Sasha's Kitchen: Maple Glazed Thanksgiving Turkey with Oranges, Paired with Wagner Vineyards Riesling

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. This year, my family came in from Rochester for Thanksgiving and Brad and I hosted, which meant quite a bit of holiday cooking. It was such a nice meal, and everything turned out great, just the way I had hoped. There is so much to be thankful for - my family, my wonderful husband, our health and all the things we have. Sometimes it is so easy to just think about the things we want and don't have more often, but there has to be a balance between the two. At any rate, this year, we made quite a few recipes for Thanksgiving - some new recipes and some old favorites. I look forward to sharing them here over the next week or so.

For the turkey, I decided to do an orange-maple flavored turkey, which seemed perfect for the season. Of course, and not surprisingly, they key to an amazing turkey, the centerpiece of Thanksgiving, is the quality of the bird you start with. Our turkey was a free-range, organic turkey from Plainville Farms, which might just be the best turkey I have ever had. When cooked properly, it is succulent, juicy and just perfect. You can order these delicious, organic turkeys from Fresh Direct.

We paired the Turkey with Wagner Vineyards' semi dry Riesling, a light, refreshing citrus infused wine, that was more citrus than sweet and an excellent table wine. We also noticed hints of pear and peach.

Sasha's Orange-Maple Roast Turkey
1 12-14 lb organic turkey
sea salt and pepper
paprika
two oranges
1 onion
fresh thyme
fresh oregano
1 stalk of celery
bay leaf
fresh tarragon
6 T of butter
1 cup of orange juice
1/3 cup of Vermont maple syrup
1 T of fresh grated ginger

Gravy
2/3 cup Riesling (I used Wagner Vineyards' Semi Dry Riesling, which I received in a generous shipment several months ago with several bottles of their other wonderful wines)
3 cups of turkey stock
3 T flour
1 T canola oil
1 T butter

Heat the oven to 425 and wash the turkey inside and out with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels and empty the body cavity. Keep the various turkey parts from the body cavity, and put in a pot to make the turkey stock. Add three cups of water, a stalk of celery, a dice onion, a couple carrots and some herbs to the stock solution (tarragon, thyme, a bay leaf and oregano). Bring the pot to a boil and allow to simmer for about two hours on low until you can strain the vegetables and turkey parts and keep the stock.

In the meantime, fill the cavity of the turkey with the two oranges, chopped celery, quartered onion, and fresh bay leaf, thyme, oregano and tarragon. This should be bulging out of the turkey cavity. Generously season the bird with sea salt (which is much healthier than regular salt) and pepper. Rub the turkey with paprika as well, to season. Set the bird in a roasting pan. Cover with a double layer of cheesecloth. Melt two tablespoons of butter and combine with 1/3 of a cup of orange juice. If you prefer, you can based with canola oil instead, but I recommend butter. Use the butter/orange juice solution to baste the turkey with a baster.  You can add a bit of water to the bottom of the roasting pan after you baste the turkey. Roast for 30 minutes. Then, take the turkey out and rebaste with another 2 T of melted butter combined with 1/3 cup of orange juice.  Lower the heat to 350, and loosely cover with a piece of aluminum foil. Roast for thirty minutes more and rebaste. Continue roasting at 350 for approximately three hours, basing periodically (about twice) during the interim. The turkey should be done after about three hours, when a mean thermometer registers 170 degrees in the breast and 180 degrees in the leg.

Heat 1 T of grated ginger in a pot with the maple syrup over medium heat until combined.  Glaze the turkey with this solution using a pastry brush, and allow to sit for about 20 minutes until you carve the turkey.

To make the gravy, combine the flour with a tablespoon of canola oil. Add to the three cups of turkey stock that you prepared and heat for about five minutes over medium heat. Add the Riesling and cook until reduced by half, and longer until the gravy thickens. Season with a bit of pepper.

