Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry is one of the key ingredients that is always present in my freezer. Within half an hour I can make the most delectable savory and sweet treats with this buttery puff pastry. The puff pastry can transform even the humble Thanksgiving leftovers into a scrumptious 5-star style dish!
I used Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry, that I got with a coupon received from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, to make these savory Sweet Potato Cranberry Napoleons. I made some of them with turkey and some just vegetarian. The vegetarian napoleons were wonderful by themselves and also make a good side dish for poultry or game.
Ingredients: (yields 6 napoleons)
2 sheet puff pastry
1 large sweet potato, baked, mashed (or use leftover sweet potatoes)
1-2 tablespoons maple syrup
Cranberry-orange relish (recipe here or use your leftover cranberry relish)
Goat cheese, crumbled
Leftover Turkey, chopped (optional)
Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 400°F. Cut each puff pastry sheet into 9 squares. Arrange on baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.
If using plain baked sweet potato, mash it and mix with maple syrup. Spread a layer of sweet potatoes on top a puff pastry square, followed by a layer of cranberry relish, and sprinkle with turkey (optional) and goat cheese. Top with another puff pastry square and repeat the sweet potato, cranberry, turkey, and goat cheese layers, then top with a third puff pastry square. Repeat with remaining puff pastry.
Lower the oven temperature to 350°F. Warm up the napoleons for about 5 minutes or until the goat cheese just start to melt.
Our Thanksgiving celebration was very special this year. Much of our family from New England joined together with our local area extended family in an unusually large gathering. There were a lot of hugs and laughter, and of course there was a lot of food. Since we hosted this holiday party, our theme this year was a Southern, Virginia-style Thanksgiving. Virginia has always claimed rights to the first Thanksgiving celebration by English settlers in America, predating even the famed Pilgrim feast in Massachusetts. We wanted to share a window into that world with a variety of dishes influenced by the region and local cuisine, though in the end the cuisine was unique in unforeseen ways, as you shall read below.
My turkey went through some adventures before it was roasted. As intended, I brined it in a mixture of apple cider, water, salt, brown sugar, and spices. The 22-pound turkey stayed in a brine for about 12 hours. Then, unfortunately the brining bag broke (despite double-bagging). As it broke around midnight, I couldn't get another set of bags in the store. So I rinsed the turkey and salted it in a mixture of salt and dry herbs overnight. In the morning, I rinsed the turkey, patted it dry, and rubbed a sage butter with a touch of truffle salt. Inside I placed onions, apples, and fresh herbs. Amazingly, the roast turkey turned out beautifully! It was perfectly cooked, succulent, and very flavorful.
To accompany the turkey, I made the Judie Byrd's Cornbread Stuffing, and a Giblet Gravy. I used the recipes for make-ahead gravy at Noble Pig and Beach Eats as my guidelines and made the gravy with the turkey neck and the giblets, as well as two turkey legs.
Relishes were a popular dish in Virgina during Colonial era. Inspired by the relishes we've tasted at At King’s Arms Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg, I created my own recipe for Corn, Ham, and Red Pepper Relish. The recipe can be found in my post from last Thanksgiving. The one addition this year was the pickled relish and of course I tripled number of ingredients to make a larger portion.
I used several recipes from The Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook: collard greens, red cabbage, and carrots. The Collard Greens were wonderfully tender, with excellent smoky flavors, resulting from my addition of chili powder.
The Port-Braised Red Cabbage, prepared by my mom, was really good, with just the right balance of acidity and sweetness.
The Carrots Glazed with Two Gingers, prepared with ground and crystallized ginger, were tasty, however, somewhat lacking in flavor; perhaps more seasoning was necessary in this dish.
I always love making Orzo "Crazins" Salad made with dried cranberries as one of the side dishes for Thanksgiving. It is such a colorful, festive salad and is easy to make a day ahead. You will find the recipe in my 5starfoodie.com collection.
My mother-in-law prepared a rich and delicious corn muffin pudding.
She also made fluffy buttery biscuits.
My husband's aunt brought a delightful Orange-Glazed Sweet Potatoes with gorgeous giant marshmallows melted on top.
Also among the side dishes were mashed potatoes made by my mom and a green salad with oranges and raspberries made by one of our cousins. The desserts, prepared by my husband's aunts and one of his cousins, included a traditional Pecan Pie as well as a cheesecake version, an Apple Pie, and a Sweet Potato Cheesecake.
