Category Archives: Holiday Dishes

Appetizers and Small Plates, Easy to Prepare, Holiday Dishes, Recipes, Vegetarian Dishes

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Sexy Ass Spinach…For Lovers Only

I know that this is one of those recipes that you think of from 90s potlucks and progressive dinners. Pop it in a bread bowl and you are completely with the era. But I still go back to this recipe for the winning combination of flavors and the lack of pre-processed ingredients used to make it. This is no TGIF Frozen Spinach Dip in the freezer aisle of the grocery store. This one is for lovers only. Shallots and garlic flavor the creamy dip and bring out the sweetness of the spinach and artichokes. Best of all, the ingredient list is simple enough that you probably have most of the ingredients on hand already. So if you need a calorie splurge to go with a little junk TV, this’ll do the trick. Bravo, here I come… Continue reading Spinach Artichoke Dip →

Holiday Dishes, Impressive Dishes, Main Courses, Meat Dishes, Poultry Dishes

Turkey Breast Roulade with Wild Rice Pear Stuffing

Get Stuffed!

Turkey dinner has to be one of my favorite ways to get my comfort on and eat my feelings. I know, that’s probably an uber-unhealthy confession, but in this life you love what you love. And for me, I pledge my adoration to the restorative properties of turkey and stuffing.

This particular recipe, though, is extra special in that it utilizes some of my beloved ingredients in the pantry to create a flavor profile that is so refined, you’ll wonder why you hadn’t prepared turkey this way earlier. Fragrant fennel pollen turns bland turkey into a fantastic bite, wild rice adds texture and nuttiness to ordinary stuffing, and the saltiness of the pancetta “wrapping” plays off the sweetness of roasted pear. This fetching combination of comfort and refinement is well worth tucking into your recipe book for days when you are looking for a little magic on your dinner plate. Continue reading Turkey Breast Roulade with Wild Rice Pear Stuffing →

Easy to Prepare, Holiday Dishes, Main Courses, Poultry Dishes

Simple Herb Roasted Turkey

Despite the fact that turkey gets a bad name in the way of ease of cooking, it’s really not all that bad.  I still don’t understand why the cooking of the Thanksgiving turkey is the litmus test for a new chef’s mettle.  Screw up the turkey and you’re in deep doo-doo.  Craft a stunning bird with crisp skin and moist white meat, you can cook anything.

Well, in actuality, whether you can cook or not, if you follow a couple of simple steps, you can create an expertly seasoned and prepped turkey that will fool people into thinking that you are a vet in the kitchen.  Take the praise.  You deserve it for being wise enough to know you can fake it ’til you make it. Continue reading Simple Herb Roasted Turkey →

Easy to Prepare, Holiday Dishes, Recipes, Sauces and Condiments, Vegan Dishes, Vegetarian Dishes

Ginger Cranberry Chutney

I never cared much for cranberry sauce until I tried out my grandmother’s suggestion to make a recipe with fresh cranberries.  Aside from the brightness of flavors and use of a whole orange for zest, the star of the show was the crystalized ginger.  I was an instant convert.

Many years later, upon reading through Amanda Hesser’s NYT Cookbook, I came across a chutney recipe that seemed to contain all of my favorite fall flavors.  I decided to tweak it a bit and again make crystalized ginger the star of the show.  The result was a lush, bright sauce that served the perfect stand-in for that canned cranberry nonsense. Continue reading Ginger Cranberry Chutney →

Easy to Prepare, Holiday Dishes, Lighten Up, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegetarian Dishes

Sauteed String Beans with Garlic

Although this is barely a recipe, it can be construed as a damn good feast all by its lonesome.  String beans honestly don’t need a whole lot of dressing up in order to be brilliant, and this recipe is the perfect proof of that.  Garlic, butter and olive oil form a dressing for the tender crisp beans, showcasing their sweetness.  Why mess with perfection?

If you like a little bit of added texture, feel free to toss in a smattering of slivered almonds.  Or add dried cherries or cranberries for tartness.  Whatever you choose to do, make it your own and don’t expend a lot of effort.  The green beans are the stars of the show here. Continue reading Sauteed String Beans with Garlic →

Holiday Dishes, Impressive Dishes, Seafood Dishes, Side Dishes

Oyster Rockefeller Dressing

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Not that I haven’t always been an odd duck, but as a child, I didn’t eat any sort of seafood except for oysters.  Fish was assumed to taste the way it smelled, crabs looked like spidery ocean monsters, and shrimp had to have been the grossest looking things I’d ever seen.  But oysters!  How I loved them so!  My favorite preparation was fried with lots of lemon and ketchup, and I would adore the nights our family and extended family would pile into the car to go to the Chesapeake Bay Seafood House for their All-You-Can-Eat extravaganza.  I’ve grown to become EEO about seafood (I’m sorry for judging you guys!) and adore just about every fresh catch I can get my hands on, but oysters hold a special place in my heart. Continue reading Oyster Rockefeller Dressing →

Easy to Prepare, Holiday Dishes, Side Dishes, Vegetarian Dishes

Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Grand Marnier Pecan Crumble

I’ve never loved candied yams with their cloyingly sweet topper of marshmallow goo.  Given all of the glory on the Thanksgiving table, I’ve always felt that they sullied the experience.  My husband would adamantly disagree, of course, given that the marshmallow travesty happens to be his favorite item at Thanksgiving.  What to do other than craft him a recipe that might convince him that the candied yam business isn’t the be all end all of sweet potato majesty. Continue reading Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Grand Marnier Pecan Crumble →

Easy to Prepare, Holiday Dishes, Impressive Dishes, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegetarian Dishes

Truffled Mashed Potatoes

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This recipe is the kind of trouble that you want to get into.  It takes the comfort that is a warm bowl of fluffy mashed potatoes, keeps the butter and cream quotient high, but then flings it into the stratosphere or mischief with the addition of white truffle oil.  Oh man, is this where it’s at.

