Thanksgiving Thoughts

Thanksgiving, that blessed event, is in just three days. I'm so looking forward to it and wanted to share that with you, as well as some practical help that might be of use. I know you're very busy this week, and may just want the practical part. If so, skip to the last paragraph. If not, and you have time for a little nostalgia, here you have it.

1) My birthday is November 26th, so each Thanksgiving is somewhere within a week of it. The holiday is not only a celebration of national, familial and faith-filled significance, it has special meaning as I personally reflect not only on what I am thankful for in life, but what the past year of my life has brought and what I look forward to in the coming one.

2) Thanksgiving REALLY IS about giving thanks! No matter what trials we may be going through, there are also immense blessings on so many levels - family, faith, freedom, provision and so on! This day is a time to look squarely at those blessings and not let them be obscured in the periphery. At the dinner table, after we are full from a wonderful meal (see #3!) we all go around and say what we are thankful for. I tell you what - it is the most beautiful part of the whole meal and probably any meal, all year long. We always thank God for this country and for the men and women who serve it, for the wonderful freedoms we often take for granted. We thank Him for freedom to worship and serve our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave his life for ours 2009 years ago. We thank Him for family, health, provision and many individual joys and victories we each may have experienced in the past year. Last year, my Father also read the original Thanksgiving proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. Our eyes flooded with tears as we listened to these incredible words. I cherish this time of sharing so deeply.

3) The meal. Along with most of America, I love the foods of Thanksgiving; the nostalgia, the variety of options, the whole taste bud sensation! But as a person who loves to cook, host, and serve, Thanksgiving offers more satisfaction than any other meal. It's beloved family and the sky's the limit! I also delight in the process of planning the sumptuous event. I'm sure I've said this before, but I am a planner. If I was an artist, planning would be my medium. So basically, Thanksgiving gives me a chance to do most of which I most enjoy, for my wonderful family.

My first Thanksgiving in the driver's seat was the year I turned 21. That year my birthday landed on the actual day (as it does this year) and I determined that as a fully legit adult it was time to take charge. It was a shaky start let me tell you. I'm not lying when I tell you that I found myself in the fetal position on my Mother's floor at one point, crying hysterically because she had dropped my painstakingly created raspberry puree, rendering it useless. OH THE TRAGEDY!

It's been eleven years now and I've learned so much. My Mother has been a wonderful, patient teacher and along the way I know I've shown her a few new tricks as well. I've also opened my families mind to all the possibilities this meal can have, especially when you take the basics and give them a twist.

This year has been a special joy as a couple of my dear friends are cooking Thanksgiving dinners for the first time. The emails of ideas, advice and menus have been flying and I'm so excited for them. I've shared with them my planning document and they thought it was helpful, so I'll share it with you. I think its important to work within your own experience, know your space limitations (oven space, serving and cooking dishes), and determine how much help you have. Then, make a plan and refer back to it as you go along. I keep mine prominent in the kitchen. By biggest caution is not to try to do too much! As I told my friend, better to do 5 things really well, which come out hot and on time, than 8 things and some of them suffer.

Happy Thanksgiving week to you all! If you have questions or thoughts or advice desired, please post them here! I'll try to help.

Moravian Lovefeast Buns

Quite an impressive name for a dinner roll. Well, this absolutely amazing roll has its origins in a very unique religious gathering that I only know anything about because they make dang good buns. Where my darling Mother first got this recipe I do not know, but they have become an absolutely essential part of our holiday meals. In fact, despite all the wonderful things we make and bake for the holidays, these rolls are the one thing that I can't serve Thanksgiving OR Christmas dinner without and the thing that often receives the most sighs of delight. I'm sure we are not alone in finding a little piece of heaven in a truly perfect dinner roll. These buns are made with a fortified dough which includes potato, butter, eggs and a good bit of sugar. The resulting bun is slightly sweet, buttery and the texture, oh my goodness the texture! Fluffy and light but with a tight enough crumb to be just a little bit chewy. I need to tell you that these ARE your holiday dinner rolls. Please trust me. They are. Look no further.

Moravian Love Feast Buns
adapted from the kitchen of my mother, Mrs. Mary Brown

I recommend making the dough through the first rise and then refrigerating and doing the second rise and baking the next day. The time in the refrigerator allows the flavors to build.

