The Thanksgiving Recipes File
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Here’s the recipe for my favorite turkey stuffing. My Baba (daddy) used to make it this way. I love that he used to just make things up, and suddenly we had our own Chinese version of an American tradition. I miss him lots, since 2001.
Chinese Sausage/Oyster/Water Chestnut Rice Stuffing, enough for a 15-20 lb turkey
2.5 cups uncooked rice (I like brown medium grain, but whatever you have is fine)
3 Chinese sausage (lap xuong)
2 (two) 8 oz jars of fresh small shucked oysters, drained and cut in half if they seem large
3 stalks celery, sliced 1/4 inch on diagonal
1 onion, chopped
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
3 eggs, scrambled (if you want it to be prettier, cook separately before adding so you have ribbons of scrambled egg)
1 tbsp soy saucePre-cook rice, along with sausage. (Lay the sausage on top of the rice when you turn the heat down after it boils; they will be perfect.) When rice is done, remove sausage and slice 1/4 inch on diagonal.
Now it’s time to really cook!
Sauté sausage, onion, and celery in 1 tbsp oil. When onion is soft, add oysters and cook until they are just barely done (there will be a lot of moisture in the pan). Add water chestnut and eggs; cook ’til eggs are done. Beginning adding rice, one cup at a time, working it in. You may not use all the rice. When you have enough rice worked in (so that the ratio of rice to goodies looks right), add a bit of soy sauce for color (go lightly!). Salt and pepper to taste. Stuff the turkey, or not!This is basically fried rice, with oysters and chinese sausage. yum….
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OK, so I'm going back to copying and pasting the recipes. It's faster than doing screen shots...
quote:
Originally posted by Nina:
I'm going to try a few of these.I was heartened to see that many contained alcohol. I find that "cooking" with spirits helps make the day simply fly by! Smiler
From OT, replying to Nina:
Yeah, but you're supposed to add the spirits to the recipe, not drink it!
Razzer
Unless, of course, you're cooking in the tradition of Julia.
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From Cindysphinx:
Here's a recipe from this week's Washington Post. I tested it last night, and it totally rocked. I plan to make this dish year-round.
I omitted the lemon juice. I roasted my own garlic, using one full head for about 1.5 pounds of beans, which is far more than recommended.
Green Beans With Roasted Garlic
6 servings
The green beans can be prepped and steamed a day ahead, then tightly covered and refrigerated, so this side dish will take just 5 minutes on the Thanksgiving day stovetop. If you opt to add the lemon juice, the beans are likely to discolor if they stand around for a while. Adapted from a recipe mentioned on the Chow magazine Web site.
1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut in half lengthwise on a slight diagonal, or use haricots verts
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 to 2 teaspoons roasted garlic puree*
1 teaspoon toasted ground cumin*
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)
Working in batches, steam the green beans in a steamer basket set over a large pot of barely boiling water for 5 minutes or until they are just crisp-tender. (At this point, the beans can be cooled, covered and refrigerated for up to 1 day.) Set aside.
In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic puree and cumin, stirring to combine. Add the green beans and toss to coat evenly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 2 minutes, until the beans are fragrant. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl and sprinkle with the lemon juice, if desired. Serve immediately.
*NOTES: Roasted garlic/puree is available in some grocers' produce sections. To roast garlic, slice the top off a head of garlic so that the tops of the cloves inside are exposed. Lightly drizzle with olive oil and wrap tightly in aluminum foil. Bake in a preheated 425-degree oven for about 45 minutes or until the garlic has softened and browned. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then squeeze the softened garlic cloves out of their skins. Cut off and discard the stem ends.
Toasting ground cumin releases the spice's natural aroma and oils. Place the ground cumin in a dry skillet over medium heat and cook for 2 minutes, until fragrant.
Per serving: 51 calories, 1 g protein, 6 g carbohydrates, 3 g fat, 8 mg cholesterol, 2 g saturated fat, 52 mg sodium, 3 g dietary fiber
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From BeeLady:
This recipe saved my butt one Tday when a family who swore they were not coming, asked if it was ok if they changed their minds....1.5 hours before dinner. The stores were closed, turkey about done. I raided the fridge and hit the books to make a side dish to stretch things a bit. It's from Marian Morash's Victory Garden Cookbook.
