Happy New Year's!

I have a lot to talk about.  Christmas feasts, and New Year's treats. 

But I also just got back from Texas and am on my way to Hudson, working full days in the meantime.  And I can't find my camera cord.

But I didn't want to fully abandon you, my faithful readers in this time of transition and renewal. 

So I'll just wish you a Happy New Year,

From A Player

(and A Baker...)

Love,
Meredith

Cocktail Monday: Salty Dog

You could call this part one of Christmas Redux.

I like my family's Christmas traditions.  There are many.  The way we've been doing Christmas morning hasn't changed for many years.  We get up at about 6 A.M., we check out what Santa left us, then we open presents starting from youngest, going to oldest.

Oooh- look at me go:

Check out my exciting new dustbuster!  You know how I love vacuum cleaners and all. 

Then we have brunch.  It's really breakfast, as it's at about 8 in the morning, but you get the drift.

We always have grapefruit:

And egg casserole.

And sweet rolls.  This year I made Pioneer Woman's:

This year with all that extra grapefruit juice hanging around, I couldn't help myself.  Mind you, I didn't actually make the drink until after noon, for those of you who are counting (you know who you are).

I went for an old fav- the salty dog.  Basically you make yourself a greyhound- simply vodka and grapefruit juice- but you switch it up with a salted rim. 

This one's as easy as pie, but with excellent fresh ruby red grapefruits from the Valley in southern Texas, they become extraordinary.

Salt your rim, and fill your glass with ice.

Pour in 1.5 ounces of vodka.  That part happened in the bar upstairs, so I didn't get a picture.  I didn't want to scare my grandmother with vodka bottles on Christmas.

I added a splash of lime juice because those ruby reds were so sweet they needed a little kick.

Poured in the juice from some supremes I made for a salad later:

Gave it a stir and called it a day.

Christmas day, that is.

It was very merry (but more so for me on account of the salty dog)

Playing,
Meredith

Christmas Gift Extravaganza Part III

Fleur de Sel Toffee

This is a delicious treat!  Now that I've gotten over my fear of boiling sugar, I can do anything- and so can you.  Don't fear the candy.  Embrace it.

I saw this recipe in Martha Stewart Living and I knew it would be amazing.  I love salted caramel.  Salted toffee couldn't be bad.

First, prepare your pan.  Of course you're supposed to use a rimmed cookie sheet, but I don't have one, as my oven doesn't fit the normal ones.  I do have this large pizza pan that I use as a serving tray.  It worked fine, but I'm sure the sheet would be ideal.

Spray it with cooking spray:

Add 2 2/3 cups of sugar to your saucepan.  Just so you know, this one was only just barely big enough.  Any smaller and the caramel would have boiled over.

1/4 cup corn syrup- organic this time. (Take that, Lena dear)

1/3 cup water:

And 1 pound of butter, folks.  This is not for the faint of heart.  Of course, I use the best most local butter available:

Here we are all in the hot tub.  Or rather the room temperature tub that is about to get hot.

Here's the fleur de sel that's going to be sprinkled later.  It isn't from France, but I think it's still great.

Now cook.  First let everything dissolve, whisking frequently. 

Then leave it alone.  Don't stir.  Don't shake.  Just let it do it's thing for about 12 minutes until it reaches 300˚ on your thermometer.  Then give it one more whisk and pour it onto your pan.

Wait 30 seconds and sprinkle the top with fleur de sel.  (That's how long it took me to take the cap off)

Let it cool in the pan. 

Break into pieces:

And put into packages for gifting.

Martha Stewart Living's Fleur de Sel Toffee

Ingredients

Makes about 2 pounds

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 2/3 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• Fleur de sel, for sprinkling

Directions

1. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Bring butter, sugar, water, and corn syrup to a boil in a large saucepan, whisking frequently until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Cook, undisturbed, until mixture registers 300 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 12 minutes.
2. Whisk toffee mixture, then immediately pour onto prepared sheet, tilting pan to spread over entire surface. Let stand for 30 seconds, then sprinkle with fleur de sel. Let cool. (Do not move the pan for first 30 minutes.) Break toffee into pieces. Toffee will keep, covered, for up to 1 week.   

Don't fear the candy.  Embrace the candy. 

Playing,
Meredith

Christmas Gift Extravaganza Part II

When last we met I made homemade cocoa.  And I asked a question.

