Kids Dish

I was really hoping the baby would come early so I could enjoy a Cinco de Mayo margarita but alas, it is not to be. Instead I will leave you with a few celebratory recipes for margaritas for the parents, sparkling limeade for the kiddos, and snacks for everyone.

The Perfect, Potent Margarita
3 oz Tequila
2 oz triple sec
1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon powdered sugar
shake with ice until the shaker is frosty. Serve in a glass with a salted rim with wedge of lime. This is not a drink for amateurs. Serve in a glass with lots of ice and let it get melty before drinking if you’re unsure of your ability to handle it.

Sparkling Limeade
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
10-12 limes, juiced and strained
zest of one lime
sparkling water or club soda
lime wedges

To make limeade you’ll need to make a simple syrup. Bring one cup of water to boil and add two cups of sugar. Stir until dissolved then stir in the lime juice and zest. Let cool and set in the fridge.

For each glass of limeade you’ll need about half an ounce of syrup topped with the sparkling or fizzy water of your choice. Adjust the ratio of syrup and fizz to taste. Serve with a wedge of lime

Guacamole
3 ripe avacodos, halved, pitted and peeled
one small onion, chopped
3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
one small tomato, chopped
juice of 1 1/2 limes
slightly more than half a cup of fresh cilantro, cut into smallish pieces (Do not substitute with dried. Yuck. It is better to omit the cilantro entirely if you can’t get fresh.)
salt and pepper to taste

Mash the avocado with a potato masher or fork then add the remaining ingredients, mixing until everything’s combined. Serve with tortilla chips.

Speaking of tortilla chips, I see no reason not to buy a bag (I’m not affiliated in any way, but on the east coast Tostitos brand are the lightest and crispiest), but if you’re by chance some health nut, feel free to bake your own. You’ll need a package of tortillas, some vegetable oil, salt and chili pepper

Cut the tortillas into 8 wedges, brush with the oil, sprinkle with salt and chili pepper to taste and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes until chips are lightly browned.

Some day I imagine I’ll bake and decorate rolled sugar cookies with my kids. It just seems that since I enjoy cooking, it’s the proper thing to do. Unfortunately I don’t particularly like eating them. I much prefer Ricotta cookies, another Easter cookie treat served at my in-laws’ house at their annual Easter extravaganza. These little cookies are soft, fluffy and sweet and kids love them because of their pastel-colored frosting.

ITALIAN RICOTTA COOKIES

1/2 lb. butter
2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb. Ricotta
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
4 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda

Cream butter; add sugar and continue creaming until butter is fluffy and light in color. Add egg and Ricotta and vanilla; beat well. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda, salt; add to batter. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Drop about a teaspoon of dough on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in a 350 degree oven about 10 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Cool. Frost with icing of your choice or the recipe below.

FROSTING:

2 c. confectionery sugar
1/4 c. butter
3 tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix well. Color with food coloring if desired. Or top with sprinkles, colored sugar, or other Easter confections.

To make the cookie a little more grown up, add the zest of one orange to the batter. A teaspoon of Almond extract is another good addition. A teaspoon of lemon extract in place of the vanilla gives the icing a little zing. Almond extract can also be usied in the frosting.

Italian Easter Pie is something that I’d never heard of, let alone eaten, before I met my husband eight years ago. It’s basically a quiche, filled with hard-boiled eggs, meats and cheeses. I’m not a huge fan of the dish, but each year it grows on me just a little bit more. There’s something about the way his family prepares it that makes it unlike most of the recipes I’ve seen for it. I think it’s the hint of anise in the crust. Someday perhaps I’ll get the recipe, just to pass on the tradition to our kids. But until then, here’s a version I’ve put together from several I found online.

This recipe is for one 12″x16″ (30×40 cm) pie, which is big. It’s enough to feed your extended family for days. But Bob’s family ends up making more than half a dozen 9″x 12″ pies each year so maybe it’s not so big after all.

