Pinch's 2011 Thanksgiving Menu

Breakfast
Fruit Salad
Rosemary Raisin Toast with Apricot Jam
Scrambled Eggs with Gruyere
Eggnog Lattes

Dinner
I
Amuse Bouche
Bacon-Wrapped Medjool Date

Butternut Squash Demitasse with Spiced Pepitas

Mixed Greens with Pomegranate Seeds, Candied Pecans, and Prairie Fruits Farm Chevre

Intermezzo
Cranberry Granita

II
Roast Turkey with Gravy
Beef Filet with Assorted Sauces - Bearnaise, Stilton or Horseradish
Mashed Yukon Potatoes
Vegetarian Stuffing
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Leek and Pancetta
Grand Marnier-spiked Cranberry Sauce
Some Sweet Potato Concoction
Golden Pillow Dinner Rolls

III
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Chocolate Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze
Frozen Peanut Butter Pie

Liquid Assets
Pellegrino
Blood Orange Soda
Pinot Noir or Prosecco

A menu should speak for itself so here are a few notes:

I always plan breakfast. It needs to be satisfying enough to hold one over until dinner, yet simple since there's much cooking to do. I picked up a fragrant pineapple (determined by smelling the bottom of tens of pineapples. Does everyone know this is how to pick a melon or pineapple?), a Tuscan melon, some grapes, strawberries and blackberries.

I got these great ceramic appetizer spoons at World Market for the Amuse Bouche and some white ceramic sake cups for the Butternut Squash Soup. The petite sake cup will be just right for less intrepid diners.

The Intermezzo is a shout out to a Thanksgiving of yesteryear, celebrated here. Could anyone spend even one night in a cozy A-frame buried in the snow and not fall in love with mountain living? Sigh. An intermezzo serves to cleanse the palate between courses, in this case I'll bring it out after the salad. It's hardly sweet, just enough sugar to balance the tart market cranberries (you should see the size of these things, procured Wednesday at the Green City Market!), and has just a hint of orange.

The main event needs little explanation, just the basics with a new tweaks from year to year. I'm tired of green beans, so the Brussels Sprouts will be new, assuming I get my act together. It's after midnight, the wee hours of Thanksgiving morning, and it's just occurred to me that I forgot to get Brussels sprouts at the market today.

Dessert is fixing up to be a whole buffet of sweets: Pecan and Pumpkin pies, baked in the thin French tart pans I like so much. My skilled daughter will contribute her Chocolate Pound Cake which is rich and delicious with chocolate glaze on top. And now that I finally sourced the elusive Famous Chocolate Wafer at Apple Market I am going to make a frozen peanut butter pie, also for old time's sake. We used to eat FPBP whenever we went to Paul's Pasta in Groton, Connecticut. I'm going to improvise that recipe, but will essentially conjure a peanut butter mousse using peanut butter, cream cheese and whipped cream, freeze it in a chocolate crust, then top it with a thin layer of chocolate glaze and whipped cream. It's totally unsophisticated but sure to a hit among those less than thrilled with traditional Thanksgiving pies.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Pinch's Thanksgiving Menu

I have the privilege of cooking for a baker's dozen this year and I'm positively giddy about it. Prep starts tomorrow, with making pie dough, pumpkin and pecan pie fillings, pâte sucrée, roasting butternut squash, poaching pears, and salting the turkey on my to do list. Thanksgiving chez Pinch is taking a village to pull off; borrowed items (tables, chairs, extra flatware) are coming in from all over town. I've never hosted a Bring Your Own Fork event. It will be merry, for sure.

Thanksgiving Menu

To Start
House Salad with Pomegranate Seeds and Pear
Scallops with Butternut Squash Puree

The Dinner
Salted Roast Turkey with Gravy
Amazing Vegetarian Stuffing
Cranberry Sauce
Mashed Potatoes
Spicy Sweet Potato Fries
Refrigerator Rolls or Rosemary Raisin Rolls
Green Beans with Shallots and Pancetta

The Dessert
Pumpkin Pie (This is the pie dough recipe. I honestly use the filling recipe from the Libby's can, substituting half and half for the canned milk.)
Pecan Pie (check back soon for this recipe)
Warm Vanilla Poached Pears with Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce

Happy Thanksgiving.

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On the Menu this Week

It's a short menu this week - three regular dinners with extended family in town and then the Hootenanny that is Thanksgiving. Last night we had Italian Beef on Sourdough and Spicy Green Beans; tomorrow will be Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad and Chanterelle Pizza; Wednesday, with even more family coming in, will feature Flank Steak Fajitas with Spanish Rice, Salsa Verde (pictured left) and Guacamole.

And then, of course, there's Thanksgiving. I'm reconsidering the starters. Last year I did a seared scallop on a smidgen of butternut squash puree with a sage leave garnish. It was lovely but I want something new. Was considering a little Tenderloin Crosini topped with Gorgonzola cream...or a pumpkin soup served in sake cups, but I don't know. Maybe I'll do the antipasti. Will probably decide on Wednesday morning at the chilly farmer's market.