Carve the turkey using an electric knife, and serve with the gravy and plenty of delicious side dishes (recipes soon!). Yum!

Sasha's Kitchen: Maple Glazed Thanksgiving Turkey with Oranges, Paired with Wagner Vineyards Riesling

Sasha's Kitchen: Purim Hamantaschen

The Jewish holiday of Purim begins in about a week, on February 28th.  I made hamantaschen (which can also be spelled hamentaschen), the traditional Purim cookie over the weekend.  Purim is one of the most festive and joyous Jewish holidays, celebrating an occasion when Jews living in Persia were saved from certain death by Haman, the Purim villain who wanted to destroy the Jewish community.  The holiday is traditionally celebrated by the reading of the Megillah, dressing in elaborate, carnival-like costumes, drinking and eating hamantaschen.  Basically, Purim is the Jewish Mardi Gras.  I usually enjoy this holiday simply by eating hamantaschen, but this year decided to make my own.

Hamantaschen are tri-corned cookies that are usually filled with a flavorful fruit jelly or jam.  The name "hamantaschen" is a reference to the villian of the Purim story, Haman, while the cookies are triangular shaped to look like his hat.  The shape is achieved by folding a piece of dough into a triangular shape by placing a filling in the center.  You can fill hamentaschen with almost any flavor of filling.  The most traditional are poppyseed, prune and apricot.  My favorite fillings are apricot, raspberry, peach and blueberry.  This year I made the latter two.  I loved eating hamentaschen growing up, and some things never change.  This recipe is a family recipe, that has been passed along amongst my in-laws for generations.

Hamantaschen Dough

1 1/2 sticks of butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Hamantaschen Filling (or substitute store-bought filling of your choice)

1/2 cup pureed fruit (blueberries, papaya, apricot, peaches and raspberries are my favorites)

1/4 cup sugar

To prepare the dough, beat the butter and sugar in the basin of a stand mixer, then add the egg and the vanilla.  Finally, beat in the dry ingredients.  Refrigerate the dough for at least ten hours, or overnight, so the dough is firm and not as sticky.

Roll out the dough, and cut into cookies using either a circular shaped cookie cutter or the rim of a glass. For the filling, you can use either pureed store-bought pie filling, or you can puree half a cup of fruit with a quarter cup of sugar and heat, stirring, over medium heat, until the filling has a jam-like consistency.

To prepare the hamantaschen, place a teaspoon of filling into each circle and fold each of the three sides inward to form a triangle.

Bake the cookies at 400 F for about 6-8 minutes.  Once they start browning, the bottoms will be burnt, so be sure not to let them back for too long.  Delicious!  The recipe made about 30 hamantaschen, all of which disappeared very quickly!

I'm excited to report that I now have an inexpensive (but suitable) pizza stone and will be experimenting with some different pizzas over the next couple weeks, so stay tuned.

Sasha's Kitchen: Purim Hamantaschen

Sasha's Kitchen: Holiday Eggnog Tiramisu Trifles

Tiramisu has long been one of my husband Brad's favorite desserts.  His favorite is green tea tiramisu (Geisha, my favoirite sushi place in NYC, has the best one), which I will have to try making soon for this site.  However, for our New Years Eve dinner, I made eggnog tiramisu trifles, which I served in white wine glasses.  In my opinion they didn't taste too eggnog-like at all, which is probably a good thing.  They did have a bit of flavor of each of the various types of alcohol used in preparing the dessert and were gone pretty quickly in our house (always a good sign).

I based the recipe on a recipe from a 2003 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine that I found online, but cut the recipe in half because I didn't need 16 desserts that the recipe called for.  I wound up making seven in the end. This recipe was a bit complicated, but well worth the effort.  My initial plan was to use some edible gold powder to make it sparkle as a New Years Eve treat, but unfortunately I did not have a chance to pick up the edible gold in time for 2010.  Perhaps next year.

