Thanksgiving 2008

No pictures in this post; just an update on Thanksgiving, since people have been asking. I'm not doing a real post for two reasons-- one, we basically did the same thing as  last year, since last year's Thanksgiving was so ridiculously good; and two, I didn't have a camera on hand for pictures. Honestly, some of the tastiest things are the least photogenic-- stuffing, for example. So the menu was: (most of the recipes are on last year's post, linked above)

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup

Brined & BBQ'd Organic Turkey

Gravy (made from turkey stock, which we made the day before)

Wild Mushroom Stuffing (recipe below)

Butternut Squash Gratin

Spicy Cranberry Relish

Jelled Cranberry Sauce (yeah, the Ocean Spray kind. I love the stuff.)

Lemony Brussel Sprout Hash

Sour Cream Cheesecake (my dad's delicious contribution)

The wild mushroom stuffing was really amazing, and can easily be a vegetarian main dish or brunch dish any time of the year. We tweaked last year's recipe a bit. Here goes:

Make cornbread and let it sit out overnight so it dries out a bit.

Cut the cornbread into crouton-sized (1/2inch) cubes. Toss cubes and all crumbs into bowl. Add 2T each chopped thyme & sage; add olive oil and toss until well-coated.

Spread seasoned cornbread cubes and crumbs onto a baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees until golden. Cubes should be crunchy. It's ok if the crumbs get a little dark.

Clean 2lbs mushrooms. We used 2/3lb shittake, 2/3lb oyster, 2/3lb chanterelle. Reserve the shittake stems.

Add shittake stems to 4c chicken (or veggie) broth and bring to a boil. Lower to a strong simmer and cover. Cook about 20 minutes, until reduced by half. Strain. You should have 2c mushroomy broth.

Slice mushrooms.  Slice 5 large shallots. Saute shallots and mushrooms in about 1T butter and 1T olive oil until golden brown, about 20 minutes (they'll release liquid, and then start drying out and browning). Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the cooked mushrooms to the strained broth.

An hour before serving, beat 1c heavy cream with 3 eggs. Combine with mushroom mix and cornbread cubes only. Pour into gratin dish. Sprinkle cornbread crumbs on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, until set (a thin knife inserted into the gratin will come out clean).

Salmon with Herbed Bread Crumbs and Roasted Brussel Sprouts

This is an easy way to dress up salmon for a weeknight dinner. It follows my standard roasted salmon recipe, with the addition of herbed bread crumbs on top. The crumbs create a tasty crust that's a nice textural complement to the silky fish.

Preheat oven to 500 with the baking dish inside it. Rub salmon with olive oil, salt and pepper; top with bread crumbs (see below). Toss the salmon into the baking dish, skin side down, and lower heat to 275. Cook about 10 minutes, until just flaky. 

To make the bread crumbs, grind up some stale bread in the food processor with whatever fresh herbs you have on hand-- I used a mix of sage, rosemary and thyme. If you end up with a lot of bread crumbs, just put the leftovers in a jar in the freezer and use them next time.

These brussel sprouts are even easier than the salmon. They've been featured on The Purple Kitchen before, but the recipe is so simple I'll repeat it here. Just quarter the sprouts, toss with salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and roast in a 400 degree oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes. They should be crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.

Nutty Brussels Sprout Pasta

I made this incredibly simple pasta dish with just two main ingredients-- brussels sprouts and pine nuts-- to highlight the nuttiness of the sprouts, but you can add corn and even tomatoes if you want. I wanted to keep it simple so I could top it with my leftover braised beef with tomatoes.  You can serve the pasta on its own and keep the dish vegetarian.

Slice brussels sprouts and put them immediatley into a bowl of lime juice (one lime's enough).

Heat butter and olive oil in a pan and saute pine nuts until golden, stirring constantly. Add sliced brussels sprouts and saute until wilted.

Add cooked, al dente pasta with some of the cooking water and continue cooking until water is absorbed. Serve topped with pecorino.

Roasted Salmon with Zesty Relish, French Fingerling Potatoes, and Brussels Sprouts

I am now the proud subscriber of Cook's Illustrated, possibly the best cooking-basics magazine out there. The current issue discusses the roasted salmon dilemma: either you go for crispy outside or soft, silky insides. Their solution gives you both. Here's my take on it (well, the relish is my take-- the recipe is theirs).

You'll need:

1 salmon fillet per person-- skin on, pin bones removed with tweezers
salt
pepper
olive oil

for the relish:

1 lemon
2T capers
6 olives, Greek mix

Preheat oven to 500 degrees with the baking sheet inside that you'll use for the salmon. This is the key to the crispy skin part. In the meantime, wash and dry the fish, remove the bones, and slit the skin diagonally with a sharp pointy knife (about 5 slits, 1 inch apart from each other). Be sure not to cut into the fish itself. Rub the fish all over with oil, and season generously with salt and pepper. Place on heated baking sheet, turn oven down to 275 (this is the key to the silky interior), and put the salmon on the lowest possible oven rack. It'll cook for about 10 minutes. While it's cooking, make the relish.