2009 Thanksgiving Menu

To Start

Antipasti Platter of Roast Vegetables, Salumi, Olives and Crostini...maybe

Seasonal Mixed Greens with Gorgonzola, Candied Pecans and Pear

The Dinner

Salted Roast Turkey with Gravy

Amazing Vegetarian Stuffing

Cranberry Sauce

Mashed Potatoes

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

Golden Pillow Dinner Rolls

Green Beans with Shallots and Pancetta

The Dessert

Pumpkin Pie

Gingerbread

Cinnamon Ice Cream and Apple Pie

Pecan Pie

Here's some background on method...I'm a turkey-rinser (and, yes, I scour afterwards). Turkey prep begins Wednesday. After rinsing I rub it down with kosher salt and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap overnite. I hate doing it, but I did it once a few years ago and the turkey is so good every year that I have to continue. I'm honestly dreading the process already. It's so, so gross. The salt is rinsed off on Thursday prior to roasting.

The vegetarian stuffing really is amazing, and that's coming from a someone who loves a traditional sausage stuffing. Buy a nice loaf of bread to use - I get a cranberry pecan one from Whole Foods, which I had them slice for me this year. You could, of course, use a nice sourdough, but I like the deeper flavors in the denser bread.

The Golden Pillow Rolls are positively divine. They are like warm clouds. And you can make the dough on Wednesday and do the rest on Thursday, which is nice.

For the green beans, I just saute the shallots and pancetta in a big skillet for a few minutes, then add the beans and season with salt and pepper. The potatoes I often leave up to someone else since I can't bear to use the requisite butter. I just look the other way. The sweet potato fries, which i think i'll do again this year, were the frozen ones from WF - but so good, especially when doctored up with some spices.

As for dessert...Jan's recipe request got me thinking about cinnamon ice cream alongside apple pie. And Gingerbread, which is so good I can't even stand it. Pumpkin Pie just gets made and eaten as obligation. For that recipe, I just follow whatever it says on the Libby's can, but substitute half and half for the condensed milk or whatever nonsense they call for.

Have a happy Thanksgiving.

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The Best Dish of Thanksgiving

It had to be the cauliflower.

Stephanie Izard, of Girl & the Goat, is a talented and generous cook. When I decided to add cauliflower to my Thanksgiving menu but wanted to put a twist on it, I went trolling for some hints as to how she does her roasted cauliflower. Besides the Pig Face (best name ever), the Roasted Cauliflower and Grilled Broccoli were the most memorable dishes I've had at Girl & the Goat. I didn't have to search long for the cauliflower recipe: just a click over to Izard's site lead to a detailed recipe. The dish was a perfect addition to the Thanksgiving menu, though I think only my husband and I enjoyed it. We both had seconds but I'm not sure anyone else had firsts.

The rest of the menu was fairly standard. I salted the turkey overnight, made the usual Vegetarian Stuffing I love so much, and those awesome Golden Pillow Dinner Rolls. I steam-sauteed some of those long market carrots, the ones that are sold with the fronds attached. Those were great. I don't use butter the way I was taught in cooking school, but if you follow the real French cooking method, you end up with glistening carrots. What else? Mixed Greens with Candied Pecans and Pear, Cranberry Sauce...the usual suspects.

The mashed potatoes came out perfectly this year, with only a splash of lowfat milk. I used Yukons, mostly peeled and fully boiled them, then returned them to the pot to dry and wait. As everything was ready to go to the table, I mashed them with my trusty thick, wooden masher-muddler (which should go into the stocking of everyone not already in possession of same, save that of small children and - I can't even believe I'm saying this: dogs*). I can't advise you on where to buy one, though. I don't recall where mine came from, but it's our second one. The first muddler was more traditional and likely fine for cocktails. The new one (more than twice as thick at the mashing end) mostly gets used for guacamole. And mashed potatoes, once a year when we have them.

Oh, and Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie, and a Chocolate Bundt Cake. My daughters had recently watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and so there was much heralding of the Bundt! all day.

Next up: adventures in the kitchen with pheasant. My husband came home (long story) with a whole bird, boneless breasts, and a smoked bird. Cassoulet is in the offing!

The reason I can't believe I'm said dogs is it sadly won't be long before the creation of  a line of bar-keeping dog toys because many people think that sort of thing is cute. Added to the list of things I don't want to trip on: a squeaky plush cocktail shaker.  That said, I did purchase a stuffed banana for my dog for his stocking for three reasons: 1. He loves bananas, 2. This one has a squeaker, 3. I am an idiot.

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A Simple Menu before Thanksgiving

I'm keeping it simple this week. For one, I just returned home from a gloriously long weekend in San Fransisco eating so well that I can barely eat my own food again. Duck Confit! Salmon Cozy! Acme Bread! I love trips like that - they rally me back to the kitchen with determination to improve my skills, menus and foraging. But I'm not quite organized enough yet so my menu this week is safe. Last night, armed with just a pack of basil and some chicken breasts, we had an old favorite, Chicken Pesto Pasta.

Tonight we enjoyed a meal make possible by the humble Yukon Gold potato: a Spanish Tortilla/Omelet and a new soup, Ham & Potato. I made the soup by sauteeing a chopped stalk of celery, a leek and 4-5 chopped Yukon gold potatoes. Then I poured in a 32 ounce box of that chicken broth I like so much (Imagine Organic) and simmered it for about 12 minutes. When the potatoes were tender, I turned off the heat and pureed the soup in my food mill (didn't feel like waiting to cool it for the blender). I strained it, too, into a clean pot and simmered it for another 10-15 minutes until it thickened a bit more. Then I sliced some of that lean Applewood smoked ham from TJ's and threw that it, along with a scant half-cup of milk and some salt and fresh ground pepper. After another 5-8 minutes of simmering it was ready, and it was superb.

