This Thanksgiving will be my first spent with my husband’s family. Thanksgiving is a very big deal with their clan, and there will be much eating & drinking involved.
What I want to do is to find a recipe that will stun everyone, either by its uniqueness, simplicity, appearance, or intricacy. Of course, it should be dead tasty too.
Do you have some sort of killer mystery recipe stuffed up your sleeve? I don’t care if it’s entree, appetizer, dessert, or what. I just want to have fun with it and also impress the in-laws while I’m at it.
It will also be interesting to hear what people come up with in terms of unusual recipes.
My own recipe, for the record, is a killer chocolate bread pudding with kahlua cream sauce. I’ll dig it up and post it here.
If you can get the proper ingredients, a good tiramisu is hard to beat, and if presented in wine glasses or other individual servings can be quite impressive. Here is a link to a bunch of recipes.
Baked mushrooms with hot italian sausage is a Thanksgiving tradition in our family. I don’t believe the recipe has ever been written down, but I’ll give it a go.
A dozen large (2" to 3" caps) white mushrooms, cleaned
1 lb. hot italian sausage
1 egg
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
Extra-virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 350 F. Brush the bottom of a large baking dish with the olive oil. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop. Mix chopped mushrooms, sausage, and egg together in a large bowl. (Use your hands to mix). Add bread crumbs until texture is “right” (you’re looking for something close to a meatball or meatloaf texture). Stuff the caps with the sausage mixture, and place them in a single layer in the baking dish. Bake for around 45-60 minutes. If you like, turn the oven up to broil for a couple minutes at the end to brown the tops.
I’ve got many killer recipes. The two I can think of right now are spinach-artichoke dip (way better than anything I’ve ever had dining out) and eclair cake (sorta like a giant cream puff). Let me know if you want the recipes and I’ll post 'em. (I don’t have access to them right now.)
I have so little regard for Martha Stewart it’s not funny, but she does know her way with Brussels sprouts. Her recipe for BS with browned butter is a hit every time I make it. People who HATE sprouts, and there are an awful lot of them, love these. It’s a bit of a pain, but since they’re so good, you won’t mind. Trim about 3 lbs of sprouts, removing all nasty/yellowed leaves. Cut a cone-shaped piece out of the root end[not really a root, this is the part that was attached to the central stem of the plant]. This helps the sprout to cook evenly and quickly. Pack them into a steamer basket, cut side down, and steam for 5-7 minutes, depending on size. You want to cook them enough so you can separate each sprout into its individual leaves, time-consuming, but essential. The sprouts should still be their original bright yellowish-green color. The leaves should not be limp, crisp-tender or al dente is what you want.You’ll wind up with a rather large amount, I’ve done this for several dinners where it’s all eaten, no leftovers at all, dammit. Pour on browned butter, made from 8 tablespoons of butter[the French term is beurre noisette,any pretentious cookbook will have the procedure] salt and pepper. Fold everything to combine, and serve. You can prepare the sprouts several hours ahead, leave them covered and in a warm spot in the kitchen. Microwave briefly to warm them up just before serving. Not too much, they’re already cooked. Overcooked sprouts are disgusting. The butter can be made days ahead and refrigerated/frozen. Nuke it so it becomes pourable when you’re about to complete the dish. These are good fresh, at room temp, or if you’re lucky enough, reheated the next day with leftovers.
Someone gave me a tip for stuffing once, and I don’t remember who it was but I wanted to kiss him/her when I finally tried it out: The more interesting the bread, the more interesting the stuffing.
I also make a pumpkin cheesecake that is to die for, with a gingersnap/hazelnut crust and Frangelico for flavoring. Recipe on request.
I don’t usually watch Marth Stewart and I rarely try any of her recipes because I don’t believe any recipe for baked potatoes shoudl start with planting. But, I was home sick one day and stumbled across this one. All she did was slice and equal amount of carrots and parsnips–not too thin–pour a little olive oil over them and mix so they’re all lightly coated, sprinkle salt and pepper over them and mix, then spread them out on a large baking sheet and bake them until they are brown. These taste so good!
If you’re looking for a stunning dessert that’s really easy, too, go to your library and get any of the Cake Mix Doctor’s cookbooks. All her recipes use regular cake mixes that are doctored a little to jazz them up and they’re amazing! The frosting recipes are also really simple and the end result looks so professional and tastes like it comes from a bakery–a really good bakery.
Very simple and very good. It’s an old family recipe.
CRANBERRY RELISH
12 oz. can cranberries (real cranberries, not the jellied stuff)
2 cups sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 c. of orange marmalade
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Put berries into ovenproof dish or pan (9x13). Stir in the sugar and lemon juice. Cover pan tightly with foil and bake at 350 for one hour. While mixture is still hot, mix in thoroughly orange marmalade and nuts. Stir all together well and chill, or serve warm.
Snow pea greens. It’s the young stalk of the snow pea plant. You can find them in some Asian grocery stores… they look sort of like Spinach in color, but a bit more stalky vs. leafy. Stir fry them in lots of garlic just before serving.
People will be going “what the heck is this!? It’s so good?” It’s slightly bitter like all dark greens but has the sweet taste of peas in there too. They are seriously the most delicious greens out there, and very healthy into the bargain.
