The Culinary Diaries

Thanksgiving 2009.

A complete success!

This year, it was held at my brother-in-law's house in Goldsboro, NC. This will probably be his last Thanksgiving...at least in this country. On January 7th, 2010, he will be deploying to a distant country and serving there for a year, before he can go deploy to a country of his choice...it being Italy. He's in the Air Force.                                       

In the meantime, Mike's wife Robin will be staying in Goldsboro while Mike is serving for that 1 year out, until he deploys to Italy in 2011, working at the base, and she is a cooking fanatic just like me. Most of our conversations involve cooking. It's a lot of fun.

So here it is, how we spent our Thanksgiving...cooking of course! The night before, I chopped up most of the veggies for the stuffing since I knew that it will take awhile. I was going to cook the stuffing, but then changed my mind. I was too tired after getting home from work that day.

My hubby making Guy Fieri's Mean Green Casserole.

Tyler Florence's Sausage and Roasted chestnut stuffing...only in this case it's pecan stuffing because the chestnuts ended up burning. LOL

I had forgotten what this drink is called: a bellini? Something.

Home made "Orange Crush" as it is made at this local sushi place called Sumo. Loved it! Here's the catch though...after drinking both a little bit of the bellini and then this, I started getting really dizzy. I do not eat the morning of Thanksgiving, saving room for the big dinner, so the cause of that bout of drunkenness became clear. I even stumbled a bit when it became too much. Robin suggested I eat these almonds for the protein absorption of the alcohol...it worked!

I remember my parents drinking wine when I was really little...Thanksgiving or Christmas only too, and they do not drink any other time of the year. I remember my dad also giving me a sip of wine. I don't know if it was because I was not used to it (and who is at the tender age of 5?), or whether it was a bad brand of wine, but I remember not liking that sip. The result? I had an extreme dislike for drinking ever since. Never mind that my friends teased me, or called me wimp, but I stood my ground at the age where lots of us were doing the illegal underage drinking thing. No way. I'm known to order a soda at a bar if we ever do go out drinking with friends. These days, I do drink but only if it is in social situations, when I have a full stomach, and only if the drink is really fruity (sans sangria however, because I taste more liquor than fruit).

You can't go wrong when you roast a turkey in an oven bag.

The Mean Green and two kinds of dressing: one is a delicious dressing with pears in it. It was delicious!

Cranberry sauce.

In this tough economy? My prayers are with those who cannot put a feast like this on their table. I am thankful that we are blessed to have a feast like this on our table. I am grateful that we are blessed that the kinds of choices we have made put us in a situation where we can help people and give us the basics of life. I hope you are grateful for what you do have.

I wanted to do something different this year. Tiramisu seems to fit the bill, and only on very special occasions. I think this recipe, made with Bailey's Irish cream as well as the espresso coffee, will be a keeper for life!

To finish off this Thanksgiving, for your amusement:

What's the holidays without a little fun?

I hope all of you had a wonderul Thanksgiving holiday!

Sunny Anderson's take on Pumpkin Pie

Like the other Food Network recipes I had featured so far, I saw this new spin on the traditional Thanksgiving pumpkin pie demo-ed on TV...in this case, it's called Cooking for Real with host Sunny Anderson. Her personality certainly matches her name!

Here's what it looked like after I made it.

I know what you're thinking...why is it cracked on top? I have no clue. I just look at it this way: it will be cracked anyway when you slice them. Might as well get used to it...but, it does tell me that I might have left it in the oven too long. We'll see the next time I make this...probably for Christmas!

Hazelnut Pumpkin Pie

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons hazelnut creamer, divided
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

To make crust, mix graham crackers, sugar, 1 tablespoon of hazelnut creamer and butter until combined. Press into a 9 to 10-inch springform pan or cake pan making sure to press mixture up the sides and bottom as well, set aside.

For filling, in a large bowl mix in order cream cheese, brown sugar, eggs 1 by 1 and pumpkin puree. In a small cup stir remaining 2 tablespoons of hazelnut creamer, allspice and salt into heavy cream. Pour heavy cream mixture into pumpkin mixture and blend until combined. Pour into crust and bake for 35 minutes or until the center sets. Allow to cool to room temperature before serving.

This serves 10-12 people, and cooks in 35 minutes, unless you have an electric oven, like I do; then you just knock out a few minutes.

I am not having it for Thanksgiving this time, since I'm making a whole different dessert, departing from our traditional serving of pumpkin pie, but this will appear on our Christmas dinner table. It's just not the holidays without something pumpkin in it. 

