turkey meatballs dijonnaise

How was your Thanksgiving?  I was invited to my daughter and family celebration on Friday - oh my, what a groaning table!

I came early to make the pumpkin roll (which I forgot to take a picture of), while Izzie (above) made a giant apple pie and my daughter tended Mr. Turkey - oh, the aromas in the kitchen were making our stomachs rumble.  And when we sat down, it was all just perfect.  What a great dinner - but I forgot to bring home leftovers!  I picked up some ground turkey yesterday and was mulling over what kind of meatball I would make, and wanted a creamy sauce.  Well, how about a dijonnaise sauce?  I found a recipe in one of the Silver Palate books and it was all that I wanted on this cold, rainy day - creamy, mustardy, not too spicy - just right.

It would be nice with some buttered noodles, if you're making it for a family dinner, and a green salad or roasted brussels sprouts, but a small plate of meatballs was just perfect for me.

Turkey meatballs dijonnaise

1 one pound package ground turkey (I always get Jennie-O)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/3 cup prepared dijon mustard (or you can use coarse-ground)

several grindings of black pepper

a few tablespoons dry vermouth or dry white wine

pinch of thyme

1/2 cup (or more) heavy cream

tiny pinch of salt after tasting the cooked meatballs (the mustard has a lot of salt in it)

Roll the ground turkey into medium meatballs.

Melt the butter in a skillet set on medium heat.

Add the mustard, pepper,thyme, and vermouth and heavy cream and whisk, then add the meatballs.  

Cook on medium-low heat, watching the meatballs carefully, and turning them with a spoon as they cook.

Remove meatballs to a serving dish, scraping the sauce over them, or, if the sauce has soaked into the meatballs, just add another 1/3 cup heavy cream to the skillet and heat.

Drizzle the hot sauce over the meatballs and sprinkle with minced parsley.

Enjoy!

I pass this enormous tree on the sidewalk everyday - now that the snow has melted, this little bouquet of green leaves nestled in the roots of the tree is a happy sight -   

Thanksgiving - and welcome, December!

My first Thanksgiving in Minnesota was a joyously delicious one : I used Ina's recipe for her make-ahead turkey (don't ask why, because it was completely spontaneous) - it was perfectly cooked, tender, and moist , though my daughter missed the traditional stuffed turkey.  My daughter made those beautiful apple flowers, which I would love to learn how to make, AND a cranberry pie.  Mashed potatoes, and I'm quite sure we had salad and a green vegetable, but I've forgotten.   Almost as soon as we had cleaned up after Thanksgiving, we woke up to five inches of beautiful fluffy snow - the first snow I've seen out here.  I hope your Thanksgiving was delicious and warming, with friends and family, or thoughts of family.  And now - onto getting supplies to make these reindeer cookies with the grandchildren- and looking for a few sleds and a hill to race down!  Happy December 1st!

happy snowy Thanksgiving!

I hope you are all enjoying family and friends and delicious food today!  We have a surprise Thanksgiving snowstorm, which began quietly late yesterday afternoon:

When I got up at 5:30 am, it looked like this (all 14'-16" of it), beautiful, but so much! Sporadic power outages all day, but for now, the power is holding.  Chocolate-cherry cake in the oven, crossing fingers the oven will stay on for at least another half hour .   

Love and blessings to you all on this Day of Thanksgiving....




Oh, this came out just lovely:  warm chocolate- dark cherry cake:

Fresh Cranberry muffins with orange zest and nutmeg

After several very chilly days, this morning was sunny and warm enough to skip the wool coat I've been wearing lately - and the weather and it being a Sunday morning, I was in a baking mood.

Let's see:  apples, oranges, bananas and an avocado in the fruit bowl.  Fresh cranberries in the fridge, ah-HAH.  A perfect morning for these fresh, colorful and perky cranberry muffins!

