Day 33, Thankful, Quarantine Kitchen

When I was a kid, this picture by Normal Rockwell graced the Saturday Evening Post magazine.  I looked at it, and thought, wouldn't it be nice to have a dinner where everyone was happy, smiling, and not stressed out.  Years later, my most requested recipes have been for a Do-Ahead Thanksgiving dinner that I have taught all over the country to thousands of students.  I love hearing from students that their children are now making the dinner, and they couldn't imagine Thanksgiving without cranberry chutney or Gulliver's corn.
So, on day 33, I decided it was time to have Thanksgiving dinner; truth be told a local supermarket had some turkeys in the meat case for Easter, and I decided to take one home--fresh turkeys have about a 10-day refrigerator shelf life, so I wasn't sure when we would eat this little 10-pound guy. 
It's possible to make a Thanksgiving dinner on a weeknight and it softened for a few hours the sad national death statistics, and the horrific stories of families not being with their loved ones. 
Who can you be sad with the prospect of turkey, gravy, dressing, gravy, and veg?  The meal just makes you smile, and you remember Thanksgivings past.  There is something about this meal that comforts and soothes.  Our son and his girlfriend have been eating with us, basically, it's easier to cook for 4 people and send them home with leftovers.  And, I'm just thankful that people are trying to obey guidelines, and we are still well and safe.  So, here's our dinner with a few recipes, all simple, and do-ahead.  By the way, 4 people demolished this little guy--next time I'll go for the 14 pounder.

Gulliver's Corn

Serves 6 to 8

Gulliver's was a California restaurant chain that was famous for prime rib dinners, but the prize was their side dishes, fluffy mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, and this amazing corn. It belies the sum of its parts and is gone in a flash.

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese        

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Two 16-ounce bags frozen white corn, defrosted, or kernels cut from 8 ears of sweet corn

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1.      Brush a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with some of the butter.  Sprinkle 1/3 cup of the Parmesan over the bottom of the dish and tilt so the cheese is evenly distributed and adheres to the butter.  (or if you would like, you can use 4-ounce ramekins for individual servings)

2.      In a 4-quart saucepan, heat the cream until it begins to boil.  Add the corn, salt, and sugar, and heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture is almost at a boil   

3.      In the meantime, make a paste out of the remaining melted butter and the flour. Stir it into the mixture in the saucepan and cook until thickened and the liquid does come to a boil.  Remove the pan from the heat, transfer the mixture to the prepared dish, and sprinkle with the remaining 1/3 cup of cheese.

4.      Do-Ahead: At this point, you can let cool, cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 1 month. Bring to room temperature before continuing.

5.      Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the corn dish until bubbling and golden brown, about 30 minutes.  (Individual ramekins will take about 15 to 20 minutes)

Lower Fat Option: If you would prefer to skip the cream, try whole milk; it’s not as luxurious, but it does the job.  

Old Fashioned Dressing

Stuffs a 14 pound turkey, or makes one 13-by-9-inch baking dish

Dressing is cooked outside the bird, stuffing is cooked inside the bird.  This a basic recipe, and the one from my childhood.  This is the most parochial of the sides at Thanksgiving; everyone's mom makes the best.  Feel free to make your fave.  Use your favorite structures white bread, and toast it in the oven.    

1 cup butter

2 cups chopped celery

2 cups chopped onion

1 tablespoon finely chopped sage (or 1 teaspoon dried)

1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried)

12 cups stale dry bread cubes

1-2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken broth

1 large egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and coat the inside of a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Cook the celery, onion, sage, and thyme in the butter over low heat and stir until the onions are translucent. Season with salt and pepper Place the bread cubes in a mixing bowl, add the celery mixture, and pour some broth over the dressing ingredients, making sure that the broth is absorbed by the bread.  Add the egg, stir to blend.  Transfer to the prepared baking dish and at this point, you can cool, cover and refrigerate the stuffing for up to 24 hours.  When ready to bake, remove the casserole from the oven for 45 minutes before baking to bring to room temperature.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, basting with turkey drippings halfway through the cooking time.  

Cook's note:  If you are serving a crowd, stuff the dressing into greased loaf pans and bake as directed.  Turn the stuffing out of the loaf pans, and let rest for 5 minutes.  Cut the stuffing with a serrated knife that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray and arrange the slices on a platter.

I stuff the bird with the dressing/stuffing; that's what I grew up with and it's what we do here.  Make sure the dressing/stuffing reaches 170 on an instant-read meat thermometer, and remove all the stuffing from the bird immediately.

