Two Happy Bellies

Thanksgiving in M'boro 2009 -- Pt. 4

What is Thanksgiving without dessert? We had no pumpkin or sweet potato anywhere in our Appetizers, Main Dish, or Sides, but we did have pumpkin in our desserts. Not pumpkin pie, I'm not a huge fan. I actually prefer pumpkin crunch, a recipe given to me by friend Elizabeth. This year it was extra-crunchy as the recipe calls for 2 sticks of butter which I used, forgetting I usually only use one. Oops. Um, we're thankful for butter?

4 eggs

16 oz. can of pumpkin

1 t. cinnamon

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 C. sugar

1 box yellow cake mix

2 sticks butter, melted (or one!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix eggs, pumpkin, cinnamon, milk, and sugar. Pour into a 9 by 13 inch pan. Sprinkle cake mix over the top of pumpkin mixture. Drizzle melted butter over all of it. Bake for 1 hour.

Also on the dessert front was bananas foster. Aaron makes this for family events guest Becky loves it so . . . he made it for us to enjoy. Flaming desserts are always fun, although difficult to take pictures of.

1/4 C. butter

1 C. brown sugar

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 C. banana liquer

4 bananas, cut in half lenghtwise, then halved

1/4 C. dark rum

4 scoops vanilla ice cream

Combine butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a skillet. Place the pan over low heat and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the banana liqueur, then place the bananas in the pan. When the banana sections soften and begin to brown, carefully add the rum. Continue to cook the sauce until the rum is hot, then tip the pan slightly to ignite the rum. When the flames subside, lift the bananas out of the pan and place four pieces over each scoop of ice cream. Generously spoon warm sauce over the top and serve immediately.

Guest Becky also brought multiple dessert options. Did I mention we're thankful for dessert? She brought peanut butter cookies (yum!), chocolate cupcakes and carrot cake cupcakes (double yum!), and the makings for fruit and yogurt parfaits (triple yum!). I didn't take pictures of any of them, but we enjoyed all three.

Hope you enjoyed this tasty tour of our Thanksgiving table . . . what was on yours?

Thanksgiving in M'boro 2009 -- Pt. 3

It has become our tradition to cook Cornish Game hens for Thanksgiving instead of turkey.  Nothing against the fowl, it just worked out better the first year to cook a few hens instead of a great big bird and we really loved it.  I have also brined the hens for a day or so before.  Cooks Illustrated has a great narrative on how brining works and the basics that can easily be Googled.  

  

  

I stuck with using 2 gallons of water, 3 cups of salt, 3 cups of sugar and a good half hand full of whole pepper corns.  Osmosis is so cool. 

 

 

I also took the extra step to cut out the backs of the hens and removed the keel bone.  This was a new mad knife skill that I learned from watching a video online.  Look it up and it is easy to do.  The effect later on once the hens were finished cooking and had rested made them easy to split in half down the breast and made them beautiful on the plate. 

 

 

 

The gravy in this recipe also turns out quite nice. I saved and froze the backs and the keel bones for a future project of chicken stock.  Why let some good meat and bones go to waste?  I cannot compost them! Ha ha.

 

Cornish Game Hens with Garlic and Rosemary

Ingredients

4 Cornish game hens

salt and pepper to taste (skip the salt if hens have been brined)

1 lemon, quartered

4 sprigs fresh rosemary

3 tablespoons olive oil

24 cloves garlic

1/3 cup white wine

1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth

4 sprigs fresh rosemary, for garnish

Directions

   

 Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Rub hens with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Lightly season hens with salt and pepper. Place 1 lemon wedge and 1 sprig rosemary in cavity of each hen. Arrange in a large, heavy roasting pan, and arrange garlic cloves around hens. Roast in preheated oven for 25 minutes.   

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a mixing bowl, whisk together wine, chicken broth, and remaining 2 tablespoons of oil; pour over hens. Continue roasting about 25 minutes longer, or until hens are golden brown and juices run clear. Baste with pan juices every 10 minutes. 

Transfer hens to a platter, pouring any cavity juices into the roasting pan. Tent hens with aluminum foil to keep warm. Transfer pan juices and garlic cloves to a medium saucepan and boil until liquids reduce to a sauce consistency, about 6 minutes. Cut hens in half lengthwise and arrange on plates. Spoon sauce and garlic around hens. Garnish with rosemary sprigs, and serve.

 

We do hope you enjoyed reading about our hens. They were very tasty!

 

Thanksgiving in M'boro 2009 -- Pt. 2

There are many standard side dishes to go along with your Thanksgiving dinner. I would love to have some or even all of them. However with small groups that would be way too many leftovers. So we stay small and try to keep our sides to a minimum. This year we had green beans, chardonnay carrots, wild rice salad, sage & apple stuffing, and rolls courtesy of Sister Schubert. We could make our own bread and might do so down the road, but not in this kitchen so with the able assistance of S.S. we have our bread.

