Thanksgiving, and leftovers.

This was the first year I've ever cooked a Thanksgiving dinner. I'd say I was over prepared, since I did a lot of knitting the day of... not that I'm complaining. I ordered a smoked turkey, which I had never tried before, from the Amish organic meat guy that I also ordered beef and pork from this year. It was fantastic! My first bite confirmed that it was indeed similar to ham, but it was such a stress free way to make a Thanksgiving turkey, that I would absolutely do it again.

These rolls (on the right above) are also one of my favorite party foods, since you mix the dough the night before and let it sit until about 2 hours before you want to bake them. I'd say they fall into the enriched bread category, since they contain a fair amount of sugar, some milk and butter, but they are always popular. Instead of feeling leaden like many enriched doughs, these are light, and hold well for a couple of days after too.

The smoking process requires the bird be cut in half, so I froze half of my bird. The meat is actually then fully cooked, and only needs to be heated through. I borrowed a Rival electric counter top roasting pan from my in-laws, and was rewarded with an entire oven of free space. I had the stuffing and Potato Pumpkin bake ready the day before, so it really only needed to be on an hour, 90 minutes if you include the rolls' baking time.

By the time I ate pie later in the evening, I was really very full. I can not eat to my full capacity anymore. I was reminded of this when reading this post by Glutster today. Ah, to be 20 again...

There were hardly any dishes from this adventure either, at least no more than any other day, which was an added bonus. We had a leftovers party the next day with Sasa and Dimitri to quickly dispense of most of the leftovers. I had made enough steamed broccoli to feed North Korea, so I decided just before they arrived to make a broccoli soup. That wasn't a bad idea, since it was also delicious.

Made like this:

All my leftover broccoli, a carrot, an onion, 2 c. of stock and 2 c. of skim milk. Easy peasy. Add some salt, pepper and Aleppo and blend with an immersion blender. Then mix in about 4 oz. of shredded (Cranberry Chipotle Cheddar - I love Wisconsin...) cheese and you have a pretty easy, healthy, delicious soup!

I was leaving town, so I sent along the leftovers with them, but I'll be making this again soon. The Boy-O and I took a quick trip west to cut down our tree and visit my parents for a day. When I returned, there was just enough turkey left for a couple of sandwiches. I ate one last night, and one for lunch today on some plain old white bread I made.

It has been quite a while since I made plain white bread. This is the Cook's Illustrated American White Bread, which is just that: soft, plain and white. It was the proper choice for the last of the Thanksgiving turkey. I polished off the last of my first jar of spicy dilly beans, a keeper of a canning recipe if I ever had one, and am on track for a cleaned out fridge. We're heading south to Orlando, FLA in a couple of days, and I like to have a clean slate when I return from a trip. The break in cooking before we go will be used to decorate the tree, knit and meander around the house in general.

Boy, Marisa at Foodinjars was not kidding about how good these dilly beans are...

So many people have such horror stories about their first Thanksgiving behind the stove. I'm very thankful that mine was such a good experience to remember! The coming weeks will be spent in Christmas cooking preparations. Cookies, of course. Every year I seem to go overboard and think that I never have enough. Tamale making is going to be in the works again this year, too. I love making tamales, and this is my third year using the Rick Bayless method. The only thing I do wish I had were an extra pair of hands to help with the spreading, and about 20 extra feet of counter space. But as long as I plan enough in advance, I am just as happy to do it alone. Still if you are in the greater Milwaukee area, and want to lend a hand, just let me know.

Canolo Mio: November 2009 Daring Baker Challenge

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

The recipe for these Cannoli was titled Lidisano, a very Italian sounding name if you ask me, but she also adds: "the name ‘Lidisano’ is a combination of Lidia, Lisa and Sopranos".

This month, I was fooled by the opening lines that this challenge wouldn't require baking. Then I read my dreaded words "Deep Frying". I'll admit that I've never deep-fried anything in my life, and this rendered me very procrastinative for this challenge. I've pan-fried, but always with minimal fat in a non-stick skillet - so I guess that's really not even close. I am not opposed to eating the occasional fry or onion ring either, but somehow, I never had the urge to do this in my hood-free home. Fortunately, I did my homework (as promised) and did a lot of thinking through. Not only was this a fun challenge, I discovered the joys of deep-frying.

As always, I'll let the pictures tell the story:

I decided to make the optional ricotta cheese. I've made this before, though not for some time. Ounce for ounce, I'd say that homemade ricotta (one gallon milk to one quart buttermilk, though I made only half) is worth making over buying. Not only can the taste convince you, but it's really not all that expensive to make. I made a half batch, and my yield was about 2 1/2 cups. Your yield will depend on the fat content of your milk, and I used whole for the sake of the Daring Kitchen and Thanksgiving spirit.

I made a makeshift bag out of cheesecloth and tied it from my cabinet to let it drain. It was delicious, dry curd cheese when it emerged.

I did this step a couple days before the frying stage. It will last about a week in the fridge. I'm planning a lasagna out of the remainder. If I have too many leftovers after our Thanksgiving dinner to attend to, I think I'll assemble it and freeze it, though I'm not sure about freezing the ricotta by itself.

