Monthly Cooking Thread November 2018 - UPDATE

[Jamestown1630]

Recently, the Lee Valley gardening newsletter featured a great Turkey Pot Pie recipe, to make delicious use of your leftovers:

http://www.leevalley.com/us/newsletters/Gardening/3091/Article2.htm

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Freeper 'Nopardons' shared with me her recipe for Cranberry Sauce; the additions of liqueur and walnuts make an elegant and interesting twist. (I think that NP still says ‘ice box’ when referring to ‘refrigerator’, just as I do :-)

Cranberry Sauce Chez Nopardons

1 package of Ocean Spray cranberries, rinsed and picked-over

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup water

1 cup ( more or less...by taste ) of chopped ( I don’t chop them, I just break them up by hand ) walnut pieces (leave out if guests have nut allergies)

1 Tb. ( or 2 ) of Chambord or Grand Marnier

Combine the water and sugar in a pot, bring to a a boil

Add the cranberries and turn the flame down to medium.

Add the walnut pieces after the cranberries begin to pop and stir the contents.

Add the Chambord or Grand Marnier after 5 minutes; turn the flame down to low and continue to cook for about 7 minutes.

Pour mixture into a glass ( yes, it has to be glass! ) bowl with a cover, but do NOT place the cover on the bowl until the mixture is cool.

Once the contents are cool, place the cover on the bowl and place it in the icebox.

Need more...just double or triple all of the ingredients.

This “sauce” will last, in an icebox, for at least a week.

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Chef John of Food Wishes recently posted a fast-and-easy version of Nduja – a Calabrian dip/spread using Salami and Pancetta:

https://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2018/11/spicy-salami-spread-nduja-almost.html

JT

[mylife]

Why not? We BBQ Smoke it and shred it here.

Make Sammitches.

[mylife]

Good descriptor of puff pastry.

[kalee]

Here it is. https://niknakfood.com/2017/04/09/nduja-stuffed-mushrooms/

I planned to make them for New Year’s Eve.

[SkyDancer]

Oh yes, I freeze the soup in quart bags. I usually have eight or ten of them where each one is a meal.

[Jamestown1630]

I could eat almost anything on a piece of crispy puff pastry...

[Jamestown1630]

Well, I’ll try freezing my soup!

[SkyDancer]

I make a big batch of it like five gallons and the guys just love it for a quick meal/lunch.

[Calvin Locke]

NPR's "The Salt" has a cranberry relish: Grind cranberries/onion together, combine with sugar, sour cream, horseradish, and freeze, thawing in the fridge the day of use.

They admit that it does end up the color of pepto bismol.

[mylife]

50 Turkeys coming to our VFW post tomorrow, all donated.
We will use 2 or 3 and send the rest to those in need.

It is a major juggling act LOL

Maybe I will make some cranberry relish and some sage stuffing. Maybe not!

[gcparent]

Then you might like my thanksgiving salad with lettuce, fresh pear slices. Blue cheese, walnuts and raspberry dressing.

[Jamestown1630]

It’s comfort food.

[Jamestown1630]

I would. I like things with tastes that are all mixed-up-and-turned-around :-)

[mylife]

It aint hard to make.

[umgud]

Thanks

[mylife]

Golden Curry is wonderful on Seafood and Fowl.

Noodles like it too.

[gcparent]

Contrasting flavors and textures.

[mylife]

LOL! That should open up the sluices at both ends!

[ridesthemiles]

I leave a decent amount of meat on a turkey carcass, and I put it in my 8 qt crockpot with “Garlic & Herb Mix by Lipton”. I add some water & Chicken stock.

I brew that for 2-3 days. Then I take the meat off the bones, and strain everything thru a large strainer to make sure I get all the very small bones. Back into the crockpot, add Lawry’s salt, garlic salt, celery salt, or celery pieces, and dry onion pieces. Then I brew it for another day or more.

Add BARLEY & let that brew. Dry barley will double in size or more.

Makes a great WINTER soup that is thicker. Serve with garlic bread. I use an Edward’s frozen Key Lime Pie for desert.

Freezes well.

[Publius]

This is my family's bean soup recipe from almost a century ago. It's what soups used to be like.

BEANS AND HAM HOCKS

2 cups dried beans
2 leeks, white part only
1 stalk celery, minced
1 carrot, minced
1/3 cup celery leaves, minced
6 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1 lb smoked ham hocks
1/4 cup minced parsley
1/8 tsp mustard seed
1/3 cup dry sherry
1 tsp salt

In a large saucepan cover the beans, rinsed and picked over, with 6 cups of water and let stand overnight.

Add 4 cups of water, bring to a boil over moderate heat, and simmer the beans, covered, for 1-1/2 hours. Mash the beans with a potato masher if desired.

In a kettle, cook the leeks (well washed), celery, carrot, celery leaves in butter until the vegetables are softened. Add flour, and cook the mixture, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in the beans, including the liquid, ham hocks, 2 cups of water, minced parsley and mustard seed. Bring the mixture to a boil over moderate heat, and simmer, covered, for 3-4 hours. Add water if necessary to keep the beans covered.

Transfer the hocks with a slotted spoon to a bowl, and remove the meat from the bones. Stir in the meat, sherry and salt, and heat moderately, stirring all the while, until it is all mixed in.

[mylife]

Cut out that backbone.

You can wrap it in cheese cloth and toss it in, but you can fish and fish and you will find a dang bone with your teeth if you don’t!