Italian Easter Pie

Serve hot, cold, or room temperature.

I’m not Irish and I’m not a huge fan of typical St. Paddy’s day fare. Corned Beef and cabbage doesn’t really appeal to me, soda bread isn’t particularly exciting, and as I mentioned yesterday dyed green foods aren’t my cup of tea.

Irish potatoes may be the only St. Patrick’s day food I really love and I’m not sure why. They’re sort of sickly sweet and if you want to get technical they’re pretty much cream cheese frosting with coconut rolled in some cinnamon. I’m not generally a huge fan of cinnamon either, but for this candy the cinnamon really helps cut the sweet. Made with cream cheese, butter and sugar, they’re fattening and addictive and I’m sad to say that since no one offered my pregnant self any this year I may have to make my own. Luckily, aside from the time it takes to chill the ingredients, it’s a very simple recipe

Irish Potato Candy
· 1/4 cup butter, softened
· 1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
· 2 1/2 cups flaked coconut
· 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners’ sugar; beat until smooth. Using your hands if necessary, mix in the coconut. Chill for about half an hour. Roll into balls or potato shapes and chill for another 15 to 30 minutes until firm. Roll in the cinnamon. Place onto a cookie sheet and chill to set. If desired, roll potatoes in cinnamon again for darker color.

Since I’m Jewish my knowledge of Christian religious traditions is rather limited. I remember every year I’d see people with dirty foreheads and I never really made the Ash Wednesday connection until I was in high school. I remember smacking myself in the forehead and thinking, “Duh,” when I figured that one out.

Today, the day before Lent begins, is Fastnacht Day, a German tradition that’s also celebrated not too far from me in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. I’d never heard of Fastnacht Day, until a few local bloggers, wrote about the tradition and linked to the wikipedia article.

Jennie wrote:

But most importantly, it’s Fat Tuesday here in Pennsylvania, which means any god-fearing life-long resident with a German heritage is making a batch of oh-so-bad-for-you-but-unnervingly-delicious fried fauschnauts (the counterpart to pancakes and doughnuts in other parts of the world that observe “Shrove” Tuesday). When I was growing up in the rural heart of Pennsylvania, my school actually celebrated Fauschnaut Day by serving homemade fauschnauts at lunch. To this day I am baffled by how a cafeteria renowned for its inedible cuisine was able to churn out these little balls of heaven once a year. My mom also made homemade fauschnauts during much of my childhood, and I adored swiping them straight out of the cinnamon sugar mixture while they were still piping hot. Ah, the memories…

A quick recipe search came up with several different versions of the Fat Tuesday treat but the one I’m going to share comes from Alice Faust, a Pennsylvania native. This recipe was originally printed in Dig It magazine. It’s one of three recipes printed and this one seems like it would be the best dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar.

Alice Faust’s Family Recipe #2: Fashnachts with Yeast

2 cups scalded milk
½ cup lard
1 cup mashed potatoes
2 teaspoons salt
¾ cup sugar
2 well beaten eggs
1 package yeast
7 cups flour, approximately

Scald milk and add mashed potatoes, sugar, salt, and lard. Cool until lukewarm. Add eggs. Add yeast and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead well and place in a greased bowl. Cover with a cloth and let rise about 1 ½ hours. Roll ¼ in thick on a
floured board. Place on a cloth and let rise until doubled in size and fry in hot fat.

Remember how I wrote that I was going to attempt to start using some quick and easy recipes? It turns out I’m not so good at it. The Saturday after Christmas we had my husband’s aunt, uncle, cousins and their kids over for Christmas round two and I decided that to make things easy on myself I’d make a salad, two lasagnas (because I could make them in advance) and let everyone else bring the rest. I new that one of the lasagnas I planned to make was labor-intensive. It’s a Lasagna Bolognese from Cook’s Illustrated and I’ve been eying it for months. But for the second lasagna I decided to make a regular spinach and cheese lasagna as simply as possible.