It's interesting to remember these were my son's favorite muffins for quite a while.  Most of my other muffins were full of butter and cream, milk and yogurt, but these cranberry muffins were the ones he loved.  Much later he discovered he was dairy intolerant , which of course explains it - but even though I don't have a problem with dairy products, I love these for the tang and color of the cranberries and the hint of orange.  Definitely a festive start to Thanksgiving Day breakfast!

To make:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease two Texas size muffin tins with vegetable shortening.

3 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
5 tablespoons canola oil or vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
the zest from a large orange
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
2 extra large eggs

Measure flour, baking powder, sugar and nutmeg into mixer bowl.  Mix briefly.
Add the canola oil, orange zest, orange juice, and eggs and mix.
Stir in the cranberries by hand until well blended.
For large Texas size muffins, I use two scoops of batter using an ice cream scoop - for normal size muffins I would use 1 large scoop plus a tablespoon of batter per muffin.
Place muffin tins in the upper third of the oven and bake for 25 minutes (if you use frozen berries it will be longer) or until tops are golden and firm when gently pressed on top.
Remove to a cooling rack for ten minutes, then run a dull knife around each muffin and gently set to cool on the cooling rack.

This makes about 10 Texas size muffins.

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Morning, 8 am

I had a beautiful day and night with my daughter and a quick visit from my son and his fiancee (who had to manage four family visits) - a quiet but peaceful day.  Hope your day was wonderful as well!

the best fresh orange and cranberry scones

A second batch of those orange and cranberry scones this morning,  as I wanted to make some fresh ones up for my neighbors, and for a chef friend who wanted the recipe, as well as a taste.  As I pulled the new batch out of the oven, I realized I had overbaked yesterday's scones.  These were gorgeous!  They were both tender and full of that fresh orange and cranberry burst of tangy, but this mornings batch were much prettier.  

I also remembered a trick I had seen somewhere - grating the cold butter on a cheese grater to make it thinner and easier to incorporate with the flour mixture.  I liked that method a lot, so will use it in the future.

The recipe:

Preheat oven to 380F.
Line a baking sheet with clean foil or parchment.

2 cups King Arthur all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
good pinch of kosher salt
2 teaspoons orange zest, freshly grated
1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, grated on a cheese grater
1 small egg, slightly beaten with a fork
1/4 cup sour cream (I used Hood's full-fat)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (about 1/2 large orange)
Optional:  1/4 cup water if mixture is too dry
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
sparkling sugar for the tops of the scones

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixer bowl.
Toss in the shaved butter and orange zest and mix briefly with a spoon.

In a small bowl, beat the egg and whisk in the sour cream and orange juice.  Add to the flour mixture and briefly turn on the mixer paddle.  Stop the mixture and add the dried and fresh cranberries and mix briefly until dough forms a ball.  Do not over mix.  If the dough seems dry, or there is still flour at the bottom of the bowl, add the 1/4 cup water and mix until cranberries are blended into the dough.

Turn out dough onto a floured board or counter.  Roll into a 7 inch circle, then slice into 8 triangles, and place on baking sheet.  

Sprinkle scones with sugar and bake for 19 minutes.

These are wonderful for your pre-Thanksgiving dinner company, and would be very pretty wrapped in cello and nestled in a basket or bowl for Christmas giving.  Very Martha:)

We've had brief flurries of snow, oddly mostly at night or very early in the morning, when it's barely light.  My hummingbird bird bath is frozen, and I imagine my little winter birds with tiny skates, taking a twirl....  have a Happy Thanksgiving!

tender cranberry-orange scones

I've been a little disappointed in my favorite scone recipes lately, so when I saw this recipe in  The Boston Globe on Wednesday, I leaped at the chance to try it.  One unusual ingredient was a little sour cream, but the rest was fairly close to my usual scone recipes.  I did mull over what might be the cause of less-fluffy scones the last few batches, and wondered if it was my very old KitchenAid mixer.

