Um, I'm a bit late putting this up, I'm very sorry. This dish is of course is perfect for leftover Thanksgiving turkey...perhaps you froze some? Then you're in luck! A creamy, delicious topping for rice, or filling for a luscious pot pie.
Perhaps you're roasting a turkey for Christmas? I'm trying...
Recipe for Turkey a la King at Food & Wine Magazine/Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures.
As I mentioned below, I had the pleasure of chatting all things leftovers on Saturday morning, on the Fresh & Local radio show, with host Susan Berkson and Mike Madison of local hip hop group Unknown Prophets. While Mike is a musician by trade, he is also a fantastic cook. His passion for teaching children about good food is completely contagious. We had a great time talking about cooking fresh food, reaching out to chefs like Mike DeCamp at La Belle Vie for ideas and tips, and how involving children in meal preparation is The Way to encourage them to try new and different foods.
Since I had a nice amount of cranberry sauce leftover, I made up a batch of muffins and took them with me to AM950. Despite the fact that I forgot to put sugar in them - I baked them at 6:30 am, hey - the muffins got the thumbs up from Mike and Susan, and from my family, to such a degree that I've made them twice more.
Reicpe for Cranberry Sauce Sour Cream Muffins at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.
Thanksgiving kicked off when my dad pulled up to the house last Tuesday afternoon, fresh from a quail hunt in Tennessee. My stepmom Susanna flew in a few hours later from Sheridan, Wyoming, their now home.
My house and kitchen were immediately improved. Dad sharpened my knives and starting halving and marinating quail in buttermilk and hot sauce. Susanna started washing dishes, straightening the house, and running loads of laundry. I felt a huge weight lift from my over-scheduled shoulders that can only come from guests who don't ask what needs to be done, but just find things and jump in. Usually those guests are family members, but not always.
Whoever the hell they are, they are always welcome in my home.
Sasha came by for dinner Wednesday night, just home from her freshman year at Wellesley. It was so good to see her! While we all chatted, Dad fried the quail: After their buttermilk soak, he dredged them in flour (gluten-free AP for me, which worked like a charm), let them rest on a rack for 15 minutes or so, then fried them in a couple of inches of hot oil.
My god. Tender-crispy-sublime. We devoured them.
Later that night David, Etta, and my cousin Craig arrived in various shifts from NYC and DC. I had big plans to stay awake to feed them late dinners. I even went for an almost-midnight walk, giddy in the balmy air, but upon return...I totally fell asleep.
Which was probably for the best, given my early-Thursday-morning playdate with butter and herbs and the big ol' turkey that I had brined overnight Tuesday, then let dry out in the fridge overnight Wednesday. That one-two punch always yields ridiculously crispy skin, lightly salty, perfectly buttery. I hit it pretty hard while Dad carved the bird.
In fact, if I could eat just crispy turkey skin and a pile of stuffing and call it Thanksgiving dinner I'd be so happy.
Which is why I am in fact I am happy, because that's exactly what I did.
OK, I - as well as my uncles Bruce and Jim, aunts Mary and Marge, cousin Craig, brother David, sisters Stacey and Etta, John, Mom, Dad, and Susanna - also inhaled these amazing Melissa Clark sour cream mashed potatoes, prepared by Stacey & Susanna. They have earned a do-ahead spot on my Thanksgiving table, for sure. The chives are a particularly lovely addition, as is Parmesan cheese on top. We skipped the called-for breadcrumbs and didn't miss them.
My aunt Mary brought green beans - no, not those green beans. Her version was fresh and simple - fresh beans tossed in an anchovy vinaigrette. Delicious.
I was thrilled with the way the (gluten-free) cornbread stuffing turned out. I added both spicy and sweet sausage, mushrooms, plenty of fresh sage, and Parmesan cheese. We've been frying the leftovers for the last few days, to top with poached eggs... Goodness do that.
My stepmom Susanna was the first to bring this gorgeous wild rice salad to the Thanksgiving table, sometime in the mid-90s, and one of us makes it every year, this year my aunt Mary. The citrus dressing is a welcome sweet-tangy palate cleanser in the midst of lots of buttery sausagey richness.
My mom made a cranberry-orange sauce and The Curry Diva herself, lovely Heather Jansz, gifted me a jar of her precious chutney. Both were stunning with the turkey, at the dinner table and on many sandwiches afterward.
I got too busy eating, talking, and drinking wine to snap a pic of my aunt Marge's perfect pumpkin chiffon and pecan pies! No! Needless to say, they were attacked as usual. Gone baby gone. She is a master.
I made this Michael Ruhlman oven stock from the carcass. It's the best stock I've made and so easy! With the stock, turkey, and leftover mashed potatoes I made a shepherd's pie, which we dug into last night. And turkey wild rice soup and latkes, which we ate Saturday night. And I'll be making this Mark Bittman turkey & spinach coconut curry for tomorrow. (I'm taking a break from turkey today...I need a little breathing space. Uff.)