For those that don’t keep a bottle of white truffle oil handy, go out and get some.  You know that I am a fan of recipes to wow the unexpected dinner guest, and truffle oil is like a trusty friend that is there to turn a soup, canapé or side dish into something exotic and glorious.  You don’t need a whole lot of the stuff to go a long way, and a few drops bring this earthy richness to a dish that is complex and worth savoring.  Case in point with this dish – mashed potatoes go from being the foundation for pools of gravy to a star in their own right.  And you have to admit, mashed potatoes have deserved a little glory all along, haven’t they? Continue reading Truffled Mashed Potatoes →

Easy to Prepare, Holiday Dishes, Recipes, Side Dishes

Classic Stuffing

Classic Stuffing © Photo by Angela GunderIn the powerplay for key plate location and eating supremacy, stuffing is my champion well beyond Thanksgiving.  Don’t get me wrong – I adore mashed potatoes, roast turkey, string beans and a biblical-worthy proclamation of gravy over all.  But at the end of the day, the one dish that I jones about above all others is glorious stuffing.

For a goodly while, I’ve been taking part in (if not orchestrating) the Thanksgiving meal.  I can remember the first time I was allowed in the kitchen to help out my paternal grandmother make sweet potatoes, and what a gift it was.  It was like a vote of confidence that I was old enough to help out with the cooking (and thus, not going to eff things up).  The meal itself was full of such history, from the family recipe for Carolina-style cornbread to two special versions of dressing, my favorite one with oysters.  When it came to my making the meal myself years later, I carried with me the memories as much as the flavors and ingredients.  This stuffing was less a recipe and more an extension of my favorite type of cooking – completely unfussy ingredients turning into deliciousness with fail-proof techniques.  My hope is that if ever you end up cooking this meal for you and yours, and you don’t already have a beloved stuffing recipe, that maybe you’ll try this one out for inclusion in the pantheon of cherished Thanksgiving favorites.  It’s really that simple and lovely that you’ll be happy to make it a part of your fam.

 

Recipe for

Classic Stuffing

Ingredients
2 bags of Pepperidge Farm stuffing (I prefer the crumbs to the cubes, but either works)
2 stalks of celery
2 carrots
1 large onion
2 apples
1 cup of craisins
6 c. of chicken stock
2 sprigs of sage
4 sprigs of thyme
1/2 tsp. of white pepper
1 tsp. of black pepper
1/4 tsp. of salt
1 stick of butter plus 2 tbs.
1 tbs. of olive oil

Begin by chopping your carrots, onion, celery and apples – I like to just throw everything in the food processor and chop into a rough dice.  Stem and chop your sage and thyme.  Set the herbs and veggies aside.

In a saucepan, warm your stock with 1 stick of the butter, white pepper, black pepper and salt.  Add the craisins and allow to reconstitute.  Let it hang out while you prep your veggies.

In a large skillet, add the 2 tbs. of butter and 1 tbs. of olive oil.  Add the veggies and herbs and cook until softened, but not browned.  Add the veggies to a large mixing bowl and stir in the stuffing.  Pour the broth over the stuffing and stir to moisten.  Turn out into a greased casserole dish.

Bake stuffing on 375° for 35-45 minutes, or until browned on top.  Serve on a prime spot on your dinner plate.

Easy to Prepare, Holiday Dishes, Recipes, Sauces and Condiments, Side Dishes, Vegan Dishes

Cranberry Relish

The much-aligned cranberry gets a bad wrap – only typically broken out at the holidays in the form of a canned cylinder of fright, these tart lovelies are so much more.  A long while back, my paternal grandmother decided to have a more cooperative Thanksgiving and assigned the kids recipes to bring.  My sister and I were assigned a Cranberry Relish recipe that she had snipped from a magazine.  The recipe itself seemed kind of wacky as we were making it, from the use of a whole orange (peel, pith and all) to the use of crystalized ginger, which we had never heard of at the time and had to look up (and this was well before “Google it” became a catch phrase).  Turns out the spicy treats were considered candy in Australia and could be purchased with the other McCormick spices in the baking aisle.  Who knew?

Well, knowledge begets power and powerful that first batch of relish was in transforming our opinions of the lowly cranberry.  Once an afterthought next to the turkey, potatoes, stuffing and green beans, this relish had star quality.  It’s ingenious in its ability to freshen up the heavy meal and enliven your palette.  Best of all, it requires not a lick of cooking – just pulse everything in the food processor, pour out into a bowl and put it on the table.  Done.  For such freshness and flavor with absolutely no work, those cans of cranberry gelatin are looking mighty good for target practice right about now.

Recipe for

Cranberry Relish

Ingredients
1 bag of fresh cranberries
1 small orange
1 tbs. of crystallized ginger (candied ginger) pieces
1/3 to 1/2 c. of sugar, to taste

Cut the orange in half and then into 1 inch pieces.  Add all ingredients to the food processor and pulse until it forms a chunky relish.  Pour mixture into a bowl and let sit for at least 5 minutes to allow the flavors to blend.  Store any leftovers in the fridge.