Thanksgiving 101 (4 page)
Authors: Rick Rodgers
1.
Quickly rinse the dried mushrooms in a wire sieve under cold water to remove grit. Combine the mushrooms and boiling water in a small bowl until the mushrooms soften, about 25 minutes. Strain the mushrooms in a wire sieve lined with a single layer of moistened paper towels set over a bowl; reserve the soaking liquid. Chop the soaked mushrooms and set aside.
2.
To make the meatballs, position two racks in the center and top third of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly oil two large rimmed baking sheets.
3.
Mix the bread crumbs, egg, yolk, parsley, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add the beef, veal, and pork, and mix with your clean hands until the mixture is combined. Using about 2 teaspoons for each, roll into 48 balls. Place on the baking sheets. Bake the meatballs until lightly browned and cooked through, about 20 minutes.
4.
Transfer the meatballs to a bowl. Pour off the fat from the baking sheets. Pour 1 cup of the hot broth into each baking sheet and scrape with wooden spatula to loosen the browned bits. Pour the liquid into a 1-quart glass measuring cup. Add the mushroom soaking liquid and enough hot water to make 3 cups. Set aside. (The meatballs can be made up to 2 days ahead, cooled, covered, and refrigerated.)
5.
To make the sauce, in batches, pulse the cremini mushrooms in a food processor fitted with the metal chopping blade until they are finely chopped. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chopped mushrooms and cook until the juices evaporate, about 8 minutes. Add the shallots and cook until the mushrooms are lightly browned, about 2 minutes longer.
6.
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter to the skillet and melt. Sprinkle in the flour and stir well. Stir in the beef-mushroom liquid and heavy cream. Boil until reduced by about one-fourth, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (The sauce can be made 1 day ahead, cooled, covered, and refrigerated. Reheat gently in a large skillet until simmering.)
7.
Add the meatballs to the sauce and cover. Cook over medium heat until the meatballs are heated through, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a chafing dish, sprinkle with parsley, and serve hot with toothpicks for spearing the meatballs.
A Pitcher of Bloody Marys
I’ve been using this blue-ribbon recipe for perfectly seasoned Bloody Marys for many years, having learned it at one of my first restaurant jobs. So that guests can have Virgin Marys, too, leave the vodka out of the pitcher and serve it on the side. For a Bloody Mary, allow 1 jigger (3 tablespoons) vodka for every ¾ cup of the spicy tomato juice mixture.
Makes 8 servings
Make Ahead: The tomato juice mixture can be prepared up to 1 day ahead.
One 48-ounce can tomato-and-vegetable-juice cocktail, such as V-8
1
/3 cup bottled horseradish
1
/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1½ teaspoons ground celery seed
1 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce, or more to taste
Vodka, as needed
Celery sticks, for garnish
1.
In a large pitcher, stir the tomato juice, horseradish, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, celery seed, and hot pepper sauce. (The tomato juice mix can be prepared up to 1 day ahead, covered, and refrigerated.)
2.
To serve, pour ¾ cup of the tomato mix into each ice-filled glass. Add vodka and stir. Garnish with celery sticks.
A Blender of Ramos Fizzes
This is my extended family’s Thanksgiving cocktail of choice. Most of us are from San Francisco, where Ramos Fizzes are the ne plus ultra of brunch drinks, and we drink them every year as a toast to our beloved hometown. (New Orleans, the birthplace of the Fizz, is the only other city where it is commonly served at bars and restaurants. I suspect that San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel may have gotten the recipe from the Crescent City’s Fairmont Hotel, and popularized the Fizz on the West Coast.) The most important thing to know about these potent drinks is that they may taste like grown-up milk shakes, but they aren’t as innocent as they look.
Makes 4 servings
Make Ahead: The fizzes are best prepared just before serving.
1 cup gin
½ cup half-and-half
½ cup fresh lime juice
¼ cup superfine sugar
1½ teaspoons orange blossom water (available at specialty food stores and many liquor stores and supermarkets)
4 large ice cubes
4 egg whites or 2 large eggs or ½ cup liquid egg substitute
Approximately ½ cup club soda
1.
In a blender, combine the gin, half-and-half, lime juice, sugar, orange blossom water, ice cubes, and egg whites. Blend at high speed until well mixed.
2.
