This Thanksgiving I made a bunch of desserts (apple pies, rice puddings, pumpkin flan, and pumpkin pies). I did lots of individual desserts this year to make it more personal for all of my family members. My mom and nephew are the rice pudding fans, my brother-in-law loves pumpkin pies, my dad usually goes for the pumpkin flan, and my husband loves apple desserts. Each dessert was well received, but none was received quite as well as the new family favorite - little apple pies. My Dad (Jim) gave these the big seal of approval - which is quite a compliment considering Jim isn’t big on desserts. He loved the crust - which is incredibly flaky and scented with a little orange zest. The original recipe came from Woman’s Day, but, of course, I took the recipe and modified it to fit my family’s taste.
To make pastry in food processor: Put flour, 1 Tbls. sugar, butter and orange peel in processor; pulse until coarse crumbs form. Add water all at once; pulse just until dough begins leave sides of bowl. By hand: Put flour in a bowl and cut in butter with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form. Add peel and water; stir with fork until mixture clumps together and a dough forms.
Gather into a ball, flatten and cut into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, flatten, then place each between sheets of plastic wrap. Roll each with a rolling pin to a 6 inch diameter circle (circles don’t have to be perfect). Refrigerate while preparing the remaining ingredients.
Peel apples, halve, then core with a melon baller. Cut wedges to remove stem and bud ends. Turn halves cut side down and slice thin.
Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Have a large baking sheet ready.
One at a time, remove dough circles from refrigerator. Peel off plastic and place dough circle on baking sheet. Leaving a 1 to 1 1/2 inch border, fan apple slices overlapping on dough. Sprinkle with 1 Tbls. sugar mixture and 1 tsp. orange juice. Fold the edges of the pastry over the apples. Repeat to from 5 more pies.
Bake 10 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F and bake 25 to 30 minutes more until pastry is lightly browned and apples are tender. Remove pies to wire rack to cool until just warm. I enjoy serving it with some nice vanilla ice cream.
Thanksgiving at my house was great! I had so much fun and I made so much food. One of my favorite side dishes was a great vegetable side. This dish was roasted - I love the flavor that roasting imparts on vegetables. I have even roasted vegetables that seemingly no one (but me) likes with great success. Brussel sprouts, broccoli, and turnip take on a wonderful flavor when roasted. The other thing I enjoy about roasting is the texture that the vegetables get. Here is a great recipe - it got the seal of approval from my family. I hope you enjoy it too!
Lemon-Roasted Green Beans with Marcona Almonds (from Bon Appetit) Makes 8 servings
Ingredients
vegetable spray
2 pounds of green beans, trimmed
1 onion, peeled, cut into 8 wedges
6 large fresh marjoram sprigs
2 Tbls. extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse kosher salt
1 Tbls. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. (packed) freshly grated lemon peel
1/2 cup coarsely chopped Marcona almonds or regular roasted almonds
Position 1 rack in the top third and 1 rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F. Spray 2 large rimmed baking sheets with nonstick spray. Combine green beans, onion wedges, and marjoram in large bowl. Drizzle with oil, then sprinkly with coarse salt and pepper. Toss; divide between prepared sheets.
Roast vegetables 15 minutes. Reverse sheets. Continue to roast until beans are tender and beginning to brown in spots, about 10 minutes longer.
The first podcast for deglazing.com is here today! Click here to catch the first episode. It should be available on ITunes in the next few days. Enjoy!
I wanted to supplement that audio file with notes - so you can follow up on some of the ideas.
First off, corrections. In the podcast I mentioned a book Bakewise - it’s actually known as Cookwise by Shirley Corriher. I highly recommend both Cookwise and On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee. If you geek out on the science of food, then these books are for you.
Now on to the good stuff.
Great books and magazines for holiday planning - these books and magazines should help you with your holiday planning.
Leavening Agents - Let’s talk a little bit more about leavening agents. I don’t think I did the whole subject justice in this podcast, keep in mind this is my first podcast…There are basically two major types of leavening agents - chemical and biological (of course, there are others, but these are the two most common). When you think in terms of chemical, baking powder and baking soda jump out at you first. They are very similar chemically, but baking powder is often double acting. This means that it reacts twice in the recipe, once when the moisture of the mix hits and it a second time when the heat hits it. Baking soda by comparison only reacts once in a mix. The second major type of leavening agent is biological - the big one that comes to mind is yeast. Yeast is actually a lot of fun to work with, so give it a try. Yeast is an actual living thing that we use in baking. There are other leavening agents and these include things like folded in egg whites and creamed butter and sugar mixtures.