The favorite dish of the night was the Savory Apples Au Gratin, a brand new recipe I created for this special dinner. The combination of apples with melted Gruyere and Emmentaler cheeses was incredible! Here's a recipe for a large portion and I am also planning to make a another version of this dish with individual mini servings that I will post about very soon.
Ingredients:
1 bag of Gala apples (about 6 pounds, or 15 cups of slices apples)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
12 ounces of Gruyere and Emmentaler cheese, shredded
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 350º. Peel and core the apples. Quarter the apples and cut each quarter into three slices. In a large bowl, toss the apples with nutmeg, salt, and black pepper. Mix in 2/3 of cheese mixture and 2/3 of panko bread crumbs.
Arrange in a large buttered casserole. Pour melted butter all over the apples. Sprinkle with the rest of cheese and panko bread crumbs.
Bake for approximately 1 hour or until golden. If already browning after 30 minutes, cover with foil for the rest of the baking time. Serve right away.
Sucre is a New Orleans based confectioner known for their delectable, hand-crafted artisan chocolates as well as their scrumptious pastries and macaroons, which are even Oprah-approved. They are located in the heart of the Garden District on Magazine Street and in addition to their home-made and hand-crafted chocolates and pastries, Sucre offers a variety of gelatos as well as gourmet coffees and even champagne for in-store guests. Everything created at Sucre is handmade from the finest ingredients available and inspired from local, homegrown flavors.
We really liked Sucre's Sugar & Spice Collection chocolate truffles featuring the flavors of the upcoming winter holidays. The three kinds of truffles included were gingerbread milk chocolate, candy cane white chocolate, and eggnog dark chocolate truffles.
We also enjoyed Coconut and Toasted Almonds Artisan Chocolate Bar consisting of delicious dark chocolate and coconut flakes and almonds at the bottom of the bar.
Sucre is offering a special Coupon to all readers of this post, valid through November 30:
FREE shipping ($9.95 value) on all orders over $70 per address Code: BONBON
***
5 Star Makeover Challenge Reminder: Create a TURKEY OR ANY OTHER THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS dish with a twist (such as modern, healthy, fusion, molecular gastronomy, seasonal, or adapting to a particular cuisine style). To participate, please post about your creation mentioning "5 Star Makeover" and linking to the original announcement. Then, send me an email at natasha@5starfoodie.com or leave a comment here with a link to your blog post. All already existing blog posts are welcome for submissions.Please send your entries by Sunday, December 6. The round-up will be posted on Monday, December 7.
***
With Thanksgiving and other family events coming up this week I will not be online as much as usual. I will still be on the email and responding to comments but probably not visiting as many blogs as I normally do. I will catch up with everyone's posts and hope to post a recap of my Thanksgiving meal sometime next weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!
Last week, I made Turkey Meatballs in Roasted Kumato Broth, a recipe I created as a part of Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program. I am excited to share that Shady Brook Farms chose it as a winning recipe. As my prize, I was fortunate to host a culinarian, Judie Byrd, at my house for a "Turkey Boot Camp"!
Judie Byrd is from Fort Worth, Texas. She started her culinary career by teaching busy moms how to cook in her own kitchen 24 years ago. She then founded The Culinary School of Fort Worth where people can earn professional chef certificates as well as take home cooking classes. Judie is the host of Judie Byrd's Kitchen, which airs weekdays at 5:00pm EST and Saturdays at 12:00am EST, on FamilyNet Cable TV.
It was great to get to meet Judie. She is such a warm person, and so easy to talk to. We talked a lot about family, shared cooking experiences, and traded information on interesting ingredients. She truly enjoys teaching people how to cook! This event was an incredible experience for my friends and me making a turkey feast with Judie, and I am very excited to share the details with all of you today.
Our menu focus was on the turkey leftovers which coincidentally is the theme for this month's 5 Star Makeover. One fabulous way to use those turkey leftovers, as Judie Byrd suggests, is to make Turkey Tamales!
Normally making tamales is considered quite time consuming, and Judie suggests to start the process of mixing the masa and soaking the husks a day ahead. However, with Judie, myself, and my two friends all working together quickly, we got those turkey tamales as well as green chile tamales done within a few hours. In fact, while the tamales were steaming, we made a corn bread from scratch, a Southwest Cornbread Dressing, and whipped up a 3 Chile Sauce for our tamales too!
