Dinner At Sheila's

Here is a basic recipe for the  Mashed Potatoes I served at Thanksgiving. With the turkey taking up one oven, and even if you are lucky enough to have two ovens, it’s always a juggling act trying to figure out which sides to put in which oven and when.  Especially if you make as many side dishes as I do.

This version of mashed potatoes includes a way to keep them warm on the stovetop for several hours before the meal.  Here’s the basic recipe.  It could be doubled for a large crowd.

Mashed Potatoes

6 pounds baking potatoes (about 10 large russets)

Kosher salt to taste

1 cup whole milk, half and half, or combination, hot, but not boiling (plus more if needed)

About 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Wash and peel the potatoes, cut in quarters, keeping them immersed in a bowl of cold water to prevent them from browning as you work.

Put the potatoes in a large pot,  covered with cold water.  Stir in 2-3 teaspoons of salt.

Cover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat.

Uncover, reduce heat to medium and cook at a medium boil for 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes can easily be pierced with a sharp knife.  Taste them to be certain they are done.

Transfer the potatoes to a colander to drain.

Return the potatoes to the empty dry pot, place over moderate heat and toss for 30 to 60 seconds to dry them.  Remove from the heat.

Using a ricer or a food mill,  press the potatoes through a bit at a time into a large pan or bowl.

Using a wooden spatula beat in the butter, mixing until the butter is melted and the potatoes are smooth.  Season with salt and pepper, and pour in 2/3 cup of the hot milk/cream, stirring until completely incorporated.

Adjust seasonings and stir in more butter or milk if you wish.  to lighten the the potatoes beat briefly with a wire whisk.

Serve at once or keep warm for several hours using the method below.

 Place the mashed potatoes in the top of a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl (or pan) over a larger pot that contains several inches of hot, but not simmering water.

Smooth the top of the potatoes and cover them completely with a thin layer of hot milk.

Potatoes can be held like this for up to 3 hours.

To reheat, bring the surrounding water to a simmer and beat the potatoes with a spoon or a spatula to lighten and incorporate the layer of milk.  Add more butter or milk/cream if desired.

Now I’m not saying I’m a food snob, but somehow I never thought I would be posting a recipe for a jello mold on my blog.  This Cranberry Jello Mold holds a special place on my Thanksgiving buffet and in our hearts.  I first made it for us when we were living in Florida, newly married and unable to make it back home that Thanksgiving. 

The recipe probably came from a holiday magazine I had picked up. Through the years I have played with the original recipe, adding more fruit and changing the gelatin flavors. 

The original recipe called for any red jello as I recall. So I’ve tried all the red ones.  Several years ago I found cranberry and cran-raspberry jello, but I no longer see them in the stores.

There’s not much you can do to ruin jello with the exception of changing the amount of liquid required for it to gel.

This refreshing chilled mold is the perfect complement to all the rich, buttery and starch filled dishes we love to eat at the holiday meal.

So before you think you’re above serving jello try this vibrant sweet and crunchy Cranberry Jello Mold at your next holiday feast…I’ll never tell.

Cranberry Jello Mold (makes two 6 cup molds)

3-3oz. packages Jello Gelatin, any red flavor ( I used 2 pkgs raspberry and 1 pkg black cherry)

3 cups boiling water

1 and 1/4 cups pineapple juice

1-16 oz can whole berry cranberry sauce

1-16 oz can crushed pineapple, drained

3 cups diced apples (peeled)

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

2 -16 oz cans mandarin oranges, drained

Directions:

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water.  Add pineapple juice and cranberries.  Chill until slightly thickened.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Pour into two 6-cup molds.  Chill until firm.  Unmold onto a lettuce lined platter and garnish with fresh oranges or kumquats. 

As promised I am posting my menu for this year’s Thanksgiving Feast.  Many of the items as you will see are the traditional foods I’ve been serving, at the family’s request for the past 33 years.

Over the years I have slipped in some newer dishes along with the treasured oldies.  I have added an interesting  salad (like this year), or a soup (a wild mushroom soup, a pumpkin soup, crab bisque), or once I served Coquille Saint Jacques as an appetizer.  Last year I served roasted root vegetables as an additional side.

