Thanksgiving 2012

AKA the first year I cooked the turkey. That's right. I accomplished what I had always envisioned to be an impossible task. I cooked a moist and flavorful 14 pound bird. Surely this must have been a fluke? I'm still not quite sure how I pulled this off. I spent the whole week before Thanksgiving worrying about the many ways that I could mess this up. Would it still be rock hard frozen Thanksgiving morning? Would I drop it? would my dog Maddie eat it? Would I burn? What if it was dry? Undercooked? These were my worries.

So what did I do? I spent the days before searching for recipes and advice. I called my mom numerous times a day to ask the many questions that came up. Particularly about her stuffing/dressing recipe. I gathered this information and the night before Thanksgiving I decided that instead of brining the turkey I would salt it. Kind of like brining, but a lot easier. All you have to do is cover the turkey with kosher salt. Lots of kosher salt. Then I left it in the fridge, uncovered, in the roasting pan to dry it out a bit. This helps the skin get crispy and browned.

The next morning I took the bird out about 2 hours before oven time and let it warm up a bit. Then I drove it over to my friends house where we would be having our Thanksgiving meal. I heated up the oven to 450 F and let it get nice and hot in the oven. I quartered an onion and an apple and stuffed them inside the cavity, but only after disgusting my friend as I pulled out the hidden neck. I grabbed some butter, put some under the skin of the turkey and melted the rest. I then covered the turkey in cheesecloth and poured the hot butter all over. I poured some chicken broth into the bottom of the roasting pan put the turkey in the oven and turned down the heat to 325 F.

We had other dishes to prep while the bird did its thing. So I left it alone for 45 minutes then basted it, I did this a few more times. Then the kitchen began to smell like lovely roasted turkey. Yum! So I took its temperature and it was ready to take a little rest. I pulled it out of the oven, covered it with foil and left it along while we finished the rest of the dishes: cornbread stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes. I had already baked 2 apple pies and made cranberry sauce the day before. This doesn't even begin to take into account all of the dishes our friends were bringing. Wow, there was going to be a lot of food.

People began to flow into the kitchen and once those sides were done I was presented with another daunting task. Carving the turkey. I had quickly looked up how to do so and followed some pretty basic directions. I could do with a little practice, but all in all I did a fairly good job with the carving. As I was carving I was astonished at how moist the turkey was! I couldn't believe it. All of that worrying for nothing.

We sat around for hours, eating and overstuffing ourselves with delicious food. It was a great Thanksgiving and I was so happy to get to celebrate it with all of my friends and all of that great food.

Apple Crumb Pie

Apples are an under-appreciated fruit in my opinion. Sure, you can buy them almost anywhere. And yes, sadly, the grocery stores only sell a few varieties. But for me they are one of the most versatile and delicious fruits. They are great to snack on anytime of the day and also make the most elegant desserts. Nothing beats a warm slice of apple pie, whether its for breakfast or for a late night snack, or anywhere in between.

When making apple pie I usually stick to my mom's recipe. But I was in the mood for something that took a little less time than making my own crust and was a little bit different. I found a recipe for an apple crumb pie made with an almond crumb crust by Martha Stewart. Yummy! This pie is delicious! The crust is almondy and crispy, while the apples are warm and tart. I even got to use my new apple peeler. Trust me, if you don't have one of these and you use apples a lot in cooking then you need to get one. They will make your life so much easier, especially around this time of year.

Apple Crumb Pie
Adapted from Martha Stewarts Baking Handbook
For the filling I used my mom's recipe

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 cup plus 1 2 tbsp almond meal (or used ground almonds)
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks of butter, really cold and cut into small pieces

1) Whisk together all of the ingredients except the butter. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it it is crumbly. Then with your hands squeeze the dough together until it starts to come together a little bit.

2)Press a little more than half of the filling into a 9-inch pie pan then freeze for 15 minutes.

3) Follow instructions for making the filling
4) Add the filling to the pie and then dot with a few tbsp of butter from apple pie recipe, then cover with remaining dough crumbs

5) Bake in a 350 F oven for about 1 hour, then let cool and enjoy!

Autumn Minestrone

After the dust (or flour in my case) has settled from Halloween festivities we decided that we needed something a little healthier in our diet. Something warm and comforting, yet not overly heavy, like pot roast. I love pot roast, but sometimes you need to mix it up a bit. So I decided to make a hearty stew full of sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, kale, and orecchiette. An Autumn minestrone if you will. This is one of those meals that will become a favorite. Perfect for lunch and dinner. I even had some for breakfast to warm me up. It's also a very versatile recipe. You can spice it up or spice it down, adding whichever seasonings you like best. I'm always a big fan of crushed red pepper and rosemary, but if you like something else, by all means, add that. I hope everyone is staying warm as the weather cools down!

Autumn Minestrone

1 onion, diced

5 carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalk celery, diced

3 sweet potatoes, diced

2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped

5 cups or so of kale (I used about half of a bag of the already chopped kind)
2 cups cooked white beans

5 cups chicken stock

1 bay leaf

1 tsp rosemary

Crushed red pepper to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

8 oz cooked orecchiette or other small pasta

Olive oil

1) In a dutch oven saute the onion, celery, carrots, and garlic until onion is translucent, then add the chicken stock, sweet potatoes, white beans, seasonings, and kale

2) Simmer soup until vegetables are soft and to your liking

3) Add the orecchiette and stir to combine, season to taste and pour into a giant bowl and enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. I would go door-to-door every year until, well, let's just say I was probably way too old to go trick-or-treating. I don't even really like candy that much. Don't get me wrong, I love certain types of candy (mainly anything with chocolate and peanut butter) but for me trick-or-treating was always about the hunt. I'd grab a pillowcase from the linen closet and throw on my walking shoes and head out for a long and adventurous night. I didn't want to return home until that bag was full (or as close to it as I could get). When I returned home I would pour the contents onto the living room floor and take inventory of what I had received. I loved to see what the popular choices were that year and try and figure out why people still handed out those creepy plain orange wrapped "candies". What were those? I'm not really sure because I was too afraid to try. I would snack on a few of my favorite treats throughout the next couple of days, but I would inevitably hand over the collection to my dad (who has a real sweet tooth).

