We were invited to our son’s for dinner and I offered to bring a veggie. I had a 2-pound package of haricot verts, those lovely little tiny green beans, in my refrigerator. And I had some fresh corn (where in the world does that come from in mid-November, do you suppose?). I went to my online cookbook resource, Eat Your Books, and entered “green beans” and up came about 20+ recipes contained in my own cookbooks. The only thing the listings don’t tell me is what page the recipe is on, within each cookbook. It listed ingredients and I had nearly everything except shallots (for this recipe that I selected), so I did have to make a quick stop at the supermarket. I used this as my base recipe. It came from Sheila Lukins’ cookbook All Around the World Cookbook. The recipe’s origin is Martinique – or at least it was Sheila’s interpretation of something she ate in Martinique. The corn was my addition. And I altered the quantity of nearly everything else. I’d intended to serve it with lime wedges (as the recipe instructs) but I forgot them at home. They were fine without.

The beans have to be quick cooked in boiling water – and I stand over the stove after about 3 minutes, because I want the beans to be just right in texture – done past crunchy, but not mushy in any way at all. I pull out bean after bean to taste before I finally drain them. I plunged them into ice water to stop the cooking, dried them, then I cooked up the shallots and garlic in olive oil, chopped up the tomatoes and corn, and added the chicken broth. I had to add a bit more water to keep the mixture from burning, then I tossed it all together and served it at room temp. If you want to be more Martinique-authentic, don’t add the corn, but I really liked it that way!

What I liked: the corn (sweet), the shallots (which turn sweet when they’re gently cooked as these were), the garlic overlay (I love garlic in just about every way). Plus, I just love green beans in just about any way possible. It was altogether good and liked by everybody in attendance.

What I didn’t like: it did take a bit of time to make – the beans themselves and then the shallot-garlic stuff too. But it can be made several hours ahead, so it’s not all bad!

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Really, I wasn’t sure I’d ever read Ree Drummond’s book (memoir),  her story of meeting and marrying Marlboro Man. Yes, I was interested, although over the years I’d read parts of her story on her blog, which I’ve been following for several years. To buy it, well, maybe not. BUT, she’s pretty amazing – that I knew. She’s a very clever writer. She’s pretty. Cute. And after reading her blog for so long, I feel like I know her. Like she could be a friend of mine – except that she lives in the middle of nowhere near Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Not exactly a place close to anybody’s radar. But I feel like I could just walk into her kitchen and be right at home. And she’d serve me a glass of her iced coffee (she says she drinks gallons every day), introduce me to her 4 children who would be quietly (ha) studying at their desks as she’s homeschooling them, while she’s whipping up a dinner for 20, taking 4000 photos, writing a post for her blog, Photoshop’ing all 4000 of those photos, and pulling on several different pairs of her infamous cowboy boots. I’d meet Charlie (the basset hound) who would be lounging on the leather sofa. She’s written a book about Charlie too. And, of course, meeting Marlboro Man, her very handsome husband. What this woman is, is a marketing genius. But it’s all surrounded in her homespun, self-deprecating voice – that voice – a person –  who could be your next door neighbor, your cousin down the street, or your best friend from high school. I love all that about her. She has a HUGE following. I mean huge.

Her recent episodes on the Food Network were very fun. Seeing her live, in her own element, at the Lodge, the house her husband’s family uses for guests and events. Seeing her husband (shy) and her 4 kids (adorable), and numerous members of her extended family was great. I have her first cookbook – The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. Actually I don’t know that I’ve cooked anything from the book. But I loved the photos of their cattle ranch. I’ve thought about buying the book about Charlie (a children’s story) – Charlie the Ranch Dog for my grandson. But he favors cats since that’s what they have in their house. She’s also written a sequel cookbook – The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier that will be released in 2012. Did you hear me say she’s a marketing genius? But she also gives away oodles of stuff from her blog. And I shouldn’t forget to mention her comprehensive Tasty Kitchen website too.

So anyway, I was at the library recently, and there was her book The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels–A Love Story –  right there on the shelf. I glanced through it (no photos). Oh well, I took it home anyway. But first, I needed to read the new Philippa Gregory book – The Lady of the Rivers: A Novel (The Cousins’ War), which I rented from the library actually, and had to return in a week. By the way, that is one fascinating story, revolving around the reign of King Henry VI, England’s boy king, his wives, and told from the voice of one of the Queen’s ladies in waiting (a real person, though there’s never been anything written about her). It was such a good story I found myself going to my computer several times to read online about the actual history of that period (c. 1450). This is a brand new hardback book, and since buying books on my Kindle these days are getting more and more pricey, I decided to try the library. The week cost me $1.50.