Pour into individual serving glasses and top off with approximately 2 tablespoons club soda to provide the “fizz.” Serve immediately.
Autumn Glow Punch
There are two kitchen aromas guaranteed to make your guests feel all warm and fuzzy. One belongs to a roasting turkey, and the other comes from a simmering pot of mulled cider. So your friends don’t get
too
warm and fuzzy, make the punch without any alcohol, but have a bottle of dark rum available for those who wish to spike their cup.
Makes 3 quarts, 12 to 16 servings
Make Ahead: The punch can be prepared up to 4 hours ahead of serving.
1 teaspoon allspice berries
½ teaspoon whole cloves
Two 3-to 4-inch cinnamon sticks, broken
2 quarts apple juice
One 32-ounce bottle cranberry juice cocktail
2 large oranges, sliced into rounds
Dark rum, optional
1.
Tie the allspice, cloves, and cinnamon sticks into a bundle with rinsed cheesecloth and kitchen string. In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, heat the apple juice, cranberry juice, orange slices, and spices just until simmering. (The punch can be prepared up to 4 hours ahead of serving and kept at room temperature. Reheat gently before serving.)
2.
To keep the punch warm, transfer to a slow cooker or place the saucepan on a hot plate. Serve hot, allowing each guest to add dark rum as desired.
Y
ou can be sure that there will be a lot of last-minute activity when it’s time to put the main course on the Thanksgiving table. So, I want a first course that is as carefree as possible. Again, Make Ahead is the order of the day. Soups that just need a quick reheating or a marinated salad that only needs to be spooned onto a plate are my two standbys, and they have never done me wrong. To decide whether I serve soup or salad this year, I usually toss a coin. No matter which one wins, these first courses celebrate the season’s bounty with winter squash, sweet potatoes, fennel, celery root, pears, and other ingredients that say “autumn.”
More important, a first course acts as a diversion while the side dishes are cooking. Here’s the game plan. When the turkey is roasted, remove it from the oven. It needs to stand for at least twenty minutes before carving, anyway, and will stay piping hot for an hour or more. Place the side dishes that need baking in the oven. Finish the first course (reheat the soup or spoon out the salad) and serve. It will take about fifteen minutes to enjoy the first course, and you have started your dinner on a leisurely, relaxed note.
Soup is always best prepared with homemade stock. If necessary, a good canned reduced-sodium broth is fine, but a homemade version can be prepared with very little effort, and frozen for weeks or months before using. If you only want to make one big batch of all-purpose stock, make it with turkey instead of chicken. Its deeper flavor will heighten the taste of most of these soups. I know chefs who use turkey stock instead of veal stock at their restaurants because it’s lighter, yet more flavorful and versatile, and you can follow suit.
There is a tradition of shellfish soup at many
Thanksgiving tables, especially in New England. But overcooked shellfish is tough and rubbery. Always heat up the soup without the shellfish and add it at the last minute, just to heat through.
To serve the soup at its piping-hot point of perfection, serve it from a warmed soup tureen. If an empty oven is available, place the tureen in a 200°F oven for a few minutes. Otherwise, fill the tureen with very hot water and let stand until warmed. Then pour out the water and dry the tureen. Try to warm the soup bowls, too. (I know you’re not a restaurant, but who wants lukewarm soup?) Garnishes that are usually chilled, such as sour cream, should be at room temperature so they don’t cool down the soup.
At my parents’ Thanksgiving dinner, as it is in millions of other households, a fruity gelatin salad is always the first course of choice. I generally serve savory salads, and relegate the gelatin mold to the side-dish category. The components to my Thanksgiving salads are all made in advance. When greens are called for, they have been washed early in the day (or even the night before), and are waiting in the refrigerator to be dressed with the (made-ahead) vinaigrette. The salads all feature a mixture of ingredients that are as delicious as they are eye-catching. If possible, serve the salads on large dinner plates—they’ll look more attractive and dramatic. Chilled plates are really an affectation, and aren’t as necessary as warmed soup bowls.
New England Oyster Stew
In New England, oyster stew is a Thanksgiving must-have. Oysters are at their best during cold weather, and are a fine example of how autumn’s bounty can be celebrated. Simplicity is the name of the game here—use the finest, freshest oysters, the best cream (go to a natural food store for full-flavored cream that hasn’t been ultrapasteurized), and a gentle hand with seasoning.
