Sweet Potatoes with Roasted Apples and Honey

Admit it. You love this right? Sweet potato casserole topped with marshmallows.

Say it. Confess. 

Even if the so-called sophisticates say it’s declasse to love this. (The same people who say they don’t eat franks-in-blankets either.)

It’s okay to like this. The marshmallow part I mean. And the franks-in-blankets too (is there really anyone who doesn’t love those?)

It’s the underneath stuff that should be the tasty part anyway. 

Here’s my newest version of sweet potato casserole: Because the potatoes are sweet enough in my opinion, I don’t add gobs of brown sugar. I use just a little honey. I also shake in some cinnamon (you could use allspice, nutmeg, ground ginger, vanilla) because it warms the flavor and gives it a hint of sweetness too.

This year I mixed in mashed, roasted apples and apple cider instead of the usual orange juice. This casserole seems more autumn-like, softer-tasting with the roasted apples and cider.

It’s easy to make too. Mine’s already done for tomorrow. Bake the casserole to reheat. Put the marshmallows on about 5-6 minutes before you serve, to brown and melt them.

And btw, you don’t have to use the marshmallows. For a plain dish, just reheat the mashed sweet potatoes as is.

I’m just sayin’

Happy Thanksgiving.

ROASTED SWEET POTATOES WITH APPLES AND HONEY

• 4 large sweet potatoes

• 2  apples, peeled, cored and quartered

• 2 tablespoons butter, coconut oil or margarine

• 2 tablespoons honey

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/4-1/3 cup apple cider 

• salt to taste

• marshmallows, optional

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roast the sweet potatoes for 25 minutes. Place the apple pieces in a baking pan, place in the oven and roast for another 25-30 minutes or until the sweet potatoes and apples are tender. When cool enough to handle, scoop the sweet potato flesh into a bowl. Mash the apple and add to the sweet potatoes. Add the butter, honey and cinnamon. Mash and mix thoroughly to blend ingredients. Add some of the apple cider, using enough to mix the ingredients to the desired consistency. Season to taste with salt. Place in a casserole dish to reheat. Can be made completely ahead. For marshmallow topping: reheat the casserole until completely heated through, cover with marshmallows and reheat for a few minutes to brown the top.

Makes 8 servings

Sean Dunn Ginger Gluten Free Pumpkin Tart

Recently I posted a recipe for gluten-free pumpkin pie and Sean Dunn sent me a message thanking me for it. She also sent me her own gluten-free pumpkin pie recipe. It’s made with a cookie crust.

Cookie crusts (usually made with about 1-1/2 cups crushed cookies mixed with about 5 tablespoons melted butter) are ideal for creamy pies like pumpkin (chocolate cream, banana cream, coconut custard, etc.) because they don’t get soggy (which sometimes happens with a traditional pie crust).

So, here is her recipe, a pumpkin pie using a gluten-free crust made with gingersnaps.

From Sean Dunn:

This recipe is easily made gluten free by substituting gluten free ginger snaps in for normal ones. I particularly like it because it is not too heavy after a big meal like thanksgiving, and it is not over spiced like store bought pumpkin pie. In my experience this recipe has been a crowd-pleaser, and you’ll soon be getting requests for the recipie.

Ginger Pumpkin Tart

Adapted from this recipe. 

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups crushed ginger snaps
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree,
• 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 2 large egg yolks
• Pinch salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put a 9-inch removable-bottom fluted tart pan on a baking sheet.

Make the crust by combining the ginger cookie crumbs and melted butter in a large bowl, until well blended. Add the crumbs to the tart pan and evenly press over the bottom and up the sides with the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake until set and a bit darker in color, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, condensed milk, egg yolks and salt until well blended. Pour the filling into the cooled crust, return to the oven, and bake until set and beginning to brown on the top, about 30 minutes. Remove tart from the oven, cool to room temperature and then chill in the refrigerator, at least 1 hour or until ready to serve.

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Enjoy!

Bitter Greens Salad with Orange

Bitter Greens Salad with Orange 

There’s always so much food on Thanksgiving that everyone I know complains, including me.

Before: there’s going to be too much food. Day of: there’s too much food. Day after: there was too much food.

The complaining is a necessary part of the routine IMHO, maybe in a way to forgive ourselves the plenty. And for overeating of course. 