Once I finished the above book I opened up Ree’s memoir and started reading. And I read. And I read. I don’t read romance novels except on very rare occasions. But then, this isn’t a novel – it’s a memoir of her own life, about a year in her life. It’s spicy and steamy without any graphic detail. It’s LOL funny. A few nights ago I was lying in bed reading – again, I could hardly put it down – and was laughing and laughing and laughing. My DH thought I was nuts – although he knows all about Ree Drummond because I told him about her – and he watched all of the Food Network episodes. In her book, though, you’ll read about linguine with clam sauce. About Ladd’s starched blue denim shirts, his Wranglers, and his chaps. About their dates (let me tell you, there really isn’t much to do near Pawhuska Oklahoma!). About their wedding, their honeymoon, and a whole lot about her first pregnancy. And all from her hysterically funny voice. I finished it last night and didn’t want it to end. It’s a good thing I have her blog to go to, that’s all I can say.

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Those of you who have been reading my blog for a long time already know about my Christmas favorite, Bishop’s Bread. It’s something I make every single year – because I don’t like fruitcake. You have to understand – I cannot stand those pieces of candied fruit things. This, however, is made with maraschino cherries, chocolate chips and walnuts. Okay? NOT fruitcake!

So why did I make something different than the old standby, you ask? Well, because I was reading the King Arthur Flour blog, called Baking Banter. And they did a write-up about a Golden Fruitcake they developed – about how and why they made theirs the way they did – and with a different batter to hold it together. That was what got my attention – the batter. Last year when I made my Bishop’s Bread, I thought the cake part was just too dry. I’ve noted that a couple of times over the years, but never really knew what to do about it, so I did nothing.

But  reading their blog got me to thinking and I decided I had to try it. Theirs has you soak the fruits in brandy (raisins, cranberries, dried apricots and oh-yuk – candied red cherries – all things I never put in MY bishop’s bread). It has 5 eggs in the batter. And corn syrup. Some Fiori de Sicilia (a flavoring available from King Arthur’s that I’ve had in my refrigerator for about 5 years – it’s a citrusy vanilla, sort of). And it has milk in the batter too.

With all that in my head, I just switched out their batter, and used their proportions of fruit/nuts (about 7 cups for a regular 2-loaf recipe). I also added in some dried cranberries (but decided after the fact that I didn’t like that addition at all). I did soak the maraschino cherries in brandy (and the recipe has you add whatever leftover brandy there is into the batter), but I discovered with my first batch that when my fruit mixture didn’t absorb any of the brandy, of course, the batter was too wet. The better part of the first batch went into the trash.

Before I made my second test batch I did two things: (1) I reduced the amount of brandy altogether – since it was just for flavoring anyway – I didn’t need that much; and (2) I researched the web to find out the internal temperature of fruitcake – when it’s finished. Since I’ve now invested in one of those fancy-dancy instant-read  Thermapen thermometers (above), I’ve been using it for several things. And it was just the best tool for this. The answer to my online query was 200°. Even with fruit in it – you want the internal temp of fruitcake to be 200°. Knowing that, I found that in my particular bread pans, it took 96 minutes to reach that temp. Their recipe suggested 50-80 minutes baking time. At 300° it took mine a whole lot longer, obviously. Why? Don’t know, but it did and does. In the second batch I used Convection Bake and it took less time, but it browned the bread way too much, so half way through I reverted it to regular Bake and it seemed to be fine although I did have to remove it sooner. I won’t use that method again, though.

The bread has a more tender crumb – I like that part of it. You’ll notice that in the picture at top the bread crumbled a bit. I cut slices before the bread had cooled enough and the edges were still almost crispy. Once I’d wrapped it up and let it sit overnight it sliced just fine. So, I think I’ll be making this version from now on. My friend Cherrie came over the other day and we baked and baked – we made a double batch of this Golden Bishop’s Bread, and we made two batches of our other important Christmas favorite, the Chocolate Almond Saltine Toffee (cookies). We’ll get together one more time in early December to make some of our other favorites – and Cherrie has a new recipe to try too.

