What's Cooking (Take Four)

[Jenise]

No dinner plans yet. I had wanted to invite friends over for that duck and bean dish but I'm a little under the weather with an ear infection. Going to just make myself a salad and lay low.

Stainless steel chopsticks! That's a good twig!

I just recently had a single square of s'mores. Good but that was enough... they're really sweet to my grown-up tastes.

Tonight we had chicken breasts with mole verde (no chocolate). And a couple of pumpkin pie slices from a giganto pie our financial adviser gave us. When it's gone, I may make a mincemeat pie.

[Jenise]

I've had salads two nights in a row now. Boring! But hey, I got out a big bunch of broccoli rabe, put it in a colander and rinsed it well but then changed my mind about cooking it and went with the salad instead. Left the rabe in the sink to drain overnight.

This morning: it's there, and it has turned yellow. WTF? Sitting out overnight in the dark it couldn't stay green?

I have to say that I've never tried yellowing a bunch of broccoli rabe on purpose. Let me add that to my to-do list... somewhere on page 2046, I think....

[Jenise]

to Jeff. I tore off all the yellow leaves, reducing the total quantity by about half, and went ahead and cooked it. I'll heat it later and serve it with vinegar and butter, the way I loved eating spinach as a child.

I'll be making coq au vin for Thanksgiving.

-Paul W.

I'll go to my brother's house tomorrow for a traditional TG dinner, and then I'll make my own version of the same on Saturday.

We got three invitations, which we'll do sequentially.

Stainless steel chopsticks! That's a good twig!

I just recently had a single square of s'mores. Good but that was enough... they're really sweet to my grown-up tastes.

Hi Jeff, not really chopsticks (could not recall the name at the time), they are actually the Kabob spears. I have not used them in a very long time... never got into the Kabob thing; just seemed like a lot of extra work to me. They sure are pretty, though.

Stainless steel chopsticks! That's a good twig!

I just recently had a single square of s'mores. Good but that was enough... they're really sweet to my grown-up tastes.

Hi Jeff, not really chopsticks (could not recall the name at the time), they are actually the Kabob spears. I have not used them in a very long time... never got into the Kabob thing; just seemed like a lot of extra work to me. They sure are pretty, though.

Kabobs are indeed a nice flourish (and encourage portion control) but all those pretty ingredients cook at different rates so I'm not really a fan.

My experience with kabobs has not been good. In addition to the various ingredients cooking at different rates I've always had the problem of the meat and veg rotating on the kabob sticks when I try to turn them, making it difficult to get them cooked evenly.

-Paul W.

My experience with kabobs has not been good. In addition to the various ingredients cooking at different rates I've always had the problem of the meat and veg rotating on the kabob sticks when I try to turn them, making it difficult to get them cooked evenly. -Paul W.

The secret is to use two kabob sticks parallel to each other. No food rotation.

Now why didn't I think of that? Great idea. Thanks.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I have cast iron kabob sticks that look like flattish twigs, they're rough and irregular which helps keep the food stable. I bought them at a discount place--TJ Maxx probably--and cannot understand for the life of me why such a great design wasn't copied by everyone.

[Jenise]

So the friends I had T dinner with don't eat dark meat (or wings) or even feed it to the dogs, so they kept the breasts and I brought home the rest of the 23 lb carcass. On Friday I removed the meat, then stewed the bones for a rich turkey broth. Then ate a bag of raisins for dinner.

So the friends I had T dinner with don't eat dark meat (or wings), and they don't even hang onto it to feed to the dogs so I brought home the entire 23 lb carcass. Removed tons of meat and turned the scraps into about 4 quarts of rich broth. Then ate a bag of raisins for dinner.

That is a crime. I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner at a friends one year. There were enough people they cooked 2 turkeys. Out of 25+ people only 3 ate the dark meat. I think they threw away 3 entire leg quarters. Had I known, I would have taken them.