4.5 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
2 pkg. active dry yeast or 4.5 teaspoons
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2/3 cup mashed potatoes, cooled
3/4 cup lukewarm water (maybe a little more)

Heat butter and water until the butter melts and the water is hot.
Add mashed potatoes, then eggs when mixture is cooled to lukewarm. Add these to the bowl of Kitchenaid fitted with paddle attachment. Whisk together flour, sugar, salt, & yeast in a separate bowl. Now, gradually add dry ingredients, combining to make a soft dough.

Let rise until double, about 1.5 hours and then punch down. (Can be refrigerated overnight at this point, which I recommend)

Butter a 9 x 13 casserole. Form rolls slightly bigger than golf balls and place in pan, giving space for them to rise. Cover and allow to rise until more than double in size in a warm place for 1 - 2 hours, depending on whether they were refrigerated.

Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove and brush tops with egg wash. Bake another 10-12 minutes or until they look perfect like the ones in the picture. (I know, how very smug. :) )

Suzi's Roast Turkey

My mother-in-law is a wonderful cook and gracious hostess. She not only makes delicious things but she is unfailingly generous with her skills. She makes many things, especially for the holidays, which I look forward to every year. I'll be posting at least one more of these in the coming month. A few years back, I had her roast turkey for the first time and was totally hooked. But it seemed somewhat complex and while Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I plan for it with a passion bordering on the absurd, the bird is never my greatest focus. I think I was pretty resigned to it being a little dry and a little bland no matter what concoction I rubbed it with, injected it with and so forth. Suzi's turkey however, had a truly moist breast. That is the part I most remember and desired to replicate. Moist, more like cutting into beef tenderloin. Perhaps time has caused the memories to plump a bit, but I'm confident that her bird was the best I've had.

So, for my bi-weekly women's Bible study/dinner party the theme was Thanksgiving Test Kitchen and I decided to give Suzi's bird method a try. It really is a method more than a recipe and I thought the results were excellent. First, a couple things you should know. One - it wasn't as good as hers, but it WAS moist and better than any bird I personally had made before. Two - This is no fancy free-range fresh turkey. This was an 11 lb, 27 cents a lb bird from Safeway. I am not about to spend $60 on a fresh expensive bird when I can get one for $2.97 and it tastes this good. I know, how terribly NOT politically correct I am! Not that I have any problem with those that buy the expensive boutique birds, but I'll do my eating local from the produce table at my Farmer's market, where I can really taste the difference in the end product and it doesn't break the bank. Okay, back to the matter at hand.

First, start by soaking your turkey in brine. For the science behind why this is a great idea, check this out, but simply, brining your turkey forces salt and flavor into its cells, which allows the turkey to be flavored from the inside and not just during roasting with whatever you put on or under the turkey's skin.

Full-Flavored Roast Turkey
Adapted from USA Weekend magazine, from Suzi Hubert's warm and cozy kitchen.

Start this process 15-18 hours prior to roasting. And don't forget to put your turkey in the fridge 48 hours before that, if it's a frozen one. The total roasting time for a 11 - 14 lb turkey by this method will be 2.5 - 3 hours. Do not stuff your bird, it will dry it out and extend the cooking time by quite a lot. Allow 25 minutes for the bird to rest before carving. Don't cover it when its resting! It will decrease skin crispness and cause it to overcook.

Special Equipment: A roasting pan with a V-rack (easy to get at Fred Meyer, Target, all over) and a meat thermometer

STEP 1: Turkey Tea - Here is the one divergence I did from Suzi. Adds more flavor to the brine.

20-25 black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
2 tbl dried thyme
2 tbl fresh sage
2 cups boiling water

Allow the herbs to steep in the hot water for 30 minutes or so.

STEP 2: Brine

1 1/2 cups kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 gallons of cold water
Turkey Tea
1 turkey (thawed, giblet bag, neck and tail removed)

Mix water, sugar and salt together until dissolved. Add your cooled turkey tea and your turkey - breast side down. You'll need a 5 gallon bucket or very large stockpot for this. Put this in fridge now for 15-18 hours. OR, like I did, pour 2 cups of ice over the turkey and put it in your garage if you're doing this overnight and the temperature is going to be 45 degrees or below. Cover the pot and don't worry, it will be fine.

STEP 3: Roasting

Remove your turkey from the brine, rinse thoroughly with cool water and pat very dry. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and place oven rack on the lowest position.

