Tag Archives: thanksgiving

last minute side dish

Posted in vegetable, vegetarian by

A last minute idea for your Thanksgiving table: roasted acorn squash.  It is so simple to make and it’s delicious.  The hardest part is cracking open the squash but I have found that a sharp knife does the trick– just be sure to keep your fingers out of the way of the blade!  You don’t want to spend Thanksgiving in the emergency room…

After the squash is cut in two (cut into fourths if the squash is particularly large) and has been seeded, fill it with a combination of butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and fresh sage leaves.  In the past I have also used a similar Tyler Florence recipe that also includes Amaretto and crushed up vanilla wafers that is also quite good.  Take your pick.

Roast in the oven until tender and enjoy.

Roasted Acorn Squash

  • 2 acorn squash
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • Fresh sage leaves (about 8)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Split squash in half through the equator and scrape out seeds with a spoon.  Set the squash halves (cut sides up) on a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Stir melted butter, brown sugar, and nutmeg in a bowl.  Brush mixture onto cut squash halves.  Sprinkle coated squash halves with sage leaves.

Bake for about an hour or until squash halves are tender.

chess pie, take 3

Posted in pie by

I liked the first two chess pies I made for this here blog so much that when I saw a recipe for a lemon-buttermilk version I decided to try it a third time.

Before you get to the filling part of this pie you first have to make the crust.  The recipe recommended using pie weights or dried beans over parchment paper to keep the crust from bubbling up and since I don’t have pie weights I used some dried pinto beans I had in my cabinet.

It worked like a charm, though please note: I highly recommend making the crust edges taller than you think they ought to be because it shrunk up pretty good when I baked it.  I actually couldn’t fit all of the filling in so had to throw a little out and I never like to throw food out, particularly when involves things like butter and sugar, so take my word for it and make the edges nice and tall!

The filling consists of eggs, butter, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, buttermilk, and cornmeal amongst a few other necessary ingredients like vanilla and flour.  In other words, heaven.

It baked up into a lovely golden brown and was very tasty.  This would be a nice addition to your Thanksgiving pie menu as it’s quite light and the hint of lemon is refreshing.  Don’t get me wrong, I love some of the heavier pies of the season (pumpkin, pecan, sweet potato, etc.) but it’s always good to have another option, too.

I plan to get a few more recipes posted before the big day so be sure to check back for more ideas!

Buttermilk-Lemon Chess Pie (from recipe found at www.epicurious.com)

Crust:

  •   2 cups all-purpose flour plus more
  •   1 teaspoon kosher salt
  •   1 teaspoon sugar
  •   3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter cut into 1/2″ cubes
  •   1/2 cup (or more) cold buttermilk

Filling:

  •   1 1/2 cups sugar
  •   1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
  •   1 1/2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
  •   1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  •   5 large eggs, beaten to blend
  •   2/3 cup buttermilk
  •   1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
  •   1 3/4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  •   1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
  •   2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  •   Pinch of kosher salt

For   crust:

Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor. Add butter; pulse until pea-size pieces of butter form. Add 1/2 cup buttermilk; pulse until moist clumps form, adding more buttermilk by tablespoonfuls if too dry. Form into a ball; flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a 14″ round. Transfer to pie pan; gently press onto bottom and up sides of pan.   Trim dough, leaving a 1″ overhang; tuck overhang under. Crimp edges decoratively. Line with parchment paper or foil; fill with pie weights or dried beans.

Bake crust until edges begin to brown, 30-35 minutes. Remove paper and weights; bake until golden brown, 25-30 minutes longer. Let cool completely.
For filling:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl until well combined. Whisk eggs and remaining 6 ingredients in a large bowl (mixture may look curdled). Slowly whisk in dry ingredients. Pour filling into cooled crust and bake until custard is set around edges but jiggles slightly in center, 1 hour—1 hour 15 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.

glazed goodness

Posted in vegetable, vegetarian by

With a title like that you’d expect for this post to be about donuts, right?  Nope.  Afraid not.  I’m talking about glazed vegetables, people.  Might not sound quite as exciting, but I can guarantee they are (nearly) as tasty.

I made this recipe for Thanksgiving a few years back and remember that it was quite the hit.  I believe one of the little kids at the meal referred to the parsnips as “white carrots.”  It was cute.  And parsnips kind of do look like white carrots but don’t so much taste like them.  Where carrots are sweet, parsnips are a little sharp.

The hardest part about this dish is cutting the carrots and parsnips up into little matchsticks but after that it is a breeze and is cooked entirely on the stove-top, thus freeing up space in your oven on T-day for other important dishes like stuffing and the turkey.

You simply cook down the carrots and parsnips in some olive oil with salt and pepper and then add butter, honey, and rosemary after they are tender for the glazing.  Sweet and hardy with a little bite from the parsnips and nice scent and flavor from the rosemary.  I highly recommend it for your Thanksgiving this year, or even just as part of a quick weeknight meal.

Sauteed Parsnips and Carrots with Honey and Rosemary (recipe found at www.epicurious.com)

Yield: Makes 8 servings

  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 pound carrots (about 4 large), peeled, cut into 3×1/4×1/4-inch sticks
  • 1 pound large parsnips, peeled, halved lengthwise, cored, cut into 3×1/4×1/4-inch sticks
  • Coarse kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons honey (such as heather, chestnut, or wildflower)

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrots and parsnips. Sprinkle with coarse kosher salt and pepper. Sauté until vegetables are beginning to brown at edges, about 12 minutes. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.