Now that I'm older and have left my trick-or-treating years behind me I bake my treats to share with my friends. And just as when I was a kid, one type of confection is never enough. So for the Halloween party this year I baked cookies, cupcakes, and cake pops in different flavors and many different decorations. For all of those who tried them at the party, I hoped you liked them! To those of you who didn't I hope you get some delicious treats tonight. Even if you have to sneak some from that giant bowl you left out for trick-or-treaters.

Halloween and Autumn Baking

Cookie baking season has begun at our house! Halloween marks the beginning of our kitchen being consistently coated in flour and powdered sugar, well not just the kitchen, I'm usually covered in it as well. It's been a while since I decorated cookies with royal icing. I always find it too hot and humid in the summer to be hovering over cookies with a piping bag in hand. But now that the weather has calmed down become a little milder I'm happy to be back at it.

A couple weeks ago I made some Autumn leaf and acorn cookies for the beginning of the Autumn season. I wanted to add a little spice to my usual go-to sugar cookie recipe so I added 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice.  Wow. Phenomenal. Plus, it makes the whole house smell like pumpkin pie. Everyone seemed to enjoy this new twist so I decided to make these cookies for the Halloween party. Hopefully they'll invoke the Autumn spices.

I decided to get an early start on the baking for the Halloween party, which takes place this weekend. I'm planning on bringing not just cookies, but cupcakes as well. So I figured I would get the cookies out of the way so I can focus on cupcakes for Saturday. I spent the morning yesterday rolling out dough and trying to decide on which of my many cookie cutters would be put to use this Halloween. After focusing on a few shapes I baked them up and spent the morning decorating. All done and now I just have to make the cupcakes. I'm super excited to share the pictures from the party!

Red Beans and Rice

I've recently started buying dried beans rather than canned beans. First of all, they're cheaper. Second, you can control what goes into them. Third, they produce less waste. So I'm a big fan. I always thought that you had to soak them overnight, so this always deterred me from cooking them because I never knew when I was going to need them unless I had been planning the menu for the week a little better. While reading How to Cook Everything I discovered that you could skip this step. I'm sure that if you soak them they will cook faster, but I can never remember the day before to soak them.

After making homemade refried beans a few times I thought I would change the recipe up a little bit and make my own red beans and rice. During my teenage years I was a vegetarian and one of my favorite restaurants was Bon Temps, a Cajun restaurant in San Luis Obispo. On their menu they had a great vegetarian option, which was red beans and rice, collard greens, and fried green tomatoes. Yummy. I thought reproducing this menu option would be delicious homemade. So I gathered up some ingredients and got to work creating my own recipe for red beans and rice.

Red Beans and Rice

1 cup red beans

1 onion, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 Serrano chile, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

1 can chopped tomatoes, drained

Cayenne to taste

Salt to taste

1) In a large dutch oven add the beans and all remaining ingredients except tomatoes, cayenne, and salt. Cover with water and bring to a boil

2) Let beans simmer until tender, this can take anywhere from 45 to 2 hours. You just have to keep checking. Add more water to keep barely covered

3) When the beans are tender add the salt, tomatoes, and cayenne

4) Mash some of the beans to thicken them

5) Season and serve over white rice and enjoy!

Hot Chicken

When I first moved to Nashville I expected great barbecue. I thought (generically) that every city in the South was known for its barbecue. Well, I learned that for great barbecue you better keep moving to Memphis. Don't get me wrong, you can get some great pulled pork, but this isn't a city known for its ribs or distinct sauces. But I did learn that Nashville as its own twist on making fried chicken: hot chicken.

If you don't know what hot chicken is, well, you should. Instead of plain, mild, fried chicken you get a crispy, red, spicy coated, perfectly crunchy piece of fried chicken. This stuff will burn. If you don't like spicy food then don't even attempt. Your lips will be burning long after you've finished your meal. But the flavor is so insanely good and satisfying. I don't know how hot chicken is made, but I do know that people have their favorite hot chicken places and debates are made on who has the best.

You may prefer Bolton's to Prince's or Pepperfire over 400 Degrees or whomever has your favorite. I'm not here to get into the middle of that conversation. People like what they like for different reasons. But there is a new hot chicken restaurant on the scene: Hattie B's. The advantage this place has over the others for me: location. It's within walking distance from my house and is a lot easier than getting in my car and driving over to East Nashville. They also have beer and a patio. Trust me, beer is practically a requirement to keep the flames at bay. I don't think that their chicken is as diabolically hot as Bolton's or Prince's, so I say go one level higher than you're used to. We've gone twice in the past couple of weeks. The first time I had hot, but the next time I got damn hot. The chicken is super moist and the skin is crunchy, crispy, and on fire. Great flavor and great heat. Plus, they have great sides. So if you're on the lookout for a new hot chicken place to try I strongly recommend Hattie B's.