What better to top delicious creamy homemade cocoa then delicious fluffy homemade marshmallows?

Did you think I'd leave you hanging without divulging my secret?  Of course not.  I never leave you hanging.  Okay, sometimes I do, but this is Christmas, people.  No abandoning you now in this time of giving, love and peace.

Marshmallows aren't hard to make.  They're just messy.  And you need a stand mixer, which is why I made these babies in Hudson where we have one.  There's no getting around it, a stand mixer is necessary here.  So I'm sorry if you won't be able to make this due to lack of equipment.  Believe me, I feel your pain most of the time, when I'm not in Hudson and don't have a stand mixer or food processor.

I found a good recipe online, as per usual, searching "homemade marshmallows" and landed on a Martha Stewart recipe on the Oprah site.  I don't ask questions.  I just make marshmallows.  I halved the recipe simply because we didn't want to go to the store and I only had half the gelatin required to make the recipe.  I think you should go ahead and make the full amount, as you'll probably be buying the ingredients anyway.  It's just as easy to make the full recipe as half, so you might as well.

First you dissolve your gelatin in some cold water in the bowl of your mixer.

Next comes the syrup.  Corn syrup (don't get mad corn haters- it's necessary for the candy making process.)

Sugar and salt.

And some water to get things going.

Now once the sugar dissolves raise the heat to high and attach your candy thermometer.  Brush the sides of the pan with water to dissolve any crystals that might form, and let that rip till the thermometer reaches 244˚.  I didn't trust the thermometer so I used another one.  They were over ten degrees different.  That's why the thermapen is the best.  It's very precise.

Once the syrup is 244˚ turn your mixer on low and very slowly pour it in.

Once it's all in turn the speed up to high and let her rip for 15 minutes.  Really.  I know it seems like a long time, but you're whipping air into the candy.

While that's going sprinkle a dish with powdered sugar.  The recipe said glass, but I used this square metal one since my recipe was halved.

A quick tip: to clean candy or caramel off of your pan simply fill it with water and bring it to a boil.  It melts the sugar right off.

After 15 minutes add your vanilla and stir to combine.

And pour it into your baking dish.

This is the messy part.  You just have to coax it into the corners.  It helps if you sprinkle it with lots of powdered sugar.

Let the marshmallows sit overnight to dry out.  Then you can cut them.  I used kitchen shears which seemed to work well.  Dust the pieces in more powdered sugar and call it a day.

And here we have the finished gift:

The cocoa mix with a bag of little homemade marshmallows.

Homemade Marshmallows

Recipe created by Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• Confectioners' sugar (for dusting)

Combine gelatin and 1/2 cup cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment. Let it stand 30 minutes.

Combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/2 cup of water in a small heavy saucepan; place over low heat and stir until sugar has dissolved. Wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to dissolve sugar crystals.

Clip on a candy thermometer; raise heat to high. Cook syrup without stirring until it reaches 244 degrees (firm-ball stage). Immediately remove pan from heat.

With mixer on low speed, slowly and carefully pour syrup into the softened gelatin. Increase speed to high; beat until mixture is very thick and white and has almost tripled in volume, about 15 minutes. Add vanilla; beat to incorporate.

Generously dust an 8 x 12-inch glass baking pan with confectioners' sugar. Pour marshmallow mixture into pan. Dust with confectioners' sugar; let stand overnight, uncovered, to dry out.

Give the gift of creamy delicious warmth this holiday season.

Or something like that...

Playing,

Meredith

Christmas Gift Extravaganza Part I

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

About now, some of you may be getting some of my homemade goodies, so I thought I'd start talking about them.

It's Recession Christmas.  Money is tight for all of us.  But that doesn't change the fact that a lot of us still have too much stuff.  This year, I've made a real point to give gifts that will be consumed.  I mean, everyone loves a nice tasty Christmas treat, right?  I love making them, so it's definitely a win win situation.  Add the fact that they're good for the planet, and you've got a win win win.  That's the best kind.

The first gift up on my list is Hot Cocoa Mix.  I don't exactly know what inspired me to make cocoa mix from scratch.  I guess I wanted to make something chocolatey, but didn't want to repeat the chocolate truffles I made last year.  Hot cocoa seemed fun and great for people of all ages.