Roasted Asparagus

Serves 4

1 pound asparagus, tough stems removed

1/4 to 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, silicone or parchment.  

Put the asparagus onto the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper, rolling the asparagus in the oil to coat.  

Roast for 5 minutes, until crisp/tender.  Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.  

This was my plate; I love dark meat, and I made some haricot verte to go with our dinner. If you looking for great do-ahead recipes Perfect Party Food and Happy Holidays will help you out. As we go into this next week, I wish you peace; stay well and stay safe.                                                                                                     

                                     

Countdown to Thanksgiving

If you haven’t already thought about Thanksgiving, it’s time; we have 2 weeks until the big day, and if you aren’t prepared, it’s time to get your lists out and check them twice. 

Thanksgiving is the holiday that most people stress over; there is family anxiety and there is food anxiety.  The food anxiety can disappear if you follow a few easy guidelines, and (hopefully) read my books on how to make the Do-Ahead Thanksgiving Dinner.  Here’s a list of tips to get you started:

• Get your knives sharpened now; I’ve never cut myself with anything but a dull knife, and during Thanksgiving week, no one will have time to sharpen them for you. 
• Order your turkey now; figure ¾ pound per person if you want some leftovers, or 1 pound per person if you want to send people home with doggie bags.  Fresh turkeys taste so much better—some of the frozen turkeys may be the ones that were fresh last year.

• Make up your shopping list now

•  Divide the shopping list into parts:  Non-perishables---include paper towels, and trash bags if needed.  This would be all the items that are shelf stable and can be stored, as well as alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. You can shop for these now---better to get this out of the way.
• Perishables:  fresh fruits and vegetables --- shop for these 2 to 3 days ahead of the holiday
• Dairy products and frozen foods:  butter, cream, milk, sour cream, ice cream, frozen veg etc. can all be purchased now, they have long shelf lives in the fridge/freezer.
• If you are ordering rolls, pick these up the day before
• Give yourself permission to have someone else do the work; if you have a great bakery, have them make the pies, rolls or desserts.  Veggie trays take 2 to 3 hours for preparing all the veg---go to your warehouse store, buy the veggie tray and make your own dip—no one will ever know!
• Set your table a few days ahead of time, making sure all your serving dishes will fitJ; cover the table with a sheet, and that will keep the kids/animals and dust off the table.
• If you are having more than 8 people at the table, set up a buffet for serving, then direct people to the table for seating.

• To stave off hunger, serve a self-serve soup from your slow cooker, set on warm; guests can help themselves if the smells from the kitchen are making them hungry.
•  If you can only make two things ahead, make the gravy and mashed potatoes, they are the last minute things that make cooks nutty with the gravy ending up lumpy and the potatoes watery. 

·         These are the top 12 pieces of equipment to pull off the perfect thanksgiving dinner:

o   Heavy Duty Roasting Pan (All-Clad and Mauviel are tops here)

o   Cuisipro roasting rack with removable pin

o   Sauce whisk

o   3-quart saucier for gravy (All-Clad wins here)

o   Emile Henry or Le Creuset oven to tableware

o   Silicone food loops

o   Carving knife ( I prefer one with granton/hollow ground)

o   Silicone basting brush

o   More Than Gourmet©  Turkey Stock Base (reconstitute for gravy)or Superior Touch Better than Bouillon Turkey soup Base

o   Oxo Peeler

o   Meat thermometer (either Taylor/Polder probe, or instant read---I have both )

o   Fat separator (Oxo wins here)

Students always ask what brand of knife I recommend; any high end retail store will carry a selection of good quality knives:  Wusthof, Shun, Messermeister,  and Global are all great brands and it will come down to what feels right in your hand.  If the knife feels too heavy you will never use it, if it feels too light, it will wobble in your hand, and you won’t feel comfortable with it---make sure to test drive the knives (any reputable kitchen store will let you hold the knives, and feel which is right for you)  If you have read this blog, you know where I teach, and the staff at each of these places will take good care of you, making sure that you find the right knife to fit you. 

And promise me you will never carve the turkey at the table!  It's a recipe for disaster! 

I’m on my way home after 3 weeks of teaching pressure cooker classes, and will have more to say on this subject with some new recipes in the coming days.  I hope you have a great day---now get out that list!

Queen of Gadgets

I love gadgets! Anything that will make my job easier, either in the kitchen, on the road, or at the computer, I'm all over it. 

