Foodie Faves: Thanksgiving Favorites

I know it’s not Friday. Does it count that I started this post on Friday?

I’ve been consumed with thoughts of Thanksgiving lately, as, I’m sure, have many of you. We’re all trying to decide which of our many fabulous recipes to cook. But maybe you’re tired of the same old same old. Maybe you’re just hankering for something new and delicious. Or maybe, in spite of having paid assiduous attention to this blog, you have missed a few of the posts. Maybe you were sick that day, or had to rearrange your closet, or feed the cat.

Well, good news – the Kitchen Goddess has come to the rescue! In accordance with the theme of Friday Faves, herein you will find a nice, tidy list of the Kitchen Goddess’s favorite Thanksgiving recipes, with links to the original posts where they appeared. Here goes:

First, you must remember that every good celebration can use a little alcohol. Even better if it’s champagne. So in my house, we like to kick things off with Champagne Cosmos. Lighter and a bit less alcoholic than your basic Cosmo, these are bound to make even grumpy Uncle Larry thankful.

You’re on your own with the bird, but here’s a great stuffing recipe that, because of the fruit, will help keep the bird moist: Cornbread-Sausage Stuffing with Apples and Grapes. As it happens, I hardly ever stuff the turkey, preferring to cook the stuffing separately, in which case I guess we should call it dressing. Stuffing or dressing, this one is the bomb, as my son would say.

While I’m thinking about turkey, I must add a note about my favorite cranberry sauce: Cranberry Sauce with Pinot Noir. OMG, ladies and gentlemen – this stuff will make you swoon. Just be sure to use a decent Pinot. The Kitchen Goddess’s rule is that if you don’t want to drink it, you don’t want to cook with it.

Thanksgiving is such a carbfest, and I really object on so many levels to those sweet potato recipes with the marshmallows. If you like sweet potatoes, here’s one that’s not so teeth-clenchingly sweet: Sweet Potato Ginger Soufflé. It’s also light (though not as light as, say a chocolate soufflé – remember, it’s made with sweet potatoes), and you can assemble it ahead of time, cover it with Saran Wrap, then on the big day, take it to room temp and bake.

More carbs, I know, but somehow it’s not Thanksgiving without rolls. Or maybe you’ll want to make them for the day after, when you can stuff them with leftover turkey and dressing. Here are two choices:  Cochineal Biscuits (without yeast) and Aunt Marcy’s Yeast Rolls (with yeast, duh). Both are outstanding.

At last, some greens. Green beans, that is. And the best way I’ve ever had them is here: Roasted Sesame Green Beans. In fact, I made some just a few days ago, and they were so good, I’m making a larger batch tonight.

You need a salad, and one of my favorites for this sort of meal is avocado and grapefruit sections over watercress or spinach or arugula. Dress it with my best Poppy Seed Dressing or, for less sweetness, this Honey-Lemon Dressing.

Ah, dessert. My Aunt Marcy’s Pumpkin Chiffon Pie has been lauded the world over. Well, maybe not the world, but absolutely every time I have served it. Absolutely. Light and airy, it delivers the pumpkin taste without the cement-like texture of the traditional pies.

Start your engines, everyone! Oh, and don't forget the candles.

Risotto Triumphant What’s cooking? Tomatoey Risotto with Shrimp

Whew. The election’s over, and thank goodness, because I don’t have any ironing left. While we ground our way through the state-by-state assessments, I managed to press 7 shirts, 6 pairs of pants, 2 sets of king-sized sheets, and 3 dishtowels. I’m not sure which was the more exhausting activity – the election or the ironing – but I’m glad to see the end of both.

The more exciting news is that the Kitchen Goddess has once again outdone herself, in a very creditable job of replicating the risotto with shrimp I had in Ravello last month. Unlike our politicians, risotto is very companionable – it makes friends with just about anything you throw in with it. It’s best if you don’t get too crazy with the number of additions, but I’ve made amazing dinners of butternut squash risotto, shrimp and asparagus risotto, wild mushroom risotto, lemon-herb risotto, Parmesan cheese risotto, and of course, plain old risotto with some extra butter on top. It’s a really filling dish – and gluten-free for those of you who care – so all you need to add is a salad, or a nice green veggie.

Days of Wine and Fishes -- Amalfi Coast, Part 2 What’s cooking? Fettuccine with Zucchini Sauce

Ravello, from below

My taste buds are slowly readjusting to Texas produce and flavors – which aren’t bad, mind you – but in my quiet moments, I read over my notes from the delectable dishes we had only a month ago in Italy, and I keep thinking it shouldn’t be so hard to reproduce at least some of the tastes.