Googling "homemade hot cocoa mix" brought up a lot of recipes with non-dairy creamer in them.  I don't want to judge what you put in your coffee, but I'm trying to make gourmet gifts here!  No fake chemicals in my cocoa aloud!  Finally I found one by good old Alton Brown over at Food Network.  His was amazingly easy, and I have to say, delicious.  I don't know why I haven't been making homemade cocoa all my life.

The ingredients:

Powdered Sugar, Powdered Milk, Dutch-process Cocoa, and Corn Starch.

I just mixed them all up in a bowl:

Here's the corn starch.  I assume that makes the cocoa thick and creamy.

I love my pink salt because if you look closely you can even see it on white ingredients.

And it reminds you that there was indeed salt in there...

Mix well.  A whisk works pretty well.

A dash of cayenne spices things up without any real noticeable heat.  

 I rolled up a piece of parchment to make a funnel to fill my jars.

And that's it!  It couldn't be simpler.  But how does it taste?

Inquiring minds want to know.  Just fill up your cup with half of the mixture.  It seems like a lot, but remember there's a lot of powdered milk in there.

And add the same amount of hot water.

Stir and enjoy.  You'll never believe this isn't made with whole milk, it's so rich and creamy.

Alton Brown's Hot Cocoa

Ingredients

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
• 2 1/2 cups powdered milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste
• Hot water

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate evenly. In a small pot, heat 4 to 6 cups of water.
Fill your mug half full with the mixture and pour in hot water. Stir to combine. Seal the rest in an airtight container, keeps indefinitely in the pantry. This also works great with warm milk.


You know what's great with hot cocoa?  Marshmallows. 

You know what's an incredibly cool gift?  Make a little package with your cocoa mix and homemade marshmallows. 

Don't know how to make homemade marshmallows?

Well, I'll tell you.

Later.

Heehee.

Playing,
Meredith

Turkey Meatloaf

Yum.

What do you eat on a chilly lazy Sunday with your closest friends other than cookies?

How about an all-American favorite?

Meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  I knew the perfect recipe too.  The Barefoot Contessa's.  She does comfort food right.  This turkey meatloaf is no exception.

Just so you know, the original recipe called for 5 pounds of ground turkey.  That's just crazy.  There were only three of us- G, Lena and I- no need for 5 pounds of anything.

If  you're cooking for a crowd, go ahead and use the full recipe.  Or do what I did and cut it down.  No need for the ratios to be perfect- this is meatloaf not souffle.  

First sweat some chopped onion.  This was one large onion, which was way too much.  1/2 would have been fine.  I just scooped some of it out before proceeding.

Fresh thyme from the herb garden: 

What a lovely hand model Lena is, don't you think?

About a tablespoon of tomato paste:

A splash of Worchestershire sauce:

And a splash of stock.  Mix that up and let it cool.

Lena took some initiative (she's such a go-getter) and cracked the egg into the bowl.

We used about a pound of ground turkey.  Then add about a quarter cup of bread crumbs.  Also, don't forget salt and pepper.

The cooled onion mixture:

And get mixing: 

If it's too wet, you might want to add some more bread crumbs. 

Form into a loaf:

And bake at 325˚ until it registers 160˚ on a thermometer.  It took about an hour.

Next up, potatoes and green beans.

Cut up your potatoes (we leave the skins on) and cover them with cold water.  Bring that up to a boil, then add your green beans.  The green beans blanch on top as the potatoes cook.  Very efficient.

Take out the green beans with tongs when they're crisp but tender.  Then let the potatoes finish cooking.  When a paring knife goes into one easily, you know you're good.  Drain them, add them back to the hot pot, and get mashing:

We added sour cream and cheese to our mash.

Now, we made use of that extra sautéed onion and used it for the beans.  I added a clove of garlic through the press:

And added the beans back:

What a perfectly balanced meal.

We'll have to do that again sometime.