The turkey tamales were wonderfully delicious and flavorful! I especially loved the addition of cumin and feta cheese in the filling.
The sauce, made with a mixture of Aji Amarillo, Pasilla Negro, and Ancho Chiles, added a nice touch of spice and smokiness.
The cornbread dressing was amazing! Judie's secret ingredient, crushed Fritos, added a depth of corn flavor and nice crunch. I am definitely making this cornbread dressing for my Thanksgiving dinner.
Judie had many wonderful Thanksgiving tips and she promised to send me a whole list that will share with you next week. Please enjoy the slide show of the step-by-step preparation pictures and Judie's recipes that we used to make our turkey tamale feast.
Tamales
Yield: 6 dozen tamales
Masa:
1 package (4 pounds) Instant Corn Masa
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cups salt or to taste
1 pound lard, Crisco or butter, melted
17 cups warm water, or as needed
2, 5-ounce bags corn husks, soaking in warm water to soften.
1. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Begin adding water, adding more or less as needed to make a thick paste. Add the first 10 cups of water and then add by 1 or 2 cups at a time. Dough should be very pliable and sticky.
2. Remove the husks from the water and stand in a bowl to drain. With a spoon, an offset metal spatula, or your fingers, spread about 3 tablespoons masa over the bottom 2/3 (larger end) of cornhusks, leaving about 3/4 inch clean at the smaller end of the husk. Place about 2 tablespoons of the meat in a small row, down the middle of the masa.Wrap the cornhusk sides closed and fold down the smaller end; stack on a large platter to hold.
3. Place extra husks in the bottom of a large stock pot, or several pots. On top of the corn husks, place a towel or dinner plate. Top with more husks. Add about 1 1/2 inches of water and place over high heat.When water begins to boil, add tamales, stacking them to the top of the pot. Cover with a plastic bag and then a lid or foil. Turn heat to low and steam one hour.
4. Remove one tamale to test for doneness. They will be done when the husk peels away from the masa without sticking. If not done, steam another 5 to 10 minutes.Tamales will be very soft at this point, but will firm up when cooled and reheated.
Supplies: large bowl such as a stainless steel, 18" - 20" bowl.
Turkey Cheese Tamale Filling
Yield: filling for about 2 dozen tamales
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 bell pepper, chopped
4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons salt or to taste
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
3 to 4 cups shredded cooked Shady Brook Farms or Honeysuckle White turkey
3 to 4 roasted, peeled, seeded poblano or Anaheim chile peppers, chopped
1/2 bunch scallions, sliced
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
6 ounces crumbled goat cheese or Monterrey Jack cheese, grated
1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and bell pepper and cook, stirring, until soft, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, jalapeno, chili powder, salt, cumin, and cayenne; cook and stir another minute.
2. Add chicken, chile peppers, scallions and cilantro, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove pan from the heat and let sit until cool enough to handle. When cool, fold in goat cheese.
Southwest Tamale Cornbread Dressing
Yield: about 10 cups
2 tablespoons butter
3 1/2 to 4 cups chicken or turkey broth
3 ribs celery, diced
1 1/2 cups herb-flavored stuffing mix
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 teaspoons dry rubbed sage or to taste
6 cups crumbled cornbread
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup crushed Fritos
2 poblano chilies, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped
4 or 5 tamales, roughly chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
Melt butter in a large skillet. Add celery and onions and cook until tender.
Add remaining ingredients and toss well.
Place in a lightly buttered casserole and bake at 350º for 1 hour, basting twice with turkey broth.
Charring Chiles:
Roasting chiles makes it easy to remove their peelings. Hold the chilies over the flame of your gas range or place them on a baking sheet until the broiler. You can also place them on the grill over hot coals. Cook them, turning often, until the skin is blistered and lightly charred. To steam, place the hot, charred chiles on a plate covered with a bowl or wrap in paper towels and place in a plastic bag. After a few minutes, gently peel off the skins.
They can now be sliced and served. To remove some of the heat from the chiles, slice open and remove the seeds and inside membranes.
Roasted chiles can be frozen peeled or unpeeled. If unpeeled, they can be peeled after defrosting
Mom's Cornbread
Yield: 9 servings
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1-2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 egg
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, milk and oil. Stir in the dry ingredients until well blended. Pour batter into the greased pan.