Whole Foods has been giving away avocados lately ($1 each) so Carnitas with Guacamole and Spanish Rice will hit the table tomorrow night. This week we'll also see Salmon on Arugula or Mixed Greens, Roast Leg of Lamb with Taziki Sauce and Greek Salad and a Flank Steak Sandwich alongside some roasted veg from the winter farmer's market.

I'm also writing my Thanksgiving Menu and shopping lists for next week, and planning other meals to serve when everyone's in town. I'm thinking ahead about lamb burgers, chicken fajitas, and maybe spaghetti and meatballs. And yes, I've started practically every morning with eggnog in my espresso. Yum.

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Zero to Two: Pondering meat quantity

Meat is not something I really love - I can take it or leave it. But I have a really hard time getting excited about anything that bills itself as vegan or vegetarian. A friend recently cooked and served a vegan chili for a meeting I was attending and before I even tried it I felt sorry for myself for having to eat it. I assumed it was going to be loaded with some weird fake meat. It turned out to be a Rick Bayless recipe, one I enjoyed immensely, have cooked myself and passed along. There's no fake meat - it's really a rice and beans dish. I cooked it for a crowd of over 100 for a catering event, along with the usual suspects (chopped fresh cilantro and red onion, jalapeno rounds, hot sauce, sour cream and shredded Jack) and had zero left over. Being a RB recipe the chili is really healthy, though you can throw it all off kilter with the addition of dairy. I like my chili flourished with a burst of cilantro and red onion.

On the other end of the vegan-carnivore spectrum is the two-meat-feast that has become our modus operandi for holiday entertaining.  It's decadent, to be sure, and extraordinary, in the truest sense of the word. This year our Thanksgiving buffet included the traditional turkey but also a  beef tenderloin. My good friend Robin counseled me through my first beef tenderloin this summer. It's really quite simple. The hardest thing for me was overcoming my fear or ruining an expensive piece of meat. But if you follow Ina Garten's straightforward method you can't go wrong. Well, you can if you cut it poorly. I had a helper at a party this summer who cut the gorgeous filet  in very thin slices reducing it to a deli platter of roast beef. That was unfortunate. My husband did the honors at Thanksgiving, and set out of gorgeous platter of nearly one-inch thick slices, plated in an overlapping line on a long platter.

And somewhere in the middle are the smaller portions of animal protein we eat most nights. Four ounces of that beef filet has just under 3 grams of saturated fat. I generally serve 4 to five-ounce portions of lean animal protein, including fish and skinless chicken breasts. That amount suits our bodies and never weighs us down. My portions are always challenged by the butcher or fishmonger, though. I guessing it's a combination of them trying to drive sales and me purchasing smaller portions than most. What size portions do you serve at home?

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On the Menu This Week

What I'm craving, after a week of multi-course meals, is some simple fare. To be sure, we're still plowing thru leftovers. The beets and goat cheese that I bought but didn't use on Thanksgiving will go into the Warm Goat Cheese and Roasted Beets on Mixed Greens, and I'll serve that with leftover Turkey Soup. I made the day after Thanksgiving, having allowed the broth to simmer all night. I sweated a leek, some celery and carrot and then added about two quarts of delicious broth. I added a bit of turkey too, but tend to like to throw that in during the last minutes of reheating since it retains it's flavor and texture better that way.

My biggest hankering, tho, is for fish. Salmon Sandwich with Dill Aioli, and a side order of steamed Artichokes will be on our plates tomorrow, with any luck at the market. We've been eating fish twice a week pretty regularly for about a year now. And we didn't have it ONCE last week. Since I finally made it to the one store in my hood that sells my favorite malt vinegar (Heinz; harder to come by than you'd think) we'll also have Fish and Chips this week.

Also featured this week are Cantonese Pork Tenderloin and Baby Broccoli; Lamb Kabobs and Quinoa; Salad with Lemony Pesto Dressing and Grilled Chicken; and another lemony Chicken Fricasse. To make the last one, I just pound chicken breasts, dredge in salted flour and cook about two minutes per side in a skillet with a smidge of olive oil. Once browned, add a half cup or so of white wine and a bit of chopped parsley, and maybe another splash of olive oil. Season to taste and serve with something green.

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Why Your Pie Crust Shrunk

Thanksgiving is nigh and pie making questions have begun trickling in. I've posted before on pie crusts, focusing on the baking. Most pie crusts are baked twice. The first time, with no filling, is called Blind Baking. There's no special word for the second time. I always blind bake, even if the recipe doesn't direct it, because the crust is flakier and drier. Especially for a pumpkin pie. I just follow the recipe on the back of the Libby's can, substituting half and half for whatever nasty canned dairy product (evaporated milk, prolly) it is they call for instead.

But when your pie crust doesn't come out right, baking is just one thing that went wrong. The questions I get are always related to shrinking, though not many bakers realize it  They just know that they spent a lot of time getting the pie crust to look just right, only to bake it and have its shape morph like a drunk's face.

A few easy steps will prevent this from happening. They're all pretty much equally important. Here they are:

1. Don't overmix the dough. When you mix it (adding the butter and ice water), stop immediately when it begins to come together in the bowl. Chunks of butter chunks should be visible in your rolled pie dough. That mottled appearance promises a flaky crust.

2. Don't overhandle the dough. Heat, generated by your hands, room temperature, and by kneading and handling the dough, is the enemy of many pastry doughs.