I love ice cream. I really love ice cream. My favorite ice cream right now happens to be Haagen Dazs Caramel Cone ice cream, it’s like the grown up version of Drumsticks. It’s absolutely delicious. The caramel flavored ice cream is so smooth and delicious. For anyone who enjoys picking out bits of goodie from their ice cream, this flavor is for you. The chocolate covered sugar cone bits are addictive. There have been many times that I picked a quart of ice cream clean, but Haagen Dazs does such a good job with the ice cream itself I find I can resist the urge to pick out the pieces. Did I mention there is a caramel swirl that runs throughout? If you happen to live in the Northeast you can find caramel cone ice cream on sale this week at Shaws - 2 for $6.00.
Recently, I picked up the book My Life in France. I have to say I am really enjoying this book. Julia Child helped to change home cooking forever and this book highlights her start with cooking and how she fell in love with it. It’s incredibly fascinating to see her change from someone who never cooked to someone who’s life was consumed by cooking. The book highlights her wonderful sense of humor and her love of food in a ways that you don’t get from watching her on television. Her dedication to bringing French food to the masses was tireless and admirable. She spent days testing recipes and rewriting recipes for an American audience. The book highlights the ups and downs beautifully. She had a passion for food that you just don’t find elsewhere and it shows through clearly in this book. I would suggest this book to any real foodie or Julia Child fan.
People have been asking when are there going to be new videos, well I have an answer. Here’s the first new video in a long time. I hope you enjoy it. This one is for my friend Mike over at www.tvfoodfan.com.
I hope you enjoy this recipe for buttermilk biscuits!
I love magazines, well most of you already know that. This month’s magazines have all been devoted to the holidays and I have found a couple that really stand out. The November issue of Gourmet is fabulous - they have included different holiday menus for you to review. They have even done a vegetarian feast. The dishes range from traditional to unique and over enough palates to please pretty much everyone. As usual Gourmet does some interesting twists on classics like Pumpkin Pie with Plum Jam and sweet potatoes with miso butter.
I would have to say my favorite of all the magazines I have read this month is Food & Wine. This month’s issue is filled will all kinds of great tips on recipes and wines. They also have a great piece on Gnocchi (something I really love). Not only do they include great recipes for your meal, but they have an extensive dessert recipe list. One of the desserts that caught my eye was the Pumpkin Cake with Caramel Frosting. I am a sucker for anything caramel, so this may be one I have to try out.
Good luck planning your menus - less than 2 weeks to go!
I know people are freaking out about the holidays coming - I can hear it now, “Oh my god, I need to buy like $400 worth of kitchen equipment to put this thing together…” I would say stop right there, put down the car keys or back away from your keyboard. Don’t spend a ton of money on things you may or may not use ever again. Here are a few suggestions for tools that you will reuse and will treasure for years to come.
1. Instant Read Thermometer - An instant read thermometer can mean the difference between having a little dry turkey with a cup of gravy and having a delicious moist bird. Everyone who spends a lot of time in the kitchen can use one of these great little thermometers. The great news is this little baby is cheap - $7.00 over at amazon.com. One other suggestion for a moist bird is to let the meat rest when it comes out of the oven. You would be surprised how much that helps with moisture in meats.
2. Pyrex Pie Plate - Go ahead and call me old fashioned, believe me you won’t be the first, but I love a good old fashioned glass pie plate. At a mere $8.00 per plate you can’t go wrong. If it worked for your grandmother, then why not you. I make pies all the time and this little plate is a wonder. I have to say I am pretty big fan of Pyrex and this plate is no exception. The measuring cups are also great and relatively inexpensive, so I would suggest picking up a large (4 cup or more) and a small one (1 cup).
3. Glass Mixing Bowls - You are going to need some mixing bowls for the big feast. Mixing bowls are fabulous to have and I personally love the sets. I purchased a duralex set from William-Sonoma and I love them. They were relatively inexpensive around $30. I have seen other sets cheaper - as low as $14.95. I guarantee even with one full set you will never have enough bowls on hand - that’s how much you will use them.
4. Roasting Pan - Okay roasting pans can be absolutely ridiculously overpriced and they can send you into a $400 budget for holiday cooking tools. I have a couple of suggestions on these. Try retailers like TJ Maxx who carry quality products, but at a discount. I have seen great pans for $60 and under there. If you know that you will be using a pan for the next 100 years and it’s going to be passed down to your grandchildren, then go ahead and splurge on an All-Clad or something. If you know this is the one and only party you will ever host, then you have my permission and the rest of America’s for that matter to purchase a disposable. The only thing to be careful of with this is getting them in and out of the oven. They are not designed to hold a lot of weight and without careful removal your turkey could easily wind up on the kitchen floor instead of the platter.
