It’s so nice to find a new recipe for broccoli. I like the veggie to begin with, but it’s especially helpful when you find some new way to make it that is particularly delicious.

Recently I was with a group of women friends and we were discussing eating more vegetarian dinners, and how we’re eating more vegetables. One gal said she had a cookbook that is just her favorite for veggies. Once she said the name someone else said oh yes, she had that one too. I’d never heard of it, so I went online then and there, as I was sitting in this friend’s home (from my iPhone) and ordered a used copy from amazon. Love that amazon ap! The book, by Susie Middleton, is Fast, Fresh & Green. The book has lots of lovely photos, and my cursory look through the book had me thinking I’d try several recipes soon.

Two nights later, with broccoli to fix, I leafed through and found this recipe. I had pancetta (I buy the 4-ounce plastic boxes of the chopped pancetta at Trader Joe’s and simply stick it in the freezer), garlic and fresh thyme. The recipe suggests slices of pancetta, but I thought the little minced pieces worked just fine.

This dish was so EASY! I cut off the woody stalks of the broccoli (or it’s fine to use the pre-packaged already cut florets), then cut the broccoli into 3-inch or so lengths with some of the florets on each one. I added oil to a large pan (larger than you might think you need – the broccoli needs contact with the bottom of the pan – it will cook faster if you use a really, really wide pan). First you add the pancetta and let it shrink up some (harder to tell with the minced pancetta), then over low heat you add the garlic halves and let them sizzle just a tiny bit to get golden. If they start to brown, the flame is too high – you’re just wanting to mellow the garlic, not burn it! Then you add the broccoli and fresh thyme sprigs and stir periodically to brown the broccoli. For 4 servings, I used a 10-inch deep sided pan (about 5” high) and it was difficult getting all that broccoli to brown so it took lots and lots of stirring to keep shifting the position of the broccoli. Next time I’ll use a much larger pan (well, a 12-inch). I have a new pan in my repertoire: a 12-inch nonstick by Swiss Diamond, pictured at left (photo from their website). It’s not available at Amazon (the 12-inch specifically). I ordered it from Great News, the cookware store in San Diego that I visit frequently. I just LOVE this new pan. I don’t know whether I’ve mentioned in recent weeks that I’m no longer buying anything from ScanPan because they (apparently) aren’t standing behind their warranty. Great News has stopped carrying the brand, period. They recommended the Swiss Diamond.  The difference between ScanPan and Swiss Diamond is that with the Swiss you do have to use nonstick utensils. With ScanPan you did not. Over several years I’d had to replace a ScanPan smaller frying pan because we just couldn’t get it clean. After a few weeks of use, no matter how much we scrubbed it (with nylon scrubbies) a buildup of fat or stuff would accumulate. Looked awful.

Anyway, next time I’ll use that 12-inch pan even for a smaller portion. The broccoli stems are “the problem,” if you can say there IS a problem. If you use much of the stem portion, do cut the stem in half rather than leaving it whole – it’ll never cook through. The recipe indicates the stems will still be slightly firm, and that’s fine – ours were just that – but if you don’t like anything firm, I suggest you slit the end of each cut stem (they’ll fan out and curl, but they’ll be cooked through).

What’s GOOD: how easy it was – all in one pan – even suitable for guests – the flavors are subtle, but the broccoli has a lovely bright taste. Altogether a good side; I’ll definitely make it again.
What’s NOT: you do have to keep stirring it now and then, but not constantly. You do not want the broccoli to burn, just brown. Getting the stems cooked through can be problematic, especially if you don’t like broccoli that has any crunch to it.

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Are you an anti-cranberry sauce kind of person? Yet you do LIKE cranberries, but you just don’t like the traditional sauce or jellied style. Perhaps this is something you’d prefer. Yes, it’s a chutney, and yes, it’s sweet, and yes it contains cranberries. But it also has onions, ginger, serrano chiles, canned tomatoes and orange zest in it. So it’s truly a distant cousin to cranberry sauce.

The recipe came from Bon Appetit, a couple of years ago. I’d run across it in my to-try file, so printed it and propped the recipe up by my kitchen computer, intending to make it as soon as cranberries made it to the grocery stores. I bought all the ingredients, then read the recipe. Hmmm. Says it only keeps for 3 days. Well, that meant I needed to make it close to Thanksgiving! The left overs of this (and yes, there probably will be some – it makes about a quart – will go into the freezer).