3. Bake 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
November is National Pomegranate Month, and I am celebrating this occasion by cooking with a new pomegranate liqueur, PAMA. This liqueur is made with pomegranate juice, vodka and a touch of imported tequila. It has a sweet berry aroma and a lovely tart taste of fresh pomegranates. PAMA is great in cocktails and can be used in many savory and sweet dishes as well.
Inspired by the flavors of PAMA, I created these Pomegranate Liqueur Poached Asian Pear Tartlets with lightly fried won ton wrapper rounds as a base and coconut milk whipped cream. PAMA Liqueur added a wonderful flavor and color to the pears and together with coconut cream, it is an amazing combination.
Ingredients: (4 tartlets)
1 Asian pear
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1/4 cup PAMA liqueur
1 can coconut milk, chilled
4 won ton wrappers, cut in rounds
Vegetable oil
Directions:
Peel and slice a pear in 4 rounds, cut the core out in a middle of each round to make a ring.
In a saucepan, melt butter. Add pears and sprinkle sugar on both sides to coat evenly. Cook on medium-high heat for a few minutes. Add pomegranate juice and liqueur, bring the liquids to boil, and then simmer until the pears are tender, for about 15 minutes. Cool.
Meanwhile, open the can of chilled coconut milk (must be chilled for at least 24 hours). Scoop the cream off the top and whip with a mixer until soft peaks form. Keep chilled until ready to assemble the tartlets.
Fill the pan with at least an inch of vegetable oil. Heat the oil and add the won ton rounds. Fry on both sides, until golden brown.
To assemble: Place a spoonful of coconut whipped cream on a fried wonton and top with a Asian pear ring. Garnish with Thai basil.
***
I would really appreciate your vote for my PAMA Poached Asian Pear Tartlets at Cooking with PAMA Contest. Please vote here! Thank you!!!
I am hosting Thanksgiving for a large number of people this year and will be roasting the biggest turkey I can find. But if you are looking to make a Thanksgiving dinner for 2-6 people, this turkey breast roast is a perfect solution. With only four ingredients and two hours of cooking time, this is an easy yet elegant meal. The Shady Brook Farms boneless turkey breast meat is smothered in truffle butter, sprinkled with coarse sea salt, and baked in convection oven for 2 hours. The resulting roast is moist, flavorful, and delicious.
I served this turkey breast roast with Cranberry Orange Relish and Fried Sunchokes.
Ingredients:
turkey breast roast
3 lb Shady Brook Farms Turkey Breast Roast
3-4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons truffles (preserved or fresh), chopped
Coarse sea salt to taste
cranberry orange relish
6 oz cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
Salt, pepper to taste
Heat convection oven to 350°F. Mix butter and truffles together. Take the turkey meat out of the netting, sprinkle with sea salt and smother with 3/4 of truffle butter inside and out. Put the meat back in the netting and place the skin on, spreading the rest of the butter over the top.
Place the turkey roast on a rack in the oven to roast for about two hours. When the turkey gets golden brown, cover loosely with foil. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes before carving.
cranberry orange relish
Place sugar, water, and orange juice in a pot. Bring to boil, add cranberries, and then simmer for about 10 minutes. Add Grand Marnier and cook for a few more minutes on high heat. Cool in the refrigerator.
fried sunchokes
Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet. Add sunchokes, garlic, and bacon pieces and fry on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Note: A slightly different version of fried sunchokes was actually part of my very first recipe post a year ago. You will find more information about sunchokes in that post.
***
Although there were no leftovers after this meal, most of all will have lots of leftovers after the actual Thanksgiving dinners. This month's 5 Star Makeover Challenge is to create a TURKEY OR ANY OTHER THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS dish with a twist (such as modern, healthy, fusion, molecular gastronomy, seasonal, or adapting to a particular cuisine style). To participate, please post about your creation mentioning "5 Star Makeover" and linking to this post. Then, send me an email at natasha@5starfoodie.com or leave a comment here with a link to your blog post. All existing blog posts are welcome for submissions. Please send your entries by Sunday, December 6. The round-up will be posted on Monday, December 7.
