1. Cooking
2. Eating
3. Recovering
I.
Wednesday evening I prepared the desserts — apple pie and pumpking pie — so I’d have more time available to me this morning and early afternoon. Plus, pies are best if they can sit and while and, in the case of fruit pies, set up as well. The two pies were just a more or less traditional pumpkin (1 cup of half and half instead of 1.5 cups evaporated milk) with about double the usual spices. The result was: [1] firm but not hard, [2] deep, [3] creamy and smooth, and [4] flavorfule (while also highlighting the pumpkin). The apple was topless (just a bottom crust), with about 7 Granny Smiths and one large Fuji. They baked down a bit and set up nicely. Some of the slices became almost an apple-sauce-consistency, proving a pie that was full of firm but tender slices sandwiching a gel that held it all together.
So today I had first and main course items to prepare. The former included soup and salad; I made the bread the night before. The soup was just a tomato and black bean affair (about 1 1/2 cups of the latter, and almost 2 cups of the tomatoes, augmented with vegetable broth and, after pureeing until smooth, enough water to bring it to the proper consistency. I serves four (about 3 cups of soup).
I also made cranberry sauce. A rather orangey one, and I like it. Just one bag of cranberries, divided. You boil down half until the berries are almost destroyed, then add the others, so that you get both a firm jelly and get to retain some fruit. Additional ingredients: about a quarter to half cup of water, one cinnamon stick, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/4 to 1/2 cup granuated sugar, along with a good amount of lemon zest (I used strips from about half an orange, removing them when I added the second batch of berries) and whatever juice I could squeeze from the orange. The best cranberry sauce I’ve had in years.
Alas, neither Ms. S. nor her family eats cranberry sauce at all. On the other hand: more for me!
I made a batch of baked mac & cheese, though this time with mini penne because the store was out of macaroni pre-Thanksgiving. Entirely picked over! In any case, a variation on a typical recipe: 8oz pasta cooked al dente in very salty water; roux (2Tbsp butter, 2Tbsp flour, then 1Tbsp ground mustard, along with about 1/4 cup diced and sweated onion) –> bechamel (with 2 cups of whole milk this time, rather than half and half or cream –> Mornay (add 10oz sharp cheddar); then the pasta was added and everything was well-combined; this was they portioned into 12 custard cups and ramekins; and 1/2 cup bread crumbs (in a bit of olive oil first) was sprinkled on top. This was then baked for about 20 minutes at 350F. We had mashed potatoes as well (300g russett, 300g red, 1Tbsp Earth Balance and 1/4 cup Silk unsweetened soy milk to go with the salt and nutmeg … so vegan to boot for Ms. S. and her mother) … not that we needed two heavy starches, but today is a good day for comfort foods!
I had three mini-servings of roasted vegetables, though the first was not really about ‘vegetables’: mushrooms, grape tomatoes, an onion, and a red pepper oven-roasted until sweet and melt-in-your-mouth tender (for three of the four; chewy and savory for the other). Then we had cauliflower and carrots roasted around 400F for an hour (olive oil for each; the carrots deserved ginger and turmeric as well). And while dinner was being served I put asparagus spears and halved brussels sprouts in the oven, while I cooked string beans in the frying pan; about 15 minutes for each. Those three were topped with lemon juice.
Ms. S. and I have become rather frequent tempeh eaters this year, and a favorite preparation is a variation on the ‘tempeh bacon’ recipes found in “Vegan with a Vengeance” (basically a garlic rub, and a soy sauce and cider vinegar marinade). I’d planned on broccoli, but we have enough food that we didn’t need an extra dish. I had planned on little game hens for me and Ms. S.’s father, but the store was completely out of them (when last shopping, I berated myself a bit for not having bought them a couple weeks ago … I thought, “oh, I can get them later …”); I instead bought a small chicken and decided to roast it.
For a couple years I’ve gone the Alton Brown way: butterfly it and cook it in a cast iron skillet under the broiler. It cooks evenly and quickly. But the other day I watched a video from one of the network ‘morning’ shows or such with Eric Ripert, who just roasted the trussed bird at 400F for an hour. I wasn’t going to use any stuffing, really (except perhaps some aromatics), and I didn’t want to do much preparation work, so just putting the bird in a pan in the oven and letting it go for an hour after a simple dressing? Sounded like a good idea. But an hour in it wasn’t nearly as done as I would have liked, so Ms. S.’s father and I went without.
II.
Which was okay. No, not okay: better.
Thanksgiving ‘dinner’ (a late lunch) was already a thousand calorie affair before the wine and beer (the former the tasty and inexpensive Rex Goliath pinot noir, nothing special, the latter a home brew Belgian tripel split with Ms. S.’s mother), and that was before ‘dessert.’
Our guests arrived on time and we chatted in and out of the kitchen as I finished cooking. I had it planned as a sort of three-course affair (soup, salad, bread; then the tempeh, vegetables, starches, and cranberry sauce; then pie … PIE!), and that went off more or less without a hitch. Last year I had a different menu, though it was similar, and I got rather behind. The asparagus was better then, the beans better now. These potatoes were better, I think.
And the pie were an improvement this year.
Last year I think I made the pumpkin pie either vegan or at least dairy free. Somewhere along the line I probably used the ‘regular’ amount of ‘dairy’, and the resulitng pie had a great flavor — I think I may have used a store-bought crust, as well, which is irregular for me — but the custard was neithe firm nor thick enough. There was also a cheesecake, which was delicious but also less firm than I would have liked (and while I love a good New York cheesecake, I always aim for a silkier and lighter version when making my own). This year it was just the apple pie and the pumpkin pie. The former also had some lemon juice and lemon zest in it, with just a hint of cinnamon as the only other ‘spice.’ It’s a variation I’m sure to make again.
And again.
And the pumpkin? I may just have my new favorite version. Not too heavy. Very silky and smooth. We sent home a good portion of each pie home with Ms. S.’s parents, so I guess the desserts went over well. Instead of whipped cream I just made a whipped coconut cream this year: refrigerate a can of coconut milk; open and scoop out the solid cream; splash some vanilla on it and add a teaspoon or so of powdered sugar; and whip until firm. More like Cool Whip than whippped cream because of the vanilla and sugar …
III.
Ms. S.’s parents were in NY, which explained my recent tenure as dog-sitter and cat whisperer.
They brought us back some gifts. Ms. S.’s suit her artistic and crafty nature. I got a bottle of booze. Specifically: a bottle of the Tomatin (rhymes with ‘satin’) 18 year single malt (it’s a Highland Scotch). Last year I got a delicious bottle of Balvenie. I cannot fairly compare them at the moment, but I can already say that I love the Tomatin. It’s got a bite, it’s got a fruity nose. I’ll be enjoying it one ounce at a time.
And then the cleanup: it’s best when I get the kitchen to myself. Ms. could take a nap. The dish washer (remember: new!) was filled completely with silverware and plates and quite a few cups and glasses. Everything else I washed by hand and then dried. Then the counters and the range, and even a bit of the floor (oil spatter from the tempeh and then the beans). Looks like new.
While we ate pie I let the chicken finish cooking, and when I was done cleaning I carved the bird. Or, rather, I pulled off all the big pieces, then most of the small, and then I gave lots of scraps to the cats.
It’s Thanksgiving … they deserved a treat.
See also:
Eric Ripert’s roasted chicken from ‘Avec Eric’: Note that here the temperature if 450F. I should have read this page earlier.
Contrast “Today,” where the temperature is 400F.