What I liked about this version: the brandy flavor, plus the Flora di Sicilia flavor too (but if you don’t have that, no worries, just use vanilla), the tender crumb. Even the freshly grated nutmeg gives a very subtle under-note to the bread. Altogether good stuff!

What I didn’t like: well, it does take a long time to bake, but I think my old version took 90 minutes, so what’s 6 minutes?

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Here you can see just the veggies
and the sausage the dressing contains.

OMGosh! Oh, my gracious was this dressing ever the cat’s meow. The be all, end all of dressings I’ve ever, ever had. I will be making this next week for our family’s Thanksgiving dinner. So, okay, what’s so different about it? Well, I’ll tell you that I have an Italian sausage dressing I’ve been making for a several years, but this one? Well, it’s going into #1 position. Part of it’s the vegetables (a lot of them). Part of it’s the moistness of it (it’s a relatively wet dressing) and another part of it is the gravy (oh-so tasty). And the fresh herbs. And the mushrooms (not exactly a common veggie in dressing). Oh, heck. It’s all of it put together as a whole. If I were a vegetarian, I’d gladly have this as my entrée (well, without the sausage, I suppose).

Several weeks ago my friend Cherrie and I went to a Phillis Carey class that was all about an Italian Thanksgiving menu. Everything in it was fantastic. The only thing I might not make is the pumpkin pie (a different take – and I’m just too hooked on the traditional Libby’s style Costco pumpkin pie). Otherwise I think I’ll be making the entire meal from this class (green beans with shallots, the artichoke Romano bruschetta, the Mascarpone mashed potatoes, the pancetta-butter basted turkey, and the gravy I’m writing up here, with the dressing.

It was several years ago I discovered how much I liked Italian sausage in my turkey dressing. And there’s been no turning back. I think my mother usually used Pepperidge Farms dry, packaged mix with her simple additions. And I made it the same way for many years, until I went to a cooking class and had some real, honest-to-goodness completely home made dressing, including the bread cubes. I had some with cornmeal one year. It was okay. But somehow cornbread didn’t fit in with my vision of a Thanksgiving dressing. But now, THIS one. Gosh. Made with fresh, torn bread cubes that are briefly baked in the oven. With oodles of veggies – onion, celery, including some of the green tops, leeks, and mushrooms. And the fresh herbs (sage, rosemary). And the Italian sausage, of course. Certainly there is ample bread in this dressing, but it’s almost more about the vegetables – of which there are lots – and the gravy. The gravy, the gravy. Pictured at right – you can see the little bit of cream added in at the end. Makes it so luscious. Back to the dressing – the one thing that’s a bit unusual in this dressing is the addition of EGGS. Phillis told us they’re not an absolute, but she thinks the dressing stays together better with them. So I’ll be adding those. So delicious.

So, if you’ve had any second thoughts about making your old standby, may I just suggest you try this one, okay? Read further below for the gravy write-up and recipe.

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Now then, the gravy. Not difficult, although there are two parts to it. You’ll make some really flavorful stock from what develops in the bottom of the turkey roasting pan. That part is essential! A part of it can be made while the turkey is roasting, and then once you’ve removed the turkey and it’s resting, all that good tasty broth is added to the pancetta flavored gravy mixture. It has to cook to just the right consistency and you’re done. The pancetta is part of what makes this – also the use of white wine in the gravy.

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Oh my goodness, were these delicious. But then, what’s to complain about when you’re eating beef tenderloin? You can make this with top sirloin, and since the meat marinated for several hours, it should be sufficiently tender. But the tenderloin, well, it was just perfection. I’d make these any day – well, probably for a company meal since it’s a special occasion kind of meat.

Although you’ll see a lot of ingredients listed below, the marinade comes together very easily. The meat marinates for 2-8 hours, then you grill the kebabs and serve over rice with some of the sauce (set aside, but made from the marinade before you add the meat). The rice is a good vehicle so soak up some of the great-tasting sauce. It’s really an easy dish to make. This was from a Phillis Carey cooking class some months ago and on my notes I wrote “fantastic.” That’s my code for a really special recipe, meaning Phillis outdid herself on this one!

You can make this with leg of lamb, and I don’t know why you couldn’t make it with chicken (thighs, I’d suggest) as well. Or a firm fleshed fish would be fine too. It’s really the method you just have to get down – nothing more than combining the marinade in a heavy-duty plastic bag (sealing type). Make this, okay?