Just make sure you have all the ingredients before you start – I bought new mustard seeds (mine were 9  years old – ha!). I don’t always have serrano chiles either. Bought that. Bought fresh ginger and a big, honkin’ red onion. The chutney is really about half tomatoes and half cranberries – a nice mix. The recipe online had a couple of comments – one from an Indian cook who said she used it as a garnish for curry. Her only comment was it was sweeter than she wanted, had reduced the amount, and felt it would be better to cut it more. Your choice. I will say it’s quite sweet, but I’m not going to make it again just to see how much to reduce the sugar – but I’ve included a note in the recipe about it.

The chutney is easy enough to make. You mix up the sugar and vinegar first, bring to a boil so the sugar melts. That is set aside. Then in a large skillet you heat olive oil, then the seeds (fennel, cumin and mustard). It takes a minute or so before they’ll start to pop and literally dance in the pan. Then you add the chopped/sliced onion and cook that for awhile until the onion is mostly cooked through. Then you add everything else, and lastly the sugar syrup and cook that for about 20 minutes – just long enough for the cranberries to cook through. Easy. Cool and refrigerate.

What’s GOOD: the savory seasonings in this – it’s not the same kind of sweet-sweet cranberry sauce you’re used to. It’s tempered with the tomatoes and the onions, and seasoned with the spices. It would go well with a pork roast, or chicken or turkey, for sure. Also would be good on roast beef sandwiches – or left over turkey sandwiches! Don’t use a lot. Can be made ahead by a few days. Would make a lovely gift – since it makes a quart, you could put it in 2-3 small spring-lidded jars, wrap a ribbon around it and give it as a hostess gift.

What’s NOT: Nothing much except that it doesn’t keep (the recipe says) more than 3 days. I don’t understand why – chutneys generally keep for weeks. Perhaps it’s just that the flavors are at their peak within 3 days and after that the flavors tend to lessen. That’s all I can think of.

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We had a guest for dinner and I’d defrosted a Costco package of chicken breasts (boneless, skinless). Searching my to-try recipes I ran across a Phillis Carey recipe that I’ve never posted here. Amazing how that can happen!

Actually, here on my blog I have another almond-crusted chicken recipe. A Martha Stewart one, and the method is similar, but not quite the same. In a nutshell, for this version you pound the chicken breast halves until they’re about 1/2 inch thick (between 2 pieces of plastic wrap). Dip them in egg, then in bread crumbs (I used fresh crumbs), back in egg again, then into shaved almonds. In a frying pan they go to get that gorgeous golden brown color for about 2 minutes per side. Then the pan and all go into the oven for 8 minutes. In the interim, make a veggie or salad, and serve it with the easy-easy lemon aioli. This one is made with mayo, lemon zest and lemon juice and some freshly minced garlic.

Ideally, make the aioli a few hours ahead. I didn’t plan ahead, so I whipped it together just before I prepared the chicken. I served it with broccoli – the one you read about here a couple of days ago – the Sautéed Broccoli with Pancetta and Thyme. And with an ample green salad.

This preparation is quite quick to do – and it’s very definitely nice enough for guests. You will have to be in the kitchen, though, to do the last-minute dipping and breading, to brown the chicken. But once the pan goes into the oven you have 8 minutes before you’re needed again to do anything. You could have everything else ready – except for whisking the raw egg and water – and it takes no time at all to do that.

What’s GOOD: Easy enough to do for a weeknight dinner, it’s also elegant enough to prepare for guests. Looks very pretty. The chicken is just cooked through (therefore, not dry) doing the oven baking part, and the lemon aioli adds a nice touch and good flavor. I’ve made this numerous times over the years.

What’s NOT: really nothing – it’s relatively easy to do – and is a crowd pleaser.

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Sorry to everyone – when I cut and pasted an older post about Thanksgiving that went live earlier today, I used one that was really old – TOO old and there were some broken links. I’ve updated it – hopefully with all working links now. If any don’t work, please let me know. Thanks to those of my readers who did!

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This post is mostly a repeat from a few years ago. I’ve updated it with some new additions. But just in case you need some ideas for planning Thanksgiving, here are my suggestions.

If you want to see all the recipes on my website, check out the Recipe Index page. It’s huge – maybe too huge. But if you’d like ideas that I think make for a delicious but traditional Thanksgiving dinner, then look no further. Certainly, I return year after year to some favorite recipes, but most likely I introduce something new to the menu equation each year. As I write this I haven’t decided on my menu for Thanksgiving 2009 – yet. We’ll have 6 adults and 3 grandchildren for Thanksgiving dinner itself.