5. Miscellaneous - You will probably want to have at least a few mixing tools on hand. I would suggest a decent whisk, a couple of inexpensive spoonulas and a wooden spoon or two. There are, of course, a million other little gadgets you can have. I am assuming you have cutting boards, knives, and maybe a pan or two. I am hoping you have at least those basics…If so, then you can put together a nice holiday meal without a lot of fuss. Cheap in mind you don’t need to buy a bunch of serviceware that you won’t use again. Use the things you have around the house and again check the discount stores for deals.
Click on any of the links above to find these products at Amazon.com.
It’s that time of year again, the holidays are fast approaching. In an effort to get myself ahead of the curve I have been testing out new recipes for my very first family Thanksgiving at my place. Most years we go to my Mom and Dad’s but this year everyone is coming down to my place. The thing that I am always most concerned with is dessert. As Ina always says, “people may forget the dinner, but they always remember dessert”. What Thanksgiving meal is complete without a delicious pumpkin pie. (Well, I may still have to do the pumpkin flan just for my dad, but everyone else may want pumpkin pie) This new recipe is easy and delicious. So whether you make a crust from scratch or buy a store bought one (I won’t tell anyone) this is an excellent filling for it. I am also including a recipe for crust after the filling recipe if you need one.(I like Alton Brown’s recipe - see below)
Maple Pumpkin Pie
1 pie shell (see below for recipe)
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves (if you don’t like cloves feel free to leave them out)
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup whole milk
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare and roll out crust.
For filling, in a bowl combine the pumpkin, sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. Add eggs; whisk until combined. Stir in milk gently.
Pour filling into pie crust. Cover the edges of the crust with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 25 to 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Cover and refrigerate within 2 hours.
Alton’s Pie Crust Recipe
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) butter, chilled
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) lard, chilled
6 ounces (approximately 1 cup) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling dough
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/4 cup ice water, in spritz bottle
Place butter and lard in freezer for 15 minutes. When ready to use, remove and cut both into small pieces.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt by pulsing 3 to 4 times. Add butter and pulse 5 to 6 times until texture looks mealy. Add lard and pulse another 3 to 4 times. Remove lid of food processor and spritz surface of mixture thoroughly with water. Replace lid and pulse 5 times. Add more water and pulse again until mixture holds together when squeezed. Place mixture in large zip-top bag, squeeze together until it forms a ball, and then press into a rounded disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Good luck with your desserts - if you want more suggestions, please feel free to email me or leave a comment below.
I love King Arthur Flour and the Bakers’ Catalogue and recently I received an order from them. I loved the bulk order of Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla. I bought a huge bottle of vanilla - 32 ounces for $30. That’s a great deal when you consider you typically buy 8 ounces for $20 in retail stores. I know that I will need lots of vanilla for the cooking season, so I am very pleased with the bulk vanilla. I am also very happy with the flour that I bought - I purchased a 25 lb. bag of all-purpose flour and I am definitely glad I did.
The Guittard chocolate chunks that purchased were a little gray, the taste was fine, but I am sure that the color would bother some. I was a little surprised to receive the chocolate looking like that considering the chocolate I purchase in the grocery store usually looks better than these chunks. They are fine to use, but just a heads up for those of you who like your chocolate to look picture perfect. Sorry the photo isn’t clearer than it is, it’s hard to photograph chocolate.
The price of the order was right - $80 for 2 pounds of chocolate chunks, 32 ounces of vanilla, and 25 pounds of all-purpose flour.
vs.
This Thanksgiving I made a bunch of desserts (apple pies, rice puddings, pumpkin flan, and pumpkin pies). I did lots of individual desserts this year to make it more personal for all of my family members. My mom and nephew are the rice pudding fans, my brother-in-law loves pumpkin pies, my dad usually goes for the pumpkin flan, and my husband loves apple desserts. Each dessert was well received, but none was received quite as well as the new family favorite - little apple pies. My Dad (Jim) gave these the big seal of approval - which is quite a compliment considering Jim isn’t big on desserts. He loved the crust - which is incredibly flaky and scented with a little orange zest. The original recipe came from Woman’s Day, but, of course, I took the recipe and modified it to fit my family’s taste. 