That being said Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving if certain foods do not appear on our buffet.  Among these,  Mom’s challah stuffing

Mashed Potatoes (this year I used a food mill, and kept them warm on top of the stove ala Julia Child’s method).  Or to make them in advance you could try Mom’s Mashed Potatoes

Sugar-glazed onions (recipe to follow in an upcoming post)

Brussel sprouts (this year, roasted, some years glazed along with the onions)

Candied sweet potatoes (different versions throughout the years, but I love using the yellow fleshed sweet potatoes instead of the orange yams, a tip from my brother-in-law, Bill)

Cranberry Jello Mold, which I made the first time I prepared Thanksgiving dinner…it became my husband’s favorite, and now  everyone’s favorite (recipe to follow)

Homemade whole berry cranberry sauce

and  Cope’s Corn, a regional dish unique to our ties to growing up in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country.  My sister has been preparing it every Thanksgiving for us (recipe to follow).

And now that I’ve acknowledged our family’s traditional dishes, I will share with you my

THANKSGIVING MENU FOR 2011

Cocktails and Nibbles

Ingredients

Makes 1 drink (plus extra apple jam and simple syrup)

For the apple jam and simple syrup:

• 2 honeycrisp apples
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

For the cocktail:

• 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
• 2 ounces rye whiskey, preferably Rittenhouse (we couldn’t find this so we used Bulleit Rye American whiskey)
• Dried apple slice, for garnish

Directions

Make the apple jam: Peel, core and cube the apples. Combine in a saucepan with the cinnamon sticks and 2 tablespoons sugar; cover and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 20 minutes. Let cool.

Meanwhile, make the simple syrup: Combine 1/2 cup each sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Make the cocktail: Combine 1 teaspoon of the apple jam, 1/2 ounce simple syrup, the lime juice and whiskey in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a dried apple slice.

HAPPY (Thanksgiving) HOUR

I served these delicious cocktails with the nibbles below a few hours before the meal

*Chilled shrimp with cocktail sauce and Louie sauce for dipping, garnished with parsley and lemon wedges  ( I cooked them the day before with lots of salt, a couple bay leaves, whole black peppercorns, parsley and lemon wedges) . Tip:Do not overcook or undersalt the water.)  Chill til very ,very cold.

*Crudite platter of celery sticks, red pepper sticks, and cucumber slices

*Smoked Trout Spread

*Assorted crackers and small toasts

*Platter of assorted cheeses and grapes

*Toasted pumpkin seeds, roasted almonds and cashews

*Olives

THE DINNER MENU

Salad of Bibb, Radicchio, and Mache greens with sliced Forelle pears and pomegranate seeds dressed in a white balsamic vinaigrette

Roast Turkey with an apple cider glaze (recipe to follow in an upcoming post)

Gravy

                                                                                                                                      

Mom’s challah stuffing

Mashed potatoes

Candied sweet potatoes

Roasted Brussel sprouts

Glazed white and red Cippolini Onions and small white onions

Cranberry sauce

Cranberry Jello mold with apples, mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple and walnuts

Desserts

Pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream (my sister bakes this every year)

Skillet apple crisp

Pear tart (recipe to follow in an upcoming post)

Sweet potato layer cake with orange cream cheese frosting and garnished with dried cranberries, candied orange peel and walnuts        (recipe to follow in an upcoming post)                     

Mom’s Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream frosting (my sister baked this for the chocolate lovers)    (recipe to follow in an upcoming post)

Choice of Vanilla, Dulce de Leche, or Butter Pecan ice cream

After dinner liqueurs, chocolates, and coffee

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers and their families!   I’ve been happily immersed this past week with Thanksgiving preparations and sadly have been unable to find time to post prior to the holidays.  Sharing with you my Thanksgiving table, menu and decor has been on my mind throughout the week.

I am feeling pangs of guilt because I was unable to get some recipes out to you earlier so you might have access to them for your holiday table, but I will try to do better next year and please know you have been on my mind.

As my house is still filled with family until Sunday it will be a few days til I catch up with blogging some of the dishes, but I thought I would share some of the highlights below.

I hope we all have taken the time to realize how much we have to be thankful for, and that the really important things such as family, friends and good health can never be taken for granted.  These are the  irreplaceable ingredients that truly make the meal delicious.

The leaves are only just beginning to turn, Halloween is a couple of weeks away, and yet thoughts of the upcoming Thanksgiving are already spinning inside my head. 