Here is the recipe that I used:

2/3 cup plus 2 T sugar
2/3 cup water
1/8 cup plus 1/2 tsp rum
2 T brandy
6 egg yolks
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 8 oz containers of mascarpone cheese
1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/4 tsp instant coffee
4 T kahlua or other coffe liqueur
1 box of ladyfinger cookies (about 30 cookies)

First, I whisked the 2/3 cup of sugar, 1/8 cup of water, rum, brandy, egg yolks and nutmeg in a metal bowl.  Then I whisked in a double boiler for about four minutes until the mixture thickened.  Then I whisked in the two containers of mascarpone cheese until it was fully combined into a custard.  In my lovely mint green mixer, I whisked together the whipping cream and vanilla until the cream formed peaks and then added to the mascarpone mixture.  This mixture is the first component of the trifle.

Next, I brought 1/2 cup of water to boil in a saucepan.  I added 2 T of sugar and the coffee powder.  Then I used this mixture to coat the ladyfingers.  Warning - this must be done quickly on both sides or the cookies will dissolve.

Then, I layered the trifles in the wine glasses with the tiramisu mixture and the cookies (although the layers are not that distinct in the final product).  I sprinked some ground chocolate on the top, and then rediidgerated for about 10 hours until the desserts were firm.  This may not be the most stunning looking desert in the world (unless you take my suggestion and get some gold powder) but it was quite good tasting and a perfect dessert for New Years Eve - certainly a good way to start out a new decade.  I garnished the dessert with some tiramisu cookies that my mom sent to us with our Hanukkah gifts.

We had some wonderful Chicken Marsala for dinner tonight - a classic in our kitchen.  Either my husband or I will post that one soon, so stay tuned.

Sasha's Kitchen: Holiday Eggnog Tiramisu Trifles

Sasha's Kitchen: How To Roast A Rack Of Lamb (New Years Eve Dinner)

The main course of our New Years Eve dinner last night was a herb crusted rack of lamb. I had actually never prepared a rack of lamb, even though lamb chops are one of my favorite foods, because they are also generally on the expensive side. However, that makes New Years (or any holiday) the perfect occasion for preparing such a dish. I purchased a 3 pound  rack of lamb for about $40 at M&S Prime Meats (a wonderful Italian Market and butcher) here in Park Slope.


I found an online recipe that was surprisingly simple from the now-deceased Gourmet Magazine online at Epicurious. The original recipe can be found here.  I made some changes that are below for the final recipe that I adapted.

Here is the recipe that I prepared – I used a lot more herbs than the original recipe called for, which was absolutely delicious.

Two 1 ½ pounds racks of lamb, trimmed to only one layer of fat (I used regular chops, not french chops)
1 ½ tsp salt
¾ tsp pepper
1 tsp canola oil

Herbs
3 cloves of garlic, diced
¼ cup parsley, diced
3 T chopped fresh thyme
3 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
3 ½ T pepper
1 ½ T canola oil

To prepare the racks of lamb, heat a Dutch oven with oil for two minutes. Rub the meat with the salt and pepper, and sear on all sides, about 5 minutes.

Transfer to a roasting pan and coat with the herb mixture. Coat well and densely, pressing so that the herbs adhere to the meat on all sides.

We cooked the meat on convection roast setting for about 40 minutes at 350 until it was tender and slightly pink. After about 30 minutes, cover the meat with aluminum foil for the duration of the cooking process. However, this process will vary depending on the oven you use, and the size and shape of the rack of lamb. Cut each rack into chops and serve.  In my case, we had 6 chops (3 each) which was plenty.  These are single chops which are a bit harder to cut into chops and not as "pretty" looking as french double chops, which we will use next time.

Our pug, Dakota (who normally does not beg for food unless it is one of her favorites) went crazy for this – she really wanted a bite! After dinner she ran round the apartment looking under the table to see if there was just one morsel left. We did save a tiny bite for her New Years Eve treat.  Preparing a rack of lamb may be a bit pricey, but is actually quite simple and not a lengthy process like braising meat.  Happy New Years!

