thanksgiving, parts III and IV

I really just don't want thanksgiving to end. It's like autumn Passover for me, except you can eat anything you want. I didn't make any desserts for our actually thanksgiving meal, but have been doing the pumpkin thing since. If i was a real foodie, I'd have gone out and bought a bunch of expensive sugar pumpkins, and roasted and pureed them myself. apparently i'm not a good foodie, since i buy canned pumpkin. it's good and available. and it's time for dessert.

a few months ago a friend brought this to a potluck, where I begged and pleaded for the recipe. Yes, it's that good. and easier than it looks to make. I lowered the sugar a little from her original recipe, and upped some of the spices.

N's Pumpkin Apple Bread
makes 2 loaves

3 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1 can pumpkin puree (about 16 oz)
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs, lightly beated
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large baking apple (such as gala or granny smith), peeled, cored and diced

cinnamon sugar topping
4 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter, room temp
2 tsp cinnamon

for the topping combine all ingredients with a fork to form a crumbly mixture. set aside.

preheat oven to 350. grease and lightly flour two 9x5 loaf pans. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and allspice. In another large bowl, mix the pumpkin, sugar, eggs and oil. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and blend well, then fold in the apples. The batter should be very wet. Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans, and smooth the tops flat. sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture on top. bake at 350 for about an hour. when a knife or toothpick comes out clean, it's done. let cook in pans for about 15 minutes, then finish cooling them on wire racks.


We've been using the Joy of Cooking Pumpking Pie recipe for years, and I was never quite happy with it. the custard never seemed to firm up quite right, and it was just too much pumpkin puree to not enough flour and egg binder. Martha Stewart dot com to the rescue! Again, i upped her quantities of spices, and used my brand new, totally awesome ceramic pie weights for the best crust ever.


Better Pumpkin Pie
Makes One Pie

one pie crust fitted to a 9" pie plate
2 large eggs
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cardamom
1 can pumpkin (15-16 oz)
1 cup half and half

form crust to pie plate, and refridgerate for about an hour. preheat oven to 350. Line pie crust with wax paper or foil, and gently fill with pie weights or beans. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350. Remove crust from oven, and carefully remove lining and pie weights.

in a large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt spices, and pumpkin. when well blended, add half and half, and mix again. pour into warm pie crust, and bake till set, about 1 hour. Cool on wire rack at room temperature, and do not refridgerate until fully cooled.

this recipe is simpler, faster, and better than the joy of cooking. Joy of Cooking, you make me sad!


Been getting a LOT of reading done lately, but I'll torture you with that another time.

thanksgiving after action report, part I: The Turkey

i love thanksgiving. I get to hang out in my happy kitchen and play with food, all day long. I'm sure plenty of people would see that as drudgery, boring, dumb, waste of time, etc, but I see it as therapy.

What I'm so proud of this year is that a)nearly everything I cooked was a new recipe for me, and b)dude, I pulled a raw turkey apart! my late grandfather the butcher would be proud.

the menu:
Bacon wrapped Turkey roulade with figs, cranberries, feta and apricots, adapted from Bitchincamero
Barbara Kingsolver's Corn Pudding
Scalloped Potatoes
Zucchini sauteed with greenbeans
Stuffing

as there were only two of us, this was plenty of food.

Can I please tell you about my raw turkey adventures? How i wish i had photos, because this was totally cool, and totally gross. Ok, so the recipe called for a butterflied turkey breast. I had a whole turkey breast, with breast bone, ribs, and all (no wings or legs). where in my little kitchen was I going to rip this thing apart? a ha! in the sink! nice and big, and easy to clean.

First, the skin came off. pretty easy, actually. while flipping the bird over, I heard a few audible crunches. that would be the itty bitty ribs. ick. back to the top of the bird. There were some breaks in the breast meat, and slipping my fingertips in there, the top layer came clean away on a seam, (breast meat, slipping my fingertips in? sounds dirty) leaving the tenderloins underneath and still attached to the breastbone. keep in mind, i haven't even touched the knife yet. this is all finger tearing. so I've got the rib cage with tenderloins still attached, and big hunks of breastmeat attached at one seam, almost looking like overly heavy wings. ripping gently with the knife (finally!), the breast meat came away from the breastbone/rib area. breasts in hand (still sounds dirty), the carcass went into the freezer for future soup making use.

while "debreasting" the poor tasty bird, i'd seperated the tenderloin from the breast, so not so much butterflying was going to be happening (it should really be attached if you're going to butterfly), so I just pounded the things between some saran wrap a few times. now it's time to make it pretty!

Bacon Wrapped Turkey Roulade (adapted from Bitchincamero.

two turkey breasts, pounded, weighing about 2 lbs each. (If you can get one giant one, that's even better, but i had two smallish ones)
6 cups water mixed with 1/4 cup salt

Brine the turkey in the salt water for about an hour. while it's brining, do the next steps:
Into a skillet over medium heat, add
2-3 tbsp butter.
when melted, add
1 onion, sliced finely
2 shallots, sliced finely
Let carmelize for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. you want them to get brown. if they start to stick/burn, add more oil, or lower the temp. when carmelized, add
2-3 tbsp water
3/4 cups chopped dried figs (found in the baking area of the grocery store)
stirring often, carmelize figs for another 10 minutes. Everything will get brown and sticky. This is good.

remove turkey from brine, discard brine, rinse turkey, then wrap in paper towels to absorb remaining water.

