
I'm gonna show you because I had previously cooked
the rice, so what we're gonna do is that
we're gonna mix half of the rice.
- And you have here, what, basmati?
- This is basmati, you can do jasmine,
you can do any rice you prefer.
- You could do brown rice if you like.
- Yeah, you could even do quinoa, too, if you wanna
not do rice.
We've got some saffron.
In Spanish it's azafran.
- Oh I say saffron.
- Saffron, it's the same thing.
We have diluted that in a little bit of water.
- [Olga] It's a fantastic thing to use.
- It is considered the gold of the spices.
We're gonna mix in this big bowl,
the already yellow rice.
- Okay, saffron.
- Now we're gonna mix the white.
The reason that we mixed half previously with the color
is so that we get several different colors going.
So you don't want all of your rice being an even color.
- So, just a little bit there?
So now we have a little bit of white, little bit of
light yellow, and yellow.
- Correct.
And now we're gonna mix the toasted pistachios
with the raisins.
It's easy to make.
And now we're gonna put some of these pomegranate seeds.
- This is so easy.
- This is super easy, and it's all good for you.
It's all super foods all combined.
- [Olga] Exactly.
- [Ingrid] Now we're gonna do some of the cilantro.
- [Olga] Only but the best for our family.
- Now if you don't like cilantro, you can use basil,
you can use dill, you can use parsley,
you can use anything you like.
Cooking with people is what's nice.
- [Olga] Oh, it's fantastic.
- You know, you pour yourself a glass of wine,
you bring the family in, you start making traditions
like this, - [Olga] That's right.
- And memories.
We're gonna do some orange zest.
That is gonna give it that tangy flavor.
It's just gonna help bring all the flavors out,
and that is, voila, how easy it is.
- Voila, look how beautiful.
- And then you just garnish it with orange slices.
- Now, with that one, you used the Star virgin olive oil.
- [Ingrid] The extra virgin olive oil.
- [Olga] With the fried turkey, which is so fantastic,
you used the Optima deep fry oil.
- [Ingrid] The Optima.
- [Olga] A little different.
- Well, you know, this is a great way of introducing,
people that are used to just frying,
and normally do it with vegetable oils,
this is a way of introducing a slightly healthier,
because we've added 20% of extra virgin olive oil
to the sunflower mix of the oil.
So now you're starting to guide people that change
to their palates.
- [Olga] Exactly.
- And to slowly getting used to a cleaner form of oil.
- Loving that.
Okay, so here's another great idea of Ingrid's.
There's always leftovers.
- [Ingrid] Oh, my God.
- [Olga] And you don't know what to do.
- Well, it's simple.
Here we've got sliders.
What's inside of the sliders?
We've got mashed potatoes, we've got turkey,
we've got cheese, stick them in the
oven, and done.
- There you go.
- And this is awesome because now we've taken
the leftover zucchini and the carrots,
we've shredded them, and we put them into muffins.
And you're gonna get a very moist muffin,
but you're also having a muffin that has
less of the dough and the starch, but has a lot more
of fiber.
- [Olga] You use extra light olive oil.
- [Ingrid] Extra light tasting olive oil from Star.
- You wanna try one?
- Absolutely, I'm not saying no.
I've had a few.
- Look, I got the little baby one.
- [Ingrid] Aw, those are so cute.
- How cute is this?
I can't stand it.
I gotta tell you, this is really good.
- Mmm, yummy.
- Fantastic.
- [Ingrid] For more Thanksgiving recipes, check out Star,
the ultimate trusted experts in Mediterranean food
at starfinefoods.com or - They can go to our
website, which is TheBalancingAct.com,
and don't forget to share your favorite
recipes, right?
- That's right.
We'll see you next time.
(upbeat music)