Sasha's Kitchen: How To Roast A Rack Of Lamb (New Years Eve Dinner)

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Carroty Latkes

With a big bag of awesome organic carrots in the fridge, I couldn't stop with just one carrot recipe (by the way, in case you don't know, carrots should never be put near apples in the refrigerator -- it'll make the carrots hairy and bitter, just like Robin Williams' career).

It being Hanukkah time, I was inspired to make something vaguely latke-ish.
Into a bowl went half a diced white onion, two very large diced roasted garlic cloves, four small grated red potatoes, and a large grated carrot, and that got mixed. In went a couple tablespoons of almond flour and a couple of white flour, salt and pepper. It honestly could have used a little smoked paprika or hot pepper powder, a little zing to balance the flavor profile, but I didn't think of it.

Then we got to the eggs. Because it's utterly cold here, the chickens aren't laying, so I haven't been able to get eggs from our local growers' co-op, Idaho's Bounty. I got my usual backup store brand, Eggland's Best, but stupidly didn't open the carton until tonight. You can see what's coming.

I removed the eggs that weren't egg-white-glued to the walls of the carton, then used a knife to halve open the eggs that weren't broken but couldn't be removed, and used a spoon to scoop out what egg interiors I could before throwing the rest away. In total, I think approximately 4 and a half eggs got into my latke mix.

I started with a medium-heat fry pan, with a tablespoon or two of olive oil, and added my first batch. After some experimentation, I ended up on the higher end of medium-high by the last batch, with about half a tablespoon of olive oil per batch.

Being kind of a salt junkie (though don't think that means I'm absent a sweet tooth -- the fiance brought home white, dark and milk chocolate Lindor truffles on Saturday, and I've been having a really hard time staying out of them!), I topped the latkes with sour cream and sauerkraut. Which was absolutely perfect. The chilled pickled cabbage was utterly delicious atop the hot, crispy latkes.

So there you go, my carroty Hanukkah experiment. Now I need to figure out what to make for Kwanzaa!

For another latke recipe using sweet potato and lingonberry, click here.
Akitcheninbrooklyn.com is doing a roundtable on carrots for the month of December. For additional carrot recipes, click here for my Sweet Gingery Carrots.

Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: Carroty Latkes

Mixueer's Kitchen in Toronto: Party Goodness!

Often, the joys in our lives are marked by special occasions. This weekend was my father's 60th birthday party, and what a party it was! There was much joy and laughter accompanied by great food - much of which I created. As I have written before, I'm trying to eat as healthfully as I can and planned the menu accordingly.
My first recipe for Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies turned out perfectly the first time! I ended up making five times the recipe as we were feeding thirty people. Beware that it's a bit fiddly to drop such small bits of dough on the cookie sheets. Given that I made five batches, it felt as though it took forever but it was an easy recipe and everyone gobbled them up!
http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=50634
My next recipe was a delicious take on Egg Salad. I smeared it on low fat bread and made finger sandwiches. These also went very quickly, with guests going back for more! The only difference was that I used green onions finely chopped instead of the chives, and I used fat free Miracle Whip instead of the mayo.
http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeId=108261
Next I decided that we needed another sandwich, seeing as I only had enough to feed half an army and needed to feed ALL the troops. My parents had some tins of salmon, so salmon salad sandwiches were in order. I made this up on the fly:
Curry Salmon Sandwiches
1 tin salmon in water
1 tbsp fat free Miracle Whip
1/2 tbsp chutney (I love Mrs. Balls chutney)
1/2 - 1 tsp turmeric (to taste)
salt (to taste)
I just mashed everything together in a bowl with a fork, spread the mix on white bread and sliced with a bread knife into finger sandwiches.
Next, I made some lovely rainbow trout fillets with my famous mustard sauce. I got this recipe on a one of the early Food Network shows from the '90's called "Taste" with David Rosengarten, sadly since cancelled. (Rosengarten is my pick for food expert that Food Network should bring back). I can't seem to get onto Rosengarten's site to post his link, so see the recipe below:
Grandma Hitchcock’s Mustard Sauce
Recipe By: David Rosegarten’s grandmother-in-law
DRY INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup dry mustard
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
WET INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 cups heavy cream
4 whole egg yolks — beaten (if using small eggs, use 5)
1. Combine the dry ingredients in a saucepan.
2. Whisk in the vinegar, cream and egg yolks (beaten), blending well to combine. Place over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth. Serve warm if possible.
I personally use 1% lactose-free milk for my sad lactose intolerance. This sauce takes some minding and some time to reduce properly, but is well worth the wait and effort! This sauce goes beautifully over fish, chicken or pork; I’ve even put it on lamb to great success. I make extra and freeze it so I have it for a quick meal. I spread it on some rainbow trout fillets with some salt and a sprinkling of Bolthouse Farms' amazing Salad Herb mix and bake on a cookie sheet at 375 F for 20 minutes. Serve the sauce on the side so guests can add extra.