So here’s my roundup of recipes that are sure to please, have been taste-tested and some can even be made ahead:

Appetizers: It’s my opinion that too many appetizers will spoil your appetite for this feast-of-a-meal. Generally I’ll put out some raw vegetables and a dip, or nothing at all. Maybe some nuts. But that’s IT. Besides, if you’re anything like me, I’m buzzing around the kitchen with way too many things to do to take time for appetizers (either preparing, serving or eating). We definitely don’t serve a fancy drink, either. Wine or champagne and soft drinks will be around for anyone who wants them, but that’s it. Maybe some sparkling apple juice for the kids and non-drinkers. But, if you insist on something to serve ahead, here are recipes that would work. The first crostini happen to be a real favorite but they take a bit of fussy work to make them at the last minute – assign the job to one of your guests if possible. And the herb dip (which you’d never know is made with tofu) is relatively light, so serve with fresh veggies to dip or crackers. The onion brushetta – oh my, delish and not all that heavy. And the last crostini is very different, but not particularly light.
Crostini with Apples & Blue Cheese & Honey
Hot & Spicy Tofu Herb Dip – because it’s not heavy or filling
Mahogany Sweet Onion Bruschetta
Gorgonzola, Grape & Pine Nut Crostini

The Turkey, the Main Event: Having tried every single solitary type and brand of turkey out there over the years, I’m now totally devoted to Kosher turkeys. They’re brined, you know, already. So you don’t have to do it. Kosher brining is just a salt and water brine, no added herbs or anything, but it’s fine for me. It’s not too salty, either. Sometimes Kosher turkeys are hard to find, but they ARE carried at Trader Joe’s and at Whole Foods. I missed out at Trader Joe’s one year, so ended up buying two Kosher birds at Whole Foods. They were outrageously expensive (certainly more than at Trader Joe’s) but they were off-the-charts delicious. Even my husband, who isn’t crazy about turkey but eats it, said it was very, very good. So, get thy self to a market where you can get one of these birds. Know, however, that you may not be able to make the gravy from the drippings – generally the broth is too salty. You can try, though. You also don’t want to stuff a brined bird – too much of the salty brine leaches into the dressing.

The Gravy: Because I use a Kosher bird that is heavily salted, usually I have to make the gravy separately. My friend Stacey sent me a recipe last year for a Turkey Gravy Without the Turkey. It was a great find, as you can make the gravy the day before! How about them apples! Everything I can do ahead is a good thing in my book.
Turkey Gravy without the Turkey

The Stuffing (Dressing): Over the years I must have made dozens of different dressings. I’m not overly committed to any one flavor (like cornbread, or oyster, etc.) but prefer a very moist, flavorful dressing. That’s all I ask. Last year I made an Italian sausage dressing that was one of the best I’ve ever done, so will likely make that one again. I’ve also made a Rachel Ray recipe called Stuffin’ Muffins one year – and they were also very good.
Italian Sausage Dressing
Rachel Ray’s Stuffin’ Muffins (link to Food Network’s recipe)

The Potatoes: Well, mashed potatoes are a necessity for me. And I was thrilled one year to read a recipe for making them several hours ahead, piling them into my big crockpot where they held very well for the ensuing hours. You do have to doctor-up the recipe a little to make them particularly moist, but otherwise they’re so simple and I like the fact that all the work can be done ahead. If you don’t want mashed, but prefer another type, there are a couple of other scalloped-type suggestions listed below the mashed.
Crockpot Mashed Potatoes
Goat Cheese Potato Gratin
Monterey Scalloped Potatoes with Jack Cheese
Mashed Potatoes with Bacon, Cheddar & Chives (also has a make-ahead version with added cream cheese)

The Sweet Potatoes: You won’t find a single one of those icky sweet potato casseroles here. I can’t stand them. They’re simply too darned sweet. But I do have a couple of sweet potato dishes that would be quite nice. Generally I fix either mashed potatoes OR sweet potatoes, not both.
Sweet Potato Bake (a pdf of a sweet potato & white potato recipe I’ve never posted as a story – good recipe, though)
Yam Slices with Garlic & Rosemary
Yams, Carrots & Ginger

The Vegetables: Over the years I’ve served just about every kind of vegetable. Some to acclaim, and some not. I happen to love Brussels sprouts (steamed, halved and tossed with salt, pepper and butter), but since Thanksgiving is often a family and multi-generational affair, my DH and I have learned to eat our Brussels at another meal. I like peas, but they’re not very exciting, and besides since this is an overly-rich carbohydrate meal, I don’t serve them anymore. Same goes for corn. I used to serve a baked corn casserole nearly every year, but no longer. So what do I serve? The garlic green beans fit well, although some might not like the garlic with this meal. It’s fine with me. Here are some suggestions:
Broccoli Casserole
Garlic Green Beans – may be too garlicky for the subtle turkey
Baked Fennel
Green Beans, Shallots, Balsamic
Ina Garten’s Zucchini Gratin
Baked Onions
Cauliflower, Bacon & Mushrooms
Creamy Brussels Sprouts
Green Beans & Hazelnut Butter
French Green Beans with Pears & Parmesan

