Fearless Friday #25

November 6th, 2009 by Heather
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Heather says:
Guess what! Chiiiiiiiicken butt.

Sorry, my two year old has been saying that all week and it’s stuck in my head. It’s already Friday again, how does that happen? It’s a good thing I was ahead of the game by being fearless on Sunday when I played hostess to a large group. Everyone knew when I sent out the invite that chaos would reign supreme and the point of the gathering was to keep me from drowning in leftovers. There were kids zooming around hopped up in a post-Halloween sugar frenzy and at one point, every inch of counter space was in use.

MessyTurkeyDayI need to publicly thank Heidi, Eugene & Yaenette, and Don D. Lewis for all their help. From scut work to picture taking without your help it wouldn’t have turned out half so well.  For me, the biggest part of this Fearless Friday was delegating. I’m sort of a perfectionist -Seriously!- and I have this weird idea that if I don’t do it, it’s not going to turn out. This is patently false and something I’m working on. If you browse this gallery you’ll see many of the upcoming pictures for this month’s Countdown to Turkey Day, as well as what I mean when I say it looks like my kitchen exploded. Also, somewhere in those pictures and I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the staged (albeit gorgeous) magazine style ones, you’ll see that Don captured exactly how envision Thanksgiving.

fearless-fridaysFearless Friday is about pushing our boundaries in the kitchen. Whether it’s trying out a new recipe, technique, or trying a new food. I invite you to share what you’ve tried, whether it was a success or not. Share your link if you have a blog or tell us about it in the comments below.

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Apple, Cranberry, Sage Dressing

November 5th, 2009 by Heather
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Heather says:

Inside the bird it’s called stuffing, outside it’s dressing. Sometimes families or regions will call one the other. It doesn’t matter here. This recipe is for a savory dressing that contains sweet apple, tangy dried cranberry, and crunchy almonds. The original recipe called for sausage, but I use sausage in the cornbread dressing I serve. If you’d like to use sausage, use 1/2 pound of pork or turkey sausage. Brown it and use the drippings instead of the first 2 TBSPs of butter to saute the onions and celery.

Apple Cranberry Sage Dressing

This recipe yields 10 servings and can easily be doubled.

  • 2 3/4 cups cubed whole wheat bread (A total of 5.5 cups of bread cubes the exact ratio of white to wheat isn’t that important)
  • 2 3/4  cups cubed white bread
  • 1 onion, diced (approximately one cup if you diced everything ahead of time)
  • 2 – 3 celery ribs, chopped (including the leaves)
  • 4 – 6 fresh sage leaves, chopped (dried works well, too)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary (fresh works better, use slightly more)
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 Granny Smith or other tart apple, cored, peeled, and chopped
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup slivered almonds – toasted
  • 1 cup turkey stock  (if using homemade, you’ll need 1 tsp salt)
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (divided) + extra to grease the baking dish / roasting pan

Spread the cubed bread on a large baking sheet and toast at 350. This takes in the neighborhood of 5 – 7 minutes. Watch it carefully the last few minutes. Dump the toasted cubes into a large bowl and set aside.

Butter a 9 /13 baking dish. (This a holiday feast, try not to reach for the baking spray, think of the children)

If you haven’t already, toast the almond slivers, either on a baking sheet in the 350F oven for just a few minutes 3 – 5 or in a dry skillet. Watch them carefully, its very easy to cross from toasted to burnt, err on the side of caution.

In a large skillet heat 2 TBSPs of butter over medium heat. Just when it starts to foam, add the onions and celery, turn the heat to low. Stir frequently, cook just until the onions are soft, then add the apple, sage, rosemary, and thyme (I’m about to break into song here, are you going to Scarborough Fair?) Cook just until it smells divine, maybe another minute, stirring frequently.

Turn off the heat, add the cranberries, almonds, and butter. Stir until everything is coated. Pour the contents of the skillet into large bowl with the toasted bread cubes. (If you’re using the sausage add it now, too). Mix everything thoroughly. The butter has picked up a lot of flavor from the herbs and it’s important that this is well mixed.

If you are using homemade stock to which no salt has been added, stir a tsp of salt into the stock).

Pour 2/3 of the stock over the bowl and mix again. Spread the mixture into the baking dish, drizzle with the remaining turkey stock, and cover with foil.