One of my favorite spots on the coast is Ravello, a tiny town (population 2,500) in the hills above Amalfi. It was founded in the 5th century, as a refuge from the barbarian invasions; in more recent times, it’s been a refuge for artists (M.C. Escher and Joan Miró), composers (Richard Wagner, Edvard Grieg, Leonard Bernstein), and writers (Virginia Woolf, Tennessee Williams, Graham Green, Truman Capote). But you must only visit Ravello if you’re in decent physical shape, because you park your car at the lowest point in the town and walk up, ...and up and up.

Days of Wine and Fishes – Amalfi Coast, Part 1

We’ve been back from Italy for two weeks now, but my taste buds are still reverberating from the experience. I’m tantalized by memories of fish plucked daily from the sea, tiny tender clams on fresh pasta, and piles of pomodorini (sweet, locally grown cherry tomatoes) with baby arugula and fresh, creamy mozzarella.

The food was merely icing on the cake, as I believe you could be happy there even if you ate nothing but ham and swiss on rye. We were in Positano, on the Amalfi Coast, where the towns are either perched on mountaintops or gripping the sides of the cliffs that run into the Tyrrhenian Sea. Everpresent views of the crystal clear water – in blues that range from pale turquoise to teal to a deep sapphire – are mesmerizing, and just offshore, the Li Galli islands, where the Sirens of Homer’s time lured sailors to their death, serve as constant reminders that these hills and waters have been witness to thousands of years of human history.

As in many of the coastal towns, houses in Positano are built one on top of the other, as if scrambling to keep from sliding into the sea, and most are painted white or some pastel shade, with arched entrances and wrought iron railings enhancing the old world atmosphere. The streets are often too narrow for cars, so restaurants take every opportunity to offer al fresco dining.

The main drag for the entire coast is what I lovingly refer to as The Spaghetti Road, known for its narrow lanes and hairpin curves. Driving it is treacherous and uneven, as the Italians all seem to be in training for Formula 1 participation, yet there’s the occasional delay while two giant buses maneuver to pass each other going opposite directions. I don’t have to worry though, as my husband won’t let me drive out of fear that I’ll have an “Oh, look!” moment over the breathtaking views, and we’ll go plummeting down the cliff.
 

Every restaurant features the fish of the day, and in that part of the world, the fish of the day was caught this morning. Sea bass, amberjack, flounder, John Dory, rock fish. And miniature mussels, blue lobster from Li Galli, cuttlefish, squid, and those tiny clams I mentioned. We had fish every which way: poached in a light tomato and garlic broth and served with pasta, or grilled in a medley with shrimp and sardines and squid, or lightly sautéed and served in Amalfi lemon sauce with sliced potatoes.

The most remarkable aspect of the food was its simplicity. While we splurged at Le Sirenuse, a really magnificent hotel with prices to match, and the food was as exquisite and complex as you would expect (see here the photo of my husband’s “vegetable salad”), everywhere else the dishes were uncomplicated but delicious presentations of regional specialties. I was struck by how easy it might be to duplicate many of them if you had the appropriate ingredients. Here (below), for instance, is rock fish with paccheri pasta, which I had at the delightful Eden Roc Hotel. You could do this, said the Kitchen Goddess to herself.

The challenge, of course, is finding tomatoes that taste anything like the pomodorini that appear to be growing on every balcony in every town in the region. Or Amalfi lemons, whose thick skin exudes a pleasantly sweet aroma and whose flesh is sour but not as bitter as the lemons we get in the U.S. Just more examples of how much difference it makes to use truly fresh and local ingredients.

So while I’m working on my own versions of a couple of these dishes, let me digress and tell you about the wines.

Naturally, with so much fish, we drank mostly white wine, concentrating on the many labels of Fiano di Avellino, which is one of the principal white wines of Campania, the region that includes Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Here at home, my husband and I have been moving away from Chardonnay, which is too heavy and oaky for my taste, and concentrating on New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs. By and large, I’d say the Fiano is slightly softer than the perky Sauvignon Blanc, with a good bouquet that makes it a bit more elegant and flavorful. The wine itself has notes of honey (though it’s not a sweet wine), nuts, and fruitiness that’s more apricot and pear versus the grapefruit flavors of the NZ Sauvignon Blanc. And while it’s hard to do a side-by-side comparison of the New Zealand versus the Italian – since we have so far not been able to find Fiano di Avellino in Texas – it’s well worth looking for and goes really well with seafood/pasta dishes. The retail prices in Italy were 12-15 euros, so I would expect a good bottle can be had for less than $20.

Here are three we particularly liked, that may be available in the States:

Fiano di Avellino from Guido Marsella
Béchar Fiano di Avellino from Cantine Antonio Caggiano
Fiano di Avellino from Fuedi di San Gregorio

In addition to the Fiano di Avellino, other whites worth trying from the region are Greco di Tufo and Falanghina.

 With my next post, I’ll let you know how successful the Kitchen Goddess was at reproducing some of the dishes.