Bread: I don’t serve bread at Thanksgiving any longer. I mean, really, with dressing, potatoes and pumpkin pie, you hardly need any more carbs. But if you insist, here are a few recipes that will work:
Herbed Biscuit Ring – made with the canned biscuits – very easy
Scallion Goat Cheese Chive Muffins

The Salads: Since I grew up with Jell-o salads as a staple at the holiday table, I actually like them, as long as they’re not too sweet. Also, I like them because they’re easy and can be made ahead. You can also make them not-so-sweet if you add vegetables instead of fruit and/or whipped cream. I’ve never blogged about them because you, my loyal readers, might cancel your subscription! One of my favorites is a peach flavored gelatin with a waldorf set of ingredients (diced apples, celery and walnuts). Or, in recent years we also make a green salad. We have family members who still love a green salad anytime, anywhere. They’d almost rather eat green salad than the rest of the meal. So, with that one I would add some of my peppered pecans, or walnuts, pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries. Those additions make it more festive and holiday-ish.
Green Salad with Peppered Pecans and add some dried cranberries too
Cranberry (Jell-o) Waldorf Salad – I’ve never blogged about this one, but you can get the PDF recipe by clicking the recipe title
Apple, Dried Cherry & Walnut Green Salad – very rich, but would be perfect for a holiday dinner
Celery, Date, Walnut & Pecorino Salad – green type, but perfect for this meal

The Cranberry Thing: Some of our family members still like the canned stuff. (They have to bring it if they want it at my table.) No canned stuff for me. So I always, I mean always, make my favorite cranberry relish that has ginger, apples and oranges ground up in it. Make it a week or so in advance then you don’t have to worry about it except to put it out in a serving bowl.
Cranberry Relish – made in the food processor and oh-so easy

Dessert: Well, what can I tell you but we always have traditional pumpkin pie. As far as I’m concerned that’s all that’s needed, but generally somebody else brings the pies at our family get-togethers, and they bring both pumpkin and apple. With real whipped cream, thank you. And the pumpkin usually is Libby’s recipe, and Libby’s pumpkin. That’s it. End of story. But, if you don’t really want pumpkin, here’s a really special dessert that will put your carb count into overdrive.
Cinnamon Raisin Apple Bread Pudding

Leftovers: Well, other than reheating the different components of Thanksgiving dinner, I generally make soup.

THE STOCK: I remove most of the turkey meat from the carcass after the big feast. The bones go into a large, deep soup pot (you may have to break them up some), cover with water and add an onion, some celery, a bay leaf, maybe a garlic clove or two (no salt), put a lid on it and put it in the oven overnight at about 225F. In the morning you’ll have a wonderful turkey stock from which to make soups. Strain everything through a colander and cool and chill. The only down side for me is that on Friday morning the whole house smells like turkey, and sometimes that’s not so appealing at 7:00 in the morning. But, that doesn’t ever keep me from doing it because making that stock is just so easy.

Go from there . . . Here are my leftover favorites:
White Chicken Turkey Chili
Chicken Turkey Posole
Turkey (free form) Tortilla Soup
(Another) Chicken Turkey Chili
Southwestern Turkey Chili
White Turkey Chili (what I did with the leftovers last year – maybe my best turkey chili)
Roasted Sweet Potato & Black Bean Salad (if you have plain sweet potatoes left over)

SANDWICH BREAD: And then, last but not least, I’m telling you about a bread – a bread that you should use for turkey sandwiches. I’ve been making this bread for years and years and years. It’s not difficult (easier if you have a stand mixer), although it IS a yeast bread, not a tea bread. It’s a pumpkin flavored bread, with some raisins and chopped walnuts in it, but it’s more a savory bread and goes just great with leftover turkey sandwiches, especially spread with just a little bit of cranberry relish, crisp lettuce and nice slices of turkey.
Pumpkin Raisin Yeast Bread for Sandwiches

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Having read at more than one website or blog about this book, I decided I did need to read it. The food magazines mostly have given the book high ratings. It’s the memoir of a 30-something woman who hits a crossroads in her life (left her good-paying corporate job) to pursue  her childhood dream of going to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Encouraged by her new boyfriend (now her husband), she packs a minimum of belongings, hops on a plane and starts in the professional course in Paris.