But the whole idea of Thanksgiving IS the plenty. Isn’t that symbolic of all the things we are thankful for?

Well, I don’t want to get any more philosophical. So I’ll just say I like serving lots of food, even if everyone groans “there’s too much!” and then eats everything and then complains. Call it the Jewish mother in me.

But honestly, one thing I find helpful when serving a meal of plenty that includes heavy dishes like stuffing and potatoes and gravy and vegetables with crusts or sauces, is to have a salad too. Not just as an extra, another side dish to put on the table, but because salad ingredients, especially if they have robust greens (arugula, endive, radicchio, watercress and so on) and acidic dressings (vinaigrette as opposed to Ranch or thick sour cream dressings) help balance and lighten up the meal. 

Here’s a salad made with three kinds of hardy greens, cut with chunks of orange, a little crunch of nuts (you can leave these out if you wish) and a light citrusy dressing. It’s pretty too, adding a bit of color to the meal.

Bitter Greens Salad with Orange

• 3 navel oranges

• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

• 3 large Belgian endives

• 1 bunch watercress

• 1 small head radicchio

• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• 3-4 tablespoons toasted pignoli nuts, optional

Grate enough of the peel of one orange to equal one teaspoon. Place in a bowl and add the white wine vinegar, olive oil and mustard. Halve the orange that has been grated and squeeze the juice from one of the halves into the bowl. Mix to blend the ingredients completely and set aside. Reserve the other half of the orange for other purposes. Peel the remaining two oranges and remove all the white pith that surrounds the segments. Cut the orange flesh into thick slices, then cut the slices into chunks and set aside. Wash and dry the endive leaves and cut them in half. Place the endive in a bowl. Wash and dry the watercress, discard any thick stems and add to the bowl with the endive. Wash and dry the radicchio leaves, cut them if they are large, and add them to the bowl and toss the greens. Pour the dressing over the leaves and toss. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Scatter the nuts over the salad if desired.

Makes 8 servings

Bread Stuffing with Figs and Hazelnuts

I always make three stuffings at our Thanksgiving dinner: my Mom’s famous “filling” which is basically mushrooms, onions and celery mixed with barley shaped egg noodles and eggs PLUS the old, beloved Chestnut-Sausage recipe that, if I didn’t make, Ed and my kids would march out in protest, PLUS a new one which I change every year, just because, why not? 

This year the new version will be this one with hazelnuts. My decision was based partly on Hurricane Sandy. I lost power for 6 days and had to discard a lot of food. But as I was cleaning out the freezer I discovered a perfectly good a container full of hazelnuts, so why not use them up? 

When I make a stuffing with nuts in it I like the idea of adding fruit too. The sweet taste is a good balance for the savory, salty ingredients. Fruit also adds texture, which I think is very important in a good stuffing. This version has two kinds: chewy dried figs and crisp, tender fresh apple, both play against the crunch of the hazelnuts.

I make my stuffings a day or two ahead and cook them in a casserole dish, but you can actually use this one as a stuffing, right inside the bird (cut down on the stock in the recipe). I try to use a shallow dish, because we like stuffing crunchy and a shallow dish gives you more surface area to brown. For moister stuffing outside the bird, use a deep casserole.

BREAD STUFFING WITH FIGS AND HAZELNUTS

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 large, tart apple, peeled, cored and chopped

1 cup cut up dried figs

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup coarsely chopped toasted hazelnuts

8 cups 1/2-inch diced bread cubes

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock*

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat the vegetable oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes. Add the apple, figs and raisins and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Spoon the mixture into a large bowl. Add the nuts, bread cubes, parsley, rosemary and thyme and toss the ingredients to distribute them evenly. Pour in the stock (*1 cup if you cook the stuffing inside the bird; 2 cups if you bake the stuffing separately or prefer a moister stuffing). Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Stuff the bird OR place the ingredients in a casserole. To cook outside of the bird: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cover the casserole. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for another 15 minutes or until the top is browned and crispy.

Makes about 12 cups

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie

It’s one thing if people are fussy about food and make a big deal about it when there’s a mushroom or hunk of broccoli on their plate. 

But it’s really quite another thing when there are actual health concerns. Issues like allergies, lactose intolerance, high blood pressure, gluten intolerance. And so on. Or when someone has a commitment to vegetarianism. 

