Turkey Day and Tradition

Are you a traditionalist when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner, or do you like to mix up the menu every year? Like more and more people these days, I’m generally of the to-hell-with-tradition persuasion. But when it comes to Thanksgiving, I want the usual. Save the experimentation and creativity for the other 364 days of the year. Just give me my big turkey dinner with all the trimmings. And don’t dare try to change a thing.

Unfortunately for me, my family is a bunch of turkey bashers. They don’t even want to consider the possibility of having the prescribed meal on the fourth Thursday of November. Because of the anti-turkey contingent, we’ve had Thanksgiving dinner starring pork, beef, lamb, game hens, duck, and even goose. It may be delicious, but it’s not right.

Why must they be so staunchly opposed to turkey? It’s not like I’d subject them to overcooked, desiccated white meat turkey. Even if it’s not their favorite, would it kill them to eat a turkey dinner just once in the course of a year? I mean, Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving without the roasted turkey in the center of the table and the tryptophan-induced drowsiness at the end of the afternoon.

Turkey or no turkey, there’s one traditional thing that’ll be on our Thanksgiving table no matter what anyone else has to say about it.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Jellied Cranberry Sauce
Printable Recipe

3 cups sugar
2 ¼ pounds (3 12-ounce bags) cranberries

Combine the sugar and 3 cups of water in a large, heavy pot. Heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the cranberries, bring to a boil, and simmer, stirring constantly, for 18 to 20 minutes, or until thick. Puree in a food mill using the finest disc. If the puree has seeds, strain it through a fine mesh sieve to remove them. Transfer to jars and let cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or until set.

Makes a large batch, about 7 cups. This sauce is less sweet than the ubiquitous canned stuff, and it’s also slightly softer. If you’d like a thicker sauce suitable for molding, simply cook it a few minutes longer. Keeps for several days tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

Pine-Mouth-Proof Pesto

Have you ever heard of pine-mouth? My husband had it once, and it was terrible. Pine-mouth is a mysterious taste disturbance caused by consuming pine nuts that makes everything you eat taste bitter and gross. It lasts for an indefinite length of time, possibly days or weeks, and I’ve even heard horror stories of cases that never clear up. My husband’s pine-mouth lasted for nearly a week. There has been some speculation that old or rancid pine nuts are to blame. Or that the variety coming from China is the culprit. But nobody really knows why it happens and when it might strike. (For the record, the pine nuts that caused my husband’s pine-mouth tasted normal and had no off odor. Strangely, I had eaten from the same batch of pesto and suffered no ill effects.)

I’ve always loved the unique taste and texture of pine nuts, but ever since my husband’s experience with pine-mouth I’ve been a little less enthusiastic about cooking and eating them. I still do it on occasion but every time feels a bit like a game of Russian roulette for the palate. Even if I didn’t rely on my sense of taste to make a living, it would be cause for hesitation.

Then one day Hubby and I were wandering through the aisles of Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Store, which carries a huge variety of unusual grains and seeds, when we stumbled across hemp seeds.

They were relatively expensive, but you know I can never pass up an opportunity to try something new, so we decided to splurge on a package. Lo and behold, the tiny little seeds reminded me a lot of pine nuts, right down to the waxy texture!

Sometimes I still risk it, but when I don’t feel like jeopardizing my taste buds, I make pesto with raw hulled hemp seeds instead of pine nuts. It’s quite delicious and tastes very much like the real thing. By the way, hemp seeds are also good sprinkled on salads.

Before I get to the recipe, I’d like to thank The Commercial Appeal and SiouxCityJournal.com for jumping on the butter bandwagon!

Basil-Hemp Seed Pesto
Printable Recipe

2 ½ cups fresh basil leaves
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup hulled hemp seeds
½ cup grated Parmegiano-Reggiano
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth.

Makes about 1 ¼ cups. Use just as you would classic basil pesto with pine nuts: toss with pasta, stir into soup, spread on sandwiches, or spoon over grilled steak or fish. If not using right away, minimize browning by transferring the pesto to a jar and pouring over enough olive oil to generously coat the surface. It’ll keep for a couple of days tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

Opposites Attract and Chanterelles

They say opposites attract. I believe it. In fact, I think my husband and I prove it. We couldn’t be any more different. He’s left brained and analytical. I’m a creative type and completely right brained. He’s practical, and my head’s always in the clouds. He’s quiet, and I chat endlessly. We don’t have any hobbies in common either. I’m a bookworm and love to shop, which he barely tolerates. He prefers sporty outdoor activities, activities which have often resulted in bodily injury (including one concussion) to me. It can be hard for us to find ways to spend time together.

But there is one thing we’re equally passionate about: foraging for mushrooms.

