I don’t put too much weight on holidays. Birthdays come and go ticking away years and
producing yet another reason to frown at your wrinkles in the mirror. Anniversaries pass by largely forgotten and
kicked to the side of the road. New Year
eves, although mostly fun, blend together in a spiral of booze and obscene costumes. Thanksgiving is the only holiday when I truly
look around and take stock of my life. I
celebrate everything that’s good in it and look back with some wisdom on what
is bad. Thanksgiving is when I go all
out… for the ones who choose to celebrate it with me.
This has been a tough year, for me, for my family. We lost loved ones, we fought, we battled
home renovations (which should be equated to a natural disaster) and we endured
natural disasters as well, straining me to the point of hysterics. Now with only a few days left before
Thanksgiving, I am mortified that I will not be able to put on my show ( in
truth, I am mortified every year, but pour a bit of wine in me and it always
miraculously works out).
I usually start my Thanking menu planning in mid-October,
but now with only a few days to go, I am still playing with menu ideas and
frantically trying to put a shopping list together that is now all of three
pages long. So here is this 2012
Thanksgiving menu. Hopefully it will all
work out and actually get made ( where those elves when you need them?).
Starters.
Fig and Berry glazed Duck Breast salad with arugula,
raspberries and spiced peppitas
Mini-lamb meatballs with spicy beet slaw and yogurt sauce
Goat cheese puffs
Spicy lemony olives
Smoked Salmon toasts with honey mustard butter
Mango Scallop crudité served with fried plantain chips
Mushrooms stuffed with miso-glazed pork belly and squash
salad
Harrissa deviled eggs
Edemame dumplings with spicy peanut sauce
Spinach and tomato confit roulades
Irish soda bread served with chicken liver mouse and salmon
rillettes
Main course
Apple-cider and ginger brined turkey
Orange cranberry sauce
Chipotle caramel root vegetables
Parmesan and roasted garlic mashed potatoes
Wilted spinach with pears and pomegranate gremolatta
Fig corn bread
Wheat berry and corn salad with bacon and mushrooms
Haricot vert with roasted hazelnuts
Desert
Apple gallette
Salted Caramel grape pie
Spicy orange chocolate mousse with whipped crème fresh and
pine nut brittle
Rum Pecan pie
Cranberry Truffles
Pistachio éclairs
Fresh fruit
If anyone knows of a good place to go into a food induced
coma, speak now….
My Thanksgiving starts when I begin cooking and I always
begin by making stock. You can make stock
weeks, even months ahead, frozen it will keep up to 6 months. For me, home-made stocks are essential; I
stopped buying the store-bought kind a long time ago. There are just no shortcuts in making it, but
the rewards are countless.
You cannot rush stock, it takes hours, as many as you got,
you cannot cook stock too long. The
longer you cook it, the more concentrated the flavor gets, your sauces will
taste deeper and richer. And good stock
does not come from meat, it comes from the bones, a great way to use up the entire
animal.
These are the stocks to have in your freezer at all times:
1.
Chicken
Stock
-
One full chicken or the bones from two or more
birds
-
1 onion whole
-
3 ribs of celery
-
2 carrots
-
5 cloves of garlic
-
1 small parsley root
-
1 tbs of pepper corns
-
2 tsp of salt ( see Note)
-
5 springs of fresh thyme
Put all the ingredients in a large pot ( I don’t even bother
peeling the vegies, the stock gets strained anyway). Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, skim the shmutz off the top
and reduce to a barely visible bubble ( Do not cover your pot, the stock will
be cloudy, at least that’s what my mother always said). Simmer on very low heat anywhere from 2 to 5
hours. When done, strain the stock into
containers and freeze right away if not using.
If you are using a whole chicken, you might ask “What do I
do with all the meat”. For goodness
sake, don’t throw it away, it is moist and delicious and can be used for chicken
salad, for pasta filling, grind it up, brown it with butter and a shallot and
mix with pasta. As a last resort, give
it to the dog….
2.
Veal stock
-
Veal bones ( 6 or 7 if small)
-
2 tbs of olive oil
-
3 tbs of tomato paste
-
1 onion whole
-
3 ribs of celery
-
2 carrots
-
5 cloves of garlic
-
1 small parsley root
-
1 tbs of pepper corns
-
2 tbs of salt ( see Note)
-
5 springs of fresh thyme
-
A handful of fresh parsley
Smear the bones with olive oil and tomato paste. Roast in 425F oven for 1.5 – 2 hrs until the
bones are deep brown color. Once done,
remove the marrow ( reserve for another use).
Place the bones and all other ingredients in a large pot. Cover with cold water and bring to a
boil. Reduce to simmer and cook for 6 to
8 hrs on a very gently simmer, periodically skimming off the shmutz from the
top. Strain and freeze right away.
3.
Duck
stock
Duck stock is made exactly like the chicken
stock, except only the bones are used.
First of all, you do not want to waste any of the beautiful meat for
stock. Also, all the skin and fat would
make the stock too oily. So do what I
do, learn to debone a duck ( I am so proud of myself now that I can do it in 10
minutes or less). Reserve the legs for
the confit. Reserve the breasts for
searing. Take off all of the remaining skin
and fat, place in a glass, oven proof dish and roast at 350F until most of the
fat is rendered. Strain the fat and part
yourself in the back for acquiring culinary equivalent of gold, without
spending an extra penny. Now you are
left with only bones, follow the steps for chicken stock ( I sometimes omit the
garlic from my duck stock, I find that it interferes with the gaminess of the
stock)
4.
Dashi –
This is a staple of Japanese cooking and is used as a foundation for broths,
sauces and glazes. It gives an absolutely unique umami flavor so I highly recommend
it. It is not a pretty stock, so strain it extra
well ( I use a cheesecloth).
-
2 large strips of Nori ( this is a dried seaweed
sold in all Asian markets. There are
many varieties and you will just need to experiment and find the one you like
most. If in doubt, look for a package
that specifically, in English, says “for Dashi”
-
2 cups bonito flakes ( this is a shaved cured
tuna. It is funky smelling but don’t get discouraged. You can buy it at almost any Asian store or
on-line.
Place Nori and bonito flakes in a
medium pot. Cover with water and bring
to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and
cook for 30 minutes. Strain very well.
5.
Shellfish
stock
Next time you are eating lobster or peeling
shrimp, don’t throw away the shells.
Cooked or not, they have all the flavor.
Place them in a pot with some onion, celery, black peppercorns and a
little salt and simmer the hell out of them for at least a few hours. Strain and freeze. This stock makes for a great sea food risotto
or anytime you want to enhance a sea food dish.
Trying boiling your pasta in it… you will see.
Note:
I prefer to either not salt my stocks or salt them very little. When you use them in recipes you will be
adding salt anyhow and it helps to have a blank canvass. I do not add any salt to Dashi, the stock will probably taste pretty bland, but the saltiness of the bonito will come out once the stock reduces.
Wish me luck in this year's cooking project. I hope to post after the holiday
with the update on how it all turned out.
I think, I will need a few days of rest though….