The 2009 Thanksgiving Roundup
November 27, 2009Thanksgiving Day procedures are at the bottom of this article, below the extra photos.
First Appetizer: Crab Bisque
Made from homemade fish-crustacean stock and fresh, live crabs.
Thanksgiving Preparations: Part III. Pumpkin Ice Cream Cake, Crab Bisque, Sauce for Oeufs, Et Cetera
November 25, 2009
With just several days left before Thanksgiving, the preparations intensified. Tuesday was our busiest day, with last minute grocery stops at Freshia, Whole Foods, the European Deluxe Sausage Kitchen in Beverly Hills, Ralphs, and Albertsons. I assembled an arsenal. By Wednesday night, my kitchen was stocked with cream of mushroom soup, cider vinaigrette, candied pecans, pumpkin ice cream cake, roasted chestnuts, pomegranate cranberry relish, a brown sauce for the oeufs, blanched green beans, turkey brine, and a fabulous crab bisque. Why, you ask? Why would I go through all the effort to prepare such a feast? I call it the artist’s mania. Maybe my food isn’t what you would call art (I don’t), but the same kind of passion applies; and what I love best is this: after the fur is finished flying, my husband and I can share our delight (and our criticisms) on the subject of a well thought out, carefully prepared meal.
Cream of Mushroom Soup
November 23, 2009
My usual procedure for developing a new recipe is something like this:
- Research
- Draft Recipe
- Experiment
- Reflection
- Revision, Revision, Revision
Thanksgiving Preparations: Part II. Smoked Ham Stock, Chocolate Bark Two Ways, and More
November 18, 2009
Week 2 is already finished, and my plans are on schedule. Among other culinary trips (see the new beef stroganoff and updates to cranberry orange bread), this week’s accomplishments include smoked ham-vegetable stock, peanut butter milk chocolate bark, candied orange zest, dark chocolate bark with said zest, potato rosemary rolls with roasted garlic, brown roux, and a test run on roasted chestnuts.
Beef Stroganoff: Part II
November 16, 2009
My previous article on beef stroganoff was outdated and in dire need of revision. So when Tyler sprung the "Thanksgiving surprise" and this week’s dinner plans were thrown into disarray, I reached for this ye old recipe and started hacking and slashing with my red correcting pen. I decided to stick with a slow cooker method (more commentary forthcoming on why I may not in the future). However, in this rendition, I incorporated rich semi-gelatinous white beef stock, dried and fresh mushrooms, blond roux, and freshly ground mustard seed.
Thanksgiving Preparations: Part I. Roux, Hearth Bread, and Other Goodies
November 14, 2009
Sweat was flowing down my back, and I was still catching my breath after running on the treadmill. My husband, returning to the gym room with the weekly grocery ads, turned to me and grumbled, "There’s no special on turkeys this year." "Huh?" was my articulate response. I looked and indeed, there was barely a nary a mention of the holiday bird. I shrugged and said, "So?" He eyed me somewhat blandly and said, "Thanksgiving is next week." I gaped at him. I stuttered. I vehemently denied. And then I realized I was speaking with the family’s resident encyclopedia of doom, and I thought, ‘He must be right.’
Hungarian Cabbage Rolls
November 10, 2009
Occasionally, my mother served us "pigs in a blanket" for dinner—and no, I’m not speaking of pastry wrapped hot dogs or sausages! In our household, "pigs in a blanket" always meant meat rolled in whole cabbage leaves and simmered in a tomato-based sauce. I can’t imagine where Mom picked up the reference, since the term (when referring to cabbage rolls) originates from Slavic-influenced regions like Pennsylvania.
Regardless of what they’re called, cabbage rolls exist across Europe, parts of Asia, and parts of the U.S. which are heavily influenced by Eastern European immigrants. There are many variations on the recipe depending on the region of origin. Sometimes cabbage rolls are cooked in tomato juice. In other recipes, you’ll see a sour cream sauce. Occasionally, people use pickled cabbage leaves to wrap the meat or add citric acid salt (sour salt). Cabbage rolls may even be distantly related to meat-stuffed versions of the dolma wrapped in grape leaves. In summary, this dish is a ubiquitous classic of rustic country-fare and (in my opinion) one of the ultimate comfort foods of Fall.
Brown Beef Stock
November 6, 2009
In a previous article, I delivered a fairly thorough overview of stocks and outlined a recipe for fish stock. I dislike repeating myself, but for the sake of clarity, let’s start with what we know (or should know). There are three basic types of stock: white, brown, and fumet. Fish stock belongs to the first category, and is thus fairly simple to make; there’s some chopping and a fairly short simmer time, but no extra work is involved. Brown stock, the subject of today’s article, requires a little more preparation and a lot more time. I won’t pretend to be an expert in this arena. I’m still working out the kinks in this recipe, and there are a few practical matters to address in the future. But if you’re looking for an inroads into the topic, read on.
Super Easy Chimichurri Steak Marinade
November 5, 2009
In the short lull between the end of October and mid November, I like to have a break from the kitchen to recoup. That means no eight hour kitchen days for at least one week. So I threw together a chimichurri in 10 minutes, marinaded thinly sliced steak overnight, and spent 15 minutes pulling together a plate of fried sweet onions and bell peppers, seared mushrooms with truffle oil, and steak finished on the cast iron griddle. Super easy.
There’s really no single recipe for chimichurri. It can be done with red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar, cilantro or no cilantro, lemon juice or lime juice, olive oil or vegetable oil, etc. Typically there are red pepper flakes, but even that can be substituted out for another spicy ingredient.
Cheesesteaks and Scali Rolls
October 29, 2009
My thoughts were drawn to my grandmother the other day. I never knew her very well beyond the self-interested childhood sphere of age eight, when she died quite unexpectedly just after her 50th anniversary. But there was one fact I could grip with stark clarity: she was the wife of a missionary. She married my grandfather fairly young and traveled with him extensively, going so far as to raise her own children in another country thousands of miles away from her friends (and possibly any family, not that I understood her to have any happy connections). It was baffling to me for many years. I was a progressive liberal and a budding feminist with a strong streak of individualism. What could possibly motivate a woman to up, marry, travel hell-knows-where at the whim of a man who is now practically the epitome of far-right religious Midwest values, and then have three children? And how could this person possibly be related to me? It seemed impossible that we shared the same genes.