In our family it’s become “my holiday”, the one that I’ve been happily hosting for some 30 years now, and the one that no matter where we’ve lived my family has always found their way to our doorstep for the long weekend.

  It’s really the one time of year we know we will all be together.

For me the planning is as much fun as the executing, and I’ve learned through the years that planning is key.  Which leads me to this post for The Barefoot Connessa’s French Chocolate Bark.

This is  a delicious confection that can be made weeks ahead and stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.  I made it for the first time several months ago for guests, and thought it would make a great addition to a Thanksgiving dessert buffet.

I followed Ina’s recipe pretty closely, but the nice thing about this recipe is that you can customize it to your own taste, substituting your choice of nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate.

French Chocolate Bark (Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics by Ina Garten)

1 cup whole, salted roasted cashews

6 to 7 ounces good quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

6 to 7 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/4 cup finely diced crystalized ginger

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup finely diced dried apricots

1/4 cup golden raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Using a pencil, draw a rectangle that is approximately the size of a standard sheet of paper (8 and 1/2 inches by 11 inches) on a piece of parchment paper placed on a sheet pan, then thurn the parchment paper over.

Spread the cashews in a single layer on another sheet pan and bake for 8 minutes, until just toasted.  Set aside to cool.  (you will not need the oven after this.)

Place the semisweet chocolate and half the bittersweet chocolate in a microwave-safe glass bowl and microwave on high power for 20 to 30 seconds.  Stir with rubber spatula. Continue to heat and stir in 30-second intervals until the chocolate is just melted.  Immediately add the remaining bittersweet chocolate and allow it to sit at room temperature, stirring often, until the chocolate is smooth and slightly cooled; stirring makes it glossier.

Pour the melted chocolate onto the parchment paper and spread it lightly into the drawn rectangle.

Sprinkle the top evenly in the following order:  ginger, cashews, cherries, apricots, raisins.  Set aside for 1 to 2 hours until firm.  Cut or break the bark in 18 to 20 pieces and serve at room temperature.

Store in airtight container in a cool, dry place for several weeks.

Yield:18 to 20 pieces

Making stock from scratch can take a delicious soup, gravy, or other dish requiring a chicken or turkey stock over the top!  Most of us have used packaged stocks and broths before, especially now since there are so many to choose from including low sodium, organic, and even free range.  There’s no denying the convenience of these store bought versions. 

However, there’s also no denying the rich flavor and golden color that a homemade stock provides.  For a special holiday meal it is well worth the time to make a large quantity ahead to use in your holiday cooking.  And because it freezes so well, you can easily freeze smaller portions in containers to have available whenever you need it throughout the year.

What is the difference between stock and broth?  Here’s some info from Kitchen Basics, a manufacturer of both broths and stock.

  The terminology stock and broth can be confusing, but most good cooks agree stock is better than broth. The US Department of Agriculture, for its purposes, uses the words interchangeably and does not define them as being different. A few culinary schools teach that stocks are made from bones and broth is made from meat, but there is no outside authority to support this definition.

Historically, stocks have been a chef or home-cook extraction of liquid from cooking meat, bones, and vegetables with herbs. Broth was nothing more than a thin soup eaten at the table until companies like Swanson and College Inn presented their commercial broths as an ingredient to be used in cooking. Most broths contain high levels of salt and enhancers like autolyzed yeast. While they have served as time saving fill-ins, none have approached the quality of a true stock.

Whether shopping for stock or broth, best to read the label.                                          

The best products generally contain:

More protein, No artificial ingredients, Less Sodium, No bulking agents like wheat

That being said, if you can find the time it will be well worth it to make a pot of your own delicious stock where you control what goes into it. 

There are many recipes for homemade stock availabe, but what I have discovered, and have been making for several years now is this one which I found Thanksgiving of 2005 in the Washington Post Food Guide.  It is a winner! 

The key to this rich turkey stock is to simmer roasted, rather than raw, turkey parts.  Isn’t everything better when it’s roasted??? 

This stock can form the basis of your gravy, can be added to your bread stuffing, and can be used for soups as well.

Rich Turkey Stock   (adapted from Food and Wine, November, 2003)

Makes about 12 cups

Make Ahead:  Turkey parts for stock, such as wings, drumsticks and thighs, are now available in many markets.  The stock may be made 3 days in advance (or sooner, and frozen).