Of course I couldn’t make it simple. Rather than use a jarred sauce like most easy lasagna recipes call for I decided to make my own. Two days before the scheduled dinner I pulled out the tomatoes I froze over the summer and made a quick (ish) chunky tomato sauce. Then I started the ragu for the bolognese. As the meat simmered I realized that most of my husband’s family wouldn’t understand a plain meat lasagna. They’d want to know where the cheese was. So I decided to make a third lasagna with meat and cheese. This meant making more sauce because if I was making homemade for the first two I certainly wasn’t going to buy a sauce for the third.

While it should have taken no more than 2 hours to assemble all three lasagnas it ended up taking most of the following afternoon after making another batch of tomato sauce, reheating the ragu, making a bechamel sauce, cooking the meat for the third lasagna, chopping, cleaning and spinning spinach and basil, combining the ricotta mixture and grating four cups of Parmesan. Once all of that was done it took no time at all to assemble the three lasagnas, but I really could have simplified things by buying a couple of jars of sauce, pre-grated cheese and frozen spinach.

Here they are assembled and uncooked. From left to right: meat and cheese, spinach and cheese, bolognese

Sam just woke up from his nap so tomorrow I’ll post the recipes for the meat and cheese and the spinach and cheese. I promise I’ll make it easier for you than I did for me.

My husband’s family tradition is to eat Pasta e Fagioli, also called Pasta Fazool, on Christmas Eve. I believe the tradition started because the dish, a hearty bean and pasta soup is quick and easy to make before mass and heat up when you get home. We don’t go to mass, but now that we’ve had his family over for Christmas Eve dinner the past two years we’ve kept the tradition going and made a big pot of soup.

My father in law prefers the soup the way his mother made it- with tomato sauce, just a few beans, spaghetti, and no onions, garlic or herbs (other than a shake of dried oregano) to speak of. I prefer a more flavorful, heartier version using smaller, bite sized pasta that fits on a spoon. Either way you make it, both recipes are quick, easy and healthy. Serve with warm Italian bread.

Pasta e Fagioli

Cook the onion in the olive oil until softened, about five minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook about a minute more. Add the tomatoes and the juices, the chicken broth and the beans and simmer about 10 minutes. For a heartier soup, add the pasta and cook in the soup for about 10 minutes, checking often to see if it’s al dente. For a more soup like soup, cook the noodles separately and add just before serving. Add the herbs, salt and pepper and serve with freshly grated Parmesan.

From the Holiday Insights website:

When: Always December 18th

But, Bake Cookies day is for EVERYONE!

I love baking cookies. Well, I love baking most cookies. I cannot, no matter what recipe I use and what approach I use, bake pretty chocolate chip cookies. I can make delicious chocolate chip cookies, but time after time they’re ugly. They always look lovely when I open the oven door, but as soon as they hit the air of the kitchen they begin to spread and flatten, leaving pockmarked crepes with bulbous chocolate chip lumps. Not pretty. Tasty, but not pretty. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I’ve experimented with the temperature of the butter, I’ve used the stand mixer, a hand mixer and my hands to mix. I’ve tried the recipe on the chip bag and the recipes in three different cookbooks. I’ve put them on the cookie sheet in rounded tablespoons and teaspoons wondering if it was the size of the uncooked dough that was the problem. I bought new baking soda. I let them cool on the tray and I’ve let them cool on parchment and I’ve let them cool on the racks. No matter what I do make them pretty. So I quit.

Instead I bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Delicious and higher in fiber than regular cookies. My new recipe of choice? Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, and Pecan cookies. They’re the perfect cookie- crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. A bit of orange zest adds some unexpected flavor. The cookies are addictive and store well though three dozen cookies of these cookies don’t last long.

Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, and Pecan Cookies
from Epicurious

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment or a Silpat (rubber nonstick baking mat). Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla, and beat until well mixed, about 3 minutes. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove in a separate bowl. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter with the mixer on low speed. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the second half. Stir in the oats, pecans, orange zest, and chocolate chips. Drop the dough, by the tablespoon, onto the cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on a rack. Store at room temperature in a cookie jar or other airtight container.

I used less orange zest than the recipe called for the first time based on a recommendation from Smitten Kitchen (the photo was borrowed from Smitten Kitchen too since her photography is far superior to mine) and the full amount the second time I baked these. Everyone who ate them loved them both ways. I was surprised that no one mentioned the orange, especially after reading some of the reviews on epicurious.

I use ginger in recipes pretty regularly because I love its hot, tangy flavor. I use it primarily in Asian dishes like rice and stir fries and paired with carrots. But ginger, both in its sweeter ground form and fresh is a deliciously subtle addition to many baked goods.

With Christmas coming I know many people are in the middle of holiday baking. Here are two recipes for Ginger Cookies, one using fresh ginger and one using ground and crystallized. Because the dough in both recipes has to be refrigerated these are great to make ahead. You can freeze the dough and thaw in the refrigerator to use or refrigerate for up to three days before baking. Both recipes also store well so you can bake ahead and serve a few days later.

I know that the following recipe is for cookies, not health food, but if your little one likes ginger cookies and needs iron you can use blackstrap molasses. Just add an extra tablespoon or two of sugar.

Fresh Ginger Cookies

Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and then roll them in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until edges start to brown, about 15 minutes. Centers will be slightly soft. Let stand on cookie sheets 1 minute and remove to racks to cool completely.

For the Ginger Spice cookies you can substitute butter for some or all of the shortening. I’d recommend half and half, especially now that they make and sell trans-fat free shortening, but using all butter works too. I love crystallized ginger and the little ginger bits add a lot of sweet, spicy taste to these cookies, but if you’re not a fan you can omit it and add a bit more of the ground ginger.

Ginger Spice Cookies
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, room temperature
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/4 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses

Here’s a third recipe from the Elementary Chef.

Sweet potato latkes, almost identical to latkes made with regular white or yellow potatoes looking at a list of ingredients, are (dare I say it?) possibly superior. Seriously, they are amazing. And I’m not talking about the fact that they’re healthier than regular potato latkes. Yes, sweet potatoes have more fiber and nutrients, but the taste is superb. I don’t know what it is about the simple substitution of a sweet potato but the difference is incredible.

Bob took his first bite and asked, “What did you put inside of these?” I said they’re sweet potato latkes. He asked again what I put inside them. Again, I told him sweet potatoes. He said “yes, but what’s in them?” I explained that they were practically identical to the previous night’s latkes except for the type of potato. He said, “yes, but they taste like something’s in them. They’re delicious.”

After I took another bite I understood what he was talking about. Unlike the plain potato latkes they have a bit of a soft, sweet center, like they’ve been filled with something. This might be a bad comparison since the two foods are absolutely nothing alike, but they’re crisp on the outside and warm and soft of the inside like a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. Only salty, and served with sour cream and applesauce.

This recipe serves 4 but it’s easy to double if you want more. It takes about half an hour start to finish.

Sweet Potato Latkes

Heat oil in a deep 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 4, spoon 1/8 cup potato mixture per latke into oil and flatten to 3-inch diameter with a slotted spatula. Reduce heat to moderate and cook until golden, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Transfer latkes with spatula to paper towels to drain.

My notes. I didn’t quite have a pound of sweet potatoes so I used one small Yukon Gold potato in the mix. I also didn’t have scallions so I used half of a finely chopped yellow onion. I used less vegetable oil than the recipe called for. In my non-stick pan I ran out of oil altogether with about 5 latkes to go. I didn’t add more and the last latkes did just fine without it. I’m not recommending not using oil. You need oil for authentic latkes. However, if you run out, I wouldn’t add more unless you’re willing to wait for the oil to heat again.