Mixueer's Kitchen in Toronto: Party Goodness!

Eric's Kitchen in Jersey City: Matzoh Ball Soup

While I might not be Jewish, I quickly realized the healing power of good, homemade Matzoh Ball soup while I was in college in Philly. Whenever I was sick, I'd order in from this Jewish Deli, Izzy & Zoe's on 40th street and get this nice big container of soup made with extra TLC and I'd always seem to feel a little bit better. It always had lots of spices and bits of deliciousness floating around which is what I strive for in my own version. My girlfriend Jenn moved in at the end of the summer and this flu season she got both the swine flu and the regular flu so I ended up making a couple of pots of matzoh ball soup to make her feel better and I feel like I'm honing in on a pretty solid recipe.

I make mine with:
1 Whole roasting chicken with the skin and giblets
1 bag of baby carrots (sliced)
1 Large vidalia onion, chopped
1 bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
1 bunch of leeks, chopped (or you can substitute celery which I don't like)
- salt, pepper and various other spices you have lying around
3-4 bay leaves
1 box of matzoh ball mix (you need a couple of eggs and oil for this which the box will tell you)
- extra chicken stock. I use either chicken broth or 'better than bouillon'
- a large soup pot filled with maybe a gallon of water? (I eyeball most things, apologies to people who measure things out precisely)

I personally think the key to any good soup is the stock and I like mine to taste homemade but I don't have the patience to sit around for the 4-6 hours that most recipes say it takes to make a stock. My shortcut involves chopping the chicken with a cleaver to split the bones and create small, manageable pieces (roughly half the size of a clenched fist). This is important as a lot of the flavor comes from the marrow of the bones. You season the meat and sauté it with a little olive oil for 5 minutes or so until it's slightly browned. You don't need it to be fully cooked as the next step is adding it to boiling water with all your veggies and spices. My girlfriend's mom taught me that fresh parsley has healing powers and is an important factor of the matzoh ball soup equation. I also add the giblets and the bay leaves which I remove later.

I let it cook for a couple of hours as it still does take a while and I taste the stock and add broth or bouillon until it tastes good. While that is cooking, start a second pot of boiling water to cook your matzoh balls. Matzoh balls are pretty simple to make and you can follow the recipe on the box for these. You just combine the mix with some oil and eggs and then let them cool in the fridge for 15 minutes or so. Then you lay out some foil or wax paper and roll them up. My girlfriend taught me that the most important thing to keep in mind is to not roll them too tightly! They are going to expand as well so they only need to be about the size of a chestnut (roughly 1-1.5 inches in diameter). Another thing to keep in mind is that you do not need to salt the water if you are adding them to your homemade chicken broth as they will be very salty... I've made this mistake before!