3. Use the exact right amount of flour while rolling. This sounds like an impossible order, but don't despair - it takes practice in knowing how much flour to add, and it all depends on the natural humidity in your flour - which can vary greatly - so there's no way for me to tell you how much you will need. The general idea is that too much stickiness will cause you to stretch and pull your dough too much, overworking it, and activating the gluten. On the other hand, too much will dry out the crust and make it tougher and less flaky. Add flour sparingly while rolling, and roll gently. And don't forget to rotate your crust while rolling, flipping it over to ensure it's not sticking to the counter.

4. Once you have a nice big round of pie dough rolled out, let it sit on the counter for 5-10 min before you transfer it to the pie tin. This step allows the gluten to relax before you force it into the pie tin.

5. Lower the dough into the pie tin and firmly press the dough into corners and side edges of pie tin. You don't want to press so firmly that you leave big dents, but enough to encourage the dough to stay put. I like fluted tart shells for this reason - you just press the dough into the fluted sides and it stays put.

6. Chill, baby, chill! You MUSTMUSTMUST chill the lined pie shell for at least an hour before baking. !MUST! Chilling helps for a few reasons: it resolidifies the butter, ensuring a flaky crust, and it allows the gluten to relax. If I run out of room in the fridge, I just use the freezer. No real difference there.

7. The Weight. If you follow 1-6 but not #7 your crust will probably still shrink a little. Why? Heat from the oven will naturally relax the gluten even more. There are two ways to combat this: one by using pie weights, the other with just tin foil. For the pie weight method you will need some parchment paper and something to fill it with - I use rice, dry beans, and have heard of people using pennies, or the ceramic pie weights they sell in specialty shops. Just make sure that your parchment will be able to lift whatever you fill it with (you don't want to end up with dry rice or pennies in your pie crust if the parchment breaks during removal). Bake for about 20-25 minutes at 350, then remove the pie weights, prick the bottom all over with a form, and bake the crust for another 10 minutes. It's done when you see a smidgen of color, and no raw looking parts.

My preferred method these days is referenced here and involves simply spraying the shiny side of a large piece of tin foil with baking spray and pressing it very firmly to the pie crust and wrapping it up and over the sides of the pie tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes and you should be good to go. This method cuts baking time down a bit since there's less interference between the crust and the heat.

There it is. It's likely not going to be my final words on the subject, but maybe a few more pies will be camera ready this Thanksgiving. Good luck!

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Making Granola Before the Snow Flies

Light granola with coconut, almonds and sunflower seeds

It's fall, which means two things: first, granola; and second, time to get ready for ski season.

It's that time of year. Not by Midwestern standards, of course, but at 10,000 feet (where my mind often wanders) the leaves are golden and flying. And snow is in the forecast later in the week.

Seasons in Telluride are short - well, three of them anyway. Basically there's a long, white, glorious winter. It begins with the first real snow, often in late October, and ends when the ski area closes, usually the first week in April. Spring (beings the day after the ski area closes and ends May 31) is muddy, brown and, to be honest, smelly. Summer (June) is lovely and green with cool nights and some warm days. Not much of what you might call heat, more like heat's distant cousin from the left coast. June is the driest month of the year with the least precipitation. July and August is Monsoon Season. I don't care to speak about that. And fall, when the meadows and Aspen leaves all go from green to amber, is so very lovely and totally fleeting, almost always eclipsed by an early snowfall.

Which is why, come fall, you start outfitting your kids' ski gear. Skis can last a couple of years but bindings need to be adjusted to accommodate bigger boots. Helmets get checked and stickered. (There is NOTHING cooler than a well decorated helmet - I saw a five year old at a Wisconsin ski area last winter sporting a helmet covered in stickers from western ski resorts, but pole position was given to a podunk Midwestern ski hill).

While many western ski resorts open on Thanksgiving, a mere two months away, we've got at least until mid-January before there's enough snow to ski locally. Kids' feet can grow a lot in a season, so I'm holding myself back from outfitting them too soon.

Somehow, making granola helps. Filling the house with the comforting sweet and nutty smell is one of fall's best scents. Today I'm going to make a recipe my sister passed along from Martha Stewart. The first recipe below shows what I added to make it a little heartier. And following THAT is the granola I've been making for nearly 15 years, based on the recipe we used at Cafe Nola.

Light Granola
Print recipe only here

Makes 4 cups
INGREDIENTS
* 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
* 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
* 1/2 cup sliced almonds
* 2 tablespoons flax meal (ground flax seeds)
* 2 tablespoons wheat germ
* 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 2 tablespoons honey
* 1 cup dried blueberries, currants, sour cherries or dried fruit of your choice

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine oats, coconut, and almonds. In a small bowl, stir together oil and honey. Pour over oat mixture and toss. Bake, tossing occasionally, until lightly toasted, 16 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely.

Place mixture in a large bowl and stir in dried fruit. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 month.


Hearty Granola
Print recipe only here

Makes 6 cups

Preheat oven to 350

Toss together in a large mixing bowl:
4 cups oats
1/2 cup dry milk (Whole Foods offers some organic options)
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 t nutmeg
1 t cinnamon
pinch clove
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Combine in a small saucepan over medium heat:
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup honey
1 t vanilla extract

Bring the liquids to a brief boil, then immediately pour over the oats. Stir together well. Spread on a baking sheet and bake, turning and shaking/stirring every so often, about 25 minutes, or until nicely golden.

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Nuts!