Ina Garten's Turkey Meatloaf
(Feel free to follow the measurements above to make a 1 lb loaf)

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 3 cups chopped yellow onions (2 large onions)
• 2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 1/2 teaspoons tomato paste
• 5 pounds ground turkey breast
• 1 1/2 cups plain dry bread crumbs
• 3 extra-large eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup ketchup

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a medium saute pan, over medium-low heat, cook the onions, olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme until translucent, but not browned, approximately 15 minutes. Add the Worcestershire sauce, chicken stock, and tomato paste and mix well. Allow to cool to room temperature.
Combine the ground turkey, bread crumbs, eggs, and onion mixture in a large bowl. Mix well and shape into a rectangular loaf on an ungreased sheet pan. Spread the ketchup evenly on top. Bake for 1 1/2 hours until the internal temperature is 160 degrees F. and the meatloaf is cooked through. (A pan of hot water in the oven under the meatloaf will keep the top from cracking.) Serve hot, at room temperature, or cold in a sandwich.


There you go.
Enjoy.

Playing,
Meredith

Grandmom Cookies

I love my grandmother.

She's a wonderful Texas German woman.  She used to bake up a storm: yeast rolls, coke cake, chocolate and coconut cream pies.  My favorite thing she baked was oatmeal cookies.  These are not your average oatmeal cookie.  They aren't soft and chewy with raisins and cinnamon.  They are crunchy.  This means they stay fresh a long time, which is great, especially all those years in college Grandmom send me cookies by mail.  They may have crumbled a bit, but they never lost that sweet crunch that took me back to my childhood.

Grandmom doesn't make many cookies these days, but her memory will live on as the generations after her begin to use her recipes and make them their own.

Case in point: Oatmeal Cookies.

Lena came over the other day just to hang out.  We baked, made dinner and watched movies.  It was very nice.  It's great to bring someone into your kitchen who thinks differently than you.  I wanted to make my grandmother's cookies.  Lena wanted chocolate.  I would have never thought to put chocolate chips in my grandmom's cookies, but it actually worked.  So there you go- I learn something every day.  Or almost every day, anyway.

You start with sugar- 1/2 cup brown and 1/2 cup regular.

Cream in 1/2 cup shotening.  This took a while, because my shortening lives in the fridge.  It's always best to bake with room temperature ingredients, but it is possible to work with cold ones.

Add one egg:

Lena added 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  She's so helpful.

Now add flour.  I did 1/2 cup white flour and 1/2 cup whole spelt, because I'm crazy like that.  It would have been great with all whole wheat or spelt, for all you health nuts out there.

Don't forget your 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Very important for a good cookie.

Next up: 3/4 cups oats

I mixed in the oats and 1 cup chocolate chips by hand.

Now take about a tablespoon of the cookie dough

And roll it into a ball.

Place on a cookie sheet.  You might want to line it with parchment paper.

Bake at 375˚ for 12 to fifteen minutes and let cool on a rack.

I put my rack over the sink because I don't have much counter space.

So there you go.  Delicious cookies that remind me of my wonderful grandmom.

Oatmeal Crunchies
from the Parson's Table, adapted by a Player

1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. shortening
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour (or 1/2 whole wheat or spelt)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 c. oats
1/2 c. chocolate chips or chopped pecans, or heck, why not try both?

Cream together the brown sugar, sugar, and shortening.  Add the egg and mix well.  Add the dry ingredients.  Stir in the oats and chocolate and/or nuts.  Form into small balls.  Bake at 375˚ 12 to 15 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet. 

(The dough can be formed into a log, wrapped in plastic wrap, and frozen for slice and bake cookies later.)

These cookies are simple and delicious.  I brought the extras to my scene study class, and they seemed to really enjoy them.  Bake something good for the holidays.  It will warm your home, and your soul.

Or something like that...
Playing,
Meredith

Where'd She Go?

Lordy Mercy

I've been typing.  And stressing out.  And typing some more.  Online forms abound.  PDF's are my new best friends.

What, you might ask, am I doing?

Why, I'm applying to graduate school.  Acting graduate school, if you want to know.  This Player wants to play in the big league, folks.  And so, all of my technology related energy has been geared in that direction. 

But never fear my friends- I have plenty of time tomorrow for a real post.  Because I have lot's to talk about- cookies, osso bucco, and meatloaf, Oh my!

I know you can't wait. 
I'm going to go soak my hands to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome.

Playing,
Meredith

Cocktail Monday: Spiked Mulled Cider

It's cold outside.

At least that's what the weather man told me.  I've managed not to leave the house for the last 48 hours.  All that will change when I leave this afternoon, but I'm enjoying being inside with the radiators.

It's holiday time, and with the holidays come parties and merriment.

