Thanksgiving 2009
I'm just going to say it, I know that I'm an adult now that Christmas is no longer my favorite holiday of the year, don't get me wrong, I still love the traditions and holiday cheer, but to me, Thanksgiving takes the cake. What's better than an entire holiday centered around food and family? I've got two dishes that I look forward to making each Thanksgiving (okay, for a few different Thanksgivings held over the past 2 years, and hopefully many more to come). The first is the often overlooked (until now) cranberries. The second is the stuffing. Ironically enough, up until I started making the stuffing and the cranberries from recipes that I found, neither of those dishes ever found their way onto my dinner plate.
I found the recipe that I frequent for cranberries from Good Housekeeping's Thanksgiving issue back in 2008 (I believe). It doesn't produce the jello-esk cranberries that so often hold a place at a Thanksgiving table, this recipe turns out much more like a relish of sorts. Aside from the obvious, cranberries, this recipe features ginger and pear. Last year I used ground ginger from a container, but this year, I got adventurous (and perhaps a little overzealous) with fresh ginger that I ground myself. One word: Micro-plain. Go buy one. So my first batch for my pre-Thanksgiving dinner was a little heavy on the ginger, I got it right for the actual big day.
The stuffing came from one of Martha Stewart's staff members, written up in Martha Stewart Living's Thanksgiving 2008 (once again, I believe) issue. It is a peach stuffing, and tastes fresh and delicious if I do say so myself. The recipe features stale rustic Italian bread, a can of clingstone peach halves and frozen orange juice concentrate among other things. I find it difficult not to pick at the dish while I'm waiting for the right time to put it into the oven. It had a large following this year at my parent's Thanksgiving table. And had tough competition at the pre-Thanksgiving dinner when it was up against my brother's "Man Stuffing", which featured summer sausage, eggs, and mashed potatoes.
All in all, the pre-Thanksgiving and actual Thanksgivings were culinary successes and I look forward to next year.
Ah yes, I almost forgot to mention that for the pre-Thanksgiving I made the delightful Cannele. This time they turned out harder on the outside. I'm chalking that up to working with an oven that can actually get to the correct temperature. Not sure which way I prefer the outer shell to be, but both times they were a crowd favorite.
Into the New Year:
I've procured some new cookbooks throughout the holidays and I'm excited to get cracking on them. I'm going to use this blog to continue my work with Jacque's cookbook, but also to share some of my other culinary adventures.
I just got back from a long (chilly) weekend in Florida. I wanted something warm and simple to make for my boyfriend and I for dinner that didn't consist of driving to Wendy's, pre-made food, or my standard tri-color rotini with olive oil and parmesan cheese. In one of my new cookbooks full of healthy meals for under $7, I found a recipe for sirloin steak with blue cheese and basil. I was running behind schedule, so (what turned out to be) thankfully, Mike was there to keep my company as I cooked. I couldn't find any fresh basil, so I took that out of the mix, and I made whole wheat gnocchi as a side. I was about to put the steak (seasoned in sea salt, olive oil and lemon pepper) onto the pan when Mike pointed out that there was a lingering piece of black paper stuck to the bottom of the steak (from the packaging), phew, caught it before I started a fire. I must have been really absent minded last night as the kitchen started to fill up with smoke due to the fact that I was searing the meat on high heat instead of medium heat (thanks again to Mike for pointing out that error). There wasn't much damage done to the meat other than a few well done edges, and we got the window open before the fire alarm went off. When the steak had cooked for about 5 minutes on both sides I added the blue cheese and cooked it for another 4 minutes while the steak finished and the cheese melted.
It tasted very good, I'd make this again in a heartbeat. The few little mishaps aside, this meal was simple and quick to make as well as relatively healthy and inexpensive. I was worried that I had put too much salt onto the meat, but thankfully the cheese took care of any issues in taste that could have occurred from too much salt.
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