Preserving My Sanity What’s cooking? Red and Yellow Cherry Tomato Confit

I spent 10 days in Italy, and all I got was this sinus infection. That’s not really true, but it is what’s most on my mind right now. So while I try to get my ears to unclog, and gather my thoughts for a couple of posts about the most foodie-friendly place on earth – that would be the Amalfi Coast – I have something for you to do with your spare time this weekend. You’re welcome.

It’s the end of the official tomato season, and what better way to hang onto it than to literally preserve some. I know, I’ve beat this horse till it’s probably long past dead in your minds, but in the middle of winter, when everything outside is gray and brown and white, you will thank your lucky stars that your good friend, The Kitchen Goddess, persuaded you to put some of these goodies away in jars.

Let me start by saying that this is sooooo easy, and yet the results will make you the envy of all your friends. I’ve checked my local Whole Foods, and it seems that those really sweet cherry tomatoes are still available. So whether or not you have a Whole Foods nearby, you can probably find both red and yellow cherry tomatoes in stock at your local grocer or farmers’ market; if not, go for just red or whatever color you can find. I like the mix of red and yellow just for the color. And while I’ve used rosemary as my herb of choice, that’s mostly because the stuff grows like cactus down here in Texas, so I’m always trimming back my rosemary bushes and just throwing the branches away. You could also go for fresh oregano or some combination of oregano, thyme, rosemary, French tarragon, dill, or basil.

Confit (pronounced “con-fee”) originally developed as a way to preserve meats, salting and seasoning them and cooking them for a long time in their own fat, then cooling and storing them in the fat. Nowadays, many fruits and veggies are made into confit by just cooking the hell out of them. In fact, Giada has an apple and onion confit that looks delicious, though I only just discovered it in the process of writing this post. Have to try that. And lemon confit, which is used as a seasoning, and in which the lemons are preserved for 1-3 months in salt, is a whole different animal, but well worth trying.

This cherry tomato confit is completely wonderful as a topping for bruschetta, and Melissa Clark, from whom I adapted this recipe, says she serves it over fresh ricotta with crusty bread. I most often serve it on pasta, though it would go equally well over polenta or quinoa or creamy risotto. Straight from the jar, it makes a bright, really flavorful topping. All you might want to add is some grated parmesan, but I could see stirring in some sautéed mushrooms or sliced Italian sausage. So make a big batch, preserve some in jars, and leave the rest for dinner this week. In fact, even without that whole processing-in-boiling-water business, if you put the confit in jars, it will last at least a month in the refrigerator.

Red and Yellow Cherry Tomato Confit
Adapted from Melissa Clark in The New York Times

1 pint red cherry tomatoes
1 pint yellow cherry tomatoes
3-4 large cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup olive oil
leaves from 3 6-inch stems of fresh rosemary (a scant ¼ cup)
¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper (alternatively, a pinch of crushed red pepper)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375º. In a large bowl, with a wooden spoon, gently stir together the tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and rosemary. Spread the mixture out evenly onto a sheet pan, and sprinkle with Aleppo pepper (or pepper flakes), kosher salt, and pepper. Bake 45-50 minutes, until the tomatoes start to look wrinkled. Shake the pan a couple of times during the baking to keep the tomatoes distributed in the oil.

If you’re not eating them immediately, store the tomatoes – along with the oil, garlic, and herbs –  in jars. Keeps one month in the refrigerator.

Summer’s Over but Salad Season Is Still Going Strong What’s cooking? Poppy Seed Dressing

It’s been a salad-y week for me. I’m in Texas getting ready to spend 10 days in Italy, so you may not hear from me for a while. And in an effort to shed a few of the pounds that will no doubt reappear over these coming 10 days, I’ve been experimenting with just about every combination of salad ingredients available. But I haven’t lost any weight in the process. It must have been the ice cream I had for dessert.

As the weather gets a bit cooler, there’s a resurgence of lovely types of greens that don’t really like the heat of August. And you can still find wonderful, fresh salad items like tomatoes and figs and blackberries. I read somewhere that a new type of sprout – from sunflower seeds – is the latest rage among professional chefs, so I pounced on that, too, when it showed up at my local Whole Foods.

Foodie Faves: The Cook's Thesaurus

Spend enough time cruising the internet, and you’ll invariably come across a source you hadn’t known existed. And so it is with today’s favorite. I found The Cook’s Thesaurus when I was making that delicious Fish Chowder I posted about recently. The recipe called for “strong fish stock, traditional fish stock, chicken stock or water (as a last resort).” Well, I didn’t have fish stock, strong or otherwise, and those of you who know me – and don’t you all know me by now? – know that I don’t do much “as a last resort.” I’m more likely to make a run to the grocery store at 11 o’clock at night because the right ingredient is...well, the right ingredient and I need it NOW.