To me, none of these is the same as being fussy. So if I have a guest at my table for, say Thanksgiving, I try to accomodate. 

My daughter has a life-threatening allergy to fish and certain nuts. We discovered this early on so I learned how to change recipes and substitute. I also become more aware of and sensitive to other people’s health issues.

I never cook fish when Gillian visits. I never bake or cook with walnuts or pecans.  I bake Hazelnut or Cashew Pie, not pecan pie. 

On Thanksgiving we sometimes have guests who are vegetarians and some who can’t eat gluten. So I’ll make Mujadarah as an additional main course (that’s a bulgur wheat and lentil casserole) — it’s also a good side dish with turkey!

And I’ll bake a gluten-free pie. This year it’s Pumpkin Pie. 

It can be a challenge to cook for people who can’t eat the usual foods you cook. But I have found it to be an enjoyable creative challenge. 

In case you need dessert for someone who’s on a gluten-free diet, here’s one for gluten-free Pumpkin Pie. Everyone else will enjoy it too.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie

1-3/4 cups mashed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

3 tablespoons molasses or pure maple syrup

3 large eggs

1-1/2 cups half and half cream, evaporated milk or nut milk 

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 9-inch unbaked gluten-free pie crust

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the pumpkin, brown sugar, white sugar and molasses in a bowl and beat with a whisk or electric beater set at medium for a minute or until well blended. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the cream until well blended. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat ingredients for a minute or until well blended. Pour into the pie crust. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 325 degrees and bake for another 55-60 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and let cool. Makes one pie serving 8 people

Crust:

1 cup rice flour

1/4 cup almond flour or garbanzo bean flour

1/4 cup cornstarch or potato starch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

5 tablespoons cold butter or margarine

3 tablespoons cold water or milk 

Place the rice flour, almond flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter and shortening and work into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or your fingers, until the mixture is crumbly. (To use a food processor, use the pulse feature.) Add the liquid and mix until a soft ball of dough forms. Press the dough into a 9-inch pie pan. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using. NOTE: instead of the rice and almond flours plus cornstarch, you can use Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose flour

Dairy Free Broccoli Kugel

Here’s my best advice on how to make Thanksgiving dinner easier: cook as much ahead as you can. 

That includes mashed potatoes.

Yes, mashed potatoes do taste better when you eat them immediately after mashing and mixing them with whatever you mix them with. But do you really think anyone you know will actually taste the difference if you make the mashed potatoes the day before?

Really?

Over the years I’ve learned to make lots of the food ahead for holiday meals. There’s just too much to do and too much to serve on those occasions to have to bother with anything but gravy at the last minute.

One thing I’ve found helpful is to make casserole type vegetable and side dishes instead of, say, plain steamed string beans or stir-fried broccoli, which we love at everyday dinners. Those need to be cooked at the last minute and keep me in the kitchen rather than enjoying the time with my family.

Besides, if you have a crowd, by the time you serve everything (like the turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce), plain steamed vegetables have already become too cold.

Right?

Casserole vegetables can be made a day or so ahead and heated through. There’s no day-of prep. They stay hot in the serving dish. 

Some of my favorite of these types of side dishes are spinach pie, sweet potato casserole, succotash, kugel, ratatouille. And so on. 

This year one of the dishes at our dinner will be Broccoli Kugel. It’s almost quiche-like but there’s no crust, and it’s made with coconut milk, which makes it rich and vaguely sweet. I add chopped chili peppers to give it some balance. You can get this dish ready for cooking a day ahead and bake it on Thanksgiving Day, or cook it completely and reheat.

By the way, broccoli has a much better, more tender texture if you peel the thick stems. Here’s how: peeling broccoli. 

Broccoli Kugel 

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 bunch (2 stems) fresh broccoli, coarsely cut 

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 1 serrano or other chili pepper, deseeded and chopped

• 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

• 15 ounce can coconut milk

• 4 large eggs, beaten

• salt to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9”x13” baking dish using some of the vegetable oil. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the broccoli and cook for 2 minutes. Drain under cold water; chop the broccoli into small pieces. Set aside in a bowl. Heat the remaining vegetable oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and chili pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and cook briefly. Transfer the onion mixture to the bowl with the broccoli. In another bowl, beat the coconut milk and eggs together. Add the egg mixture to the vegetables. Season to taste with salt. Spoon into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until browned.