I will eat green bean casserole if someone else makes it. However I don't love it enough to make it myself, especially with all those calories in it. Especially when I am so very happy with my standard "great green beans" recipe. I found this recipe online ages ago and have been modifying and improving it for years. One nice thing is it can be made vegetarian if you wish. I don't bother unless I have vegetarians coming to dinner.

15 oz. green beans    

 1 t. beef bouillon granules

1 ½ t. Worcestershire sauce   

 ½ t. soy sauce

1 ½ t. butter  

 1 small pinch garlic pepper seasoning

Drain bean juice into pot and add bouillon, stirring to dissolve.  Add green beans, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, butter, garlic pepper, and enough water to cover beans.  Simmer gently for as long as you have, the longer the better tasting. Remove to serving bowl with liquid, use a slotted spoon to serve. Can be made in a crock pot and can be increased to serve whatever size group you wish.

I don't know how I'd accomplish all this cooking without Aaron's "mad knife skills". His prep work is amazing! I have reqeusted lessons in knife work for my birthday -- fingers are crossed. Anyway, because his knife work is better than mine, he does most of the prep work when we cook for company. I can chop an onion -- but it isn't pretty. When Aaron chops that onion or slices/dices that carrot or celery, it is a work of art (that I enjoy eating). This would be why our carrots are as pretty as they are. This one was a new recipe for us. I wanted to make sure we had orange on the table and while I love sweet potatoes, I thought they might overpower the hens so when we saw this recipe we decided to try it. One change we had to make was substituting Chardonnay and vinegar for the verjus as we couldn't find it locally and waited too long to order it.

 

2 lb. assorted carrots

1 C. Chardonnay verjus (or 3/4 C. Chardonnay and 1/4 C. white wine vinegar)

1/2 C. honey

2 T. unsalted butter

1 t. kosher salt

1 cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves

2 T. sliced chives

 

Peel carrots and slice lengthwise/crosswise. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add verjus, honey, butter, salt, cinnamon, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, stirring to combine. Add carrots; return to boiling. Reduce heat to medium and cook uncovered, 25 minutes, stirring often until carrots are tender and glaze thickens. Remove from heat, remove cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Sprinkle with chives.

 

I found it a tad bit too sweet for me, although everyone else loved it. I wonder how it would be with the verjus . . . we would like to try cooking with this in the future though. Anyone have any experience with it?

 

Next up is the wild rice salad. A co-worker friend, Shannan, gifted me with some bags of wild rice a few years back. Her great-aunt gave her some every Christmas and her freezer was getting full. I'm never one to turn down food gifts so even though I'd never cooked wild rice before (and am not sure I'd ever eaten it before . . . ) I happily accepted it. Luckily it came with recipes and I made the wild rice salad. I liked it and it quickly became part of my Thanksgiving menu. Once again it turned up this year.

 

 

1 1/2 C. wild rice

1 1/2 t. salt

6 C. water

3/4 C. thinkly sliced green onions including some tops

3/4 C. diced celery

1/2 C. slivered almonds, toasted

6 T. olive oil

3 T. white wine vinegar

1 T. dried thyme

1 t. dried rosemary

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. black pepper

 

Rinse wild rice under running water in a strainer and drain. Place in a heavy saucepan with salt and water. Bring to a boil; simmer, covered, until kernels are open and tender, about 50 minutes. Rinse under cold water and drain well. Transfer to a large bowl, stir in green onions, celery and almonds. Combine rest of ingredients to make dressing and pour over rice mixture, tossing lightly. Serve chilled.

 

Last of our side dishes would be the stuffing that is a must on our table. So far we hadn't found one that "wowed" us however this year's recipe just might be the one. We really like that it is made in the crockpot freeing up the oven and stovetop for other thigns. The recipe we found is actually just Sage Dressing, but Aaron wanted to throw some apple in and as I neglected a fruit salad this year, I agreed. Therefore in addition to the ingredients below, we added one honeycrisp apple, diced. We both think the slight sweetness added was great! (Sorry for the poor picture quality . . .)

 

 

12 C. dry bread cubes

2 C. sliced celery

1/2 C. finely chopped onion

1/4 C. snipped fresh parsley

1 1/2 t. dried sage

1/2 t. dried marjoram

1/4 t. black pepper

1 1/2 C. chicken stock

1/4 C. butter, melted

 

In a large bowl combine bread, celery, onion, parsley, sage, marjorma, and pepper. Pour stock and butter over mixture and toss. Transfer to a 3 1/2 - 5 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 4 - 5 hours.

 

And that would be our side dishes . . . tomorrow the main dish.