This is crucial. For latkes that stay crisp, do not drain them on paper towels. Place a wire rack on a foil lined baking sheet in a preheated 250 degree oven to drain and stay warm. The oil will drain, but the latkes will stay crispy, no matter how long it takes to finish the rest of the latkes. This is important if you’re doubling the recipe.

I should add that Sam wouldn’t touch these. I guess latkes aren’t familiar enough. But if you read the reviews at the recipe site at Epicurious most of the reviewers stress that their kids, even those who won’t touch sweet potatoes, went back for seconds and thirds.

Last year we had about a dozen people over for latkes and candle lighting, but this year we decided not to do a big Chanukah dinner. Even though Sam’s too young to really remember I still think it’s important to keep the ceremony going, whether we celebrate it with friends and extended family or just celebrate the holiday ourselves. Last night we lit the first candle in the menorah and said the traditional prayers. Sam got a Chanukah present, a collection of Curious George board books in a little carrying case. He was thrilled with the books and didn’t want to let them go when it was dinner time and pretty much ate nothing. Tonight we decided to do it differently. We ate dinner first, then lit the candles.

Dinner wasn’t necessarily a traditional Chanukah meal, but tonight Bob helped me make latkes, fried potato pancakes. Oddly, tonight was the first time I’ve ever made them. As a kid my grandmother or mother made them. I don’t know what recipe they used. But their latkes weren’t made with shredded potatoes. I’m pretty sure they mixed them in a blender with matzoh meal and onion. The resulting mixture was liquid and fried up more like a traditional pancake. Crispy on the outside and soft and warm in the middle. I like that version but decided to go with a more typical grated version. I saw several different recipes online but they all seemed pretty complicated for something that I just thought was made with potatoes, onions and egg. Epicurious, the old standby provided the recipe I used.

Bob grated the potatoes while I chopped the onion. He drained them and squeezed out the water while I prepared the rest of our untraditional dinner- buttermilk biscuits, spinach and leftover meatloaf. The biscuits (a new recipe I’ll post later) were awesome. But the latkes were fantastic. Crisp and delicious. Sam, true to form, wouldn’t touch them, instead eating all of the spinach off my plate and a few spoonfuls of applesauce. At least he eats his veggies. One of these days he’ll realize fried foods are a gift from the gods and beg for more.

Potato Latkes

Serve with sour cream and applesauce.

I think this just may be latke week. Tomorrow I’m going to try sweet potato latkes and later in the week I’m going to have to give these apple fritters a go. Happy Chanukah!

Despite the fact that I’m still talking about it (I promise, I’m done with the turkey clip art now!), it’s been almost a week since Thanksgiving and it’s time to get rid of the last of the turkey and vegetables. My favorite way to use up the leftovers is in a pot pie. If you’re short on time there are plenty of shortcuts and if you’re feeling gourmet you can jazz it up as much as you want. The basic recipe calls for throwing leftover turkey, carrots, green beans, and whatever veggies you have into a premade pie crust with leftover gravy. You can also use frozen or canned mixed veggies if you don’t have fresh. More advanced recipes use puff pastry or homemade biscuit dough.

I’ll give you the recipe I used last night and offer some links to other leftover pot pie recipes at the end. I didn’t have as much gravy leftover as I usually do and was completely out of chicken stock to make more so I used a can of cream soup. It would have been better without the soup, so use stock to make your own gravy or use leftover gravy if you have it. The soup did make it easier than making stock all over again.

Leftover Pot Pie

*If you’re using a store bought frozen pie crust 30-40 minutes in a 350 degree oven should be fine. Just bake until bubbly and golden brown.

Cooking with the Single Guy has a recipe that calls for puff pastry. I adore puff pastry and will be sure to try this next time I make a pot pie.

This recipe uses spinach, ham and cream of chicken soup

I know that this recipe is for chicken pot pie, but it calls for a biscuit topping so I thought I’d throw it in for the biscuit lovers.

This recipe uses chicken bouillon and milk instead of a pre-made gravy.