Makes 8 servings
Make Ahead: The oyster stew should be prepared just before serving.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 scallion, white and green parts, finely chopped
2½ cups milk
2 cups heavy cream, preferably not ultrapasteurized
3 dozen large oysters, shucked, with their juices
Salt
1
/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Sweet paprika, preferably Hungarian or Spanish, for garnish (see Note)
1.
In a Dutch oven or soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the scallion and cook, stirring constantly, until wilted, about 1 minute. Add the milk, heavy cream, and oyster juices. Cook, stirring often, just until small bubbles appear around the edges of the liquid, about 5 minutes.
2.
Add the oysters and cook just until they curl at the edges, about 2 minutes. Season with the salt and pepper. (The oysters are already briny, so season with caution.) Transfer to a warmed soup tureen and serve immediately in warm soup bowls, sprinkling each serving with a dash of paprika.
Note:
Hungarian and Spanish paprika have more flavor than domestic varieties, so they act like more than a colorful garnish. If you like spicy seasonings, use hot paprika. Pimentón de La Vera, a smoked Spanish paprika, will add another flavor that you may or may not find welcome in the stew.
Aw, Shucks
Large to medium-sized oysters make the best stew, as they give off more delicious, briny juices than smaller specimens. There are many varieties on the East Coast, usually named for the place they were raised, such as Malpeque (Prince Edward Island) or Pemmaquid (Maine). Pacific (also called Japanese) or European flat oysters, both of which have distinctly different flavor characteristics than eastern oysters, can also be used. Small oysters, such as Kumamoto and Olympia, are too tiny to give off enough juice to make a proper stew.
Freshly shucked oysters have better flavor and texture than prepacked, shucked ones. Unfortunately, oyster shucking is one of the most challenging jobs in the home kitchen. New Englanders and folks who live in the Pacific Northwest might know someone who prides themselves as a master oyster shucker, and if you can enlist that person, you’re home free. Otherwise, place an order with the fish store for freshly shucked oysters (instructing them to save the juices) to be picked up on Wednesday afternoon. They’ll charge extra for opening the oysters, but it’s worth it.
Sometimes, you’ll have no choice but to open the oysters yourself. There are two methods. Use the first technique when serving oysters that must remain raw and uncooked, such as those on the half shell. The second method can be used if the oysters are going to be cooked in stuffings or stews.
To shuck raw oysters, try Julia Child’s technique, taught to her by an oyster fisherman. Instead of an oyster knife (with its sturdy blade and pointed, somewhat blunt tip), use an old-fashioned can opener, the kind some people call a church key. Scrub the oysters well with a stiff brush under cold running water. Place an oyster, curved side down, on a folded kitchen towel. Oysters are usually teardrop shaped. Locate the spot where the top shell meets the bottom shell at the pointed tip of the “teardrop.” With the pointed end up, wedge the tip of the can opener into the crack about ¼ inch below the pointed tip of the shell. Push the end of the can opener downward, and the shell should pop open from the leverage. If the shell crumbles, you’ll have to use an oyster knife to wedge open the crack further down the shell. Holding the oyster over a wire sieve, placed over a bowl to catch and strain bits of shell from the juices, run a small, sharp knife around the top shell to release it. Slip the knife under the flat top shell to cut the oyster free, and discard the top shell.
Run the knife underneath the oyster to loosen it from the curved bottom shell. If you are serving the oysters on the half shell, leave the oyster in the shell, place the shell on a bed of ice, and loosely cover with plastic wrap until ready to serve, within 2 hours. If you are going to cook the oysters, place the oyster meat in a small bowl, add the strained oyster juices, and cover tightly. Refrigerate until ready to use, up to 24 hours.
If the oysters are going to be cooked in a soup or stuffing, they can be baked in a very hot oven until the shells open. The oysters will be slightly cooked, but not enough to overcook them in the finished dish. This is the method I use most often, as I rarely serve raw oysters at my Thanksgiving table, while oyster stew and oyster stuffing sometimes show up.