She, this American woman, spoke no French, yet she joined a group of international people with the same aspirations, most of them wanting to be a chef. She aspired to be a food writer or journalist of some kind. The course is the same – learning all those basics of sauces, meats, entrails, pastry, yeast, etc. There’s a bit of catty behavior amongst the adult women (students) which was a little difficult to imagine, yet the school is certainly competitive, so I suppose some people could stoop so low as to take all or most of the necessary ingredients so someone else wouldn’t have any (and thereby score poorly). That seemed to be a repeated event in the book – the sous chefs who prep the food for the students sometimes didn’t have enough of one thing or another (the early birds caught the worm on each occasion, and Kathleen was never the early bird). Sometimes the items were essential. No complaining allowed, though. No histrionics in class, for sure. She had to endure some harsh words many a time.

The book chronicles her couple of years there, interspersed with updates about her romance (he actually lived in Paris with her part of the time), the foibles of the different apartments she/they lived in and the lack of certain things she needs to cook. It’s also about her classmates (who change with each session) and the competitive nature of the school. If the teaching chefs at LCB treated most people the way they treated her, I’d doubt many people would last but a few weeks. She does learn French, discovers that success means mastering some of the recipes in her apartment kitchen, often laboring into the wee hours.

Each chapter ends with a recipe – perhaps modified slightly from the official ones at the school. They’re recipes you’ll find in most French cookbooks. I can’t say that I found any recipe I wanted to rush to the kitchen to prepare. But Le Cordon Bleu teaches almost more about technique than the recipes.

What I came away with was one sure thing: I’d have never survived that culinary school. I’d have been reduced to tears (something that just wasn’t done) on day one or two. Kathleen nearly quit once, but was encouraged to keep going. Part of her problem was the language – in the second and subsequent sessions the classes were taught only in French. She did take French lessons, and eventually she more-or-less mastered it – at least culinary French for sure.

Whether she really was disliked at first by the French teaching chefs, it’s hard to know, but they were very hard on her. It seemed like the chefs didn’t like Americans; English speaking students had to work harder to prove his or her mettle. Kathleen persevered, however, and it seemed that some of the chefs came around. For her final exam she decided to prepare a very grand plate – was advised by the chef not to, that it couldn’t be done in the limited time – she practiced it ad nauseum at home to perfect it and complete it in the time allowed. The chefs were mightily impressed. Perhaps that exam meal was her piece de resistance. At graduation she was offered a plum stage but opted not to do it. In the interim her husband was in a bad accident here in the U.S. and felt he needed her more than a non-paying stageI in a Swiss restaurant. Besides, she never aspired to be a chef.

The book, The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears in Paris at the World’s Most Famous Cooking School is interesting. Not the kind of book you can’t put down, however. Every student took copious notes (obviously she did that part well) so she had ample material to write a book. There were some funny incidents that gave pause. I particularly enjoyed one thing: the French teaching chefs, in trying to pronounce her name, called her “Meez Fleen.” Every time she wrote that in the book I chuckled.

Her favorite teaching chef said to her as she left school for the last time, “Remember, Meez Fleen, taste, taste, taste.” A good mantra for every cook. It’s something I try to do with everything I make (well, you can’t do it with baked goods). Hence my little silver Mint Julep cup of tasting spoons that sits beside my kitchen stove. (And, the muse for my blog’s name, obviously!

If you’re new to my blog, those spoons (and a few forks) pictured at left are very old silver plated ones that belonged to Dave’s mother. Some are engraved, some with initials we don’t even recognize as part of the family tree. Some need replating, and we do have to polish them periodically. But, rather than let them sit in the silverware box in a drawer, rarely seeing the light of day, I pulled them out some years ago. They’re a variety of styles, all thinly shaped and small, which makes them just perfect for tasting as I cook. I like to think that Dave’s mother smiles every time I reach for one, which is often. I hope the chef at Le Cordon Bleu would also smile in approval.

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A simple, tasty way to roast a turkey breast, then serve with a green peppercorn sauce mixed with whole berry cranberry sauce that’s just bursting with flavor. You do have to plan ahead at least 2 1/2 days, though.

I don’t know about you, but I just never think to roast a turkey breast. In fact, I don’t even look at them at the grocery store. I know the breast meat is considered a healthy meat, but I’ve always thought that roasting a breast would/could only end up being dry and tasteless. I’m wrong. Absolutely wrong. You’ll be amazed. I think my difficulty is in remembering the rolled turkey breasts they used to sell (oh, maybe they still do). The kind that almost looks like hot lunch meat? Those are (were) downright awful. Didn’t we make them in the crockpot? Well, this recipe is NOT about that kind of turkey breast!

The biggest problem – if you can call it that – will be FINDING a bone-in turkey breast. Boneless ones, yes. Bone in, not so easy! They just don’t seem to be readily available. Some Sprouts stores have them sometimes (I found mine there), particularly this time of year. Here in California we have a chicken and turkey producer called Zacky Farms, and they do sell them, but you’ve got to seek them out as they don’t seem to be at every store that carries the product.