Carrots and Cranberries
1 apple, grated
1 cup cranberries, washed
4 cups grated carrots
4 Tbls light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup apple cider
2 Tb butterCombine apple, cranberries, carrots, sugar, salt , and cider. Place in a buttered casserole an dot with butter. Cover, bake in 350 oven for 40 minute, stirring once.
Cindy, those green beans sound fab. I am betting that I could even cheat and use the frozen ones from Trader Joes. When thawed they are just like fresh steamed....I have used them with vinaigrette, toasted almonds and blue cheese all tossed together. No one would ever know they had been frozen.
All the recipes here do and I think I will have to print out the whole thread....
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From QuirtEvans:
We're trying the turkey recipe, Eileen.
FWIW, I have now encountered many people who say that brining the turkey makes it more moist. My girlfriend's nephew is in cooking school, and he had a scientific explanation ... it breaks down the muscle something or other, enabling the meat to retain moisture, or something like that. All I care about is that he said it will be the moistest turkey you've ever cooked.
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From rontuner:
Cindy,
Thanks so much for posting the cranberry recipe... it was a huge hit! I've never seen the cranberry dish emptied at our dinners before...
Hope everyone had a nice time together.
(off to find a bigger pair of pants and settle down to watch some TV with the girls.)
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From LL:
Had a free range turkey this year. From Plainville Farms, NY. Best turkey I can remember. Juicy and tasty. Will never want to go back to regular store bought after this. Sister says she got it at local store in NH.
Family stuffing recipe is still my favorite. Has ground pork in it, mushroom soup, as well as the usual stuff!
LL
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From jodi:
Gee, I guess I'll have to try it next year. Big Grin Big Grin Big Grin It's one of two stuffing recipes in an old "How to cook the perfect turkey" article from gourmet magazine I've had in my recipe file for ages. (I always make the other stuffing - the one with sausage and oysters). I figured the spinach one would be good, as this issue of the magazine also had the recipe for the excellent gravy that I shared with you guys last year.
Smiler Jodi
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From Nina:
The cranberry relish was a big hit in our house as well... it's all gone! And not only was it tasty, it was easy to make and made the house smell absolutely wonderful. AND we have leftover bourbon!
A complete win-win!
Plus I made the beans that Cindy posted--the ones with roasted garlic, cumin and lemon. They were absolutely fantastic. Normally the veggies at Thanksgiving are sort of an afterthought, but people were taking 2nds and even 3rds of these... and they were also super-easy. I'm going to make them for "regular" dinners.
I'm positive you could use the frozen Trader Joe's ones--I'd be tempted to make the garlic-butter stuff, toss the (thawed) beans in, do a little stir-fry and call it a day. Just heat them up. It would be fab.
P.S. I'm thinking we should all plan to bring our favorite recipes to Elena's concert. We can do a swap in person.
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From kathyk:
I'm becoming a staunch believer in the simple and the tried and true for Thanksgiving. I think keeping to that theme was a big reason I didn't completely stress out this year. Two examples are the roasted brussel sprouts and roasted sweet potatos. For each, after cleaning them I coated them in olive oil and put them in the oven until they were soft, and in the case of the brussels, a little charred at the fringes. When the taters were done, I sliced them into large chunks and melted butter over them. Both were huge hits and so ridiculously simple.
I always do a sausage stuffing mix, with celery, onions and pork sausage. This year I threw in some portabella mushrooms and pine nuts for a little variety.
And I do my gravy like my mother did - from the drippings and the cooking broth from the giblets.
SILs both brought some lovely side dishes. One was pureed cauliflower with sour cream. And, then the JF family tradition - corn pudding.
Cindy's cranberries were a big hit, and I did a lighter variety cooked with orange juice instead of water with a bit of honey - very tart and almost guilt-free.
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From Cindysphinx:
I gotta find a way to dial things down next year. We had 19 people. Nineteen. It was insanely loud and chaotic and stressful. Not my idea of a good time. Mr. Sphinx kept inviting people and inviting people and inviting people.
I'm putting him on a choke chain next year.
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From Nina:
kathyk--
Try roasting your pine nuts. They're really delicious. I buy a ton each year, roast them and stick them in the freezer.
Stick them in a single layer on a cookie sheet, bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them and take them out when they get golden brown.
They get a great roasted flavor that is wonderful in a lot of things... even tossed into a green salad.