Starting where I left off yesterday.

On Thanksgiving, after waking up at five and spending three hours trying to get Sam back to bed, I went back to sleep and slept too long. I woke up at 9.30 and groggily went downstairs to start the turkey. I took a quick look at the pie recipe and realized the oven temperature was higher than I thought and I’d have to cook the pie first, instead of later in the afternoon.

I peeled and sliced the apples then got to work rolling out the dough. It was a pain to work with. It was very sticky and hard to transfer even though I rolled it out between two sheets of parchment. But I finished it and got it into the oven. About an hour later I had baked my very first pie and set it aside to cool.

While the pie baked I prepped the turkey. I drained the brine, rinsed the turkey and patted it dry. I cut my herb butter into half inch rounds and pushed it under the skin. I lightly salted (no need for too much salt when you brine) and peppered the turkey all over and started the stuffing. I cheated with the stuffing. I didn’t buy any bread to make my own cubes so I used a bag of Pepperidge Farm stuffing, the bag with the least amount of sodium. To make it taste better I sauteed an onion and a few celery stalks in butter and used homemade chicken stock to moisten the stuffing instead of water. I also added a bunch of herbs from my garden. While the stuffing was still steaming hot I filled the body cavity of the turkey and put the remainder in a buttered baking dish to heat separately later. I tossed a few chopped carrots, a few chopped celery stalks, a few sprigs of thyme and a chopped onion at the bottom of the roasting pan then put the turkey in the rack breast down and put it into the oven.

That’s one of the secrets of juicy turkey. Roast it breast side down at 425 for the first hour then flip it and reduce the oven temperature to 325 until the turkey is cooked through. When you roast it upside down the juices collect in the breast. It doesn’t make a picture-perfect turkey, but it makes a tasty one. I also cover the turkey with foil and don’t remove it until the last hour or so. That way it gets crisp, but the skin doesn’t get too dark. Another tip, now that the holiday is over, is that you shouldn’t baste too often. Every time you open the oven heat escapes the temperature lowers. Basting every 45 minutes to an hour is plenty for a brined turkey.

The only other thing I had to do was start the gizzards for the gravy. I don’t actually put the gizzards in the gravy, but I do saute them with onions, carrot and celery then add chicken broth to make a stock. After it simmers for a couple of hours, drain the chunks and the remaining stock can sit until you’re ready to add pan drippings.

After a few hours of down time I caramelized the shallots for the green beans and added chicken stock to the butternut squash puree and brought it to a simmer. Not too long later the turkey and stuffing had both reached the necessary temperature and I was ready to finish up.

While the turkey rested (it should rest for at least half an hour.) I made the carrots, finished the green beans, put the sweet potatoes, extra stuffing, and the dishes contributed by my aunt in the oven to reheat, and finished the gravy using deglazed pan drippings (which were nicely flavored by the veggies I’d thrown in the bottom of the roasting pan) and the gizzard stock thickened with a bit of flour browned in butter. I hate the word gizzard. It makes something so good sound so terrible.

I had my friend help serve the soup while I carved the turkey. I’m a terrible food photographer, but I’ll show you some pictures anyway.

Butternut Squash and Roasted Garlic Bisque topped with sour cream and chives from my garden (hello, global warming!)

I know it’s not the prettiest picture, but here’s the turkey resting. The green stuff under the skin is the herb butter.

Apple Pie, the first pie I’ve ever made.

Okay, I know I’m cheating, but I never got a chance to recap Thanksgiving dinner over the weekend. Dinner went really well. On Wednesday I prepared the brine for the turkey (kosher salt and brown sugar dissolved in water with whole coriander seeds, whole black peppercorns, thyme sprigs, rosemary sprigs and a few sage leaves) and placed the turkey in a huge ziploc bag in a cooler lined with trash bags in case of leaks. My refrigerator is a stupid side by side model (HATE side by side) so I don’t actually have room to accommodate a brining turkey before a holiday so a cooler has to suffice. Once the turkey was properly submerged it needed to be rotated every few hours so it brined evenly. I left it breast side down overnight.