 

Thanksgiving in M'boro 2009 -- Pt. 1

It is Thanksgiving morning and our four game hens have come out of the brine for a butterfly. Aaron is in charge of them and is thoroughly enjoying himself in the kitchen with his mad knife skills. This is our third Thanksgiving together and our third year of doing Cornish Game Hens as the main dish. Hey, sounds like a tradition to me.

While he is in charge of the main course, I do a lot of the other cooking for this meal. We will be starting with appetizers around 4 pm, when the guests arrive. He grew up always having olives, both black and green, and pimento cheese stuffed celery so both of those will be making an appeareance.

As for me, I'll be putting out cranberry cream cheese spread. I first had this at friends Tamara and Mandy's house sometimes in 2002. I really liked it and have been making it at least once a year since and it is perfect for a Thanksgiving meal. When people first see the ingredients they usually think it sounds disgusting. But if they take a bite, they probably won't stop at one. I really like the fact it can be made up to three days in advance. That helps at busy times such as this.

16 oz. can whole berry cranberry sauce

1/2 C. sugar

1/2 t. salt

1/3 C. minced onion

2 T. prepared horseradish

8 oz. cream cheese

triscuits

Bring cranberry sauce, sugar, salt, onion, and horseradish to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring frequently. Put in a container and chill for at least 1 hour. (This will keep in the refrigerator up to 3 days.) Spread cream cheese on serving dish and cover with cranberry salsa. Serve with triscuits.

My friend Tamara, who introduced me to this recipe, is so fond of it, she served it at her wedding reception . . . and we all enjoyed! 

Batals, Bitty, Go-Go Paltrow and Bassols

PBS ran an absolutely fun show last fall called Spain…On the Road Again.  The original aired series ran 13 episodes and we Net-Flixed them over a few weeks.  This show starred Chef Mario Batali, Food Critic Mark Bittman, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, and Spanish actress Claudia Bassols.  Part of the charm of the show is the spontaneity and relaxedness of the cast and the nicknames they had for each other i.e. Batals, Bitty, Go-Go Paltrow and Bassols.  The food adventures range from sometimes just real simple home cooking all the way up to a night on the town tapas bar hopping.  They threw in all kinds of food fun but there was also a great amount of lessons on the places and culture.

In the first episode the cast toured through the area of La Mancha and the region known for producing manchego cheese.  Manchego is a cheese made from sheep’s milk and is similar to parmesan in its hardness.   After drooling throughout the first episode for the food and the locations, Tracy and I were on our own hunt for some manchego goodness.  We scored some at Kroger but were surprised not to find any at Publix.  Oh Well.   Yes we will rant and rave about the goodness of manchego!! 

We give Spain…On the Road Again five great big gold stars for a fun and entertaining show when there is so much junk on TV these days.  Spain is now in our bucket list of places to visit too.

Baklava!

Having half a box of filo dough left over from the making of the spanakopita, we made baklava for the church potluck last week. I couldn't find my favorite recipe from living in Los Angeles and most recipes I see are too sweet. However we came across one in a Cooking Light cookbook and I had hopes that it wouldn't be too much. After all, they are supposed to be lightening up the reicpe. We made it and people really enjoyed it. I still found it too sweet though and will keep looking for my old recipe. However, it was pretty.

Greek Dinner 2009 - Dessert

Because we had such a heavy meal, I wanted to go light on dessert. One evening, early Summer, I had Aaron throw some pineapple slices on the grill for dessert. We had leftover plain yogurt and some local honey so I dressed the pineapple with that. The smoky pineapple, tart yogurt, and sweet honey melded perfectly in my mouth and I was hooked. We've done it several times since then, but I never remember to take a picture. Anyway, having leftover Greek yogurt from making the tzatziki sauce we introduced this to our guests. A perfect ending to a lovely meal.

Greek Dinner 2009 - Main course

Our main course consisted of both lamb and chicken, grilled with veggies, kabob style. Alongside of that was homemade tzatziki sauce. Our guests were brave enough to try the lamb which made us happy. We also had our favorite Barefoot Contessa Roasted Veggies with Orzo Pasta (twice the veggies, half the dressing). We ate and ate and ate.

On the lamb, Aaron marinated it overnight in a sauce made from Penzey's lamb rub with minced garlic, olive oil, and water. The chicken was marinated for 6 hours in a sauce made of EVOO, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic, fresh chiles (out of our garden), oregano, salt, and pepper. We also had several bell peppers and cherry tomatoes thrown on the grill with the meats.

The tzatziki sauce is absolutely fabulous however I recommend cutting the following recipe in half as it makes way too much.