The Green Bean Casserole: Guy Fieri's version.

You get tired of the old standby's. The same old turkey, the same old mashed potatoes, the same old cranberry sauce...

The holiday meals in a Filipino household has always been different. It's not only the traditional Thanksgiving or Christmas meals, but we always add our own national dishes in the mix, like Lumpia Shanghai, Pancit, Chicken and Pork Adobo, Chicken Relleno's during the Noche Buena meal. My Dad used to tell me stories about Simbang Gabi...waking up at an impossibly early hour to go to mass, and when I took a trip to California early in December (2005 or 2006), my aunt was already planning the Simbang Gabi meal. One of our last Thanksgiving dinners in Chicago, our table was full to capacity with lots of goodies that we had, but also adding what my parents, my aunt, and my cousin made...all Filipino dishes.

Now that I'm running my own household, and finding myself in charge of continuing on the sweetness of doing something different, I am bound and determined to add something different every year, to our holiday table. 

Here's the first one: it's called The Mean Green. As in Green Bean Casserole. I am an avid Food Network fan, and it is one of my go-to sources for trying out new recipes. One day, maybe a month before Thanksgiving last year, I was watching a California dude of a host named Guy Fieri (if you tune in to one of his shows Guy's Big Bite, or Diner's Drive-In's and Dives you will see what I mean by "California dude") and he was making a very interesting take on a green bean casserole...including a recipe for making your own onion rings...which I didn't do, because I was pressed for time. The resulting casserole that came out of the oven, was so heavenly!

Here's a slightly blurry version of it:

The Mean Green

For the Beans:

• 2 pounds green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces (weighed prior to trimming)
• 4 strips bacon, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large Vidalia sweet onion, 1/2 cut into large dice, 1/2 reserved
• 1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 2 by 1/2-inch pieces
• 4 shittake mushrooms, cut into 1/2-inch strips
• 4 oyster mushrooms, cut into 1/2-inch strips
• 1 tablespoon minced shallots
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

For the Roux

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling water, blanch green beans. Remove to an ice bath until cool, drain and let dry. Lightly butter a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish.

In a large frying pan, over medium-high heat, saute bacon until lightly crispy, remove bacon to a paper towel lined plate to drain. In remaining bacon fat, add 1 tablespoon olive oil, heat over medium-high heat, add onions and saute until just starting to caramelize, add in red bell peppers, saute 2 minutes, add in mushrooms and minced shallot and saute for 2 more minutes. Season with the salt, pepper and cayenne. Set aside.

For the roux:

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. When butter is melted, add in flour, all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until well combined. Continue to stir for 1 minute more. Add in milk 1/2 cup at first, stirring well to combine, then add 1 cup more milk, stir to combine and bring to a simmer, then add final 1/2 cup of milk and stir and simmer until thickened.

Add in seasonings, combine with green bean mixture and pour into prepared pan. Top with 1 1/2 cups panko crumbs, then reserved bacon, then remainder of panko lightly sprinkled on top.

Place in oven, set timer for 35 minutes.

For the Topping

• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• Reserved 1/2 Vidalia onion, thinly sliced, with a mandoline
• 3 medium shallots, thinly sliced with a mandoline
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• 4 cups canola oil

In a medium bowl place buttermilk, onion, and shallots. Let sit 10 minutes, drain well.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and seasonings. When green beans have been in the oven 25 minutes, in a large frying pan, heat canola oil to 350 degrees F. While oil is heating, dredge drained onion and shallots in flour mixture. Drop carefully into the hot oil, 1/3 at a time. They will cook rapidly, 1 minute or less. Turn over if necessary. Remove and drain on paper towels. Let oil heat between batches.

When timer goes off for green beans, take out of oven, top with onion-shallot mixture, evenly coating the casserole, place back into oven and continue to cook for 5 more minutes. Remove and let set 5 minutes before serving.

Because I was pressed for time I didn't have a chance to take photos of the whole process, just the end result (see above), and for this recipe, I actually used thin, french cut green beans. Works just as well! The dish was absolutely amazing, and it's going to stay on my Thanksgiving table for quite awhile.

Like I said earlier, I didn't do the homemade version of the onion rings, I just used the store-bought French's Onion Rings, and either one is perfect, I saw it demonstrated on Guy Fieri's show, and it looked really good...I just wish I had a bit more time to accomplish that.

Hope you try this for your table! It's a lot of work, but well worth the effort.