Our Thanksgiving Menu 2011

 

Thanksgiving Menu 2011

ENTRÉES

POMEGRANATE-GLAZED ROAST TURKEY

12-hour brined Organic Free-Range Turkey (me)

HAM (my cousin)

ACCOMPANIMENTS

COLLARD GREENS

(SIL #3)

CASSEROLES Green Bean, Potato Cheese & Sweet Potato (SIL #1)

MASHED POTATO & GRAVY

SALAD (SIL #2)

CORNBREAD with Whipped Honey Butter

7-CHEESE MAC & CHEESE featuring Sharp Yellow Cheddar, Extra-Sharp White Cheddar, Mozzarella, Asiago, Gruyere, Monterey Jack, Muenster

CRANBERRY-ORANGE SAUCE

(me)

DESSERTS

PUMPKIN CAKE (my cousin)

PIES: APPLE, PUMPKIN (SIL #2)

Ancho-Marinated Skirt Steak With Warm Black Bean Salad

I made this delicious dish from Sunset's October 2011 issue. And enjoyed it with the rest of the bottle of Syrah used in the marinade. It was really, really, yummy! You can find the recipe from Sunset here. But I've also included it here (in case).

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Syrah or other dry red wine
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar, divided
• About 6 tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic, divided
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 tsp. pepper
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin, divided
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano leaves
• 1 tablespoon ground dried ancho chiles or chili powder
• 1 skirt steak (about 1 1/2 lbs.)
• 2 fresh poblano chiles (sometimes labeled pasilla)
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 3 cans black beans (15 oz. each), drained and rinsed
• 1 large red pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/2-in. chunks
• 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• About 3 green onions, sliced (including green tops)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

• 1. Combine wine, 1/4 cup each vinegar and oil, 1 tbsp. each garlic and pepper, 1 tsp. each salt and cumin, the oregano, and ground chiles in a large, plastic food bag. If steak is in 1 long piece, cut in half crosswise; rinse, add to bag, seal, and turn to coat. Chill at least 4 hours or up to 1 day.
• 2. Preheat broiler. Halve, stem, and seed the poblanos. Lay skin side up on a baking sheet and broil 4 inches from heat until well charred, 6 to 7 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, then peel and coarsely chop.
• 3. Heat grill to high (450° to 550°). In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, sauté onion and remaining 1 tbsp. garlic in 2 tbsp. oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in beans and remaining 1/4 cup vinegar and 1 tsp. each pepper, salt, and cumin; turn heat to low.
• 4. Oil cooking grate well. Lift steak from marinade (discard marinade) and grill, turning once, until browned on both sides but still pink in the center (cut to test), 7 to 10 minutes total. Transfer to a board and let rest at least 5 minutes.
• 5. Meanwhile, add poblanos, red pepper, tomatoes, 3 green onions, and cilantro to bean mixture, and stir occasionally until warm. Slice steak on the diagonal across the grain and serve on warm bean salad. Garnish with more green onions if you like.

Poblanos:

Bean Salad (I used golden cherry tomatoes instead of red ones. I like the colors)

And here's dinner for two:

I thought the flavors in the dish were really good and actually had a lot of the bean salad left over, which I loved. I added the bean salad the next day for breakfast in an omelet and as a salad for lunch. Success!

Pumpkin Gingersnap Ice Cream

Who knew Tuesday would be such a culinary delight-ful day!

Again, this recipe is from the October 2011 Sunset issue. You can find the recipe here.

Do you see those little speckles? They are speckles of goodness (gingersnap cookies).


Ingredients
1 pt. whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup Homemade Pumpkin Purée
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coarsely crushed gingersnaps
2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)

Preparation
1. Whisk all ingredients except gingersnaps and bourbon in a bowl to blend. Strain into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. (I actually skipped this part...oops. Hey, working from home and cooking at the same time can be distracting...but luckily it wasn't too much of an error. I'll be sure to strain it next time I make this, and I *will* make this again)
2. Scrape ice cream into a bowl and stir in gingersnaps and bourbon. Freeze, covered, until scoopable, 2 1/2 hours and up to 1 week (gingersnaps soften somewhat after 1 day).

 Ingredients:

Added to the milk & cream:

All blended together:

The ice cream maker does it's magic, and into the freezer for a couple hours:

And then, this goodness can be enjoyed!

Turkey Bacon Wrapped Dates w/ Balsamic Reduction

Last weekend, J & I attended an underground foodie event called 25SF. It was a lot of fun and one of the items served was bacon wrapped dates. It was good, and so I decided to make some tonight. I used turkey bacon because 1. it's what I have 2. it's healthier. I try to be as healthy as I can regularly, so I can splurge when I'm out and not feel bad about it when I do.

Ingredients
Pitted dates
Turkey bacon, or bacon bacon (cut into thirds)
Toothpicks
1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Light Brown Sugar

Make the Balsamic Reduction
1. Boil the balsamic vinegar. Simmer until reduced to half.
2. Add brown sugar and stir until dissolved. Continue stirring until sticky and thick.
3. Let cool.

Cook the Bacon Wrapped Dates
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Wrap the dates in the bacon and seal with a toothpick (edges on the bottom)
3. Place on a baking sheet lined with foil
4. Bake for 20-30 minutes (until crisp and edges are brown)
5. Let cool for about 10-15 minutes and serve

Plate the dates and drizzle the balsamic reduction over to taste. Enjoy!

This is a great appetizer and I'll be making this for my bestie's baby shower in January!

Pumpkin Soup with Pumkin Seed-Mint Pesto

It's fall and the weather has turned. It's cold -- actually, let me take that back. I grew up on the East Coast, so it actually doesn't get as cold here in California. But, it's chilly. I've acclimated to the weather here, so I won't be able to stand the frigid temperatures when I go home for the holidays.

Anyway, enough about the weather. Let's get to the soup I made earlier this week. You would think now that I work at home, I would have more time to cook -- not the case. I actually haven't been cooking as much as I used to, but I'd like to change that. Over the weekend, I had time to read my magazines (I had a lot to go through).

On the cover of October's Sunset Magazine was a lovely photo of pumpkin soup and I decided I wanted to make this pumpkin soup. Because I love to cook stuff I've never cooked before. And I did! And you know what? It was pretty darn good. I wanted to serve it in a small pumpkin bowl just like the picture, but...let's just say I didn't read the instructions thoroughly enough and it didn't happen. You can find the recipe here.

• SOUP INGREDIENTS
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 4 1/2 cups peeled, 1-in. chunks pumpkin or other orange-fleshed squash (from a 2 1/2-lb. squash)
• 4 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 
  
• PESTO INGREDIENTS
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, plus slivered leaves
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup salted roasted pumpkin seeds

Here are all my ingredients for the soup:

• 1. Sauté onion and ginger in oil in a medium pot over medium-high heat until golden, 5 minutes.  Add garlic and coriander and cook until softened.

2. Add pumpkin, broth, salt, and pepper. Simmer, covered, until pumpkin tender.

3. Puree in batches.

PESTO (so good!)

It's really simple. Just pound the mint leave, salt, garlic and 1 tablespoon of oil together. Then add the remaining oil and pumpkin seeds and pound again. Until you get something like this:

That's it! Pour your soup into the pumpkin bowl that you made correctly, or just a regular old white soup bowl like I did. Either way, it will be delicious. And dollops of pesto and slivers of sliced mint leaves and enjoy!