So, true to my procrastination, I made the dough yesterday afternoon. It needs a couple hours in the cold to relax, and I thought I could fry it today if I felt like it. (After all, everything is basically done for my Thanksgiving dinner. I think Thanksgiving seems to be a little different than most dinners, since everything can be made mostly in advance. I find myself with more time than I thought today, until 3 p.m. when my prep work will pay off and I have to turn on the oven.) I ended up deciding to make the shells last night after all.

I opted to use the pasta machine rolling option. The reason my dough is that peculiar shade of burgundy is that I used red wine as my acid. The recipe called for sweet Marsala or any red or white wine on hand. In any future cannoli making events, I think I would use white just to have a more attractive color in my end product. These did taste delicious, though. As they fried, I could smell the wine evaporating, and in the end only had a nuanced taste of alcohol.

I cut the circles with a 3 inch cutter, and layered them in the plastic wrap to await their fried baths. This dough was incredibly elastic. The other thing I noticed about this challenge is that it wasn't really messy. The dough was clean to work with, and didn't even need much flour to roll out. And the frying was a breeze too. I was so surprised at this, since I thought for sure I was going to need to wash the floor and wipe up spattered oil from everything. In truth, I didn't even need to wash more than the stand mixer bowl, the oil pan and the candy thermometer!

My fry station.

I decided to use grapeseed oil to fry. And those takeout chopsticks were my only other tool needed. I spread some newspaper on a sheet pan, laid a sheet of paper towel on top, and waited for the oil to come to temperature: 350-375 degrees.

I used a small pot, since I knew I was going to make the stacked cannolo, and it required me to use less oil. I used about 3 cups to come to a depth of about 2 inches. A strange thing happened to me: I fried each cannolo by itself, and I got to know the temperament of hot oil. By about the 3rd round, I knew how many seconds before I needed to flip, and by about the 10th, I knew how to control the heat to maintain about 370 degrees. I could physically see the differences in cannoli fried at 350 and those fried at 370+. Amazing. The beautiful blistering came at the higher temperature. I have new appreciation for fry cooks.

For health reasons, I don't think I'll take up frying on an everyday basis, but I enjoyed this! I had the quiet kitchen to myself (since I started after Boy-O's bedtime), and with zen like precision, I carried out my 4th daring baker task. After all the rounds were fried, I pulled out the pumpkin-ricotta filling I made earlier in the afternoon, and filled a pastry bag.

The pumpkin filling was tasty, if not a touch on the sweet side, and indeed the only thing bothering me about the my whole challenge experience was the color combination of my finished product.

But after my first bite, I wasn't too worried about that. The shells were perfectly crisp, and the filling perfectly and pumpkinly creamy.

You can find the recipes for this month's Daring Baker Challenge at The Daring Kitchen website, if you find yourself curious about deep frying. If you do carry out the task, I hope you are as pleasantly surprised by the results as I was!

One day until Pie Day, or Thanksgiving as it is also known.

First off, these photos will not be as clear or artful as normal. It's hard to snap photos when your hands are covered in butter and flour. I am truly amazed that I've never dropped my camera thus far due to "kitchen hands", but I'm sure that now I've mentioned it, it will fall gracelessly from my grasp later this afternoon...

I decided to waiver from the Vodka Pie Crust I was planning to make for my Thanksgiving pies, and opted for the Alton Brown method since I've had nothing but success from his recipes in the past, and they used slightly less fat than the Vodka Dough. I was also in the mood for weights, and so out of the cupboard came my digital scale, and all the ingredients were assembled nice and neat in the food pro.

Check it out if you have 10 minutes:

Now, I did not use a brick of lard, mind you. I did use 2 T. of organic, non-hydrogenated shortening, and the resulting pie dough was beautiful and easy to work with. The most novel thing about this pie dough making method is that after food pro assembly, you simply toss the dough into a zipper top bag, and then gently knead it into a disk through the plastic. Mess free! I am the messiest pie dough maker ever, and nary a stray crumb catapulted from the counter during my whole process.

I mixed up the doughs yesterday, and pulled them from the icebox to roll this morning. Another amazing thing is Alton tells you to cut two sides off the zip top bag (one of my sides was the ziptop part), and then use the plastic to roll out the dough. This is genius, since I barely needed any additional flour to roll, and absolutely nothing sticks to the board.

When I got to this point, I did slice off the other two sides of the plastic bag, and then repositioned the plastic as needed. I think I've found a way to have pie more often! Usually, I stick to cake, since I do love it, often it only requires one bowl, and I can manage relative neatness while assembling.

Finished pie photos will most definitely accompany my Thanksgiving dinner post, sometime after the fete tomorrow or Friday...

But look at my work area! Not messy at all, and now I'm on to assembly of the Potato and Pumpkin Bake that Marisa at Foodinjars.com told me (and all of her readers) I had to make. Meanwhile, if you haven't made a pie yet, or just needed some encouragement to go ahead and make one, give Alton's Recipe a try. You won't be sorry, and neither will your clean kitchen.