7 pounds turkey parts, such as wings, thighs,and drumsticks*

1 large onion, thickly sliced

1 large carrot, peeled and thickly sliced

1 large stalk celery, thickly sliced (optional)

2 cloves garlic, smashed

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 quarts (16 cups) water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place the turkey parts in a single layer in a large roasting pan and roast for about 1 and 1/2 hours, until well browned.

Transfer the roasted turkey parts to a large pot.  (Reserve the roasting pan.)  Add the onion, carrot, celery, if desired, garlic, salt and several pinches of pepper along with 12 cups of water.  Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile,  place the roasting pan over 2 burners on the stovetop.  Add the remaining 4 cups of water to the pan, increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.  Cook, using a wooden spoon to stir and scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, for 2 to 3 minutes.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.

Carefully pour the liquid from the roasting pan into the pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover and simmer for about 2 and 1/2 hours.  Strain the stock, discarding the solids or removing the turkey meat from the bones; reserve the meat for another use.  Set the stock aside to cool slightly.  Refrigerate for up to 3 days.  Skim the fat from the surface before using.  (May skim the fat, then freeze for up to 3 months.)

*Note: Other turkey parts-neck, giblets, heart and liver-are usually contained in small bags placed in a turkey cavity(there’s one at the neck and one at the breastbone).  You may add the neck and giblets to the roasting pan or the stock, but don’t add the liver, which would make the stock bitter.

When making my turkey stock I usually add some extra wings and drumsticks to the roasting pan.  When ready to add to the stock pot I keep those aside, season with salt and pepper, and that’s dinner!

A reader recently sent me a question asking what was my favorite and most loved holiday recipe, and although I have many to choose from I have to say that my family and I would agree my Mom’s Challah Stuffing takes top billing. 

This is a bread stuffing made from challah, which is a Jewish egg bread usually baked in a twist, but you can also find it baked in a rectangular loaf.  I use the loaves because it is so much easier to trim off the crusts.

This is the bread stuffing my sister and brothers and I grew up with every Thanksgiving, and I’ve continued to carry on the tradition with my children.  I don’t believe I have ever veered away from this basic stuffing.  I have made a few changes, mostly with the technique, and the addition of a few more fresh herbs, but by and large it tastes just like mom’s.  And impossible as it is to believe it even improves when reheated the next day.

Mom’s Challah Stuffing

This recipe makes a large amount, so feel free to cut it back. 

3 pounds challah (3 -1# loaves)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter, plus 2 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons grapeseed oil (optional)

3 large shallots, finely diced

5-6 cups celery, medium dice

5-6 cups onion, medium dice

3 large eggs, beaten lightly

1 to 1 and 1/2 large bunch Italian parsley, leaves picked from stems, and chopped

1 bunch fresh thyme, leaves  only

1/2 bunch fresh rosemary,  leaves only, chopped

1/2 bunch garlic chives, chopped (optional)

3-4 cups turkey stock (homemade is preferable, may substitute chicken stock)

1 and 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt

kosher salt to taste (be generous)

freshly cracked black pepper to taste ( be generous)

Allow the challah loaves to get somewhat stale by letting them sit out a few days before preparing the stuffing. 

Trim the crust from the challahs, and cut into large 3/4 to 1 inch cubes.  Place cubes on large rimmed baking sheets and allow to sit overnight in an unheated oven.

When ready to make the stuffing toast the cubes in a 350 degree oven until crisp.  Place the toasted cubes in a large bowl. 

In a large saute pan (5 qt) saute the chopped onions, shallots and celery in the butter and oil until soft and transparent, but not burned. 

Add the tender onion and celery mixture with the liquid in the pan to the bread cubes in bowl. 

Add the chopped herbs, and enough of the warm stock to moisten the bread well.  Add the lightly beaten eggs.

Season generously with the kosher salt, pepper and 1 to 1 and 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt.  The bread is very absorbent so it is important to season well.

With your clean hands, gently toss the mixture until combined.

Place the mixture lightly in a buttered  glass or ceramic baking dish (depending on the size you may need two).

Dot with butter.

If making one day ahead cover well with plastic wrap and refrigerate immediately.  Remove from refrigerator when ready to bake.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour, covering for the first 30 minutes. 

Ladle a few spoonfuls of turkey gravy on top before serving if you like.