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
1 carrot, coarsely chopped
1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
3 tbl butter, melted
grey salt or kosher salt

Loosely stuff the cavity with 1/2 the chopped onion, carrot and celery. Scatter the rest on the bottom of the roasting dish under the V-rack. Add 1-2 cups of water to the pan, depending on how large it is. This helps the vegetables not burn. They are there to improve the flavor of the drippings.

Tie the turkey legs together and secure the wings, with kitchen twine wrapped around the bird. Now, place V-rack in the roasting pan and place turkey breast side DOWN, on V-rack. Brush back and sides with melted butter. Sprinkle generously with grey salt and fresh cracked pepper. Place in oven now and roast for 50 minutes.


Remove pan from oven, close oven door. Baste turkey's back with drippings. Now, with two towels, turn the turkey until it is on its side with one leg and wing up. This is why you need the V-roaster. Brush the exposed side with melted butter. Sprinkle generously with grey salt and fresh cracked pepper and place it back in the oven for 20 minutes.


Remove pan from oven, close oven door. Turn the turkey over so the opposite side is up. Brush the exposed side with melted butter. Sprinkle generously with grey salt and fresh cracked pepper and place it back in the oven for 20 minutes.

For the third time, remove turkey from oven, close door. Turn turkey breast side up and baste with drippings, melted butter and sprinkle with grey salt and fresh cracked pepper. Roast for 40 more minutes.


Remove the bird and check its temperature with a meat thermometer into the breast, but not all the way to the bone - just right into the meat about 1 inch down. You are looking for a temperature of 162-165. When you are there, remove the turkey and let rest. If you are not, put it in for 5-10 more minutes depending on how far you are away.

NOTE: My cooking times were for a 11 lb bird. Yours could very likely be bigger. You'll need to adjust, probably 30 minutes longer total time for a 14 lb one. The cooking of the turkey doesn't happen in a linear fashion. There is a point in the roasting of the bird where it starts to heat exponentially as it reaches doneness. So you could take it out after 2.5 hours and the breast could be at 150 and 15 minutes later it could be at 160-165, which is when you want to take it out. So watch it closely in the 15 minutes to ensure you don't overdo it. Use your kitchen timer!

As for serving portions, I think a 11 lb bird serves 8 people with plenty of back meat left for soups and leftovers.

The reasons for doing your turkey this way are many. The brining adds moisture and flavor, roasting it upside down keeps the most sensitive part of the turkey - the breast - from becoming overdone and too dry, and rotating the bird has the effect of establishing brown crusty skin all over the bird, which seals in moisture but also tastes delicious.

I hope someone gives this method a try, or I just spent way too much time retyping this recipe!

Oaxacan Black Mole

For the second time, and quite possibly the last, I made this incredibly complex and time consuming dish. With its roots squarely planted in a Oaxacan (a region of Mexico) grandmother's cooking tradition, it has a way of making you feel like a martyr/saint when you make it. Perhaps this is no coincidence and mothers and grandmothers for centuries have been wielding their culinary power and racking up undying commitment from their families for going through this long and grueling process. More than thirty ingredients, four hours of chopping, frying, toasting, blending, straining, reducing and one disastrous kitchen later you have an immensely complex sauce and perfect to serve at your most authentic Mexican dinner party. And that is exactly what I did, for Supper Thyme this past Saturday.

The process really comes down to making four different purees. Counter clockwise, starting top left, these purees contain the following. First - roasted onion and garlic, banana, charred bread, oregano, canela, cloves and thyme. Second - tomatoes and tomatillos, Third - dried Pasilla, Chilhualces, Chipotle secco and Mulato chilies that have been toasted in hot oil and reconstituted in water. Fourth - blackened seeds from inside the afore mentioned dried chilies as well as deeply toasted almonds, pecans, sesame seeds and peanuts.


Once you have the four purees, you cook each one down until reduced to the consistency of tomato paste, then add the next and repeat this process. I know, it doesn't look appetizing, but you know what they say about judging, books, covers, etc.

After all purees are added in turn and reduced to a thick paste, Mexican chocolate is added. This special chocolate contains cinnamon, chili powders and other spices and is only slightly sweetened. The final step is adding stock to bring the sauce to a pouring consistency, season well with salt and a bit of sugar to mellow the toasty flavors just a bit.

After all this, my kitchen looked like all this.


So, you may ask, why bother? Well, for me, making this sauce was one of those things I needed to do in my culinary lifetime. I absolutely love the flavor but more than that it was a challenge to see if I could do it and do it well. I am satisfied, and honestly, I totally enjoyed my time in the kitchen. Cooking certainly shouldn't always be a rush to be done. I got to savor the process.