Add butter, rosemary, and honey to vegetables. Toss over medium heat until heated through and vegetables are glazed, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with more salt and pepper, if desired.

what’s up doc?

Posted in cookie by

Sometimes I like to tell myself that incorporating healthy things like vegetables into baked goods makes them less bad for you.  Seems logical, right?

Well, maybe by the time you add the butter and the sugar that’s not always the case but it sure makes me feel better about stuffing myself with a treat such as these inside-out carrot cake cookie sandwiches.

That’s a mouthful in more ways than one.  The cookies have shredded carrots (obvi), raisins, and walnuts (if you so desire; I happen to think nuts [with few exceptions] ruin desserts).  They are hardy and cinnamon-y and make your kitchen smell like a cozy fall afternoon.  Guaranteed.

The filling is two simple ingredients: cream cheese and honey.  I substituted Mascarpone cheese for cream cheese as I have been wont to do lately.  It complimented the sweeter cookie quite nicely.

I have tagged these as being appropriate for Thanksgiving.  I made them a few years ago for the young ones in case they weren’t into pecan and pumpkin pie like I wasn’t when I was their age, and adults ate them just the same.  I mean, who doesn’t love carrot cake?

Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies (recipe found at www.epicurious.com)

Yield: Makes about 13 cookies

  • 1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup coarsely grated carrots (2 medium)
  • 1 scant cup walnuts (3 ounces), chopped
  • 1/2 cup raisins (2 1/2 ounces)
  • 8 ounces cream cheese (I substituted Mascarpone cheese instead)
  • 1/4 cup honey

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 2 baking sheets.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

Beat together butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in carrots, nuts, and raisins at low speed, then add flour mixture and beat until just combined.

Drop 1 1/2 tablespoons batter per cookie 2 inches apart on baking sheets and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are lightly browned and springy to the touch, 12 to 16 minutes total. Cool cookies on sheets on racks 1 minute, then transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.

While cookies are baking, blend cream cheese and honey in a food processor until smooth.

Sandwich flat sides of cookies together with a generous tablespoon of cream cheese filling in between.

the right stuff

Posted in sidedish by

You could say that Thanksgiving is all about the turkey but let’s be real here: it’s really all about the stuffing.  Hands down stuffing is the best part of the whole meal and definitely everyone’s favorite leftover.  (Right?  I’m not alone here, am I?)

I used to be more of purist when it came to stuffing and always made the traditional kind with breadcrumbs, onions, celery, sage, etc. and then I branched out and did a cornbread version.  Last year I got real crazy and added sausage, apples, and dried currants.  Somebody stop me!

If you’ve been a reader of Baxter and Main for even a short while you have probably noticed my affinity for all things bacon so when I saw a recipe for stuffing with pancetta (which is essentially Italian bacon) I could not pass it up.  The fact that it also included chestnuts which is an ingredient I have only begun to experiment with was just icing on the cake.

This stuffing also has prunes which add a nice sweetness and probably help balance out some of the not-so-good-for-you ingredients (see image above of pancetta frying in butter…)

The recipe called for canned chestnuts which were not so easy to find in Madison, Wisconsin.  I tried three different grocery stores before winding up at the LARGEST grocery store I have ever seen in my life (it rivals a suburban Wal-Mart in square footage with maybe a Kmart thrown in for good measure) where I spent a good half hour seeking them out.  Would they be near canned vegetables?  No.  With nuts?  Naw.  In the ethnic food section?  Nope, weren’t there either.  Turns out they get shelved next to the canned pie filling.  Wha-wha-what?  Yeah, that’s what I said.

However, the long search for the canned chestnuts was well worth it as the stuffing was delish.  A very strong contender for this year’s Thanksgiving meal, indeed.

Chestnut, Prune, and Pancetta Stuffing (found at www.epicurious.com)

Yield: Serves 12
Active Time: 45 min
Total Time: 2 hr

  • 1 (1 1/2-lb) sourdough loaf, cut into 1/3-inch dice (18 cups)
  • 1 lb coarsely chopped pancetta slices (about 3 cups)
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
  • 3 cups chopped celery (5 to 6 ribs)
  • 4 cups chopped onions (2 large)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 3 (7- to 8-oz) jars peeled cooked whole chestnuts, halved (4 cups)
  • 3/4 lb pitted prunes (2 cups), quartered
  • 5 cups turkey stock , heated to liquefy, or reduced-sodium chicken broth (40 fl oz)
  • 4 large eggs, lightly beaten

Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 400°F.

Scatter bread in a single layer in 2 large shallow baking pans (17 by 12 inches) and toast, stirring once or twice and switching position of pans halfway through baking, until golden and dry, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a very large bowl.

Cook pancetta in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until browned, 12 to 15 minutes. Add butter and heat until melted, then add celery and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 12 minutes. Stir in sage, salt, and pepper and cook 1 minute.  Add pancetta mixture along with chestnuts and prunes to bowl containing bread. Whisk together stock and eggs, then stir into bread mixture until combined well. Transfer to baking dish (stuffing will mound above dish).

Bake, loosely covered with a buttered sheet of foil (buttered side down) 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake until top is browned, 10 to 15 minutes more.

Cooks’ notes:
•Stuffing, without stock-and-egg mixture, can be assembled (but not baked) 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Stir in stock mixture, then proceed with recipe.
•Stuffing can be baked 6 hours ahead and cooled completely, uncovered, then chilled, loosely covered. Reheat, covered, in a preheated 400°F oven until hot, about 30 minutes.