Mom's cranberry sauce has appeared in three batches of muffins, one of which I brought with me to AM950 on Saturday morning, when I was on the Fresh & Local Show with Mike Madison of Unknown Prophets. We talked leftovers for an hour with host Susan Berkson and barely scratched the surface! The whole conversatoin left me starving so I came home and made myself a big batch of turkey nachos. I do so love turkey with chiles.
What fun have you been having with leftovers? I hope you all had a terrific holiday!
Two days until Thanksgiving! I'm freaking out a little bit! I do have a turkey, yes. And a loose plan for filling out the rest of the meal, including generous family members bringing a good number of dishes. But if you're sitting at your desk today, sweating a little at the thought of how much there is to do before sitting down on Thursday...I am too.
I suggest not sweating the appetizers, however. To me, Thanksgiving is about the meal, not loading up on heavy snacks, so I'll be offering these nuts, which are massively addictive, and nice to nibble with drinks, but are not appetite-killing.
Recipe for Maple Roasted Almonds at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.
Spicy, tender Pumpkin Cake to eat warm with whipped cream.
Lovely for dessert, but devoured 'round these parts...for breakfast! When we ran out of whipped cream I just poured heavy cream over warm pieces, in a bowl, and made my son very happy. A little grating of fresh nutmeg over the top is a nice finish.
Happy Almost Thanksgiving! Recipe for Pumpkin Cake at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.
Last Thanksgiving was my first since giving up gluten, so to keep things easy, I just skipped eating my favorite part of my favorite meal...the dressing. Boo! I really missed it, as much as I dig turkey and mashed potatoes.
Which is very, very much.
This year, particularly since I'm hosting, I decided to play around a bit and see if I could come up with a gluten-free dressing. Even though it's not my family's tradition, I'm a big fan of cornbread dressing, loaded with sausage and fresh sage; given that cornbread can be made gluten-free quite nicely, it seemed a particularly tasty place to start.
The beauty of this dressing - and all dressing - is that you can add in whatever you like. Apples, nuts, wild rice, cheese, mushrooms, oysters, pork in any form, any herb, on and on.
Recipe for Cornbread Dressing at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.
Tender, egg-y challah bread is lovely on the Thanksgiving table. Not only is it pretty, but it harkens back to my mom's yeasty homemade crescent rolls, but for about one-tenth of the effort.
The honey-rosemary butter plays nicely with turkey, squash, and stuffing.
And everything.
Recipe for Challah with Honey-Rosemary Butter at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.
We spent the day at my aunt Mary and uncle Bruce's farm, about two hours west of Minneapolis. As always, a beautiful setting, meal, and day.
I hope you had a lovely, delicious day!
As I've mentioned, I'm trying to eat as little sugar as possible. So far, so good, although I absolutely love pumpkin pie and didn't want to miss out this holiday season. Since pumpkin itself is quite nutritious, I decided to experiment with a classic, cream-based pumpkin filling (the best kind, in my opinion) and see how low I could take the sugar and still enjoy it. (I've already been baking the filling without crust for years, since it's the custard I really enjoy.)
Three tablespoons of brown sugar turned out to be the sweet spot, nicely complimenting the naturally sweet pumpkin. I added just a pinch of sugar to the softly whipped cream for the full effect, et voila, a lovely pumpkin custard that will definitely fill a craving for those of you trying to keep holiday sweets to a dull roar.
And in case you're wanting the real deal? No problem! The original recipe (with a delicious gingersnap crust enhancement) is here at Joy of Baking. It's all good.
PS If you're shopping around for a turkey and ideas for roasting it, check my post last week on Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly for Herb-Roasted Turkey and Gravy, and don't miss Chef Scott Pampuch's excellent Star Tribune video on how to carve it!
Hint-of-Sweet Pumpkin Custard
Adapted from www.joyofbaking.com
Serves 8-10
Note: The custard can also be baked in 4-oz. ramekins.
soft butter
3 large eggs
2 c. fresh pumpkin puree or 1 - 15 oz. can pure pumpkin
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
few gratings of fresh nutmeg
softly whipped cream sweetened with a pinch of sugar
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Butter a pie plate. In a large bowl lightly whisk the eggs. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared pie plate. Bake custard for 45 minutes or until the filling is just set (center will look wet; a knife inserted about 1 inch from side of pan will come out almost clean.) Cool custard to room temperature and serve, or cover cooled custard and chill.
Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Hanukkah, and Merry Christmas! Apparently an entire month has disappeared in a puff of puppy, bronchitis, travel, guests, 8th-grade basketball, and holiday decorating, shopping, and planning.