Keep them separate and add them when you heat up a bowl or small portion. When the chicken has cooked for a couple of hours and you've added enough bouillon or more chicken broth to make it delicious, you remove the meat and giblets. Let them cool for a few minutes and pull the meat off the bone and cut it or pull it into bite size pieces. Discard the bones, skin and giblets and add the pulled meat back to your soup. This should help you cope with any ailment or just keep you warm when it's chilly.

Eric's Kitchen in Jersey City: Matzoh Ball Soup

Adi's Kitchen in Montreal: Chanukah Baking

Good evening fellow foodies,

Insofar as this is my first post, proper introductions are in order! Hailing from the frozen Northlands of Canadia (montreal), my contribution to this eminent blog will be to the highest form of culinary arts: Dessert.

Pastries, Baked goods, and especially Pies and I have always had a special relationship. I loved them, they loved me, I reveled in their various shapes, sizes and colors and everything was dandy. However, recently I've noticed a disturbing trend in the sweet industry. There has been an exponential increase in the sugar content of everything! Corn syrup this, white sugar that. If you'll excuse the joke but it's enough to give Aunt Jemima diabetes!

Therefore, I donned the chef hat and "Kiss the cook" apron not for altruistic reason but out of frustration. You made me do it, now suffer the consequences of your actions!

This week happens to be the Jewish holiday of Chanukah and as is tradition in our home, my mother makes Suvganiot. For those of you who are curious, they happen to the Jewish version of donuts. Deep fried dough traditionally served plain but as my my prior rant stated we've sugarised everything so now they come filled with this cheap fakey jam and are dropped in a vat of powder sugar. Lucky me, my mother happens to be a traditional baker and so we eat them in their original incarnation. Now don't get me wrong, condiments make the world go round. In this case, a selection of maple syrup, powder sugar, strawberry and my personal favorite black currant jam have been scattered around the table.

Now one might think I'm living the good life but you see, I decided to contribute something to the mix and throw a little variety in. Just the other day I was given quite the interesting recipe by an Armenian friend of mine. A dessert that takes all of 10 minutes to make and will survive a nuclear apocalypse, similar to the Twinkie.

As I snuck into the kitchen, careful not to rouse the sleeping beast (An Israeli mother in cooking mode), I unfortunately misjudged her trajectory and a full on collision occurred. I'm holding in my hands the ingredients:

1 cup of dried Cranberries
1 cup of dried Apricots
1 cup of Pecans
1 cup of Dates (pitted)
1 cup of prunes (pitted)
1 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes
and 1/3 of a cup of Cointreau (Orange liquor)

As sealed packages went sailing through the air the only thought going on in my head was "Precious lifeblood! Save the booze!" Fortunately gravity has nothing on my Kung Fu grip and disaster was averted, though the next five minutes of yelling was a bit rough on the ears.

The rest is easy really. Toss EVERYTHING into a food processor, in no particular order and blend. Stop every now and again to test the consistency. You'll know it's ready when you can roll it into a golf ball and it won't fall apart.

After that, my friend recommended I dip them in Cane sugar but the recipe made about 40 balls so I ended up splitting them into four piles: One for Cane Sugar, White Sugar, Powder Sugar and Brown Sugar.

Given the heavy concentration of natural sugar from the dried fruit, I strongly recommend you pair them with a good cup of tea.

Enjoy!

Adi's Kitchen in Montreal: Chanukah Baking

Sasha's Kitchen: Hanukkah Sweet Potato-Chipotle Latkes With Lingonberries

Here's my take on the traditional Hanukkah food - the potato latke. These were a big hit in my house tonight. I don't often make them because I absolutely hate grating potatoes, but tonight's batch was definitely worth the elbow grease.

