Drinking some merlot while my brownies bake in the oven.
This merlot is particularly mild and delicious.
Xoxo
-h
Category Archives: Food
Salmon Mousse
This is part of the very late Thanksgiving recipes… but I promise the recipes that I will post over the next few hours/days will be well worth the wait.
One of the appetizers I set out was spinach and artichoke dip… I wrote the recipe on the site a while back. The second was something NEW. I had never made Salmon Mousse before, but when I saw the recipe while flipping through my cookbooks, I knew I had to try it.
I’ve always enjoyed anything salmon, but recently I have been having a bit of a love affair with smoked salmon. Smoked sockeye salmon to be exact. I had 16oz of some beautifully smoked sockeye and whipped up this mousse.
My recipe suggested serving this piped onto cucumber circles with a bit of bread… but I decided to keep to the “dip” theme and left this mousse piled prettily into a dish for dipping purposes.
Anyway…. on to the mousse
Salmon Mousse (adapted very lightly from Williams-Sonoma’s Festive Entertaining)
- 14 oz smoked salmon (I used sockeye), roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup of Greek Yogurt (full fat)
- 1/2 a teaspoon of cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoons of good quality olive oil
- 1 lemon, juiced and zested
- In a food processor – combine all the ingredients. Zest the whole lemon into the processor and 2 tablespoons of the juice. Blend until smooth
- Cover and chill until ready to serve.
Simple. Delicious!
uh oh
I think I just made the most unappetizing cookies yet….
A bitter bite
What does one do with these?? I bought them out of curiosity and they are bitter and rather unpleasant. Ideas?!
Turkey Turkey
Everyone always tells me that the turkey is the most difficult part of pulling off Thanksgiving… and I was never really sure because my father has always handled the turkey. Did I ever tell you about my dad? He’s my very own super hero. Anyway ~ each year I help with the turkey in some small way… whether it is insisting on adding lemon to it, or sprinkling it with oregano, or whatever. This year however, I did the whole thing on my own.
I had a little help. My older sister brought be a free range, cleanly raised birdie. I will tell you it is not like those flaccid Butterballs with the loose skin and creepishly uniformly white plucked skin. This birdie was well raised. Firm, and fresh. I can’t describe it, but the minute I pulled it from its plastic bag, I knew it was going to be good.
I read someplace that a little lemon in the cavity helps keep the bird from smelling to gamey and a little water in the pan helps move the bird along to roast more quickly and end up more succulent. I also read quite a bit about beer cans, deep fryers, and weird combinations but I set those ideas aside.
After rinsing my bird in very cold water, I patted it dry. I also looked it over and removed any pin feathers and extra skin. Then, I sliced two little holes by the thighs and tucked the wing-tips in to prevent burning. With my fingers, I generously spread 8 tablespoons of high quality butter over every surface of the bird. Using an aggressive 3 finger pinch of good salt, generously salted the inside and outside of the bird. I stuffed two spray-free lemons cut in half inside of the cavity. I also sprinkled a good amount of oregano over the bird and tucked a few sprigs of herbs between the lemons.
I roasted (baked?) my turkey in the oven on a roasting pan at 325 degrees F for 3 hours and 30 minutes. I periodically checked on the bird and poured water into the basin of the roasting pan when it started to get too dry. I had a 14 pound bird. I would have said that I could have done about 3 hours and 15 minutes, as the breast of my bird was a bit dry.
Simple and easy. After carving, I broke down the carcass and made turkey stock. Unfortunately I was harebrained and left it on the stove top one day too long and it went bad… however if I was as diligent as I should have been I would have added some carrots and celery and reduced the stock by half before freezing for another use.
I think with good quality ingredients, simple preparation is the best way to enjoy the food. This turkey was by far the most delicious I’ve had… maybe enhanced a bit because I did it!
How did you guys make your turkeys?
The Shakedown
I know most people post their Thanksgiving recipes BEFORE the day… but I am posting after. Mostly because I will make a list of things I want to make, and then tweak, change, and edit as I go.
This year, I wanted to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen on Thanksgiving day so I could enjoy time with my family, so I started cooking on Tuesday. I chose dishes that would be easily baked and pre-assembled before Thanksgiving and still reheat beautifully. For vegetable dishes, I pre-blanched all of the vegetables so they would have to spend less time in the oven. I realize it is quite time consuming, but for a less stressful Thanksgiving day… this is absolutely the way to go. Each year I revise my approach to Thanksgiving… and I get a bit more organized each year. This year was quite well organized, and with my awesome parents and older sister clean up was quick.
My menu? (Dessert was provided by my wonderful guests)
Appetizers
- Spinach and Artichoke Dip
- Salmon Mousse
Mains
- Oregano and Thyme Roasted Turkey
- Potatoes Gratin
- Honey Roasted Root Vegetables
- Soy and Garlic Green Beens
- Parmesan Brussel Sprouts
- Orange Sweet Potatoes and Coconut
- Roasted Corn
- Apple Fig Wheatberry Salad
- Spinach Salad with Balsamic Vinegar Glaze and Pomegranate Arils
- Pumpkin Stuffed Mushrooms
- Apple Cider Spiced Cranberry Sauce
- Giblet and Caramelized Onion Gravy
I’ll post the recipes in a series of separate posts since my menu was pretty long. However, I will give you details on how I went about arranging my pre-Thanksgiving Day cooking.
