Turkey Day Stuff
Nov. 23rd, 2003 12:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxInspired from Fen's and Barb's turkey day discussion, I'm taking a page out of Fen's book and putting a couple of recipes up. Nothing earth shaking. These are pretty much traditional (at least as I know it.) fare learned from family and why the measurements all tend to be so loose. It's mostly "yeah, that looks right" in proportions.
Southern Pecan Pie
First sautee 1/2 stick butter until golden. Toss in 1 1/2 cup of pecan halves, sautee. Toss them into a cookie pan and toast them. It truly does make a huge difference in the taste of the pie to do this extra step.
Sautee 1/2 cup butter in boiler until golden.
add:
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup (Go ahead and buy Karo. I've tried the generics. Generics aren't as good.)
stirr on low heat until sugar has dissolved.
Cool.
In bowl combine:
4 eggs beaten
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
SLOWLY pour melted sugar into the eggs (about half) and then the eggs into the sugar (basically just the technique usually employed to ensure eggs don't curdle when you're trying to add hot stuff.
Throw in the pecans.
Pour into unbaked 9 inch pie shell (sidenote: my personal preference is for an almost tart-like pecan pie. For that reason I don't use deep dish here but shallow. Therefore this recipe tends to make 2 pies and not 1. I prefer a nuttier-tarte like thing than a thick gooey layer. But, that's a personal preference).
Bake at 325F for 55 minutes. Serve warm or cool (though not hot. It's runny then.
Cornbread Dressing (you say stuffing, I say dressing :)
Cornbread:
1cup self-rising cornmeal
1/2 cup self-rising flour
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Pre-heat oven to 450F. Grease up shallow pan (or better... black iron skillet also pre-heated in oven for about 5 minutes) Mix ingredients together. Pour in skillet. Bake approximately 25-30 minutes...pretty much until lightly golden and springy to touch.
Cool and crumble cornbread into a buttered glass cooking dish
Dressing:
In skillet, sautee in butter (I don't always measure. You need a fair amount of butter to sautee all of this) --
1 large onion (chopped... about 1/4 inch squares)
2 cups chopped celery. (2 or 3 stalks)
Carmelize the onion. Sautee until both onion and celery are transluscent.
You need around 3 cups chicken (or turkey) broth (use more broth if you like the dressing soupy. My family tends to prefer it a bit more toasted). Heat the broth with a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary and sage - optional. (I don't know why most recipes only show sage. In my family it's the rosemary that's the essential herb in this dish not the sage. Hm.. don't know how or why that got started. But definitely fresh rosemary... usually stolen from my back yard because for some reason my sister's rosemary always dies and the rosemary in my back yard has gone wild are are basically BUSHES at this point.)
salt, pepper, and season to taste
mix the broth, 2 large eggs (beaten), about 1 cup milk and pour over over cornbread (it's just striking me that this is basically a savory cornbread pudding, isn't it?) bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes.
Cranberry Chutney
This one is basically recipe-less. I used to have a recipe. I lost it. Now I just sort of... make it. So this is largely pouring the ingredients together and tasting as you go.
1 bag of fresh cranberries. Chop/minced (pull out the food processor. The year I cut them by hand took freaking forever).
Toss chopped cranberries into boiler. Add a cup or so of brown sugar.
toss in a handfull of zante currants
chop 8 or 9 dried apricots
dash of cinnamon and nutmeg
add 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
grate fresh ginger into it
(yes this is a sweet/spicey thing and if you're not careful it can become fiery hot... which is all up to you. Basically, play with it until you like the taste. You can add a dash of orange juice, orange zest, triple sec, or grand marnier if you would like.
This is actually best made ahead of time. The flavors meld when it's given hours (or a day) to 'rest' and the hot taste melds with the sweet. As I said, I've long since lost the original recipe. Now I just remember the ingredients and play with it every year. It's a fairly flexible recipe. Serve with turkey and dressing.
Southern Pecan Pie
First sautee 1/2 stick butter until golden. Toss in 1 1/2 cup of pecan halves, sautee. Toss them into a cookie pan and toast them. It truly does make a huge difference in the taste of the pie to do this extra step.
Sautee 1/2 cup butter in boiler until golden.
add:
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup (Go ahead and buy Karo. I've tried the generics. Generics aren't as good.)
stirr on low heat until sugar has dissolved.
Cool.
In bowl combine:
4 eggs beaten
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
SLOWLY pour melted sugar into the eggs (about half) and then the eggs into the sugar (basically just the technique usually employed to ensure eggs don't curdle when you're trying to add hot stuff.
Throw in the pecans.
Pour into unbaked 9 inch pie shell (sidenote: my personal preference is for an almost tart-like pecan pie. For that reason I don't use deep dish here but shallow. Therefore this recipe tends to make 2 pies and not 1. I prefer a nuttier-tarte like thing than a thick gooey layer. But, that's a personal preference).
Bake at 325F for 55 minutes. Serve warm or cool (though not hot. It's runny then.
Cornbread Dressing (you say stuffing, I say dressing :)
Cornbread:
1cup self-rising cornmeal
1/2 cup self-rising flour
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Pre-heat oven to 450F. Grease up shallow pan (or better... black iron skillet also pre-heated in oven for about 5 minutes) Mix ingredients together. Pour in skillet. Bake approximately 25-30 minutes...pretty much until lightly golden and springy to touch.
Cool and crumble cornbread into a buttered glass cooking dish
Dressing:
In skillet, sautee in butter (I don't always measure. You need a fair amount of butter to sautee all of this) --
1 large onion (chopped... about 1/4 inch squares)
2 cups chopped celery. (2 or 3 stalks)
Carmelize the onion. Sautee until both onion and celery are transluscent.
You need around 3 cups chicken (or turkey) broth (use more broth if you like the dressing soupy. My family tends to prefer it a bit more toasted). Heat the broth with a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary and sage - optional. (I don't know why most recipes only show sage. In my family it's the rosemary that's the essential herb in this dish not the sage. Hm.. don't know how or why that got started. But definitely fresh rosemary... usually stolen from my back yard because for some reason my sister's rosemary always dies and the rosemary in my back yard has gone wild are are basically BUSHES at this point.)
salt, pepper, and season to taste
mix the broth, 2 large eggs (beaten), about 1 cup milk and pour over over cornbread (it's just striking me that this is basically a savory cornbread pudding, isn't it?) bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes.
Cranberry Chutney
This one is basically recipe-less. I used to have a recipe. I lost it. Now I just sort of... make it. So this is largely pouring the ingredients together and tasting as you go.
1 bag of fresh cranberries. Chop/minced (pull out the food processor. The year I cut them by hand took freaking forever).
Toss chopped cranberries into boiler. Add a cup or so of brown sugar.
toss in a handfull of zante currants
chop 8 or 9 dried apricots
dash of cinnamon and nutmeg
add 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
grate fresh ginger into it
(yes this is a sweet/spicey thing and if you're not careful it can become fiery hot... which is all up to you. Basically, play with it until you like the taste. You can add a dash of orange juice, orange zest, triple sec, or grand marnier if you would like.
This is actually best made ahead of time. The flavors meld when it's given hours (or a day) to 'rest' and the hot taste melds with the sweet. As I said, I've long since lost the original recipe. Now I just remember the ingredients and play with it every year. It's a fairly flexible recipe. Serve with turkey and dressing.