Sasha's Sweet Potato-Chipotle Latkes With Lingonberries

4 grated medium sweet potatoes
1/4 cup all purpose flour
5 eggs (adjust so the recipe is not runny, depending on the size of the potatoes - you could use anywhere from 3 to 6 eggs)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 grated onion
3 teaspoons chipotle puree
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Top with lingonberry preserve

Mix ingredients well and fry in hot oil. I prepared the mix and Brad fried them. The kicker here - and the reason that this recipe is a winner is the lingonberries, a type of Swedish berry or preserve. They are a bit hard to find (you can buy them online, at Wegmans or Whole Foods, or apparently also at Ikea according to the receptionist at Aquavit who I spoke with this morning). I went to Whole Foods, although I love the idea of newly minted college graduates picking up some lingonberries with their ready to assemble desks, with only Swedish assembly instructions. Lingonberries are, in fact, a Scandinavian delicacy and the combination tartness/sweetness of the lingonberries is perfect with the sweet potato and chipotle. It is a stellar combination of flavors. Do not substitute any other preserve, as if will not be the same.

Happy Hanukkah!!!

Sasha's Kitchen: Hanukkah Sweet Potato-Chipotle Latkes With Lingonberries

Sasha's Kitchen: Post-Thanksgiving Blog on Thanksgiving Desserts

I would like more than anything to host Thanksgiving in our condo in Brooklyn, or to live somewhere with enough space to host my family and/or my in-laws under one roof. This is certainly a challenge I welcome. Unfortunately, we live in Park Slope and space isn't what it is in suburbia. So we have a nice dining room table that can hold six people. We did host passover for my Dad, stepmom Kim, sister Kaila and brother Josh, but that's just about the capacity we can handle here.

We did spend thanksgiving with my inlaws and I contributed two desserts: walnut-gingerbread panna cotta and pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. The panna cotta is from the recent issue (November 2009) of Martha Stewart's everyday food and the recipe should be found online on the everdayfood.com website by doing a search for panna cotta.

This recipe was not hard at all - puree 20 gingerbread cookies and 3/4 cup walnuts in a miniprep to make the crust and mix with 3 T of butter and a T of brown sugar. Then press into a pie plate. The crust then should be baked at 325 until lightly browned for about 25 minutes.

The filling is prepared first by heating 1/2 cut heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of honey and a quarter teaspoon salt. Then I whisked in a package of gelatin that had been activated in 3 tablespoons of water. The gelatin is what will ultimately make the panna cotta congeal. Finally, away from the heat, I added 1 3/4 cup greek yogurt (you must use greek yogurt, not plain yogurt - I chose to use 2% greek yogurt, however) and 3/4 a teasopon of vanilla.

Next the filling is added and the panna cotta should be refrigerated for 2 hours.




In addition, I made a fruit topping similar to the one in the book, which called for a chutney-like jam made of dried plums, brown sugar and orange zest. Instead of the dried plums, I substituted dried figs and it was delicious.

As far as the pumpkin cookies - I am not sure where the recipe came from but I have been making them since I was a kid. The recipe calls for mixing the following in a mixer - 2 sticks of butter, 1 1/3 cups Quaker oats. 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup of splenda-sugar (half sugar-half splenda), 1 cup libby's pumpkin puree, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla and 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Make into cookies and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until lightly browned.

One great way to make these cookies is to make them large and decorate them with pumpkin faces. This is perfect for with kids for halloween and I can't wait to do this with my own children every year like my mom did with me. You can decorate them with different color cake icings, m and ms, candy corns etc . . .

The creativity with these cookies is endless and perfect for children - like I said, I cannot wait to make these cookies with my own kids. They're also perfect for the adult who likes to be a kid. I looked forward to doing this every year at Halloween with my mom. I should add that the ones I made for thanksgiving were not decorated, however, but I figured the pumpkin was still seasonal and they seemed to be enjoyed just the same.

Sasha's Kitchen: Post-Thanksgiving Blog on Thanksgiving Desserts