Chop capers and olives finely. Grate lemon zest, preferably with a microplane. Mix.

Serve salmon topped with relish. I ate my salmon with roasted Fingerlings and balsamic brussels sprouts (as you can see above in the rather crappy picture). Enjoy!

Balsamic-Glazed Brussel Sprouts

Brussel sprouts are very good halved & roasted, but for more complex flavor, here I glaze them with balsamic vinegar. You end up with brussel sprout wedges that are soft on the inside, crispy outside, and bursting with balsamic sweetness.

You'll need:

Brussel sprouts-- the smaller, the better
1T butter
1T olive oil
good balsamic vinegar
salt

Clean sprouts (cut off the ends and remove any dark loose leaves). Slice in half lengthwise, then half again-- each quarter should be held together by stem.

Blanch the sprouts in salted boiling water for 30 seconds, then drain well and dry with paper towels.

Heat butter and oil in a not-non-stick pan. When foam subsides, add brussel sprouts. Use a pan big enough for them to fit in one layer. Don't stir too much or they won't brown. Instead, let one side brown, then shake the pan to give the other sides some pan surface time.

Pour in some balsamic vinegar-- about 2T, or enough to absorb the browned surface of the pan. Shake until balsamic forms a sticky glaze on the sprouts. Serve hot.

UnChristmas Dinner with Maria

(serves 4+)

This began, of course, with a snack:

Hours later...

Carrot-Parsnip Soup with Tarragon Cream

You'll need:

5 carrots, roughly chopped
4 parsnips, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
4c chicken broth
1/4c cream

Saute all veggies, with salt and pepper, in butter for 15 minutes over medium heat. Add broth and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Puree using an immersion blender (the blender stick thing) and, right before serving, stir in cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Roast Chicken in a Pot

This was based on Cook's Illustrated's recipe, published online by Marisa McClellen at Slashfood.

You'll need:

a 4-5lb chicken-- preferably free-range
2 onions, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
10 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
1T olive oil
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 bay leaves

Preheat oven to 250F.

Wash chicken. Dry well with paper towels. Season with coarse salt & pepper.

Heat oil in large dutch oven. Brown chicken, breast side down first, then flip. Brown until golden and remove. Add chopped veggies and lower heat. Cook until lightly browned. Return chicken to pot, breast side up, and cook until chicken & veggies are browned.

Cover pot and place in oven. Cook 1 hour, until breast meat is at 160F. Remove from oven. Take chicken out and tent with foil. Puree veggies and cook to reduce by half. Serve chicken with veggie gravy. Mmmmm.

Dirty Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

You'll need:

4 Russet potatoes
2 heads garlic
1/4c milk
2T butter
salt

Slice tops off garlic heads. Wrap in foil, leaving a small opening at the top. Place in 400 degree oven for 1 hour. When done, let sit until cool enough to handle and then squeeze garlic into dish. Reserve.

Scrub potatoes well. Quarter and place in pot with salted water. Bring to a boil; cover (leave the cover slightly off for steam to escape) and simmer until potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. Drain and mash with butter and roasted garlic. With a metal whisk or a wooden spoon, beat in milk until potatoes are desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Brussel Sprouts

You'll need:

Brussel sprouts
1T lemon juice
1T butter
1T olive oil
3T heavy cream

Clean sprouts. Cut them in half, and then slice lengthwise (each half will be cut into 3-4 slices). As you slice, toss with lemon juice. Saute in not non-stick skillet in hot melted butter & olive oil, seasoning with salt and pepper as you cook. Cook until browned. Deglaze pan with wine or vermouth; stir in cream. Serve immediately.

Pavlova with Lemon Curd and Blueberries

We basically followed this recipe for the meringue, but layered it with unsweetened whipped cream and fresh blueberries. It was delicious. And the egg whites get a beautiful shine from the vinegar. Thank you Maria!

Trout Three Ways with Orzo and Brussel Sprout-Carrot Hash

Trout is cheap (ours was $5/lb at Andronico's) and super easy to cook. It'll take on any flavor you want, and the bones are so small that even if you leave them in, they won't bother you. You can also buy pre-boned trout, or trout fillets. I think the whole fish is more flavorful, and the heads make a great fish stock, or fumet.

The trout was already gutted and scaled; we just stuffed it with some basic ingredients, wrapped each fish individually in parchment paper, and baked it at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

The trouts:

1. dark soy sauce; chili-garlic sauce; fresh ginger
2. salt & pepper; dried marjoram; olive oil; fresh thyme
3. salt & pepper; cayenne pepper; cajun spice; dried oregano; olive oil; fresh rosemary

For the orzo, just cook it like pasta, and mix in some butter, parmesan, and pepper.