Thanksgiving is nigh and I am bound for the nuthouse. Nuts are a fabulous snack. Throughout the winter we keep a supply of in-shell nuts in a pewter bowl, along with a small fleet of nutcrackers. I'm still a little twitchy about the hand-pinching metal nutcrackers that tormented me during my youth. The perennial favorite remains the olive wood screw-type model I tucked in my younger daughter's stocking one year.

The nuthouse is, in this case, Treasure Island or Whole foods, where I can purchase in-shell nuts in bulk bins, not bags. Bulk is preferable to bags because I like to control the number of Brazil nuts that go into the mix. Brazil nuts are cool to look at but they are super fatty and really hard to crack. They taste a lot like an over-sized macadamia nut. They actually have less total fat than the macadamia but the breakdown of fats is less favorable in the Brazil. Where 3.5 ounces of macadamias have 74 total fat grams, 10 of those grams are saturated, 60 are monounsaturated and 4 are polyunsaturated. The same weight of Brazil nuts has 66 grams of fat, about 17 of which are saturated, 27 of which are monounsaturated and 22 are polyunsaturated.

I mention fat math because sometimes people think that just because something grows on a tree it's a good idea to shovel it down the gullet. 10 grams of saturated fat is the very low end of a daily limit for many people, so macadamias are probably sort of a health hazard, even with their glorious ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fat. The thing with nuts is to not go overboard. Really. Keep it to a few at a time. This is why the in-shell variety is so great - all that cracking and hand-pinching slows you down.

In-shell nuts are a winter tradition I'll never break. For parties or gatherings where a cocktail assortment is just the thing I have a new recipe.  I made bowls of roasted nuts for a party this summer and stashed them around like a 50s housewife would stash ashtrays. They were an enormous hit. I adapted a recipe from the ever-reliable Martha Stewart's Hors D'oevres Handbook. This is what I did:

Cocktail Roasted Nuts
Makes 3 cups

INGREDIENTS
1 cup each raw almonds, cashews and pecan halves
2 t canola oil
2 t kosher salt
1 T packed brown sugar, or maple sugar
1/8  t cayenne

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350. Place nuts in a single layer on a sheet pan and roast for 6-8 minutes or until fragrant.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the remaining ingredients. When the nuts are done roasting, add them the bowl and toss to coat. Allow to cool briefly before adding to serving bowls. They are great warm. Reheat if you like for about 5 minutes at 300.

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Roasting on an Open Fire

This morning as Cold November Rain simultaneously fell and played on my iPhod I happily realized it won't be long until my mix of Holiday Classics takes to the home airwaves. It has been suggested to me that caroling is really only welcome between Thanksgiving and New Year's day. But it's November now. Soon Jack Frost will be nipping at my nose and I'll be cleared for caroling.

I love Christmas carols (the nose-nipping not so much). Christmas carols are the most appropriate way to express holiday cheer. Most carols, anyway. There's nothing appropriate about "Santa Baby," though love it I do.

If the market appearance of eggnog did not sufficiently herald the coming holiday season, then the availability of chestnuts at the market last week surely did. I nearly broke into yuletide song right there among the farmers.

I loved chestnuts as a kid. There was a chestnut tree on the property of the church and we used to huck the burr-encased nuts at each other after Sunday school. Good times. Back at home, my dad oven-roasted them (as far as I know he did not harvest them from the church grounds) and hooked me for life.

Scoring prior to roasting is absolutely essential. Even if they did not explode (the meat expands when roasted) they'd be impossible to peel (twice! Chestnuts have an inner and outer peel) without a starting place. I'm out of practice scoring and my knives are sorely in need of good sharpening so scoring was more difficult than I remembered. I ended up using a serrated utility knife and sawing a small X in each nut.

Roast them in a preheated oven at 350° for about 20 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes or so. Peel the inner and outer layers away to reveal the brainy-looking nut and enjoy.

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The Foods we Rinse

What do you rinse? Turns out I rinse all the wrong foods. Essentially, if you're going to cook it, you don't need to rinse it - any bacteria will be killed by the heat. If you're eating it raw, like veggies and lettuces, you should rinse. Other things, like rinsing starch off potatoes or rice, is a matter of personal preference, not health or hygiene.

Here's what I have been rinsing - and not rinsing - in the Pinch kitchen:

Rice: hardly ever, but like potatoes, below, the final, cooked product (for white basmati) is a little nicer when I've rinsed it first.
Lentils: never, and I have yet to find a rock in my masoor dal.
Lettuce:  sometimes, depends on the variety.
Potatoes: hardly ever, but I prefer how my oven fries taste when rinsed after cutting. But then they need to be dried well, and this is a a time sink, so I rarely do it.
Poultry: always. I buy organic, skinless, boneless chicken breasts and they feel slimy or slightly sticky out of the bag.
Fish: always, for approximately the same reason as chicken, above.
Beef: don't cook it often, but never rinse it. It doesn't feel like it needs rinsing the way chicken and fish do.

The foods I do rinse (fish, chicken breasts, even my Thanksgiving turkey) are foods that for which rinsing is not recommended on account of cross-contamination and the thing about killing them with heat. Why is it I have an easier time eating a dead salmon than the dead bacteria coating her lovely body?
See Safe Food Handling, from the USDA

The thing I'm most lazy about is lettuce. My feeling generally is, if it's got dirt on it, I'll wash it. I forget about bacteria on veggies because it doesn't gross me out the way bacteria on fish and poultry do. But it's bacteria all the same. It's hard to believe, in the age of antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizers, that a little water could rinse dangerous bacteria off our salad greens.