HOT! Curried Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup

Last Friday, the Boy-O and I went for lunch together at Honeypie. It was one of the better restaurant experiences for us lately, I suspect because it was just the two of us. He sat opposite me at our table in the window, and really was being quite impressive. He ordered his grilled cheese, on the list of his acceptable foods, and I just ordered a bowl of soup: Creamy Curried Carrot.

I haven't had a carrot soup in quite awhile, and this one was great. I just needed to ask for the Sriracha, since I like things hot. That one bowl was enough for the day, but I really had a taste for it again today. I thought I'd make some, but I'd make sure to add enough heat for me not to need to add any additional.

Well, it's Hot, I'll tell you. I finished making it just after lunch, and had a little cup full just to be sure it was seasoned properly. I'll list my approximate proportions here:

Hot Curried Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup

• 2 T. or so olive oil and/or a little butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 T. more or less Hot Curry Powder
• 1 t. or so powdered ginger
• 5 or 6 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 good size sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• about 6 c. chicken stock or veg stock or even water
• salt and pepper (I used California Seasoned Pepper and a good shake of Aleppo, since I can't seem to omit it from anything)

Saute onion in oil or butter until translucent, about 5 minutes over medium heat. Add curry powder and ginger powder and stir for one minute. Add all the chopped veg and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, pop on the lid, and simmer gently for a half hour or so until the vegetables are soft. Puree with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender (taking care not to seal it up all the way if it's hot). Adjust spices with salt and peppers.

You could add a whole host of other nuanced spices if you feel like it, I think nutmeg and maybe even a little allspice would be good. I'm also planning to splash it with a little half and half before I serve it to my Mom tonight. Oh, and I'm going to make a few candied walnuts for the top... I think it needs something crunchy.

Such a cheerful fall color...

The other highlight of Friday's impromptu lunch was the Boy-O having to have dessert. I know I could have said no...but I confess that I truly am bewildered at the deliciousness of their baked goods. Of all the things in the case, he picked out a gingerbread cupcake with cream cheese frosting. I was surprised he didn't go for the Black Forest Cupcakes that were copiously finished with whipping cream and cherries...that's what I would have gone for.

I let him eat 1/3 of it there, since it was the size of a small cake, and we took the rest with us. It was delicious, studded with golden raisins, and definitely not in the non-fat gingerbread category. After this Thanksgiving, I think I'll have to break out my favorite gingerbread recipe, one from the Gramery Tavern that has Guinness. Until then, since I'm hosting this year, I'm back in pie making mode.

You know they're going to be good if you can't stop eating the batter...

It pains me to confess that I had to ditch the remainder of uneaten bread pudding. I have to remember to invest in a smaller baking dish that is approximately half the size of a 9x9 square. I guess I'm a bit tired of sweets. Did I actually just say that?

Well, I guess it was short lived, since I got the cookie making vibe this afternoon. I decided I could not control my desire for butterscotch chips, and the only thing I know of making with them is Oatmeal Scotchies. But given my slightly less than normal sweet tooth (most used 1 1/2 c. of sugar!) and a full cup of butter in every single recipe I looked at, I knew I had to do some tweaking so here it is:

Better for You Oatmeal Scotchies:

• 8 T. (1 stick) butter (c'mon, if you are going to make cookies, you have to have SOME butter!)
• 1/4 c. veg oil
• 3/4 c. brown sugar (light or dark)
• 2 eggs
• 3 c. rolled oats
• 1/4 c. flax meal
• 1 c. white whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur, but whole wheat pastry flour is probably fine)
• 1/2 t. cinnamon (I used the last of my Cassia...)
• pinch of salt
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1 t. vanilla
• one 11 oz package butterscotch chips
  

Now since I didn't know what I was doing until it happened, I will divulge my processes. You can assemble according to your favorite cooking making method if you like.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees f.

In a standing mixer (mine was fitted with my new beater blade), combine softened butter and oil and mix thoroughly. Add brown sugar and continue to mix until well combined, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating a full minute between additions.

Add rolled oats. Stir. Add flax meal (just grind whole flax seeds in a coffee grinder if you have them instead). Stir. Add whole wheat flour, cinnamon, baking soda and vanilla. Stir.

Add one package of butterscotch chips. I know this is a artificial flavor, but sometime nothing beats it! And, since I have this fab beater blade, I added the chips and then used the machine to stir.

Scoop onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake about 10 minutes. Depending on your size, you may need to adjust more or less. I used a scoop about this size:

And here's my hand, for reference:

One of these days I'll get around to measuring how many t. this actually is. All I know for certain is that I made these particular cookies by compacting the scoop and leveling it off. Normally I subscribe to the larger cookies, fewer scoops, but these seemed to thrive on their smaller portioned shape. I pressed the top of each one slightly before baking too, since they don't spread much.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a more substantial and less greasy cookie due to my cutting down on all the butter. They passed the Husband test as well. Boy-O swiped 3 off the cooling rack, but I rescued the third one before it was devoured. And as for me, I ate enough of the batter to be satiated until later this evening, when, no doubt, the sugar will call to me once more.