What I liked: the flavor is just stupendous. And since the marinade also becomes part of the finishing sauce, it’s really easy. I mean REALLY easy. And it’s nice that this can be served with plain rice, so that’s a part of the meal that doesn’t require some special preparation. It also looks really attractive on the plate with the green onions and toasted sesame seeds on top.

What I didn’t like: nada, nothing.

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Oh goodness. I could have eaten an entire plate of these appetizers, they were so good. Hot, right out of the oven with that little dollop of tomato jam on top. Oh yes.

A couple of months ago my friend Cherrie and I went to a cooking class taught by a private chef, Megan Barnett. Her class was all about bacon, yet she managed to give us a whole variety of different dishes. I’ll be sharing at least one more recipe from the class (a winter greens salad). She also made shrimp and grits, a buttery mac ‘n cheese, and a pork belly dish. I already have a great shrimp and grits recipe, rarely make mac ‘n cheese although it was truly delicious, and didn’t care for the pork belly (in an Asian marinade and sauce). But these cheese bites? Yes, yes.

First you have to make the tomato jam – there’s not much to making it, really – except a bit of time spent over the stove. You could use any leftovers for sandwiches or in any kind of sauce. The cheese mixture is easy to put together too – although you do have to cook up the bacon first. Otherwise, it’s very easy to make. Then the mixture is spread on baguette slices (clear out to the edges) and broiled. Done. Dollop on the jam and serve. You can’t have just one, I guarantee!

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If you happen to think you don’t like winter greens, think again. Lots of those winter type greens (in this case it’s escarole and kale) are perfectly edible raw. Mostly we know kale and other more typical winter greens as something you cook, and cook and cook to get it tender. Not needed here, as long as the pieces are cut into fairly small bite-sized pieces. Bacon is certainly an enhancement to just about any sturdy green salad. With a nice red wine vinegar dressing (including a hint of honey), and tossed with the bacon and some orange sections (supremes) it’s just the most fantastic taste. This may become a real new favorite around my house. I just have to remember to buy the hearty greens.

This is another recipe from a cooking class with Megan Barnett, a personal chef. I really liked her recipes (bacon inspired) and will make all but one of her recipes. The dressing can be made ahead, all the greens can be tossed ahead of time. Even the bacon could be cooked and crumbled ahead of time. And the orange supremes. The walnuts can be toasted and chopped ahead too. It’s all a matter of combining the ingredients just before serving. Make this salad. You may have to hunt in more than one grocery store for escarole. I find it a bit hard to locate sometimes, but it has a really good, hearty taste and texture.

What I liked: the fresh taste of the salad dressing. All the ingredients in the salad – walnuts, a bit of blue cheese, a bit of bacon. And then the greens. All of which I like to eat anyway.

What I didn’t like: nothing whatsoever. I’d make this salad over and over and over again. Especially nice for guests, I think. Because it’s different.

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Usually when I post a meat recipe I will post the side dish separately, but these two are just so good together, I’m recommending you to make this side dish right along with it. This is a special occasion kind of meal, obviously, since you’re going to buy filet mignon, but you’ll thank me for it (well, unless you’re counting calories, or fat grams, that is). Don’t send the nutrition police my way – just blame the creator, Phillis Carey, who makes these fantastic combinations so hard to resist.

The filet mignon is a cinch to make. The hardest part will be making the trek to buy good meat somewhere. Ideally buy it 1 1/4 inches thick, or even up to 1 1/2. You season the meat with salt and pepper, grill it 5-7 minutes per side (depending on whether you want med-rare or medium), then you put some little pieces of Gorgonzola (not Blue – Gorgonzola, please) on top, close the grill lid for the 2nd half of the cooking time, garnish with slivered sage leaves and you’re done.

Meanwhile, you will have gotten all the prep work done on the pasta – cook it, obviously, and make the mushroom creamy sauce (with Tawny Port added in). What I’ve done is go to buy a bottle of Tawny Port (it’s not the most common of ports – but it’s ideal for cooking). I think mine came from Trader Joe’s. That way I always have it when I need it for cooking. Phillis likes using Tawny Port – just the right amount of mild to sweet taste. Anyway, make this!

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Don’t you agree with me – you can never have enough recipes for preparing salmon? Fillets of salmon are one of my favorite fish (swordfish is by far my favorite, oh and maybe lobster, especially after eating it twice while we were in New England recently). I like salmon because it has ample texture – I’m not so crazy about soft fish. I eat them (like sole, tilapia, orange roughy), but they’re not my favorites.

