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.

Chuck's Produce Event

If you happen to be in the Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, Washington area, please come out for a Flavored Butters demo, tasting, and signing at the brand new Chuck’s Produce in Salmon Creek at 1PM on Friday, October 11. I’ll be sharing tips and tricks on how to up your fall entertaining game with flavored butters and making a couple of recipes from the book, including this Pie Spice Butter.

In other cookbook news, I’d like to thank The Republic for calling flavored butters “the perfect answer for taking common dishes and kicking them up a notch” and featuring the Red Chile Butter, Curry Butter, and Salted Caramel Butter and Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker for the wonderful review.

Weeknight Cook and a Cake

The fall issue of Cooking Club magazine, which features several recipes by yours truly in the "Weeknight Cook" column (on page 46), has arrived! It was a fantastic surprise to see that I share a by-line with cookbook author extraordinaire Marie Simmons. Marie has been a friend and mentor to me since my days as an intern at Copia, and I never dreamed I’d see my name next to hers in print. What an honor! My recipes are the Pork Cutlets with Black and Green Olive Sauce, Italian Sausage and White Bean Stew, Pasta with Smoky Angry Tomato Sauce, Veracruz Baked Fish Fillets, and Mini Chipotle Meat Loaves. They’re quick and easy yet tasty and satisfying, so I hope you'll give them a try. The pasta has especially become a favorite at my house, and we had it for dinner again last night.

And for dessert, here’s a summer recipe inspired by the stops on a recent trip to the Hood River Valley. Visit a lavender farm…

A u-pick peach orchard…

And this is what you get!

Peach-Lavender Cake
Printable Recipe

3 ounces (¾ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
5 ounces all-purpose flour
2 ounces almond meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon dried lavender flowers, ground
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 large egg, at room temperature
4 ½ ounces sour cream, at room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces sugar
3 ounces light brown sugar
3 large peaches, peeled, pitted, and diced

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Butter a 9×3-inch round cheesecake pan, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, and butter the parchment. Whisk together the flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, lavender, and salt. Whisk together the egg, sour cream, and vanilla.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on high for 3 to 4 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg mixture until thoroughly combined. Add the flour mixture and mix on low until just combined, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Do not overmix. Transfer to the cake pan and spread evenly. Spread the peaches evenly over the batter, pressing them in slightly. Bake for about 1 hour and 25 minutes, or until the edges of the cake start to shrink away from the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and finish cooling completely. Cut into portions and serve.

Makes 1 9-inch cake, serving 8. Use a springform pan if you don't have a cheesecake pan. If the diced peaches exude any appreciable amount of juice, drain it off and whisk it into the egg mixture. Also try cinnamon, nutmeg, or tonka bean instead of lavender.