For the brussel sprout hash:


Slice the bottoms off the sprouts. Cut each sprout in half, and then in slices, lengthwise (so the "stem" part holds the leaves together). Toss in a bowl with lemon juice to keep from discoloring. Julienne 2 carrots and mix with the sprouts. Heat butter and olive oil in skillet and, when butter melts and foaming subsides, add brussel sprouts, carrots, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until sprouts are tender and start to brown. Serve with lemon wedges.

Mustard Encrusted Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Apples and Brussel Sprouts

You need:

1 pork tenderloin, silver skin removed with a sharp knife
3T dijon mustard
fresh sage and thyme (or whatever herbs you want)
1 small shallot
dry bread crumbs

brussel sprouts
cooking apples (I used Jonas Gold)

a meat thermometer

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2. Clean brussel sprouts: remove end and slice in half. Toss with salt, pepper, and good olive oil. Place in roasting pan and put in oven while you prepare the pork.

3. Peel apples and cut into 1" dice. Set aside.

4. Salt and pepper tenderloin and sear on all sides in hot grapeseed oil. Let cool slightly.

5. Mix the mustard with minced shallot (about 1T), chopped sage, and thyme leaves.

6. Coat cooled tenderloin with mustard mixture and then bread crumbs.

7. Remove roasting pan from oven; mix apples with brussel sprouts, and push veggies to the sides. Place pork in center and return to oven. Cook about 20 minutes, until pork reaches 150 degrees. Let rest 5 minutes (temperature will raise to 155).

Serve with a grain-- I made a simple bulgar wheat pilaf.

Thanksgiving!

might be my favorite holiday. I don't think I have to explain why. This is the first year I've done the bulk of the planning and cooking, though I couldn't have done the latter without my mom's help (and without her, we wouldn't have had dessert, which I conveniently neglected from my menu). Please excuse the late posting; it's my sister's fault (though she is responsible for the cranberry bean shelling and brussel sprout cleaning-- step one in her path to culinary greatness).

Chestnut Soup

tasty but light enough to start off the meal

I didn't follow the recipe in this link very closely-- I doubled the veggie base and spices-- but it's a good start.

Brined and Barbecued Turkey

might have been the best turkey ever

This was a compromise between my brining plans and my dad's insistence on barbecuing, with fantastic results, thanks to Traci Des Jardins. We followed this excellent recipe but didn't strain the brine. Yay women chefs!

Giblet Gravy

lots of roux-browning, a mirepoix, giblets,
and turkey necks went into this delicious gravy

Cranberry Sauce Trio

Canned Jellied Cranberry Sauce (bottom)-- my personal favorite

Earl Gray Cardamom Cranberry Sauce (top)-- thanks to my fellow foodie Katie

Spicy Orange Cranberry Relish (right)-- modified from Jacques Pepin's recipe in this lovely book

Cornbread Pudding Stuffing

The "pudding" part is the cream & eggs that make this the best stuffing ever. An homage to my sister, the self-professed stuffing hater, who made sure there was none left before going back to college.

Recipe, in a few steps:

Cornbread: Make easy cornbread and let sit, covered, overnight (reserve the rest of the can of creamed corn). The next morning (yes, cooking is a two-day affair), cut into small cubes (the size of croutons) and toss with good olive oil, salt, pepper, and chopped fresh thyme & sage. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and crunchy. Refrain from snacking while you make the mushrooms.

Mushrooms: Stem about 2lbs of shiitake mushrooms, reserving the stems. Chop stems finely and bring to a boil with 4c chicken broth. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until reduced by half. Strain through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth and reserve mushroomy broth.

Thickly slice mushroom caps and thinly slice shallots. Saute in butter and olive oil until mushrooms are browned and delicious. Toss with broth.

An hour before serving, whisk together 1/2c cream and 2 eggs. Mix with mushrooms and cornbread croutons and spread mixture in a gratin dish. Sprinkle cornbread crumbs (that gathered in a delicious mess of herbs and oil at the bottom of your baking pan) on top of stuffing and bake until set at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Butternut Squash Gratin with Fried Sage

you saw this here but without the sage, which is delicious fried in butter

Fresh Cranberry Beans

Cooked with a quartered onion and a few garlic cloves, then drained and tossed with thyme and olive oil, these are simply delicious, and only available a few weeks a year. They have beautiful speckled pods that unfortunately get thrown away. Do let me know if you know of a way to use them.

Lemony Brussel Sprouts

roughly this recipe-- we used it last year and had no leftovers.

And, of course...

yes, this is a magnum of 1988 Chateau Duhart-Milon

And the dessert I would have forgotten...

My Mom's Absolutely Delicious Tarte Tatin

You might think that all this food was enough for a dozen people. It was. We were only five.