We both get excited when the fall weather comes, bringing with it the chanterelles. We both eagerly anticipate the thrill of the hunt, and we both fantasize about the size of our haul and the delicacies we will cook with it. The long drive into the woods, the bushwhacking in the cold rain, and the scouring of every inch of forest floor are things that we both enjoy. And of course, we both absolutely love the part where we devour the mushrooms. Now that’s what I call “quality” time together.

Chanterelle Ragu
Printable Recipe

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 pounds chanterelles, diced
4 slices bacon, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
¼ cup white wine
1 cup milk
1 14 ½-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
1 bay leaf
Generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt

Heat a large, heavy pot over high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add a third of the chanterelles and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, or until tender. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chanterelles to a plate. Sauté the remaining chanterelles in the same manner and set aside. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the bacon to the pot, and fry, tossing frequently, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until rendered. Add the onion and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, or until soft. Add the celery and carrot and sauté for another 5 to 6 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and tomato paste and sauté 2 to 3 minutes more, or until fragrant. Add the wine and simmer for a minute or so, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a heat-proof spatula. Return the chanterelles to the pot and add the milk in thirds, simmering for 2 to 3 minutes, or until nearly dry, after each addition. Add the tomatoes, broth, bay leaf, nutmeg, and a generous pinch of pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour, or until thickened and saucy and the flavors come together. Discard the bay leaf and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes enough for 8 to 10 portions of pasta or polenta, which absolutely must be topped with plenty of grated Parmegiano-Reggiano. If you want to go all out, use this to make Lasagna Bolognese. When working with chanterelles, I usually prefer to tear them into bite-size pieces, but I chose to dice them here so that the texture of the finished ragu would more closely resemble Ragu Bolognese.

A Souvenir from Bologna

There are two types of people: one longs to see the world while the other is content to stay put, never desiring to venture more than a few miles away from home. While I am convinced of the veracity of this statement, I have long wondered why it is true. I, for one, fall into the former category, likely as a result of moving a great distance from my native land as a young child. I have wanderlust.

Actually, as I've said before, it would be more accurate to call it hungerlust [noun: a very strong or irresistible impulse to consume foods in faraway places]. Food has always been my window into other cultures.

Hungerlust is a hard itch to scratch. For all of the worldly reasons you would expect, opportunities to travel are precious few. And then, when finally there is a trip, the itch returns almost as soon as you do.

It's been exactly a year since our trip to Venice, Bologna, and Paris, and my hungerlust is flaring up again. The yearning to travel occupies my every waking moment. I dream of seeing new and exotic lands. And I ache to revisit all of the places I've already been, because I fell in love with each and every one of them when I first went. It's like feeling homesick, only for places that have never been home.

Travelers often collect souvenirs as reminders of their various journeys. Some bring home arts and crafts and some fashion, I bring home recipes. It's my way of keeping a little piece of my destination with me forever. For recreating the smells and tastes of a place at home is the next best thing to actually being there.

This helped ease the hungerlust for a little while.


It'll transport you to Bologna, if only for one meal.

Ragu Bolognese
Printable Recipe

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 pounds ground beef chuck, preferably chili grind
3 ounces pancetta, diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1/3 cup red wine
1 cup milk
1 14 ½-ounce can diced tomatoes
3 cups beef broth
1 bay leaf
Generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt

Heat a large, heavy pot over high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add half of the beef and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, tossing about 2 times, until crusty and brown in spots.* Using a slotted spoon, remove the beef to a plate. Sear the remaining beef in the same manner and set aside. Reduce the heat to medium, add the pancetta to the pot, and fry, tossing frequently, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until golden brown. Add the onion and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, or until soft. Add the celery and carrot and sauté for another 5 to 6 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and tomato paste and sauté 2 to 3 minutes more, or until fragrant. Add the wine and simmer for a minute or so, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a heat-proof spatula. Return the beef to the pot and add the milk in thirds, simmering for 2 to 3 minutes, or until nearly dry, after each addition. Add the tomatoes, broth, bay leaf, nutmeg, and a generous pinch of pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 3 hours, or until thickened and saucy and the flavors come together. Discard the bay leaf and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes enough for 10 to 12 portions of Fresh Egg Pasta. Traditionally, this sort of sauce is made with diced beef. A great shortcut to all that dicing is chili grind, which is very coarsely ground. Toss al dente pasta with the ragu, top with plenty of grated Parmegiano-Reggiano, and serve immediately. This time, I topped homemade extruded macaroni (made with 10 ounces all-purpose flour and 3 large eggs) with my ragu.

*Searing the beef in this manner adds tons of flavor to the finished dish. For everything you ever wanted to know about searing, plus dozens of fabulous searing recipes, look for my book Seared to Perfection in stores now.

Opening Day and Arugula Pesto

It's like a holiday. We mark it on the calendar and count down the weeks and days. We muse about what treasures it will bring this year. And when it finally comes, we forgo an extra hour or two of sleep and rush over. I'm talking about the first day of the farmers market, which just happened to be yesterday.