What better way to warm up your guests than with a nice steaming mug of mulled cider?

And should you choose, adding a shot of whiskey can make it even more warming.  Plus, it raises the merriment quotient quite a bit.  Merriment makes for a great party.

This is a simple idea, but you can easily make it your own.

Start by gently warming your favorite apple cider.

I added about 5 cloves and one cinnamon stick, but as you can see I wasn't making that much.  For a crowd, you might up that to 15 cloves and 3 cinnamon sticks.  It's really all about what you like.  Let that simmer on low for at least 15 minutes to let all the flavors meld.

Now for the good part.  The booze:

Add about a shot to the bottom of your mug.  As you can see, we used Jim Beam.  I happen to prefer Maker's Mark, but we didn't have that on hand.  You could also use rum, or brandy here.  Bourbon works well because of it's smoky caramel notes.

Add in a few ladels of hot cider:

And call it a cocktail.

If this doesn't warm you up, I don't know what will.

Playing,
Meredith

It's All About the Sides

Turkey is all well and good.  But let's not forget about those who stand in the shadows.

They give us creamy.  They give us crunchy.  They give us salty and sweet.

They are the sides.

Today I'm going to talk specifically about three of the side dishes that I had a hand in. 

First up: Creamed Greens

We had two bunches of mustard greens, two bunches of turnip greens, and two large containers of baby spinach.

We all sat down to take the tough stems off the mustards and turnips. 

Working as a big group makes a dull repetitive task fun!

Or as fun as it could be...

Give those greens a good wash.  Look at us using the huge sink!

Next, blanch all of the greens in boiling water for just a minute or two, then shock them in ice water. 

Next, you'll want to squeeze out all the excess water.  Michael used his hands, but I recommend using a dish towel.

Then give all those greens a good chop:

Thanks for chopping Sarah!

After chopping, squeeze the water out of the greens one more time.

Melt some butter in a heavy bottomed pan.  You could sautée a little onion here.  I'm sorry to say I was busy doing other things and I didn't actually see if Michael did.  I don't think he did.  I didn't taste any onion flavor, but it could have been just a bit. 

Anyway, you might like a little oniony goodness.  Or you could let the greens speak for themselves. 

Add your greens to the butter and stir in some milk.  You want to wait till the end to finish with cream.  Make sure you season the greens with salt and pepper.  Play with it- it's all about the look and feel of it, rather than sticking to a specific recipe.

Next up: Turnip Gratin

This one's from my favorite home-cooker, Pioneer Woman.  I saw this one, and knew I had to try it.
I'm not going to go into great detail on this one, as PW has taken care of that over on her site.

Peel up your turnips.  My happy helpers Mom and Lis took care of that.  We did a bunch, thinking that we needed more to fill up our pan.  Turns out P-dub was right- four, maybe five turnips would have done it.

Thinly slice your turnips.  If you have one of these babies, it makes quick work of it.

You can also slice them by hand.  Heck, that's what I do most of the time anyway.

Melissa was my resident cheese grater.  We mixed it up by adding some Emmentaler to the Gruyere.

I mixed my liquids into a measuring cup for ease of use.  I used heavy cream thinned down with some milk and chicken stock.  Just for fun I added a little grated nutmeg.

Do your layers:  Turnips, cream, a little chopped garlic, and then cheese.

Repeat as many times as you can, ending up with cheese on the top.

PW bakes her's at 375˚ for 20 minutes, but that wasn't nearly enough time for ours.  Perhaps we did use more than 4 turnips...  It took more like 45 minutes, and we ended up turning up the oven at the end to brown it up more.

Last on the list, brussels sprouts.

We browned ours in bacon drippings and then turned them around, adding some stock to help finish cooking.

I wouldn't recommend this method when you're cooking for a lot of people, as it's incredibly time consuming.  You can't crowd the pan, so you have to do it in batches. 

They were pretty good, but not awesome.

Another simple addition: baked sweet potatoes (simply halved and baked at 425˚).

These sides certainly stood up to Mr. Perfect Turkey, I'll tell ya that much.

Seriously try PW's gratin: you'll foget you said you hated turnips.
The greens are also certainly worth the effort.
Not so much on the brussels sprouts...

Playing,
Meredith

"Where's the Pie?"

-Lena

"Here's the pie."