The dry brine (pictured at left – it sat in the refrigerator in a plastic bag for 2 days): it means it’s a salt mixture that serves the same purpose as a wet salt water brine, but it doesn’t take up so much room in your refrigerator and is ever-so much easier to handle. At the cooking class Phillis Carey taught about this, she said she has stopped making the wet salt brine because she simply has no place in her refrigerator to keep a brined turkey, and she’s quite happy with this dry brine method.

The turkey breast needs to sit in the refrigerator for 48 hours – that’s why you have to plan ahead on this one. The dry brine is a mixture of salt, orange zest, pepper and dried thyme. See? Easy. Just pop it into a Ziploc bag and set it in the refrigerator. Every 12 hours, though, you need to open it up, massage the salt mixture all over the meat again and turn it over. Then, the day you’re serving this, 8 hours ahead you will do one more step. The salt should be invisible by this point (it’s soaked into the meat). The turkey skin will be moist, but not wet. At this point you place the turkey breast on a plate and set it (uncovered) in the refrigerator. Let it sit there for at least 6 hours. Now you roast it after browning the skin side in a bit of oil. The breast goes onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (skin side up) for about 40-45 minutes.

Do use an instant read thermometer for this – haven’t we all eaten turkey at Thanksgiving when the breast meat is so dry you can hardly choke it down? When you roast a whole bird you have to cook it until the thigh meat is done and usually the breast meat is far past it’s peak temperature. I noticed in one of the cooking magazines they were touting cutting the turkey into pieces and roasting the sections separately (so you could remove the breast meat when it’s done). Makes such good sense, but then you never see the pretty bird on the plate. In the article they had placed the parts (in their proper position) on a big platter, but they were all flat, on a bed of greens.

Here, you’ll be able to get the turkey breast exactly the way you want it. Remove the turkey when the internal temp has reached 160° F. Ideally you want the breast meat to be 165° F (that’s the safe eating temperature), and it should be fine if it goes up to 170°. Hopefully no higher than that. You’ll set the turkey on a carving board and tent it with foil and in that time the temperature will rise to at least 165° or 170° in just a few minutes.

Now let’s talk about the sauce. You might need to make a trip to the grocery store, and perhaps a higher end one to get the green peppercorns. They’re definitely not at any old market. And my advice is to buy the more expensive by weight. At the cooking class Phillis recommended a brand carried at the cookware store where the class was held. Within seconds 3 women had popped up out of their seats and grabbed the entire stock of them. So I had to buy a different brand at an upscale market. Having not tasted these side by side, I don’t know exactly how they differ. The store owner is going to order more, so eventually I’ll get that brand (I don’t even know the name, other than it said poivre vert in large green letters on the side of the 3-inch high can. I’ve looked online and didn’t see an image of the can.

You’ll want some whole berry cranberry sauce (something I never buy unless I have to!), or you can make your own if you have the time and inclination. I think this would be lovely made with homemade cranberry sauce with port wine. See this recipe if you’re interested. The turkey is cut off the bone for easier carving. It was still super-hot and had reached exactly 165° on the instant read. I had heated plates to serve it on.

What’s GOOD: the low calories and maximum flavor; how easy it was to make, although you do have to let it marinate for 48 hours; planning ahead IS necessary; overall delicious flavor. The turkey meat was SO tender and juicy. I was amazed. Loved the sauce too. The turkey breast (half) I had served 4 people for dinner, and there’s enough left over for one more meal for 2. Unless you’re feeding young men or boys!

What’s NOT: only the 48-hour+ plan-ahead part. Otherwise, it’s a great recipe.

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Do you remember when I mentioned, after being on our recent trip to the Pacific Northwest, eating a fantastic piece of cake when we visited The Willows Inn, on Lummi Island. Tender slices of this cake (I thought it was a pound cake) were sitting next to the urns of coffee in the lobby, and as we checked out, our last morning there, having not had any breakfast yet, I took a slice. And thought I’d died and gone to heaven.

After we got back home, I emailed my friend Jerianne about our trip – and about the cake (because she loves to bake too) she just took the bull by the horns – she has a lot more gutsiness than I do – and picked up the phone, called the Inn and asked for the recipe. And they SENT IT to her! Oh my gosh. This was a couple of months ago now, and at the time I had just made a pound cake (in my feeble attempt to make some kind of a tender one from an online recipe) I thought I’d wait awhile before making this.