So I rummaged through my kitchen oddment basket and came up with the lovely pastry blender I bought as a flea market a long time ago.  This is a hand tool that insures the butter and flour or sugar don't get too warm if you're mixing with your hands;  or too over-beaten when using a stand mixer.  Whether it was the new recipe or the pastry blender, the scones came out light and fluffy and full of the tang of fresh orange juice, orange zest, and fresh and dried cranberries.  This is a keeper, and perfect for the holidays coming up, when hungry company arrives before the table is set  - or wrapped in cello and nestled in a basket for giving.  Just make sure the scones completely cool before packaging.


Tender Cranberry-Orange Scones:

Preheat oven to 380F.
Line a baking sheet with clean foil or parchment.

• 2 cups King Arthur all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• good pinch of kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into tiny pieces
• 1 small egg, beaten slightly with a fork
• 1/4 cup sour cream (I used Hood's full fat)
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• Optional:  1/4 cup water if mixture is too dry
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
• sparkling sugar for sprinkling on top

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixer bowl.

Add the butter pieces and mix with the pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly.  Add the orange zest and mix in with a spoon.

In another bowl, beat the egg and whisk in the sour cream and orange juice.

Add to the flour mixture and use the mixer paddle to briefly mix.  Stop the mixer and add the fresh and dried cranberries, and stir with a spoon.  If the mixer is too dry, add 1/4 cup water.  Mix with the paddle very briefly, then turn dough onto a floured board.

Gently pat the dough into a 7 inch circle, then slice into 8 triangles.

Place the triangles on the baking sheet and sprinkle with sparkling sugar before baking.

Bake for approximately 19 minutes, or until scones are gently toasted on top.

Using a spatula, remove scones to a cooling rack for five or ten minutes before eating.

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

the days after

I am still enjoying all the pleasures of our leftovers, including this simple soup, another one with pasta, spinach, thyme, roasted turkey and turkey stock, and chickpeas .  The soup pot is always going, nice to share with family and friends ~

My camera got so excited by our dinner it went on the blink, but a replacement is winging its way to me.......hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  And now I hear *snow* is on the way!

Here is Mr. Turkey just before going into a 340F oven:  I stuffed him with celery, leeks, rosemary, half a lemon, and lots of thyme then dipped two pieces of cheesecloth into a melted butter/olive oil mixture,  and covered him up carefully, basting several times during the 4 hours roasting.  I'm not sure what his weight was - I threw away the wrapper the night before when I washed him and stuck him into the fridge.  I tried weighing him on my scale, but it said he was either 12 pounds - or 16:)  I learned this cheesecloth method from my Baltimore-born stepmother, and it results in a perfectly moist turkey.  I tried a Jenny-O fresh turkey this year and was very happy with it.  I would have loved a local turkey, but it was just too expensive for my budget.

And here is my daughter digging into the creamed onions!  Boy, those went fast - I think I got one:)

roasted squash quarters with arugula, goat cheese, and pomegranate

(click on photo to see a beautiful closeup)

Ever since I saw a photo of this from Gourmande in the Kitchen on Pinterest, I've been longing to make it, or a version of it.  I was going to make it for Thanksgiving, but a birthday lunch suddenly materialized, and made it I did.  

Oh, MY.   It was delicious to look at, delicious to eat.  My recipe is a little different, adding the fresh pomegranate juice to the reduction and glowing juicy pomegranate kernels, but basically the same.  This is the prettiest, easiest vegetable side that just begs to be on your Thanksgiving table.   Amazingly, the kids (2 years and 6 years) loved it!

To make you will need:

2 acorn squashes, cut into quarters and seeded
a little olive oil
baby arugula
goat cheese
a fresh pomegranate, split
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons of squeezed fresh juice from above pomegranate
1 T. honey
salt as desired

Preheat oven to 400F.

Drizzle olive oil on a baking sheet.  Rub the cut edges of the squash in the oil, then arrange fairly tightly together on the baking sheet.

Roast until the squash pieces are soft, remove from oven to cool.

In a small saucepan, simmer the vinegar, pomegranate juice , and honey until it is reduced to almost a syrup.  Remove from heat.