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Method: Perfect Pie Crust. Easier Than You'd Think

I've heard so much advice for perfecting pie crust. Freeze before baking. Visualize it coming out perfectly. Spend a year in culinary school. All three might help, but the best trick ever comes from the cooking side of the kitchen at Campagne in Seattle where I used to work.

On the pastry side of the kitchen we blind baked tarts all the time. We didn't usually use pie weights. Our in-house baker (a culinary student) sheeted sucree dough for the pastry team, and we kept them in the fridge, and they held up pretty well in the oven during blind baking (oops - did I lose you? Blind baking is cooking an empty pie crust.) At all other kitchens, my own included, I used pie weights - usually rice or old dry beans. I would line a tart shell, stick it in the freezer to firm up and then cover with a sheet of parchment paper and fill with the weights, pressing into the corners. I'd bake it for 20 minutes or so, then carefully remove the parchment, prick all over with a fork and bake another 10 minutes, or until it didn't look raw anywhere and was a little golden.

But today, after reading a post on Smitten Kitchen, I revisited the method from the other side of the Campagne kitchen. I removed my sucree-lined tart shell from the freezer, sprayed the shiny side of a piece of foil with baking spray and pressed it onto the crust. I baked it for about 20-25 minutes and voila! It. Came. Out. Perfectly. I'm so impressed. Looking forward to trying it out on other doughs, but don't anticipate problems. The Campagne cook used this technique exclusively on the crusts for quiche - deep dished, pie crusts. And they were always gorgeous. I am positively shocked that I've never tried this myself.

Here's the recipe for Pate Sucree, which I use for most tarts, and here's the recipe for pie dough. Happy Thanksgiving Prep!

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Best of 2011

We are squarely into the new year. Most of the holiday decorations are hibernating again, save the advent garland that graces our mantle. I barely filled it this year but cannot bear to take it down. January is dreary enough, especially so once the poinsettias dry up and the cards are taken down and the supply of holiday cookies is long gone. January is a slow burn of calories and gently fragrant candles. And jazz, as playlists of Christmas carols have given way to Miles, Chet, Art and Cannonball.

There are a few things I'm looking forward to in 2012:

Getting back to some French basics. Thankless work, really, since white beans, duck, frisee and Armangnac-soaked prunes are met with disdain by certain rubes who frequent the Pinch kitchen. Not among them? Bring over some Bordeaux and pull up a chair!

More canning. I've blown thru the six big jars of tomatoes Catherine and I put up this fall. We plan to get a really big box of super ripe Romas and double or triple our efforts this summer. In the meanwhile, I've switched allegiance from Muir Glen Whole Peeled Tomatoes to Muir Glen Whole Peeled Plum Tomatoes. The latter are richer in color and flavor and are a little more dense.

Making fresh pasta. I haven't done it in awhile. I'm planning to make some fabulous fettucini soon. Maybe a carbonara sauce or something mushroomy. Of course the children will beg for the curiosity they call Water Sauce, which is not so much water as it is the World's Best Marinara. Grab some of those MG Plum tomatoes and a food mill and make this sauce, ASAP. It's impossible not to love it. No food mill? Mash the tomatoes with a muddler or pulse them them in a Cuisinart. Just don't put them in a blender. Blenders pulverize delicate tomatoes.

A few culinary highlights of 2011:

Keeping slices of pancetta on hand in the freezer. I bought about 10 slices around Thanksgiving, which was about 6 slices more than I needed. I froze them, separating them with a piece of parchment paper, and have been peeling them off, one at a time, for a little burst of flavor for veggies and soups. I've got my freezer set to a very low temp, but the pancetta is very managable right out of the freezer.

 A new recipe for gingerbread men and houses. At long last, a recipe for a house you'd consider eating! Do beware: this recipe will make enough dough for one small house. Double it if you want to make lots of men or a bigger house.

Making marshmallows with the kids. I couldn't find my old recipe so we followed David's instead. Click here to follow it yourself. I recommend using an 8 or 9-inch square baking pan to form them, as the marshmallows made on the sheet pan are more flat than I like them. I'm also going to go ahead and track down some French sheet gelatin. That powdered stuff smells like the stink on a monkey.

Pinched Chicken Vesuvio and Ciabatta. Every once in awhile a new recipe comes into the fold and is an instant hit. These two will be in my repertoire forever.

Here's to healthy cooking and eating in the New Year.

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Baking Without Butter: Pumpkin Bundt Cake

This cake was added on to the Thanksgiving menu at the eleventh hour at the insistence of my youngest daughter. Thank goodness! It's a great cake to have around. It was nibbled on by house guests over the weekend.

I made cupcakes out of the same batter last year, and frosted them with Cream Cheese Frosting. They were good, but this lighter cake was much more popular. Besides, what good is it to bake without butter and then slather the finished cake with butter, cream cheese and sugar?

The recipe came from a 1997 issue of Food & Wine which I clipped and stored in my cookbook (my cookbook is a binder filled with page protectors). I've only tinkered with it slightly.

Years ago, at the request of a client in Telluride, I made a pumpkin by baking two bundt cakes and inverting one on top of the other, with a layer of frosting in between. For a stem, I inserted an upside down cupcake in the hole on the top cake. I frosted the orb with orange-tinted cream cheese frosting and the stem with green. It was a hit.

Pumpkin Bundt Cake
Print recipe only here

Makes one 12-cup bundt cake. Half the recipe makes 12 cupcakes or a 6-cup bundt.