I won't type out the whole recipe here but if anyone wants it, email me at goldenpigletmail@gmail.com and I'll send you a copy straight from Rick's book.

Pantry Weeks and Pizza Patate

This coming weekend is my husband's 35th birthday. Birthdays are a huge deal for him and I always try to plan something really special. A birthday that ends in a 5 or a 0 is particularly important and must be celebrated with extreme gusto. As I've mentioned before on this blog, he works incredibly hard and I'm taking him away in hopes he can really rest and relax. To make it more fun, I've kept our destination a surprise. I'm quite proud of myself, 8 weeks of surprise self control. :)

So, you might ask, how does this all relate to pantry and pizza? Well, knowing I'd be taking him out of town I decided I needed to be very budget conscious in the weeks leading up to the occasion. I'd heard of pantry weeks from many sources and after trying it, I highly recommend it. Basically, I cooked almost entirely from my pantry, fridge and freezer for two weeks, from stockpiles of frozen chicken, veggies, beans, stocks, canned tomatoes, hard cheeses and baking products. Of course you'll need some fresh items like milk and some veggies, but for the most part it worked out really well and I spent less than a quarter of what I normally do at the grocery store. I actually got a big kick out of this. It requires some recipe searching, modification and substitution, but it was a fun challenge. I also found that by making fresh breads I could elevate some pretty simple things to a nice meal.

Some of the items we had were vegetable risotto, Sourdough BLT's and beet salad, butternut squash curry, potato, bacon and corn chowder with buttermilk biscuits, tomato soup with chickpeas & Irish soda bread, and sausage & pepper calzones. Nothing fancy, but Zack and I were happy as clams and everything was yummy, though I certainly didn't feel inspired to blog. Pizza Patate changed that. What a case of something being more than the sum of its parts! It is creamy, crispy, savory delight. You must make it. I bet you have all the ingredients in your house RIGHT now. In your pantry.

Pizza Patate
Adapted from My Bread by Jim Lahey, reprinted in November 2009 Gourmet magazine.


Makes 1 large pizza, 8 slices. Serves 2-3 for entree OR cut in small squares for a great appetizer!

BASIC PIZZA DOUGH (you could use store-bought dough, but this is cheap and easy.

Start this 3 hours before you want to eat.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp kosher salt or 1/2 tsp table salt
1 tsp sugar
2/3 cup room-temperature water
extra virgin olive oil for the pan

1. In a medium bowl (I used my kitchenaid with paddle attachment), stir together the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the water and mix until well blended. The dough is quite stiff, not wet and sticky. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the dough has doubled in volume, about 2 hours. Then, start the potatoes for the topping.

TOPPING

1 quart lukewarm water
4 tsp table salt
2 lbs russet potato (or any kind of potato you have)
1 cup diced red onion (or any onion you have)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 tbl extra virgin olive oil
2-3 tsp chopped fresh rosemary (I have this in my yard, if you don't, take a walk, you'll find some to "borrow")
Optional, but really adds a lot: 1/2 cup gorgonzola cheese (or whatever you may have in your fridge going unused - feta, goat cheese would be great here)

1. In a medium bowl, combine water and salt, stirring until the salt is dissolved. Use a mandoline or knife to slice the potatoes very thin (1/16 inch thick) and put the slices directly into the salted water so they don't oxidize and turn brown. Let soak in the brine for 1.5 hours at least, until the slices are wilted and no longer crisp.

2. Drain the potatoes in a colander and use your hands to press out as much water as possible, then pat dry with a clean dish towel. Now, toss together the potatoes slices, onion, pepper and olive oil.

ASSEMBLY

Preheat oven to 500 degrees and position a rack in the center.

1. Oil a 13 x 18" rimmed baking sheet. Scrape the dough across the surface of the pan, use you hands to press it evenly out to the edges. If the dough sticks to your fingers, lightly dust it with flour or coat hands with oil. Pinch any holes together.

2. Spread the potato mixture evenly over the dough, going all the way to the edges of the pan; put a bit more of the topping around the edges of the pie, as the outside tends to cook more quikcly. Sprinkle evenly with rosemary & a little kosher salt (not much, the potatoes are already salty.)

3. Bake for 18 minutes, remove and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake another 8 minutes until topping is golden brown and the crust is pulling away from the sides of the pan. Serve hot or at room temperature.