preheat the oven to 325. have ready:
greased foil lined rimmed cookie sheet
unrimmed cookie sheet
butcher's twine, cut into 8 peices, each about 8-10 inches long (trust me, don't skip this step!)
salt & pepper
your carmelized onion/fig mixture in a bowl
20 slices bacon (I used turkey bacon, but pork bacon would probably work better)
6-8oz feta cheese
about a 1/2 cup cranberries (I used frozen, worked great)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup apricot jam

on the unrimmed cookie sheet, lie down for pieces of butchers twine. put 8 slices of bacon on top, going the same direction. the bacon slices should over lap slightly. put one turkey breast on top of the bacon, crosswise (you want the bacon to wrap around the breast when you roll it up), and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle, but don't skimp. put half the onion mixture evenly on the breast. now put some cranberries, feta, and pecans down. with the help of a friend, roll the breast over the filling, and pulling the bacon around. use two more slices of bacon to cover the gap over the crease. tie with butchers twine, stuff in any stuffing that fell out. Put stuffed breast on the foiled greased rimmed cookie sheet, seam side down. slather half the apricot jam over the bacon.

now do the same with the other breast. this is the messiest thing i've done in a long time. It was even messier than ripping the turkey apart in the sink.

Once your breasts are prepared, and well slathered in apricot jam (damn, that sounds dirty!) pop into the oven for one and a half hours. remove from oven, and let sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting twine off and slicing.

I would absolutely make this again. the one mistake that I made was neglecting to line my rimmed baking sheet with tin foil. any jam that dripped off the turkey burnt to the pan, and i had to soak the thing 3 times to get the burntness off. next time, I will use foil!!!

gobble gobble, continued.

we just finished our last bits of leftovers. so i suppose i can give you my top secret thanksgiving recipes.

turkey with orange and garlic

you need:
a roasting turkey of any size, it must still have it's skin!
1 orange
a few cloves of garlic, sliced very thin. the bigger your turkey, the more garlic you will want.
salt & pepper
olive oil
herbs de provence

mix olive oil, salt & pepper and herbs in a small bowl. cut the orange in half. thinly slice one half, and cut the other into wedges. roll back the skin of the turkey, and brush the flesh with half of your olive oil mixture. lay orange and garlic slices on the flesh, and roll the skin back on top of all that. brush the rest of the olive oil on top of the skin, and stuff with oranges, and fresh herbs, if you have them. follow normal turkey cooking directions.


sweet potatoes and apples
this is my husbands recipe, and i hope i got it right!

3 or 4 baking apples - gala, fuji, golden delicious
1 large, and 1 small can of sweet potatoes in water
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp cinnamon
3 tbsp brown sugar


slice the apples into 1/4" thick slices. cut large chunks of sweet potatoes in half. preheat oven to 350, and use a deep, oven safe bowl (we have a glass bowl that is perfect for this!). the bottom layer should be sweet potatoes, then do a layer of apple slices. then dot with butter, and sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. keep making layers of sweet potatoes, apples, butter, cinnamon/sugar until you run out of ingredietns, or reach the top of the bowl. depending on your bowl or baking dish, you may need more or less butter, cinnamon, or brown sugar. cover with tin foil, and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until apples are tender.


garlic roasted potatoes

3 lbs new potatoes, scrubbed and wedged
olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper
1 tbp rosemary
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 chopped fresh parsley

preheat oven to 375. put potatoes and olive oil in a zip-lock bag, and shake to cover the potatoes with oil. put the potato wedges in a single layer on a greased baking dish, and bake for 25 minutes. while they are cooking, put some oil in a sauce pan, and sautee the garlic. as soon as the garlic starts to burn, remove from the heat. when garlic has cooled, add rosemary, lemon juice, salt and pepper and parsley. if the mixture seems to dry, add a little more olive oil. before serving, toss potatoes and garlic mixture in a big bowl. it's yummy.


snow peas sauteed with red onion, tomatoes and mint

1/3 cup olive oil
1 to 2 lbs snow peas
half a red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 cup water
salt & pepper
3 tbsp mint
pinch of sugar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar

in a large soup pot, heat the oil, then saute the onions, stirring occasionally. after a few minutes, add the garlic. then stir in the snow peas. stir in the sun dried and fresh tomatoes, and water, and bring mixture to a boil. season with some salt and pepper. cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. add mint and sugar, cook for one minute. then add vinegar.


stuffing . . . .

i cheated. i used stovetop. doctored it with sauteed celery and mushrooms. it was awesome. i think i'll make more tonight.

gobble gobble!

the turkey has just gone in the oven, and soon it will be time to start chopping potatoes, apples, garlic, onion, etc. this is our first annual pajama thanksgiving, as in we aren't going anywhere, aren't having anyone over, and are still in our pajamas. it's been a busy few months, so it's actually really nice to do nothing for thanksgiving, for once! i recommend it to anyone who feels they've been social enough lately, damnit!

on the menu this evening:

turkey with orange and garlic (i loves me garlic!)
sweet potatoes and apples
garlic roasted potatoes (mmm! more garlic!
snow peas sauteed with red onion, tomatoes and mint
stuffing!

i'm all the about the stuffing. but too lazy to make it from scratch. i cheated, and bought stove top. but it's OK, since stove top won this Store Bought Stuffing Mix Showdown! and, how have i been online this long and not discovered Serious Eats? this place makes Alton Brown look like an idiot.

mmm, my hands still smell like garlic. i don't ever have to worry about vampires, that's for sure!