-Me

I'm the pie girl in the family.  I like making pie.  I've had a good deal of practice at this point, and I'm pretty good at it.  You all know my famous all-butter pie crust, and I know I've told you about the flavorful addition of lard into the mix.  This is another recipe I found over at Cook's Illustrated.  It has a very interesting ingredient: vodka. 

Now don't go crazy.  The vodka cooks out.  In fact that's it's very purpose.  Using vodka along with a little water helps keep the unbaked pastry nice and moist, but then it evaporates in the oven leaving an extremely tender and flakey crust. 

Just for fun, and because I can, I go ahead and swap the vegetable shortning for lard.  Because vegetarian pie is so last century.

The first pie I made was pumpkin.  Well, I intended it to be pumpkin.  I bought a sugar pumpkin, baked it at 350˚, took it out of the oven, only to find something resembling pumpkin leather. 

I was on a quest for another sugar pumpkin, hoping that there was just something wrong with that one.  I never got the chance to find out, because I couldn't find another pumpkin. 

I had to improvise. 

I bought a butternut squash, which I've heard is actually in a lot of pumpkin pie mixes anyway.  I bought this green squash hoping it would add that extra umph.

And I bought a can of pumpkin purée just in case.

In the end, the butternut squash was delicious and sweet.  The green squash was a bit bitter, but had a pumpkinny flavor I liked.  I threw all three together to make a super squash purée.  Then I just measured out the 2 cups of the recipe and called it a day.

And that's how this pumpkin pie was renamed squash pie.

I had this recipe copied on a piece of paper from last Thanksgiving, so it varied from the original Cook's Illustrated version.  I don't mind.  I love mine.  It works.

Add a cup of brown sugar to your 2 cups of squash.

Then add your spices:

Ginger, cinnamon, and freshly ground nutmeg and cloves.

Roll out your pie crust and put some foil and pie weights in it.  Then make sure you refrigerate it for 30 minutes.  I didn't and the sides of my pie fell a bit.

Bake the crust at 400˚ for 15 minutes.  Then remove the foil and weights and bake another 8 minutes or so to brown it. 

Mix together the rest of your pie ingredients: salt, heavy cream, milk and eggs.  Cook's Illustrated said to cook the mixture, then add the eggs.  I didn't write that part down, and so didn't do it.  The filling turned out beautifully, so I'm not too concerned about it.

Pour the filling into the crust and bake about 25 minutes or until the filling is slightly cracked at the edges and the center giggles a bit.

I used the other half of the dough to make pecan pie.  It's Aunt Sue's famous recipe, which I've made before, so I didn't think I needed to document that.  The pecans were brought up by my parents from Texas, so they were extra good.

We took an hour or two to digest dinner, then sat down for round two: pie.

We had some weekend coffee with our pie.  For those of you unninitiated into the world of weekend coffee, it's simply coffee spiked with Bailey's.  It's good.

The guys ate their pie in the kitchen.  I think they needed full light to enjoy their dessert.

The pies were both a success.  The pecan won out, I think, but the squash pie was a close second.

Cook's Illustrated's Foolproof Pie Dough
(Adapted by a Player)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces (Or Leaf Lard cut into little chunks)
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water

Procedure

1. Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening (or lard) and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.

2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.


Cook's Illustrated's Spicy Pumpkin Pie
(Adapted by a Player)

Spicy Pumpkin Filling
2 cups (16 ounces) plain pumpkin puree, canned or fresh (Or try your own mixture of different squashes)
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup milk
 4 large eggs


Roll out 1/2 of the dough into a pie pan.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes (or freeze for 5 minutes) to firm dough shell. Using a table fork, prick bottom and sides — including where they meet — at 1/2-inch intervals. Flatten a 12-inch square of aluminum foil inside shell, pressing it flush against corners, sides, and over rim. Prick foil bottom in about a dozen places with a fork. Chill shell for at least 30 minutes (preferably an hour or more), to allow dough to relax.

Adjust an oven rack to lowest position, and heat oven to 400 degrees. (Start preparing filling when you put shell into oven.) Bake 15 minutes, pressing down on foil with mitt-protected hands to flatten any puffs. Remove foil and bake shell for 8 to 10 minutes longer, or until interior just begins to color.