After the turkey was safely in the cooler I started the rest of my tasks. I started the dough for the rolls and set it out for the first rise. Next I started the pie dough, a recipe that called for vodka. I’ve never made pie dough before. Honestly, I’ve never made it because I don’t love pie. I’ll eat it if it’s the only thing around, but I’ll take cake over pie any day. The only reason I made a pie was because I still had a dozen apples left from my CSA share and no one volunteered to bring a pie. For some reason even though I don’t love pie, it doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving without one.

Once the pie dough was refrigerated I peeled and cut the sweet potatoes. I ignored the part of the recipe where it tells you to steam the sweet potatoes first since I knew I’d be reheating them in the oven the next day and didn’t want them to be too soggy. I made the glaze for the sweet potatoes but it took much longer to thicken than the recipe said it would. I don’t know if I didn’t have the heat up high enough or if it was because I increased the recipe. When it seemed thick enough I poured it over the sweet potatoes (a mixture of yams and sweet potatoes, I discovered once I peeled them) and put them in the oven to bake. While the sweet potatoes cooked I blanched the green beans, plunged them into ice cold water, drained them and put them in a large ziploc bag with paper towels.

I cut the herbs from my garden- chives, rosemary and thyme- and made herb butter for the turkey by combining chopped herbs with softened butter. I put the mixture in a small ziploc bag and smooshed it down to the bottom so it would form a log.

The sweet potatoes were done, but they never really seemed glazed. The glaze seemed too runny and saucy. I didn’t know what to do, so I poured out the glaze and set it aside, figuring I’d try to thicken it up the next day before reheating.

The bread, which took forever to rise, finally rose enough, so I punched it down, formed it into dinner rolls and set it to the side to rise again. After about an hour it had risen enough so I baked it and sampled one to make sure I liked the recipe enough to actually serve the rolls. I did and decided that I was pretty much done with cooking for the day.

This is getting way too long, so I’ll finish my recap tomorrow.

I found my green bean recipe after a quick search last night. It was between two- Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots and Haricots Verts with Herb Butter. The herb butter recipe only had one review, and though it was glowingly positive and I’m making herb butter anyway I decided to go with the shallot recipe for a few reasons: It sounds delicious, It can be completely made ahead of time and reheated before serving, and the reviews were all positive.

I’m kind of low on shallots since I have more than 2 pounds of green beans to cook and they’re the regular kind which aren’t as tender. (I’m bummed I used all of the haricots verts from my garden during the summer, but I didn’t really grow enough to save any. Note for next year: either skip the green beans or plant 3 times as many) And I’m going to use fresh thyme from my garden. Reviewers suggest cutting the butter/oil a bit so even though I’m going to use more beans than the recipe calls for I’ll try it with the original amount of butter and oil and add more if necessary.

Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots
Bon Appétit | December 2006

2 pounds haricots verts or slender green beans, trimmed
1 pound medium shallots
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Cook haricots verts in boiling salted water until tender, about 4 minutes (or 6 minutes if using green beans). Drain. Transfer to bowl of ice water to cool. Drain well. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap in several layers of paper towels. Seal in plastic bag and chill.

Cut off and discard ends from shallots. Cut shallots lengthwise in half, then remove peel with paring knife. Melt butter with oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low; sauté until shallots are browned and tender, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover loosely with foil and let stand at room temperature.

Add haricots verts to shallots in skillet and stir over medium-high heat until heated through, about 6 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl and serve.

Cut off and discard ends from shallots. Cut shallots lengthwise in half, then remove peel with paring knife. Melt butter with oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low; sauté until shallots are browned and tender, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover loosely with foil and let stand at room temperature.

Add haricots verts to shallots in skillet and stir over medium-high heat until heated through, about 6 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl and serve.

Happy Thanksgiving!