Makes 8 servings

Root Vegetable, Caramelized Onion and Chestnut Crumble

Parsnips, carrots and onions are my comfort foods in the vegetable world. Even though I like these three ingredients all year, there’s something better about them when the weather gets colder. Maybe because they’re earthy and sturdy and instead of steaming them or roasting them as “fries” like I do year ‘round, I can use them as part of another filling winter dish, like beef stew or vegetable soup.

Or for those dinners when the vegetable is more the star, not the meat or fish.

Or those times when I have a traditional meat or fish meal but have vegetarians as guests and need something substantial for them. Thanksgiving for example. I make a lot of side dishes so none of the folks who don’t eat turkey goes hungry as the rest of us are stuffing ourselves.

This Root Vegetable Crumble contains the big three plus winter squash and chestnuts, which make the dish even more suitable for winter. The streusel top gives it some eye appeal don’t you think? And has a lushly soft texture to it. 

I make this dish a day ahead and pop it into the oven for dinner.

Root Vegetable, Caramelized Onion and Chestnut Crumble

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 3 medium carrots, diced
• 2 medium parsnips, diced
• 1 cup diced butternut squash
• 1 dozen cooked, peeled chestnuts (I use packaged)
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped almonds
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 4 tablespoons cold butter or margarine

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a casserole dish. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes or until they are golden brown. Place the onions on the bottom of the casserole dish. While the onions are cooking, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the carrots, parsnip and squash. Bring to a second boil, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for about 3-4 minutes or until almost tender. Drain and place in the casserole dish on top of the onions. Scatter the chestnuts on top. Make the crust: mix the flour, breadcrumbs, almonds, thyme and some salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Add the butter in chunks and work into the dry ingredients until they are crumbly. Scatter on top of the vegetables. Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 4 servings

Which is better, the food or the memory of the food?

Was your mother really a good cook? Was that chocolate cake or those hash browns you had 20 years ago at that restaurant really fabulous?

Food memories can be funny. Our tastes change. Maybe Mom’s chocolate chip cookies weren’t really that good, maybe those hash browns were actually a bit too greasy and if we ate these foods today in someone else’s kitchen or in a different restaurant we wouldn’t rave.

But we remember them so fondly that we think we’ll never find the ultimate recipe for whatever it is we thought was so wonderful.

I have that feeling about a lot of foods. My Mom’s Nut Roll. The Apple Tart at L’Orangerie in Los Angeles. My grandmother’s baked blintzes. The Hot and Sour Soup at Temple Garden in New York’s Chinatown.

When autumn comes and I see the trees turning orange and gold, my food memory turns to pumpkin pie and that makes me remember the Automat. It went out of business when I was a little girl, but I still remember my Aunt Roz and Uncle Mac taking me there for lunch or dinner when we went into Manhattan to go ice skating or to see a show. They were the kind of aunt and uncle that took their nieces and nephews to places and we all loved them so much that the food that came with the day would of course be wonderful no matter where or what it was.

At the Automat, if it was autumn, there was pumpkin pie.

It was the very best pumpkin pie. In my memory. I have been trying to duplicate its flavor and texture since I started cooking. But food memories linger so no matter what I come up with, it’s never “the one” even if the results are fabulous. Someone once gave me a recipe that was supposed to be the Automat authentic version and I made one. Of course I didn’t remember the pie tasting like my pie did.

So which is better, the food or the memory of the food?

Both really, for different reasons. We can savor the memory and eat something delicious even if it isn’t quite the version you remember.

Here’s a terrific recipe for Pumpkin Pie. Not too spicy and with a hint of molasses. Don’t use pumpkin pie “mix”, use plain pumpkin puree or fresh mashed pumpkin (press fresh mashed pumpkin to extract excess liquid).

Pumpkin Pie

• 1-1/2 cups mashed pumpkin (canned is fine)

• 1/3 cup brown sugar (any kind)

• 1/4 cup white sugar

• 3 tablespoons molasses

• 3 large eggs

• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1-1/2 cups half and half cream or evaporated milk

• 1 9-inch single pie crust, unbaked

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Spoon the pumpkin, brown sugar, white sugar and molasses into a bowl and blend ingredients thoroughly. Beat in the eggs. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cream. Blend ingredients thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the crust. Bake for 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325 degrees F and continue baking for 55-60 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Makes one pie

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