So I had chicken stock; I also had bottled clam broth, which I thought would be good with the chicken stock. But I wanted at least one more vote in favor. I hunted around on the web, and up popped The Cook’s Thesaurus. There, in black and white, was the entry:

“fish stock  Substitutes: fish broth (less salty) OR equal parts chicken broth and water OR clam juice (saltier)”

Then as I poked around the site, I found a wealth of information on substitutes for almost anything you could mention. As well as tidbits about herbs and spices, condiments (listed by culinary culture), dairy products, and on and on. Clearly written, easy to understand, and with great photos.

It’s just chockablock with tidbits of culinary knowledge that I’ve “known” but never really gotten the specifics of – like the amount of garlic powder (⅛ teaspoon) that’s the equivalent of one garlic clove.

It tells you which herbs (like rosemary or sage or oregano) are equally good in the dried form as fresh, and which really need to be fresh (like chives or basil or dill). And here’s one I didn’t know (amazing, yes?): dill loses flavor when it’s heated, so wait till the last minute to add it to hot dishes.

Here’s a tasting of what you’ll learn on a visit:

■Freshly cut fruits or vegetables won’t darken if you put them in acidulated water – that’s water with a small amount of vinegar or lemon juice. The proportions are 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice/vinegar to one quart of water. I knew the first part but not the proportions.

■Store cheese near the bottom of the refrigerator, where the temperature is relatively more stable. But don’t freeze it, as freezing ruins the flavor. [The Kitchen Goddess’s favorite cheese guy says to always remove cheese from the fridge a half hour before serving. Except for goat cheese, which needs only 5-10 minutes.]

■Does your recipe call for buttermilk? Make your own by adding a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to a cup of milk and let it stand for 10 minutes. Or you can use plain, low-fat yogurt. Or sour cream. Or a cup of milk mixed with 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar, and let stand 10 minutes.

■For breading meat or fish, if you’re out of breadcrumbs, try crushed cornflakes (or other cereal) or crushed crackers, or even crushed corn chips or pretzels.

■The recipe calls for striped bass, but you can’t find any. Try any of these: grouper, sea bass, tilefish, halibut, salmon (!) or blackfish.

■Elephant garlic – those giant heads that look like garlic but come in a mesh bag – are more closely related to leeks than garlic, and therefore milder than regular garlic. Use it to get the flavor of garlic but a less potent taste.

■Out of fresh parsley? Try substituting chervil or celery tops or cilantro. Frozen parsley is acceptable, and all are preferable to dried parsley, which has about the same flavor as yesterday’s newspaper. And FYI, Italian parsley is much more flavorful than curly parsley. [Needless to say, the Kitchen Goddess knew that, but I throw it into this piece to demonstrate the breadth of information available at the Cook’s Thesaurus.]

And here’s a real kicker which I plan to try soon: If you are sauteing food, you can substitute flat beer for the butter. (Three tablespoon of flat beer for every tablespoon of butter called for in the recipe.) Go figure.

Gimme a Break – Fast Food for Tax Time What’s cooking? Corn and Tomato Frittata

I’m working on my taxes. Yes, it’s September, but that’s how long it takes me to (a) get my butt in the chair with the necessary papers in hand; and (b) when the butt is in the chair to get the accounting done in lieu of another game of Spider Solitaire. Here’s another thing that happens:

I’m moving through my AmEx statements looking for records of business deductions and charitable donations, when my husband says he wants to use the dryer and can he take my laundry out of it. I want to get the permanent press shirts hung up quickly, so I leave my desk, coffee cup in hand, and go to the laundry room, where I start hanging up shirts and folding clothes. Halfway through, I notice that the coffee cup is empty, so I go to the kitchen to refill.

Foodie Faves: Candles

I love candles. I can’t think of anything that makes a meal more special than candlelight. If you are having a PB&J by yourself for dinner, and you set a couple of candles out on the table where you’ll be eating – even if it’s only the kitchen island – the meal will be more pleasant and you will feel better about yourself. So before the entertaining season rolls in, I thought I would, er, wax eloquent on the subject.

When my sons were living at home, I almost always lit candles at the dinner table. I believed that they helped to create a mood that was friendly and warm – that they made the meal feel like a special time. The glow of candlelight brings on a mood that is quieter and more intimate; and in a house with as much testosterone as we had, lowering the volume of discourse is no mean feat.

Curse of the Nightowl What’s cooking? New Jersey Fish Chowder

We spent most of last summer trying to remember on a daily basis to pick up a copy of The New York Times. It had seemed too complicated to try getting one subscription in Texas and another in New Jersey. Besides, the minimart in our NJ building sold papers, so all we had to do was remember.

This summer, remembering how hard that remembering part had been, I bit the bullet and opened a new account in Jersey City, under my husband’s name. Delivery went swimmingly until we popped down to Texas for a week, and when we got back, suddenly we were getting two copies of the paper every day.