Preheat oven to 350°

Spray a bundt pan or muffin tin with canola spray.

Sift together:

* 3 1/3 cups flour
* 1 ½ t salt
* 1 t baking soda
* 1 t baking powder
* 1 T ginger
* 2 t cinnamon
* 1 t nutmeg
* ½ t cloves

In a mixing bowl, beat together (I use my stand mixer here):

* 2 ¾ cup sugar
* ¾ cup canola oil
* 4 eggs

Add and combine:

* One 15-ounce can pumpkin purée
* 2/3 cup warm water

Add the dry ingredients to the mixer and mix well, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl to incorporate thoroughly. Transfer to the pan and bake (about 25 minutes for cupcakes and about 50 minutes for the large bundt). The cake will be golden, firm and pull from the sides when it is done. Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate.

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I've waxed snarky on Rachel Ray in the past, but here's a recipe from her that is great: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. My good friend Crissy fed me these and I loved every bite. Ray Ray calls for something called pumpkin pie spice which I don't buy. If you don't either, just substitute 1 ½ t ginger, 1 t cinnamon, ½ t nutmeg and a pinch of cloves.

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On the Menu This Week

I've been visiting the butcher at Apple Market more frequently these days. I was there yesterday and picked up a gorgeous pork shoulder roast which was beckoning to be included in our weekend plans. Time for a bbq! I will need to grab some Kirby cukes (golly, will I be able to find them this time of year?!?) to make those yummy pickles inspired by Chicago Q and a cabbage for Slaw. Then we just need some Cornbread and Grandpa's Baked Beans.

Our last bbq feast was a few days before Thanksgiving, the day everyone arrived in from out of town. I tried something new - slow roasting the pork in a Dutch oven on a bed of onions in a braise of apple cider. That was based on a recipe I saw on Oprah's site - click here to see it. I like to "brine" pork shoulder in a dry rub overnight before bbq'ing. I use spice blends from the Spice House (Smoke House Seasoning and Milwaukee Iron are my personal faves), sprinkling them liberally all over the roast and then wrapping the roast tightly in plastic wrap. To cook, I set my oven to 175 (you could do this in a slow cooker, as well), slice an onion and line the bottom of a 3 or 4 quart Dutch oven with the slices. Unwrap the roast and place on the bed of onions. Add about 2 cups of cider (or stock) to the pot, then put in the oven for like 6 hours at least. Pull it out when it's falling off the bone.  I love smoking the roast outside on the grill (using Hickory chips), but, let's face it, this is a lot easier.

This is a good time to talk bbq sauce, one of my favorite condiments. My all-time favorite is Noh Hawaiian, and I've picked it up at Apple Market in Chicago, but I didn't see it there the yesterday. I'm also a fan of Sweet Baby Ray's Original, which I thought of as a small-batch Chicago product when we moved here seven years ago, until the day I saw it bundled at Costco. 

Turns out, I knew very little about bbq sauce seven years ago. I thought the only differences were in smokiness or sweetness. I had no idea that bbq sauce existed that wasn't tomato-based. Zingerman's Roadhouse in Ann Arbor, is the only place I know where you can get South Carolina mustard bbq sauce, eastern Carolina's vinegar bbq sauce and the tomato-based condiment I love so much. (If you're still curious about bbq sauce history, geography and origins, read this from Zingerman's founder Ari Weinzweig.)

Ok, off to look for cukes and cabbage!

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Aequalitate, Veritas et Citrus

The beginning of the citrus season is one of my favorite things about the tide between Thanksgiving and trimming the Christmas tree. Some people like to move from one holiday right to the next. I prefer when time moves more slowly. Sure, we bring out the advent calendar and some greens for our planters outside, but we've also set out in-shell nuts and big bowls of Cuties or satsumas. The dark afternoons are a lovely time for candles and jazz. In the ten days before Christmas and for the twelve days post we are pretty festive. But for now it's more about the pure change of season.

Citrus are not created equal. The individual varieties have not gotten the marketing blitz or branding that the apple enjoys. More than that though, it's the supply of sub-par citrus that surprises me. A generic clementine (and most tangerines) generally amounts to a sour mouthful of pulp waiting to sit stagnant in your gut and make you bloated. To be fair, even a perfect Cutie clementine will act similarly but will first skip merrily down your throat and make you forget all your troubles for at least five minutes post-mastication. Even the lowly lemon can disappoint, especially when you were counting on one to be juicy but the whole weight of it was in the skin.

Some citrus truths:

1. A good satsuma is hard to come by in Chicago. I used to get great ones when we lived in the Pacific Northwest. Not so much anymore. Whole Foods has them sometimes but they're not dependably excellent.
2. Cuties are the best clementine. Nothing Compares 2 Cuties.
3. Florida should stop sending forth its nasty grapefruit. They could use the the crop for bocce.
4. Ruby Red grapefruit from Texas is the only grapefruit worth eating. Last year the best foodie gift of Christmas (or perhaps tied with the case of Dave's Albacore Tuna) was a generous box of deep red Rubies from Bell's Farm. They were just perfect.
5. What's the best way to pick citrus? Weight and smell. Generally, it's heft you're looking for. A higher water weight generally means a more succulent piece of fruit. Get comfortable smelling your produce. If it smells delicious it's not going to disappoint. If it smells bland move on.