If you are making this ahead of time, place this in the refrigerator (you can make this up to 24 hours ahead). Allow it to come close to room temperature before baking.

If it’s going directly into the oven bake for 40 minutes, then remove the foil and broil or continue baking until lightly browned.

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Countdown to Turkey Day 2009: The Soft Menu Plan

November 4th, 2009 by Heather
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Heather says:

Yay! Another pen and paper exercise or maybe if you’re wired weird and serving a bunch of people it’ll be a Google spreadsheet. I’m still being teased for that, if you must know.

Today’s exercise is not the final menu. This one has three versions, your ideal Thanksgiving dinner, the one that would make everyone happy (you know with Granny’s Waldorf Salad, Aunt Teppy’s Green Bean Casserole, etc), and then the compromise that is the reality of the holiday. On the compromise menu make sure you include at least one item that will bring you joy. Know full well as you add that item to your list that everyone else may hate it, but that does not matter; add it to the list anyway.

Thanksgiving spread

When planning a menu for a large meal, look for flavor ties between dishes to create a flow. Take a peek at the spreadsheet and I’ll explain some of them. The Cajun seasoning of the turkey is part of the sausage of the cornbread dressing and sausage is also in the collards. I swapped out the pecans for almonds in the apple, sage, cranberry dressing to tie it with both the broccoli salad and the green beans.  Cranberries are in the sauce -duh- the apple, sage, cranberry dressing, and in the broccoli salad.  This works best if there are very different textures with the involved dishes. Crisp turkey skin, contrasted with soft dressing, or the crispness of stir-fried green beans next to the soft baked feel of the apples in the other dressing. It’s not the easiest technique for me to explain, so feel free to ask questions in the comments. Not every dish in your menu has to fit the flow, but it’s best if they don’t come from too far afield. If it seems out of place, see if there is a way to alter it slightly so it carries some component of the other dishes. In my example the mashed potatoes receive turkey gravy and the macaroni and cheese was topped with  bacon (also in the broccoli salad) and green onions (onion flavor was in many of the dishes).

Have fun! Of course, maybe I’m the weirdo here who enjoys thinking about food almost as much as eating it.

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Countdown to Turkey Day 2009: Nov 3

November 3rd, 2009 by Heather
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Heather says:

Thanksgiving will be here in just over three weeks.

If you have company coming, now is not the time to launch any big home improvement type projects. I’m not talking about necessary repair, if you have a hole in your roof, by all means get it fixed. If you’ve never played host over a holiday, don’t add in the stress of painting a room or gutting a bathroom over the next few weeks.

You see that handy post-it in the upper right?* Those chores will take you through your house or apartment three times before Thanksgiving arrives. Add in 10 – 15 minutes of The Secret to a Clean Home every day and you will be company ready long before Thanksgiving gets here.

If you’re a novice cook and you’ve never cooked for company or roasted a chicken, you have homework.

If your house is a disaster and you don’t know where to begin, check out Getting Started on Your Messy House or start with the sink.

The recipes from Sunday will start appearing this afternoon. I normally try to space things out, but this month I want to be sure everything is up in plenty of time for pre-holiday grocery shopping. If you’re new to Home-Ec101.com, the norm is once per day with a recipe or two a week.

*If you’re reading via RSS or email, it’s only visible on the site itself, I haven’t figured out how to make it show up in the feed, too.

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Countdown to Turkey Day November 2, 2009

November 2nd, 2009 by Heather
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Heather says:

CenterpieceToday there are two things to do. First, if you’re hosting it’s time to decide: who, when, and where. Even if you have family obligations on Thanksgiving itself, many people would enjoy a gathering on the following Saturday or Sunday. Sit down with pen and paper and decide where and what time dinner will be served. Create a tentative guest list that notes any allergies or dietary restrictions. It’s easier to plan around a gluten or nut allergy than it is to rework a menu.

Your second to-do? Find the dining room table. Hey, don’t look guilty, we all do it from time to time. Horizontal surfaces are a magnet for paperwork and odds and ends. Clear it off today. Give it a good polish. If you have placed any leaves or extensions in storage, pull them out and check for spiders or other friends. If it doesn’t cause problems go ahead and install them. Otherwise, place them in a convenient location -write it down-.

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