Preheat the oven to 500°F. Choose a roasting pan or baking dish large enough to hold the oysters in a single layer, and fill the pan with a thick layer of rock or coarse (kosher) salt or crumpled aluminum foil. Place the pan in the oven to heat for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, and nestle the oysters, curved sides down, in the salt or foil to keep them from rocking. Bake until the oyster shells gap open, 7 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of the oysters (they never open all at once). Discard any oysters that do not open after 20 minutes of baking. (The oysters can also be opened in a microwave oven. Microwave 6 oysters at a time on High until opened, 1 to 2 minutes.) When all of the oysters are open, and cool enough to handle, remove the oyster meat from the shells and place in a small bowl. Strain the oyster juices over the oysters, cover, and refrigerate. Use the partially cooked oysters within 2 hours.
Celery Root and Oyster Chowder
This is my gussied-up version of standard oyster stew, bolstered with celery root and red bell pepper. If you aren’t familiar with celery root (also called celeriac or knob celery), give it a try. This gnarly tuber isn’t related to celery at all, but has a delicious, mild celery flavor that makes it a superior addition to cold-weather soups and chowders. Its tough brown skin is often coated with dirt, so do rinse it before trimming or the dirt will turn to mud. Just give the peeled celery-root cubes a good rinse before using.
Makes 8 servings
Make Ahead: The chowder vegetables can be prepared up to 4 hours ahead.
1 pound celery root (2 medium or 1 large)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped into ¼-inch dice
½ cup chopped leeks, white and pale green parts only
4 cups half-and-half
2 dozen oysters, shucked, with their juices
½ teaspoon salt
1
/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
1.
Cut off the gnarly parts of the celery root (it is too much trouble to pare the nooks and crannies). Using a sharp knife, peel the celery root. Cut in half, and remove any soft, spongy center parts. Remove any skin still in the crevices with the tip of the knife. Cut into ½-inch cubes and place in a bowl of cold water.
2.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Drain the celery root and add it to the boiling water. Return to the boil and reduce the heat to medium. Cook the celery root until tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, about 7 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold running water. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and set aside. (The celery root can be prepared up to 4 hours ahead, stored at room temperature.)
3.
In a Dutch oven or soup pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the red bell pepper and leeks, and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the red bell pepper softens, 5 to 7 minutes. (The leek–red pepper mixture can be prepared up to 4 hours ahead, kept at room temperature. Reheat over low heat before proceeding.)
4.
Pour the half-and-half and oyster juices into the Dutch oven, and increase the heat to high. Cook just until small bubbles appear around the edges, about 5 minutes. Add the oysters and celery root, and cook just until the oysters curl around the edges and are heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with the salt and pepper. Transfer to a warmed soup tureen, and serve immediately in warmed soup bowls, garnished with the parsley.
Leeking Information
Leeks are grown in sandy soil and need to be cleaned carefully. Leeks are best cleaned after chopping, as the sand often hides between the layers of the leek. To clean leeks, trim off the roots. Chop the leeks, using only the white part and about 1 inch of the pale green top, discarding the tops. (Some cooks use the dark green leek tops in stock, but I find they make the stock too dark.) Place the chopped leeks in a wire sieve and place under cold running water, mixing them with your hand to be sure that all the surfaces are rinsed well. You will be able to tell by touch if the leeks are still sandy. Drain completely.
Clam and Mushroom Soup
This recipe is based on one that I first enjoyed years ago at the Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco. While it is an excellent Thanksgiving soup, you’ll want to keep it in mind for other occasions, too. It is at its best with deeply flavored mushrooms, such as cremini or stemmed shiitakes, although regular mushrooms will work, too.
Makes 8 servings
Make Ahead: The clams can be prepared up to 6 hours ahead and the mushroom soup base up to 8 hours ahead.
3 dozen littleneck clams, well scrubbed
½ cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1½ pounds thinly sliced fresh mushrooms, preferably brown cremini, or white button mushrooms
½ cup finely chopped shallots
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3½ cups Homemade Turkey Stock 101 or Homemade Chicken Stock (pages 34 and 35), or canned reduced-sodium broth
1 teaspoon dried marjoram or thyme
¾ cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup crème fraîche or sour cream, at room temperature, for garnish
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
1.
Place the clams and wine in a Dutch oven or soup pot. Cover tightly and bring the wine to a boil over high heat. Cook, occasionally checking the progress of the clams, until the clams open, about 5 minutes. As the clams open, use kitchen tongs to transfer them to a large bowl. When the clams are cool, working over the bowl, remove the clam meat. Transfer the meat to a small bowl. Cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to use. (The clams can be prepared up to 6 hours ahead.)