Forbes Travel Guide announced the 52nd Annual List of Four- and Five-Star Award winners. Forbes Travel Guide, formerly Mobil Travel Guide, is the original rating system for the best hotels, restaurants, and spas in North America. It has provided comprehensive ratings and reviews since 1958. In October 2009, Mobil Travel Guide became Forbes Travel Guide as a result of partnership with Forbes Media LLC.
For the 2010 ratings, 21 restaurants have been awarded five stars. This five-star restaurant list remains almost unchanged from the previous year.
Two new additions include:
The Penrose Room Restaurant in Colorado Springs, which is a lovely restaurant featuring classical cuisine and spectacular views of the mountains. It is located in the luxurious Broadmoor Resort hotel which has been awarded five stars for the record 50th year! This year, with its restaurant and spa also getting five star awards, it is a triple five-star award winner.
The second new five-star winner is the Fountain Restaurant in Philadelphia's Four Seasons Hotel. The restaurant's new Chef Rafael Gonzalez offers Modern American cuisine with French influences.
For more information on the five-star restaurants, please visit the 2010 5-Star Restaurant List where you will find detailed reviews of the first 10 five-star restaurants we have dined at so far.
As part of Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I have received several turkey products from Shady Brook Farms including turkey meatballs, bacon, and turkey breast roast. This weekend was pretty busy and I didn't really have that much time to spend in the kitchen, so turkey meatballs that are pre-cooked already were a great quick family meal solution. I served the meatballs in a delicious and flavorful roasted kumato tomato broth (read more about kumato tomato here).
Ingredients:
8 kumato tomatoes (small to medium size)
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1-2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon agave syrup
1/2 cup chicken stock
Salt, pepper to taste
Shady Brook Farms Italian Style Turkey Meatballs
Spaghetti, cooked
Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 400°F. Cut tomatoes in half and arrange on a baking rack. Brush lightly with olive oil. Place garlic cloves on the same rack and drizzle with additional olive oil. Roast for about 20 minutes.
Peel garlic and tomatoes. Blend well with agave syrup and chicken stock and strain. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Place kumato tomatoes in a pot and bring to boil. Place the turkey meatballs in the broth and simmer for 15 minutes.
To serve: Arrange a handful spaghetti in a circle around the edges of a bowl. Place meatballs in the center and pour the broth all over.
We spent last year's New Year's Eve at one of our favorite 5 star restaurants, The Inn at Little Washington. Our magical evening started with a spectacular amuse-bouche consisting of four tasting spoons with a rock shrimp with avocado, a tasty slurp of oyster, a crunchy bite of pear wrapped in prosciutto, and a delightfully refreshing beet horseradish and cranberry mousse. For me, the beet horseradish and cranberry mousse was especially memorable and I decided to create my own version of this special dish.
Ingredients:
1 medium beet
6 ounces cranberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
Salt to taste
3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
1-2 tablespoons horseradish powder (optional)
1 cup cream
Directions:
Cook the beet in a boiling salted water until tender, about 20-30 minutes. Peel and cut up in small pieces.
Combine cranberries, sugar, and water in a small pot. Bring to boil. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over the chicken stock and let it soften. Add to the cranberries, lower the heat, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add beets, cranberries, and horseradish to the food processor and blend. Strain the mixture. Season with salt and horseradish powder for additional heat.
In a separate bowl, whip the cream to soft peaks. Fold in the beet horseradish cranberry mixture. Divide into serving glasses or ramekins and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
These goat cheese grape fritters are easy and quick to make and would be perfect to serve for an autumn brunch. The creamy goat cheese, plum juicy grapes, and crunchy panko are a delicious combination.
I will be submitting this recipe to the Alouette and Chavrie's First Annual Facebook Fan Recipe Contest. Original recipes featuring either Alouette brie products or Chavrie's goat cheese are accepted and the winning recipes will get a $100 gift cards to Cooking.com. More details about the contest can be found at Alouette or Chavrie facebook pages.
Ingredients: (makes about 10 fritters)
4 ounces goat cheese (Chavrie Original Log)
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 egg
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup seedless red grapes, halved
Panko breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil
Directions:
Crumble the goat cheese into a large bowl. Add sugar, flour, egg, salt, and vanilla. Mix well until smooth. Fold in the grapes.
Fill the skillet with oil to about 1 inch. Place panko breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl. Drop spoonfuls of batter in the panko and coat on all sides, then place on the skillet. Cook on medium heat quickly, about a minute on each side, until golden. Serve with additional grapes.