For filling, process first 7 ingredients in a food processor fitted with steel blade for 1 minute. Transfer pumpkin mixture to a 3-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan; bring it to a sputtering simmer over medium-high heat. Cook pumpkin, stirring constantly, until thick and shiny, about 5 minutes. As soon as pie shell comes out of oven, whisk heavy cream and milk into pumpkin and bring to a bare simmer. Process eggs in food processor until whites and yolks are mixed, about 5 seconds. With motor running, slowly pour about half of hot pumpkin mixture through feed tube. Stop machine and scrape in remaining pumpkin. Process 30 seconds longer.
Or just mix all of the ingredients together if you're lazy like me

Immediately pour warm filling into hot pie shell. (Ladle any excess filling into pie after it has baked for 5 minutes or so — by this time filling will have settled.) Bake until filling is puffed, dry-looking, and lightly cracked around edges, and center wiggles like gelatin when pie is gently shaken, about 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour.


Serve with weekend coffee. 

Pie.  It's what's after dinner.


Playing,
Meredith

Thanksgiving Redux

I know you're over it, but you know I've got to do it. 

Thanksgiving in Hudson:  it's the third time we've done it, and I have to say it keeps getting better.

This year it's my family: Mom, Dad, Brendan, Sarah and Melissa.
And Michael's: his mom, Sue, brother Steve, and nephew Brent.

Good food with good people.  It's how we roll up here.

I thought I'd do an overview of the event today and post details on my dishes throughout the week. 
We kept it pretty casual with a buffet:

First thing's first:  Turkey.

As you can see, this one is from Lobel's.  It was organic, free-range, and lived a happy but brief life in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania.  Last year it was two small heritage birds.  It was fun, but I have to say, we missed the white meat of the good old broad breasted whites most of us eat every year.  So we went back.  And we don't regret it at all, just so you know.

We went incredibly simple.  No brining, no stuffing, not even a sliced lemon in the cavity.  Just a good rub-down of butter and a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper.

And now things get a little high tech.  Our amazing beautiful new Electrolux oven came with a very special feature: The Perfect Turkey Button.

It all starts with a probe.  Hee hee. 

Get your mind out of the gutter:

It's a temperature probe.  It plugs into the oven and regulates the temp.

Tent some foil over the bird so it doesn't brown too quickly:

And our resident Perfect Turkey Button pusher Sue goes to town.

Except that little button was way too perfect.  We wanted the internal temp of the bird to finish out at about 170˚.  After about 20 minutes of cooking, the bird was nearing 100˚ way too quickly.  We had planned for the bird to be cooking at least five hours.  At that rate it would be ready in less than two.  We ended up turning off the convection feature and leaving the oven at 325˚.  That slowed things down enough so that we could cook the rest of the feast before the bird got over-cooked.

Michael's brother Steve was in charge of the Thanksgiving music mix:

Have I mentioned yet that my pal Brent was the resident thanksgiving photographer.  He did a great job, and it meant that I could focus on cooking.  Thanks!!!

Here's Michael worrying over the turkey.  Hey, who knew the turkey would be the quickest thing we made that day? 

We left the bird in a warm oven until, well, we needed the oven space.  When we took it out the breast was a bit low, but we knew all about carry over cooking.  Tent that baby up and let the heat do it's magic.  When you use high quality poultry you don't have to be so worried about cooking the bird to death, just so you know.

Sam to the rescue with the dish washing:

There's nothing quite like having my dad around when I cook- it's like I hardly dirty a dish before it's magically clean again!

Here I am dishing up the gravy:

That's some very special gravy.  Read about it here. 

Michael carved up the turkey as the fams walked the line.

We decorated the table simply with various squashes and gourds.

Here's the plate:

Starting with the turkey and going clock-wise:

Perfect Turkey with Perfect Gravy: probably the best turkey I've ever had, just so ya know.
Creamed Greens: Spinach, Turnip and Mustard.
Sue's Cranberry Sauce: whole cranberries roasted with orange zest.
All-Bran Rolls: a Maness Tradition that the Smarts have come to love.
Sue's Corn Bread Dressing: Simply corn bread, a bit of regular bread, sautéed onion and celery, sage, chicken stock and a beaten egg.
Pan roasted Brussels Sprouts
Turnip Gratin
and Roasted Sweet Potatoes in the center.


Stay tuned for all the juicy details.

Playing,
Meredith