Sunday – I chose my menu. I went through and selected dishes that would be easy to preassemble and in some cases prebake. I also selected an even distribution of dishes. Ones that would be heated on the stove and others than would be in the oven. My parents only have a single oven, so everything that needed to be heated or cooked in the oven would have to be amiable to a 325F oven, or be able to be heated last minute while the turkey rested. I wrote a list of every single ingredient that would be needed
Monday – I checked the baking dishes and pans… I made sure that I had enough bakeware and other tools to pull of the dinner. I also ran through my list of ingredients and checked off the ones that I already had at home.
Tuesday – I shopped and purchased all of the food that I would need for dinner. I also was mindful to include a couple extra things to throw together breakfast and lunch on Thanksgiving day. I also washed and trimmed all of the vegetables for my dishes. In the case of the brussel sprouts, I preblanched them, sealed the sprouts in a bag and packed them away for Thursday. I also made the components for the wheatberry salad, allowing the fruit and berries to meld together.
Wednesday – I started putting together all of the oven dishes. I baked them late at night, let them cool and refrigerated them.
Thursday – I put everything together. I put the turkey in the oven. And ate a ton!!
🙂
Recipes to follow over the next few days!
xoxo
-H
Getting ready!
Hello Pumpkin!
I noticed, scrolled through, that I’ve been posting a lot about my feelings. Surprising considering I’m normally taciturn when it comes to those gooey feeling things. Anyway. I got my brooding ass out of bed this morning and went to a new market to purchase things to make.
I read recipes for a couple hours every single day… I’m not kidding. I read blogs with all sorts of kinds of food, and then I read some articles, and sometimes I’ll pull out my giant pile of cookbooks and read those. I read about food a lot. And not even how to make food… but about the food itself. How is it grown? Where? What makes it taste like that? Anything… I read it.
Anyway, I was reading Eggs on Sunday this morning (do you know her? She’s awesome. She lives in Ithaca and makes all sorts of delicious things… you should read her) when I was reading her recipe for biscuits… with squash. They are orange. And fluffy. And… I needed to make them. I made a few tweaks… like I added more yogurt and I used pumpkin instead of squash. I also baked mine just a tad bit longer… and I also scaled back on some of the leavening ingredients because I always find them a bit metallic tasting.
The point is, I ate 4 of these slathered with artisanal butter (from France and the name escapes me) and some really good apricot jam. I imagine these biscuits would be good savory with a bit of cracked pepper, cheese, and rosemary added in. I also imagine them delightful in a sweeter context with a cheesecake swirl in between layers with caramel drizzled over them. And… of course these biscuits are just perfect simply so with butter.
I will consider adding these in a checkered napkin basket for my Thanksgiving table… I’m almost positive they will make the cut.
Pumpkin Biscuits (original inspiration here)
- 2 cups of all purpose flour
- 1 scant teaspoon of salt
- 1 scant tablespoon of baking powder (you know, I hate the word “scant”… seriously wtf is that supposed to mean? Anyway, this is how I do it. I measure the normal amount and then level with a curved spoon edge instead of a knife.)
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 4 tablespoons of butter, frozen
- 1 cup of pureed pumpkin (I got mine in a can)
- 1/4 cup of greek yogurt
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
- In a bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients
- Using a grater with medium sized holes (your microplane will NOT work for this), grate the frozen butter into the dry ingredients. (Now here are my nitpicking suggestions for grating butter… first dip the butter into the dry mixture to coat, this will help the butter grate smoothly and not clump. It also prevents it from sticking to your hands.)
- Once the butter is grated, break up large clumps with your fingers until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the pumpkin puree and yogurt at once. Using a circular motion, incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until a cohesive ball of dough forms. It should be just a bit sticky.
- Pat the dough onto a floured surface and stamp into biscuits. (I hate the texture of twice rolled biscuits so I just pat mine into a rectangle-ish shape and cut into semi-equal pieces)
- Bake at 450 F for 10 minutes. I like my biscuits to have a certain crunch on the outside so I bake just a bit longer.
Once Upon a Time
When I was a kid, I remember my mother telling me with no uncertainty that I would never be the same as my friends. She told me firmly that all the sadness I felt was nothing, because I was going to do something amazing with my life. At the time I was angry with her for telling me I had to suffer the indignity of being a nerd and “not cool,” but now whenever I feel at odds with my peers, I feel oddly comforted that my path has always been destined to be different.
I’ve found it difficult to not be angry these past few weeks, but I am putting shoes on my feet and moving forward. I was always good at focusing and moving forward as a kid, and I’ve vowed not to lose sight of the things that are important. Moving forward. Making a difference. Being happy.
So. I wrote up my Thanksgiving Menu. I do this every year. I write a list of things. I usually only serve one or two things different from the year before so the menu has a thread of continuity from year to year. This is my list for this year (recipes to follow tomorrow or the day after)
- Turkey – thyme, butter, lemon
- Stuffed Mushrooms
- Twice baked sweet potatoes
- Garlic Tri-Color Mashed potatoes
- Arugula, Endive and Grapefruit Salad
- Maple glazed carrots
- Garlic and Soy green beans
- Pumpkin pie with bourbon whipped cream
What are your plans for Thanksgiving??
Pom!!!!
I bought these beautiful pomegranates today and spent about two hours peeling and slurping! I ended up with four quarts of pomegranate. I’m excited to dig in during the week!!
Kaprise! 