Posted on 11/17/2016 4:35:04 PM PST by Jamestown1630
Especially at this time of year, I’m a fan of ‘finger food’ that can be made ahead, frozen, and ready in just minutes in the event of impromptu visitors. Nothing fits this bill better than the Gougere, a light savory ‘puff’ of cheesy pastry that goes wonderfully with cocktails and freezes very well. There are many variations on the Gougere, but this one is basic and classic:
http://chezbonnefemme.com/recipes/gougeres/
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Last Thanksgiving, I took the advice of Freeper ‘boatbums’, and we dry-brined our turkey for the first time; it really was the best turkey we’ve had, even though we made the mistake of letting it go at 450 degrees for nearly the entire cooking time! So I thought I’d post again the link to the instructions we used. I’ve never eaten turkey breast meat that turned out as moist and succulent as last year’s turkey did, so we’re going to do it again this year:
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/18/food/fo-calcook18"
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Lastly, a recipe I found today and haven’t tried, but which looks like another very interesting ‘finger food’ for parties, and perfect for Thanksgiving: ROSEMARY PECAN GOAT CHEESE TRUFFLES, from thecafesucrefarine.com, a really nice husband-wife cooking blog:
thecafesucrefarine.com/2016/03/rosemary-pecan-goat-cheese-truffles/
I hope that everyone enjoys a very happy and meaningful Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be grateful for this year.
-JT
Notice that the filling recipe given is extra spicy.
That’s to accommodate the luscious dulce de leche awaiting you at the bottom of your pie wedge.
can someone enlightened me about them.....do you have to use lard and why is it important to use dried apples?...
I didn’t realize that you could brine a kosher turkey; the conventional wisdom when I began brining was just ‘don’t’. But in today’s Washington Post food section there’s an article entitled, ‘Don’t brine a kosher bird? I do it every year’, by Lou Marmon. The article explains the koshering process, and why the bird isn’t salted long enough to be truly brined.
On the same page, there’s also a great leftover recipe for a Turkey and Cranberry Sriracha Strata by Dorie Greenspan that looks very interesting.
-JT
I'm doing Thanksgiving today because we're eating out in NYC on Thursday. I can't stop cooking just because of that! We had snow last night.
Happy Thanksgiving :-)
I can only recall one Thanksgiving time when we had any snow...
Thank you! I’ll check in later in the week to wish you one!
BTW, the leaves on the pie did not droop. Of course, the middle didn’t set properly to make up for the leaves looking gorgeous...
If I tried that, it would look like such a disaster! You are an artist!
You should see my schedule. Today I will shop... with everyone else on the planet... Then I have cooking tasks every day. I’d like to have most of it pre-readied for thanksgiving. I’m trying to do both the mashed potatoes and the gravy ahead (and then you add the pan drippings to the gravy after, easy).
Today I will start a turkey stock for it and the stuffing... I just need the turkey. My favorite is Mary’s - a CA organic turkey farm. Yum. Hope I can score one,
Sooooo cute.
This cranberry sauce recipe is the killer.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/13643/cranberry-sauce-extraordinaire/
Unless you really need the jelled canned one for memory’s sake. (My mom does.) This one is so delicious you need to make tons of it. A leftover turkey sandwich does not exist without some of this.
Since it’s in the freezer (and should until you fill it), that might really help. Also if you have a pie crust ring to cover the edges during baking once it’s gotten golden, that might help too. If you don’t have a ring, what about bits of foil (like 6 or so small pieces) placed over the leaf crust after it’s gotten golden?
I don’t know. It might make the pie filling too solid or solid-goopy instead of that light, spoonable “jelloish” consistency. I get what you are going for though and I think that would be a great idea. I think you’d need an experiment pie before hand to try to get that caramel flavor into the pumpkin pie.
You make me want to try this one day (not thanksgiving, lol) - caramelizing some butter and sugar and mixing it into the milk used in pumpkin pie to get a caramelized milk (the dulce de Leche in cans is too solid, we are aiming for milk that tastes like caramel), and use that for the fluid, reducing the sugar appropriately or using the sugar as the caramel - because I’m not doing math right now, lol.
I think it would be so delicious to have a caramelized pumpkin pie. I’m imagining it right now. And I haven’t had breakfast yet.
Oh! It’s been done!
Forget my last post! I have to try this. Thanks.
So basically add dulce de leche, no stirring it in, just add it first into the baked shell, then your usual pumpkin pie filling? I assume you stop pouring when it is full, because otherwise all of it won’t fit in?
I am dying to try this.
You must use the original recipe made from condensed milk——you don’t want a trickle of dulce de leche..
You want a nice big dollop to counterpoint the spiciness of your slice of pumpkin pie.
The thick dulce de leche is microed a bit to soften it up....then dolloped into the pie crust.
The pumpkin filling goes on top.
GRANDMA'S APPLE PIE
SAUCE Stir to paste 1/2 c melted sweet butter, 3 tb flour. Add 1/2 c ea sugar, br/sugar. 1/4 c water (or apple juice); BTB; simmer 5 min to thin caramel-like syrup. DO NOT COOL.
ASSEMBLY Layer in 9" pie pan, bottom crust, 8 peeled sliced Granny Smiths, mounded lightly. Cover w/ lattice crust.
FINAL Gently pour Sauce into apples then brush some over crust (bakes to crispy glaze). Pour slowly so it doesn't run off. Bake on sprayed/foiled sheetpan 15 min 425 deg. Reset to 350 deg; bake 35-45 min.
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CHEF TIP I have never had an apple pie like this--It is amazing! I toss the apples with cinnamon and use half bourbon/ half water. Add 1/4 tea salt--just a touch of salt to sweet dishes helps bring out flavor! But no matter the alterations, the magic is in its preparation! Pouring the liquid over the latticework crust creates a crunchy topping; liquid baking inside almost caramelizes. I wanted to call this "caramel apple pie". What a great submission! Far and away THE best apple pie I have ever tasted!
I chickened out of adding the caramel evaporated milk. I still think the flavor mixture would be interesting and perhaps will take your advice next year!
It’s Homemade, and that’s what counts!
LOL! I always got the canned ‘cylinder’ of sauce, because it’s what I grew up on and Thanksgiving wouldn’t seem right without. But this year I got the whole berry stuff.
I sure wish they’d can these in smaller amounts - I’m the only one in my crew who eats it, and there’s always too much.
Liz, I am going to try this. I need to make multiple pumpkin pies, and this is a good excuse to make a new one.
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