So when my new friend Didi emailed me about a salmon recipe she’d made, I said sure I’d like to try it. And it was lovely. It came from an America’s Test Kitchen show, apparently. It’s attributed to Cook’s Illustrated, anyway. And it was tender and flavorful with lots of herbs to augment it. Plus, it’s very easy too – you may not think it when you look at the recipe, but it came together from start to finish in about 20-25 minutes. The fish is poached on a bed of sliced, fresh lemon, with some shallot and herb stems added in, plus a little white wine (I used vermouth) and water. Once cooked through, you remove the fish and boil down (reduce) the poaching liquid, squeeze the juices through a sieve and add more fresh herbs, some chopped-up capers, shallot, honey and a little jot of olive oil. That becomes the vinaigrette. Serve the fish with the vinaigrette on top. Done.

If I were a first-rate blogger I’d not be posting this until I made it a second time and altered just one thing – figured out how to alter it, that is. My only “beef” with the dish was that the vinaigrette flooded the plate. Well, maybe flooded is the wrong word – there wasn’t that much, but it moved on over to the cauliflower I’d put on the plate, rather than staying around the salmon. So, I think the vinaigrette (sauce) needs to be thickened just slightly – maybe 1/4 tsp of flour. Or cornstarch. Or butter might do it too. The other option would be to serve the fish in its own small dish to contain the vinaigrette. If you look at the photo at top, you can’t even see the vinaigrette because it had already migrated across the plate. Of course, the salmon was partly on a hill, so there’s no way the juices could stay put.

The salmon was served with my quickie take on one of Kalyn’s recipes for cauliflower (steamed, mashed with a potato masher, added in light sour cream, a bit of shredded Cheddar) plus some delicious sweet and sour cabbage a friend gave us. Altogether a nice dinner. And the salmon was low calorie too, plus the fact that salmon is so good for us!

What I liked: the mild, flavorful vinaigrette – it didn’t detract from the salmon at all. The dish was so easy to make, too.

What I didn’t like: the sauce was a bit too thin (see my discussion in the 2nd paragraph above). Add a little flour maybe, or cornstarch. Or butter. To thicken the juices just slightly. Or, serve the salmon in its own little dish. That would be the simplest if you have such dishes.

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Most likely half of you already get Costco’s little magazine. If you haven’t noticed, they’ve really upped the ante with the magazine – it’s very informative these days, and I do look through it from cover to cover.

The most current issue shows a photo of Chris Kimball (from Cook’s Illustrated in Boston). They interviewed him, and he talked about how the magazine (meaning the test kitchen) buys lots of things from Costco, and he’s a frequent shopper there too. Also contained in the issue was a one-page article about pumpkin pie. Their pumpkin pie.

So, here are the Costco pumpkin pie facts – per year:

• They make 4.7 MILLION pumpkin pies
• They use 6.3 MILLION pounds of canned pumpkin (in #10 cans – each can holds about a quart of pumpkin puree)
• About 4.8 MILLION pounds of sugar and spices are used
• About 2 MILLION pounds of fresh whole eggs go into them

All of the pumpkins are grown and harvested in a 700-acre area near Peoria, Illinois. About 174 truck loads of pumpkins are locally processed into the 1 million #10 cans. Those cans are shipped to all the Costco bakeries across the country. Costco made their first pumpkin pie in 1987 and sold it for $5.99. In 1993 (that’s 18 years ago!) they increased the size of the pie to 12”, but left the price the same. Yea for Costco! And did you know or ever notice that each pie weighs about 3 1/2 POUNDS! Costco pumpkin pies are just as good as I can make them, I think. You’ve read it here before, that I buy their pies every year now and I measure it up against the standard Libby’s, and I think it is right up there. Maybe not the pie crust, but the pie filling for sure.

Below is a picture of the ingredient label on Costco’s pumpkin pie. It says it contains: pumpkin, sugar, water, eggs, enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, ferrous sulfate, niacin, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), canola and/or soybean oil, nonfat milk, corn syrup, contains 2% or less of the following: salt, spices, corn sugar, mono & diglycerides, modified food starch. And down below it says that yes, the pies are produced in a kitchen that also processes peanuts and tree nuts. So not safe for people with nut allergies. Picture of the label – taken November, 2017.

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