WELL! First thing is the chef called this a rum cake. Remember, I thought it was a pound cake. But having made it, I really think it has the texture of a chiffon cake, but those are made with oil, not butter. Since my head just tries to understand the chemistry, I dug out several of my baking cookbooks, and found the answers  (mostly) in the Sur la Table cookbook, The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet. This type of cake is called an egg-separated sponge cake. However, this one differs from the standard because it has quite a bit of butter in the egg  yolk batter. Most sponge cakes have little to no fat in them and their rising relies on the air incorporated in the egg yolks and whites. They derive their fat from the egg yolks themselves. But if it were truly a sponge cake it would have NO added fat. So that’s why it’s a kind of a combination of a standard butter cake and the egg-separated sponge cake.

Good, we have that settled now! (Maybe I should have been a chemist?) In the process of getting ready to make this I did rearrange the writing of the recipe, and clarified some of the instructions a bit, and added in my suggestions here and there too. The recipe was sent with ingredient weights rather than volume, and I’ve left it that way (and added in suggestions on approximate volume). I do think this is one of those kinds of recipes that will help if you use your scale. As elaborate as this is – well maybe elaborate isn’t the right word – it’s time consuming for sure – you don’t want to mess up on the weights and measures!

The batter has 3 parts – (1) the dry part (cake flour, and sifted at that!); (2) the egg yolk part; and (3) the meringue (egg white) part. Once all of those parts are prepared, it’s combined into a billowy, frothy batter and baked.

The recipe, in one area mentioned loaf pans. In another sentence it mentioned a tube pan, so I’m surmising that you could use either. I included instructions for both, although I only made it in a tube pan. Based on my recollection of the slice I ate at the Inn, I think theirs was made in loaf pans. The recipe indicated 45 minutes in the oven. Well, when I checked at 45 minutes in, the batter was still very jiggly and wet. My heart sank – I thought I’d most likely messed it up somehow, and even went back to the recipe to make sure I’d not forgotten something. No, it looked okay. I set the timer for another 15 minutes. I tested it with an instant read thermometer, my Thermapen, and it was only about 180°F. Another 10 minutes and it got to about 195°F. Each time, of course, the oven loses heat, so I have no idea exactly how many minutes it would take in one straight bake – but certainly a lot more than 45 minutes. Perhaps in loaf pans? I don’t know. Eventually it reached 200°F and I removed it from the oven.

What I learned was that the cake is very fragile – and in making a tender kind of cake – it would be very easy to break or crack it. I was fortunate that mine stayed together. Unintentionally, I did leave a bit of the cake on the tube-pan bottom, but not enough to make any difference. The cake must be left to cool to room temp, then you remove it from the pan(s). The recipe was specific – the cake needs to sit for a day (overnight) before slicing. The cake, right out of the pan, is very VERY moist and with the meringue batter as part of it, the outside edges were a bit sticky, so if you tried to slice it at that point, I think it would tear or rip. That must be why it needs to rest overnight – by enclosing it in foil the outside edges all softened.

I used a knife and an offset spatula to make sure the cake was separated from the pan. The physical act of removing it from the pan – well that was a bit of a juggling act – I used my outstretched and splayed fingers and my forearm to gently tip the cake out, then righted it very quickly and let it sit. Meanwhile I had a huge piece of foil ready, and some additional rum. Some is spread on the bottom of the foil (otherwise it would stick, I suppose), then you place the cake on top, then brush the top and edges with more rum (maybe about 2-3 T.). It’s all sealed up in the foil and left to sit.

Next day I just couldn’t wait until our dinner to see if the cake tasted like I remember. We were having guests and this was dessert. What if it was a completely bust? I might have to fix some other kind of dessert on short notice. I needn’t have worried – the cake was absolutely just as I remembered. (Later note: I made this a couple of weeks ago and put part of it in the freezer. I was trying to find something else, pulled out a little package of these, defrosted it. Oh my. So delicious!) This leads directly into my ranking system . . .

What’s GOOD: there is absolutely nothing about this cake that isn’t good (fabulous is more like it), IMHO. It has texture (oh so very tender) and moisture (it almost drips with it) and sugar and mellowness. Everything about this cake makes it a winner. I served it with whipped cream and some fresh plums that I’d simmered in port wine. If you want to get the full impact of the cake, serve it plain, or maybe with just a little bit of whipped cream. A definite five-star winner in my book.

What’s NOT: the only thing I can say is that it does take a bit of time to make – there are numerous steps and you’ll dirty up a lot of dishes in the process. But it’s worth the effort and the elbow grease (you can ask my DH about that – he did have to wash everything). If you’ve never made a sponge cake before, it might seem a bit intimidating. Just make sure you have the butter and eggs at room temp and follow the directions. Don’t over mix anything.