I have a cousin who lives in the state of WA. She is a great cook and called me on Thanksgiving morning. She said she was stuffing roasted garlic into slits on a prime rib roast. I asked about cooking a turkey, and she said hardly anyone she knows does that anymore on T-day. She went on to say that most of her friends ( horse owners group) were tired of the huge amount of work a classic Turkey dinner takes, and they stopped doing it years ago. Most cooks make simple things like lasagna, taco bars, or simply an easy dinner that the family loves and can do in much less time. I was thinking they probably wanted to get out for a trail ride, but I remembered others here in town telling me the same thing. I think that is fine, and one should do whatever is best for their family.

I have a cousin who lives in the state of WA. She is a great cook and called me on Thanksgiving morning. She said she was stuffing roasted garlic into slits on a prime rib roast. I asked about cooking a turkey, and she said hardly anyone she knows does that anymore on T-day. She went on to say that most of her friends ( horse owners group) were tired of the huge amount of work a classic Turkey dinner takes, and they stopped doing it years ago. Most cooks make simple things like lasagna, taco bars, or simply an easy dinner that the family loves and can do in much less time. I was thinking they probably wanted to get out for a trail ride, but I remembered others here in town telling me the same thing. I think that is fine, and one should do whatever is best for their family.

You're right, of course, Karen. Everyone should do what works best for them. But a Thanksgiving Day taco bar?

We returned home from two weeks in Germany late on Wednesday night and then went to a friend's place for Thanksgiving dinner. After two weeks of fatty meat with rich gravy and potatoes/dumplings/spaetzle on the side and then a huge holiday meal, we wanted something light last night. Should probably have gone with Jenise's handful of raisins but I made Caldo Verde instead (using the Serious Eats recipe). Of course, it contains fatty sausage and potatoes, but at least there's plenty of broth in between! And kale! that makes it healthy.

[Jenise]

Our local market chain (Haggen) all package up turkey breasts with herbs for a simple white meat Tday roast. It would cost you a bit to make enough to feed a gang, but point is prime rib isn't the only solution--unless you want it to be.

But Dan--at our gathering the host took a poll and we were 3-2 for dark meat, but he in fact only cut a little which the other two Yes On Dark Meat people took and I barely got a bite. The problem that I observed is that he just doesn't have the setup for large carving so he really couldn't get to it--he was extracting the breast meat while the bird was still in the roasting pan--and he was using a cleaver which is a terrible choice for turkey-carving. He hacked at it like an ax, which of course you do if that's all you've got. He used to use a simple serrated steak knife, which was also a poor choice so I gifted him a proper chefs knife somewhere along the way. Wonder what happened to it.

This morning I have two thick, large cross-cut beef shanks, which I browned well on both sides in the slow cooker. Switched it to low cook and added onions, balsamic vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, rosemary sprigs, thyme sprigs, celery, carrots, a tasty red wine, tomato paste, San Marzano tomatoes cut up, and the juice. A cauliflower, potato mash with roasted garlic, a little butter, low-fat sour cream, and Fox Point Seasoning. A beautiful, gifted batch of green beans went into a pan with chicken broth, Marinara Sauce, a little red wine vinegar, Beau Monde, coarse Real Salt, and white pepper. Kitchen smells great, it is extremely foggy outside, and I am done cooking for the day.
Yesterday, my son and his wife came up from Sacramento and brought fresh crab, fresh bread, an artichoke dip, and a container of veggie soup. I provided fresh lemons from my tree, and my son made lemon butter for the crab.
The artichoke dip was for the bread, which I had never had bread that way - it was excellent.
We had a great visit, and they headed back home to feed the critters.

Jenise, my daughter in Ohio, had one of those all white turkey meat roasts, with the gravy. She made the dressing and the rest of the meal. Everyone loved the turkey roast, and she loves that she can get some easy, REAL turkey meat sandwiches with cranberry dressing this week!

[Jenise]

What would make a great T-day variation? That Turkey Cordon Bleu Jeff and I are so fond of.

What would make a great T-day variation? That Turkey Cordon Bleu Jeff and I are so fond of.

Yes, that is a winner. Another option is to switch-up the dressing: I used to do a Cornish Game Hen recipe that called for a fruit stuffing: basic butter/onion/crumb/herb mix but filled out with orange zest and green grapes. Really good and really different.