Assemble the squash on a long platter, or on individual plates:

Drizzle about a teaspoon of the sauce in the middle of each squash quarter.
Add a small handful of the arugula on top of the sauce.
Using a fork or your fingers, place small chunks of goat cheese on top of the arugula.
Sprinkle with fresh pomegranate seeds.

Happy eating, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

tiny ginger scones

It's been chilly the last several days - woodstove and hot coffee weather, but also perfect for  walks.  I almost stepped on these beautiful, tiny Princess Pines, not even six inches tall,  but stepped aside just in time.  When I first moved here, I used to dig them up and arrange them in pots with paperwhite bulbs, but they always yellowed and faded away, so now I just admire them where I find them growing naturally, leaving them untouched.

Of course, I needed a little something to go with that lovely cup of coffee, so I made a batch of tiny ginger scones, sprinkled inside and out with diced crystallized ginger.  Not much bigger than 2 inches by 4 inches ( though you can make them even smaller, if you want) they were just the right size for a nibble, and very easy to whip up. Because ginger is such a warming spice, it's perfect for these autumn days.

Tiny Ginger Scones

Preheat oven to 400F.
Line a baking sheet with clean foil, shiny side up.

2 cups King Arthur flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
6 T. cold unsalted butter, cut into dice
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
good pinch of kosher salt
1/2 cup crystallized ginger, snipped into small dice with scissors, plus a little more for the scone tops
a little bit of beaten egg for an egg wash

Place flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in food processor.  Mix briefly.

Add the cubes of cold butter and process just until the butter is incorporated into the dry mixture, making coarse crumbs.  

Scrape mixture into mixing bowl, and add the buttermilk, the egg, and the snipped ginger, making sure you have some of the diced ginger for the scone tops.  Mix just until the dough comes together.

Pat the dough out on a slightly floured counter into a log shape.  Mine was about 2 inches by I don't remember, maybe 14" or more.  Square it off with your palms, then cut the dough into squares, which you then cut diagonally into triangles.  It just seemed to be easier that way to get nicely shaped scones.  This made 14 little scones.

Remove scones to baking sheet, brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with the diced ginger.
Bake for 18 minutes, or until slightly browned on top.

Remove to a cooling rack then enjoy with unsalted butter.  I just realized these would be wonderful for Thanksgiving Day breakfast or tea time with family and friends!  

the annual Thanksgiving meltdown and a few last minute recipes

Sigh. Here it comes, that holiday meltdown, when I begin with a brilliantly conceived menu, and slowly descend into the mania of menu anxiety. I start here, and end up THERE, I worry. I shop, but while I remember the turkey and the extra toilet paper, I forget the rapini, that was carefully written in as the extra veg, I am suddenly seized with worry that our gluten-free, dairy-free recipe plan this year will not be enough – that everyone will surely starve. I fiddle with vegetable dishes, desserts, and sides and soups, moving them around on paper until ( hopefully) they re-assemble into a calm, Martha Stewart-like celebration I'm hoping for. And just as I heave a sigh after the feast has been presented, the children and guests have dug in with enthusiasm, just as the last glass of seltzer, the last cup of coffee is emptied – everyone leaves. And I do the dishes.

I am delighted tonight to talk with a new guest arriving tomorrow with her toddler - she laughed when she heard me say we would be having homemade cranberry sauce - and Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce, which I have always loved. "You mean the cranberry sauce that looks like the can?" And of course, that IS what it looks like as you decant it.

Here are a few of the recipes that might come in handy during your last minute frenzy:

Apple cobbler

Gluten-free, dairy free chocolate coconut pudding pots

Fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate

Butternut Squash soup with Indian spices

Mushroom Soup

CREAMED ONIONS!

Fluffy Green Salad

Brussels Sprouts Chiffonnade

It may take some time to hook up the links, but you can also check the blog, if you're impatient.

Live, laugh, and love your Thanksgiving ! Have a wonderful day!