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Oh my goodness . . . where  have you been all my life . . . German style mashed potatoes? You’re going to become a regular – at those special times when we have mashed potatoes, that is. These were really easy enough to make and we could hardly stop eating them.

We were having some sausages (Nuremburger and Bratwurst) for dinner, the delicious ones I buy at a German deli, Tip Top Meats, in Carlsbad (north of San Diego). I had one Russet potato I’d bought several weeks ago – it was almost over the hill. That’s how often I use potatoes. Anyway, I let my mind run wild as to what to do with it. I searched for some kind of more healthy fried potato. They’re not one of my favorite things, though. When we go out to breakfast I never eat fried potatoes or hashed browns, or even country fried potatoes. They’re just not my thing. So I looked further and I noticed a German style mashed potato recipe (at A Taste of Home). Sure enough, I had all the ingredients.

The potato was cut up into chunks (I chose to leave the skin on) and simmered them for 10-12 minutes until the potato was cooked through. I drained them, returned them to the same pot and set them aside. Meanwhile, I defrosted one slice of thick-sliced bacon from the freezer, chopped it up into little chunks and set it to rendering on the stove. Then I added  half a chopped up red onion (any onion will do – I just happened to have a half of a red onion in the refrigerator). The bacon had virtually no fat in it, so I had to add a tetch of oil to keep the mixture from burning. Then I added a chopped up (cored, unpeeled) apple. I had a honey crisp apple, but you could probably  use any type – this one didn’t disintegrate at all – I liked that part, so you’d want to use a crisp type or a Granny Smith. If you used a Pippin, you might want to add sugar. I let it sauté for about 10 minutes over low heat. Then I added about 1-2 teaspoons of white vinegar, salt and pepper. The recipe indicated adding sugar, but I tasted it and didn’t think it was needed.

The recipe had you roughly mash the potatoes, so I used my hand-masher some – not thoroughly, as I like to still taste some little chunks – then I scraped in the apple, bacon and onion and stirred it up. The Russet was quite dry by then so I did need to add some milk to smooth it out. I added a little salt and pepper and it was done. Oh my. Yes. I’m glad I left the pan in the kitchen (I always serve our plates in the kitchen so we aren’t tempted to have seconds) so I have enough for another dinner.

What’s GOOD: well, having never had potatoes and apples before in any combination, it was a really lovely taste combination. It was a beautiful match with the sausage. I put out a couple of jars of different kinds of mustard and that was our dinner along with some sliced tomatoes and Mozzarella cheese drizzled with white balsamic vinegar and some Tuscan olive oil. And sprinkled with fresh basil we still have growing in the garden. We both ate in near silence – because it all tasted so darned good. Absolutely I’ll be making this again and again. I’d think kids would love this since it has a bit of sweetness from the apples.
What’s NOT: nothing that I can think of – it does take a little extra time to make, but if you ever do sausages on the grill or any kind of sausage as a dinner entrée, you’ll be really happy to have this variation on fried potatoes or straight mashed.

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Do you forget about preparing celery root? Surely I do – and I like celeriac. I just never think to buy it. Does it help to know that celery root is actually a very healthy food? Low in calories and certainly a lot lower in carbs than potatoes.

Probably the deterrent is the nuisance of preparing it. Or maybe we look at it as such an ugly veggie, we just don’t bother? Well, fix that, by making this dish the next time you need some creamy carb. Depending on how gnarly it is, you can try using a vegetable peeler. If it’s particularly root-y, I’d recommend using a knife. Do remove all of the little dark brown crevices, though – they don’t look pretty in the finished dish. Plunge the cut cubes into cold water as it turns brown quickly. 

Cut everything up and put it into cold water to cover and just let it sit until you’re ready to cook it. That will keep both veggies from turning brown. Allow yourself about 30 minutes total – to bring the pot to a boil, then simmering. Mashing and seasoning takes no time at all.

It doesn’t take long to cook it – usually about 15 minutes. Hence you cut the potatoes into slightly smaller pieces so they’ll all be done at about the same time. Once done, you drain it, mash it by hand (providing you like a rustic mash – I do), then add butter and milk. You can put the celery root in a food processor (not the potato, however – it becomes glue-y). Season it with salt and pepper, then toss in the arugula. Of course, if you’re not an arugula fan, just leave it out. Garnish with Italian parsley. Makes a great bed for a meat dish. Next recipe up will be a chicken breast that goes really well with this.

What’s GOOD: well, the taste is first and foremost. The combo of celery root and potato is really nice. Mellow. Nutty almost. The texture, of course, is just like mashed potatoes, but using the combo is healthier. Fewer carbs for sure. I like the arugula addition. Do remember that celery root is really good for us!
What’s NOT: not much of anything, other than getting over the appearance of the celery root.

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