We stocked up on arugula, Tuscan kale, rainbow chard, carrots, French breakfast radishes, leeks, farm-fresh butter, Dungeness crabmeat, and saucisson sec. We also picked up a baguette, a couple of pastries for breakfast, a fragrant strawberry mint start to put in the garden, and more than a little inspiration.

The first thing I made with our glorious produce was a huge batch of Arugula Pesto.


Arugula Pesto
Printable Recipe

6 ounces baby arugula
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup pine nuts
½ cup grated Parmegiano-Reggiano
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth.

Makes nearly 2 cups. Toss with pasta, stir into soup, spread on sandwiches, or spoon over grilled steak. Keeps for a couple of days tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce is so much better when it’s homemade.

Basic Tomato Sauce
Printable Recipe

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 28-ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes
1 large sprig basil
2 sprigs oregano, optional
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the onion and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and sauté for another 1 to 2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add the tomatoes (along with their liquid), basil, and oregano, if desired, and simmer, stirring occasionally and breaking up the tomatoes with the back of a spoon, for about 2 hours, or until thickened and saucy. Let cool slightly and puree in a food mill using a fine disc. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes about 1 ¼ quarts. An all-purpose red sauce, fantastic with pasta or anything else that requires marinara. To perk up the long-cooked flavors of this sauce, you can stir in a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a grated clove of raw garlic right before serving. Keeps for several days tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

Blood Oranges

Blood orange season has arrived! Have you ever had a blood orange before? Their flesh is a deep garnet color and juicy and luscious, with hints of berries and red wine. So intoxicating.


And so different from any other type of orange, it’s hard to believe that they’re even in the same category. For me it was love at first taste. It was in California during citrus season, and I greedily bought up way more blood oranges than we could possibly eat fresh. That’s when I was inspired to create Blood Orange Syrup.

Blood Orange Syrup*
Printable Recipe

1 ½ cups freshly squeezed blood orange juice

Strain the juice through a fine mesh sieve into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 18 to 20 minutes, or until thickened and slightly syrupy.

Yields about 1/3 cup. Don’t let the simplicity of this recipe fool you, it’s a party for your taste buds. The jewel-like color, super-concentrated flavor, and balance of sweet, sour, and bitter make it wonderful drizzled on everything from duck salad rolls to crêpes to vanilla ice cream, which is luscious in a dreamsicle sort of way. Also perfect in mixed drinks and delicious blended with maple syrup for serving over pancakes, waffles, and French toast. Though this syrup is so intensely tasty I could drink it straight up, a tiny bit goes a long way. Keeps for about a week tightly sealed in the refrigerator.


*For a related Duck Breasts with Blood Orange Sauce recipe and everything you ever wanted to know about searing, plus dozens of fabulous searing recipes, look for my book Seared to Perfection in stores in the fall of 2010.

No Fear

I’m not afraid of either.

Alfredo Sauce
Printable Recipe

1 cup heavy cream
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 clove garlic, grated
Generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup grated Parmegiano-Reggiano
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine the cream, butter, garlic, and nutmeg in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes, or until thickened and saucy. Remove from the heat, stir in the Parmegiano, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Enough for 1 recipe Fresh Egg Pasta fettuccini or 1 pound of dry fettuccini. Boil the pasta while the sauce simmers. Once the pasta is al dente, drain it well, toss it with the sauce, and serve immediately.

An Ode to Garlic

I love you Garlic.
Potent, pungent,
Purple, white, and elephant,
Or roasted golden, sweet and mellow,
I can even kiss my fellow.
A must for pasta sauce,
Into stir-fries I toss,
Raw, minced in salad,
You satisfy my palate.
I love you Garlic.

Quick Aïoli
Printable Recipe

1 large egg
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 to 3 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine the egg, garlic, and mustard in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. With the motor running, add the oil in a thin stream.


Add the lemon juice and pulse again. Season to taste with salt and pepper.


Makes about 1 ¼ cups. Traditionally, aïoli is made with just egg yolk rather than whole egg, and it’s made with a mortar and pestle or whisked by hand. I’m all for short cuts, so I use my trusty food processor. But since a single yolk wouldn’t come up to the blade in a food processor, making it difficult to get the emulsion started, I use the whole egg. The result is slightly less thick but still absolutely delicious. By the way, if you’re uneasy about eating raw eggs, use pasteurized eggs. For a milder tasting aïoli, use half olive oil and half grape seed oil or just a light olive oil. Store-bought mayonnaise pales in comparison to homemade aïoli. Try aïoli on sandwiches or as the base for salad dressings. Stir in minced fresh herbs and use as a dipping sauce for crudités, French fries, or calamari. Really, garlicky aïoli is great on just about everything. Keeps for a day or two tightly sealed in the refrigerator.