You can probably tell that I didn't host Thanksgiving dinner this year (given detailed posts in years previous, a snapshot overview here), but I did bake no-knead bread (crusty, delicious, beyond easy) and reprised the fantastic brussels with pancetta and dried cranberries that I tried for last year's feast. The key to the deliciousness is the pulled-apart brussels, which result in a pile of tender leaves that cook quickly and lose any bitterness. The result is so good, I've been asked to make it again for Christmas. Keep it in mind if you're itching for a new vegetable dish on your holiday table (it's pretty to boot).
I brought the bread and brussels out to Willmar for Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt Marge's lovely home. We had such a beautiful meal - turkey, sage dressing with sausage, mashed potatoes/gravy, sweet potatoes with fresh cranberries, brussels (above), wild rice salad with pine nuts and orange dressing, and bread. For dessert my cousin's wife Amanda made pana cotta with cinnamon apples, a delicious and light end to the feast. Puppy Louis and I spent two nights in Willmar, in fact, hanging with the fam, eating leftovers in the form of Marge's killer panini sandwiches, and spending Friday night at the farm (aka my aunt Mary's lovely home - my aunts have beautiful homes, what can I say?) for another gorgeous meal, this time green salad with pears and mustard vinaigrette, pork chops with cherry sauce, polenta, and green beans, with warm apple cake for dessert. Uff. Da. Clearly not a weekend of moderation, but that's Thanksgiving, and so it goes.
Right before Thanksgiving, John and I had a fabulous time in NYC, in town to celebrate our friend Bartley's birthday. We hit several favorite food highlights - the Gotham salad at Bergdorf Goodman, mushroom barley soup at E.A.T., truffles from La Maison du Chocolat, H&H everything bagels on our way to the airport. New tasties included hand-crafted drinks at the Surrey Hotel's chic new Bar Pleiades and a literal feast (crispy prawns, velvet chicken, orange beef, Peking duck, and totally craveable shrimp spring rolls) at Chinese hot spot Philippe.
Somewhere in there I got a nasty case of bronchitis which cut my cooking down to zero, other than scraping together a quick soup here and there. I'm coming back on line, however, slowly but surely. I made my first pot of New England clam chowder of the season a couple of nights ago, my goodness it tasted good. I make the Cooks' Illustrated version which is brothier and lighter than the typical, and more delicious (I think), I recommend it highly. I also bought a couple of hundred pounds (literally) of high quality beef from my stepmom's nephew Jay Taylor (thank you to my dad for driving it from Montana to Minnesota) and we've enjoyed tenderloin steaks already. And oh, John and I are hosting an open house for his partners on the 20th, part of which I'm having catered, but part of which I'll prepare myself. Stay tuned for menu ideas and recipes as I get my, um, stuff together.
And oh again! I'm not one for much holiday baking, but I am toying with the idea of trying the Star Tribune's 2009 cookie contest winner, Almond Triangles (photo at left by Tom Wallace for the Star Tribune) which I've heard several raves about already. They look decidedly un-moderate yet delicious and best of all, easy - yes! Perhaps for the open house. I'm also getting pressured by Nathan to bake cutout sugar cookies this year - most years he can take 'em or leave 'em (peanut butter kisses are his thankfully easy fave), but when he makes the request...I'm happy to step up. The trick is finding the time to actually prepare them, hmmm, perhaps Sunday afternoon. If we end up with anything interesting, I'll post some pics.
If you're looking for a great holiday gift idea, check out James Beard Award-winning, Minnesota Monthly food columnist/editor Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl's new book, Drink This: Wine Made Simple. If you don't read her column, and Dear Dara blog, you should because not only is she smart and hilarious, she knows food and wine, big time. She was on MPR last week with Rick Nelson (Star Tribune), hosted by Kerri Miller, respresenting an hour of laughs and info generated by three of the smartest, coolest people in Minnesota. Good stuff.
For now, the tree is up, my shopping is more than half done, and I'm feeling unusually on top of things (BIG knock on wood). Which is good, since Puppy Louis needs some extra TLC for a few days - he was neutered yesterday and is stuck wearing the cone of shame for the next week, poor little guy. Hope your holiday plans are falling into place better than Louis'... Good luck stealing some peace (and moderation!) amidst the cooking and baking and wrapping and partying and the general running around like crazy that happens to us all at this time of year. Stay warm!
I’m Stephanie Meyer. If you're looking for fresh, delicious food to share with those you love - welcome! In addition to the recipes you'll find here, I post Tuesday recipes at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly magazine with a focus on local, seasonal ingredients. I also cook and take photos for Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures/Food & Wine magazine, post gluten-free recipes at Stuffed Pepper, cook with food photographer Susan Powers for Shooting the Kitchen, and organize the Minnesota Food Bloggers. Let’s eat!