Finally, don't let another winter pass you by without trying something new. Not sure what to do with a Blood orange or a Meyer lemon? Start simply: Squeeze blood oranges and serve the juice or make a cocktail. Make a Meyer lemon curd and serve alongside a simple cake. It's citrus season! Enjoy it.

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CDC Advisory: Don't _______ that Chicken!

Mad Libs! Does anyone play it in the winter? Mad Libs reminds me of summer road trips and lying around in the cool basement being bored enough to play Mad Libs by myself. Anyway, two verbs apply to the title of this post. Try to pick them among this list:

- Mollycoddle
- Beget
- Encourage
- Kiss
- Endorse
- Befriend
- Wash
- Catfish
- Underestimate
- Reach out to

Guess yet?

The correct answers are KISS and WASH. There's been some reporting on the former in the past few months. Turns out the rise of backyard chicken coops is causing an increase in Salmonella infections. Because people who keep chickens fall in love with them and plant kisses on them, in spite of the chicken clawing to get away like six year old human trying to avoid the slobbery kiss of a geriatric relative. Even those who shy away from physical expressions of love with their pets are at risk: just having them around in your living space puts you at risk. A healthy chicken can still get you very sick - essentially, they've got germs all over their feathers, feet and beaks. Letting the chicken cross the threshold invites disaster.

As for washing, we're now talking about a bird you're ready to eat. It doesn't matter if it's a whole chicken, or a skinless boneless breast, or a pile of chicken wings and drummettes: don't wash them before cooking. Doing so merely spreads the germs you washed off the bird all over your sink, splattering counters and utensils. I've written about this before around Thanksgiving because I brine the turkey with kosher salt and it needs to be rinsed and the whole thing makes me twitchy about poisoning our guests (not twitchy enough to stop brining, tho).

Brush up on your food safety here at the USDA site. And don't Snapchat that chicken!

Referenced above:
- Backyard Chickens Linked to Salmonella Outbreaks, CDC Says 
- Risk of Human Salmonella Infections from Live Baby Poultry 
- Why Washing Raw Chicken Could Be Hazardous To Your Health

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On the Menu This Week

Every once in awhile a market trip yields so many great ideas for dinner. Everything looked great today. I need to use the gorgeous arugula I picked up last week and forgot to use while we had family in town. The salmon looked particularly great at Whole Foods, so tonight we had Pan-fried Salmon on Arugula along with a side of Tomato Basil Soup. It's been a soupy few days - we're still enjoying Turkey and Rice soup. Our Thanksgiving turkey was particularly lean and flavorful this year. The stock is just wonderful.

Speaking of the Great Bird, the Wishbone Breaking Event of 2011 merits mention on account of its unprecedented conclusion. My children were competing for a serving of caramel-cheese mixed popcorn which promised a certain amount of doe-eyed begging on the part of the loser. I had anticipated some drama but needn't have: the wishbone split down the middle. Popcorn all around!

Anyway, I picked up some ground lamb for Lamb Burgers later in the week and am also really looking forward to Gyoza and Pad Thai, which we haven't had for awhile.

Have a great week.

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Spicy Italian Sausage and Broccoli Sauce for Pasta

I've spent the weekend planning my Thanksgiving Day and other menus for next week when we'll have family in town. Today's recipe is going to be featured one day for lunch or dinner. It's a new favorite, possibly the best new dinner I've come up with in awhile. It's not innovative - folks have been making sausage and broccoli sauces forever. But mine is a red sauce.

Here's what to love about it: it's, like, the easiest weeknight dinner that you will ever make; it's possibly the most comforting meal, ever, AND, AND, AND it's really good leftover!  One day at work I was liveblogging my lunch with an off-site coworker who either thought I had an overabundance of enthusiasm about my lunch or advanced to the nearest Whole Foods to buy the ingredients to make it for her own family.

If I bring it to work, I end up nukeing it to reheat. Otherwise, I employ my tried and true method of reheating pasta: heat 1-2 T water in saucepan or skillet, then add pasta and stir in. Cover and cook over low-medium heat for about 2-3 minutes until well heated. You need it thoroughly reheated but be careful as overcooking will turn it to mush. Taste for seasoning, adding parm, salt or pepper as needed. I had a friend in college who swore by her mom's fried spaghetti - a story that still makes me cringe.

Here's that recipe.

Pasta with Sausage and Broccoli
Print recipe only here

INGREDIENTS
3/4 pound spicy Italian sausage*
2 cloves garlic
1 8-ounce package baby broccoli, cut into 2-inch long pieces
1 fourteen-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
8-12 oz penne or quinoa pasta (I use quinoa pasta for this all the time)
2-4 T freshly grated Parm or Grana Padano

METHOD
Heat a saucepan over medium high heat. Add the sausage and garlic and saute for 6-8 minutes, breaking up the sausage and allowing it to brown all over. Add the entire can of tomatoes and juices to the pot, breaking up the tomatoes with your hands. Bring to a boil then turn down heat and simmer for at least 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, fill a large pot with water and 1-2 teaspoons kosher salt. Bring to a boil. Prep a large bowl of ice water.

Add broccoli and boil for 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the broccoli to the bowl filled with ice water. Add the pasta to the same pot of water and cook until al dente. When the pasta has about 2 minutes left to cook, drain the baby broccoli and add to the saucepan.

Drain the pasta and add to the sauce, stirring completely. Add freshly grated Grana Padano and serve.

* A note on the sausage: I've been buying the Niman Ranch bulk sausage locally at Plum Market. Whole Foods also carries it sometimes. I like both because they're of the leaner variety.

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