3 C. Greek yogurt (plain)

3 T. lemon juice

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 medium cucumbers: peeled, seeded and diced

1 T. kosher salt (to salt the cucumbers)

1 T. finely chopped fresh dill

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Put cucumbers in a sieve and salt them to draw out water. Let sit for 30 minutes or so. Drain well and wipe dry. Mix cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice, dill, and pepper thoroughly (can pulse in food processor if desired). Stir this into the yogurt. Taste, then salt as needed. Let rest for minimum of two hours in refrigerator. It will keep if there are leftovers . . . and as I state above, this makes a lot so there probably will be.

Tomorrow - Dessert!

Greek Dinner 2009 - Appetizers

We had to miss a friend's birthday dinner not too long ago but were able to have him and his wife over for dinner the following weekend. Since our first date involved Aaron cooking a Greek meal in October of 2007, he likes to bust it all out at least once year. This gave us the theme for our menu.

Appetizers were homemade spanakopita, recipe courtesy of our favorite Bitty, and a roasted red pepper hummus from (of all places!) a Weight Watchers cookbook. The hummus was ridiculously easy, being based completely on convenience products. Both were thoroughly enjoyed.

The spanakopita recipe can be found here: http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/features/bittman/recipes/greece/spanakopita.php

and the hummus recipe is as follows:

1 garlic clove

1/2 C. bottled roasted red bell peppers, drained

1/2 C. commercial hummus

4 t. finely chopped fresh parsley

Pulse garlic in a food processor 3 to 4 times or until finely chopped. Add roasted red bell peppers, and pulse 5 to 6 times or until smooth. Stir pepper mixture into hummus. Stir in parsley. Cover and chill.

 
Tomorrow - the Main Course

When Good Wine Goes Bad Part 1

I picked up a bottle of wine once because it was on sale. It was a serendipitous moment. That bottle of wine was very tasty and extremely affortable. I continued to pick them up -- 2004 Lorca -- on a regular basis. Then I bought a case. Over time the case was finished and I bought another case, cleaning out the store. Unfortunately the wine has started to turn and is no longer sippable. So we have to come up with things to do with our wine. Tonight was our first tasty experiment. Aaron went online and found a recipe for Beef Stew in Red Wine Sauce by Jacques Pepin, a variation on Boeuf Bourguignon. It calls for a bottle of red wine so we made it this afternoon. Reminiscent of an extremely moist pot roast, I wouldn't actually call it a stew as most of the moisture cooks out. We enjoyed it with a salad and some crusty bread, plus have leftovers for tomorrow night. Now we just need some new ideas for the next bottle of red wine (we have at least 5 or 6 more to use up). If you have any, please send them our way!

 

1. 2 pounds beef from the flatiron part of the shoulder
2. 1 tablespoon butter
3. 2 tablespoons olive oil
4. Salt
5. Pepper
6. 1 cup finely chopped onion
7. 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
8. 1 tablespoon flour
9. 1 bottle of red wine
10. 2 bay leaves
11. 1 sprig fresh thyme
12. 15 cipollini or pearl onions (we substituted shallots)
13. 15 cremini mushrooms (we used portabella instead)
14. 15 baby carrots
15. 5-ounce piece of pancetta
16. 1/4 cup water
17. Dash of sugar
18. Chopped fresh parsley

Buy about 2 pounds of beef from the flatiron part of the shoulder. Remove the skin or sinew from the top. Alternatively, use lean beef chuck in the same manner. Cut the meat into 8 pieces.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a cast-iron pot that is attractive enough for the table. Arrange the meat in one layer in the pot, and season it with salt and pepper. Cook on top of the stove over high heat for about 8 minutes, browning the meat on all sides.

Add 1 cup of finely chopped onion and 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic. Cook over moderate heat for an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 tablespoon of flour. Mix in well so that the flour doesn’t form lumps. Stir in 1 bottle of red wine. Add 2 bay leaves, a sprig of fresh thyme, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Stir well and cover.

Place the pot in the oven and continue to cook for about 1 1/2 hours; the meat should be soft and tender and the liquid properly reduced. The recipe can be prepared to this point up to a day ahead.

For the garnishes, peel 15 cipollini or pearl onions, wash 15 cremini mushrooms and peel 15 baby carrots. For the lardons, you will need one 5-ounce piece of pancetta. Bring the pancetta and 2 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan and simmer for about 30 minutes; drain. Cut the pancetta into 1/2-inch slices and then cut the slices into 1-inch-wide lardons.

Combine the onions, mushrooms, carrots and pancetta in a skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/4 cup of water and a good dash each of sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes; at this point, there should be practically no water left. Uncover and cook over high heat, sautéing the vegetables until nicely browned on all sides, about 4 minutes.

To serve, mix some of the vegetables and lardons into the stew and sprinkle the rest on top as a garnish. Add a little chopped fresh parsley and serve.