 With kitchen gadgets, my criteria is that they should be able to do more than one thing, otherwise, they are just another item you've bought on a whim.  Sometimes you don't know if something is capable of doing more than one thing, because you haven't gone beyond it's name and thought of other ways to use it. 
With Thanksgiving coming up, you will need all the help you can get, and with that in mind here are a few gadgets that will help to make some of the laborious jobs this holiday season a bit easier. 

Sauce Whisk:  Lumpy gravy will be a thing of the past; a sauce whisk is narrow and will get into the bottom of saucepans and roasting pans, picking up the caramelized bits on the bottom.  Sauce whisks are great for stirring together a salad dressing, cooking puddings and aerating dry ingredients before mixing.  
I love the rainbow whisks; they are coated in silicone (your new best friend) which is heat tempered to 800 degrees, and is dishwasher safe.  

Saucier--a rounded bottom sauce pan for reducing sauces, making gravies, and other sauces. Although you might not thing this is a gadget, I think it's essential for making delicious sauces.  

Silicone bands:   These babies are for trussing your turkey, tying roasts, and any other roasting or tying jobs that you would need to do.  The best news is you don't have to deal with tangled butchers' twine anymore, the bands are dishwasher safe and reusable.  

Microplane:  A zester, grater and all around great tool; use this to grate citrus zest, small amounts of cheese, fresh nutmeg and cinnamon, and fresh ginger.  Best news, it's dishwasher safe.

Silicone brushes:  No more bristles that attract flavors and stain from seasoned bastes, and barbecue sauces.  These brushes are gentle enough for brushing phyllo dough, and tough enough to withstand the heat from the barbecue.  I love to use them to brush butter on biscuits, or over apples for a tart.  

  Silicone high heat spoon:  I have gotten rid of all my wooden spoons because they tend to absorb flavors and odors.  These silicone high heat spoons are dishwasher safe, and heat tempered to 800 degrees.  They come in a variety of colors, and do the job. 

 

 Silicone spatulas:  In the same vein as the silicone spoon, these high heat spatulas are terrific for any job.  The spatulas come in a rainbow of colors, and sizes.  

 

Meat Thermometer: The only way to tell if your meat is done is by the internal temperature of the meat.  There are lots of choices out there, but you need to decide if you want to spend $10 for an instant read or over $20 for a probe with a digital read-out that sits on the counter.  Some of the probe types have a digital read out that reads the temperature of your oven, the meat, and will buzz or ring when the correct internal temperature is reached.  I look at this one as the complete no-brainer--the fact that it will read the temperature of your oven will save you a $150+ service call to have your oven calibrated.  

Cuisipro Roasting Rack:  This item doesn't fit my two uses criteria, but it's so genius I had to include it.  Put your turkey on the rack, transfer it to your roasting pan.  Then when the turkey is done, lift the rack onto your cutting board or serving platter, remove the pin that goes down the center, and the rack falls away, and your turkey hasn't been punctured by huge forks, or other implements.  Love this thing--even take it to Maui to use when we cook in the condo!

Dial-A-Slice apple slicer:  This beauty cuts and cores apples, and pears into 8 or 16 slices.  8 slices are prefect for sauteing apples, and 16 are perfect for pie making.  This will take the drudgery out of all that chopping.  

 
Alligator chopper:  Although nothing beats your knife to slice and dice, this little beauty will finely chop everything your need for your Thanksgiving dinner.  If you are a novice, I highly recommend it. 

  Oxo Peeler:  If you still have that rusty peeler that you got when you moved into your apartment, it's time to invest in something new.  Great for peeling everything, but you can also make chocolate curls, and nice curls of Parmigiano Reggiano.  This peeler will peel everything from apples, potatoes, to peaches and tomatoes.  
 
Oxo fat separator:   A terrific tool for separating fat from drippings; think turkey and prime rib, it strains out any solids that are in the roasting pan.  It can also be used as a measuring cup and is microwave safe.  


  


Strawberry Slicer:  OK, I know strawberries won't be in season in November, but this little tool is great for slicing mushrooms, and if you cook my Do-Ahead Thanksgiving dinner you will want to have this little gadget; it slices strawberries, mushrooms, and eggs and goes into the dishwasher, nothing better!




In a future post, I'll tell you about all the equipment that I think is necessary to furnish your kitchen properly.  For now, remember to get your carving knife and your prep knives sharpened this week, since no one will want to help you the week of Thanksgiving. Have a great Monday night!