Saturday, November 24, 2018

Thanksgiving recipes 2018

Had a great feast with wonderful leftovers.  Major help from Maria who brought the turkey and a great cranberry sauce, and Julia who brought pumpkin and corn chowder and pumpkin cranberry muffins - which made great breakfast muffins.  Aside from the turkey, everything was vegetarian and lactose free.

The rest of the menu was:

Bootcamp chef site:

Smashed mint pea dip served with pita chips
Pumpkin crunch nut mix (from Nourish)

Onceuponachef.com:

Challah stuffing - will try to cut the challah into smaller pieces next time; was fine freezing it and defrosting it for 24 hours before the meal, as mentioned on the website.  Tasted better day by day.
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/challah-wild-mushroom-herb-stuffing.html

String beans and shallots - need to get the salt and pepper right
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/french-string-beans-with-shallots.html

Consider instead: https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/roasted-green-beans-with-cranberries-and-walnuts.html

OR: https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/roasted-green-beans-with-garlic-lemon-pine-nuts-parmesan.html

Mashed sweet potatoes - in order to keep it dairy free, used 1/2 plain soy and 1/2 vanilla soy instead of the milk.  Only had sage instead of thyme, but probably either would be good.  Used only 1/2 the amount of maple, then added in some more to taste.
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/mashed-sweet-potatoes-maple-thyme.html

Pumpkin torte with streusel topping - very good and improved day by day.
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/pumpkin-streusel-torte.html
OR consider https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/bourbon-brown-butter-pecan-pie.html

Chick pea and carrot salad - good citrusy taste
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/moroccan-carrot-chickpea-salad-citrus-mint-almonds.html


Epicurious.com:

Cauliflower cake - can use more nigella seeds; taste of them is not so strong after they're cooked.  It's sort of like a quiche and tastes good cold the next morning!
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes-menus/vegetarian-appetizers-starters-soups-salads-tofu-entrees-main-dishes-recipes-meat-free-package

Dessert was the pumpkin torte, chocolate granita from The Perfect Scoop, and grapes.  I intended to make pumpkin ice cream, but ran out of time.- recipe from magazine Forks over Knives - will post on Bootcamp chef.


Thursday, November 8, 2018

Chocolate Granita

From The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

This gives you a very rich taste of frozen chocolate - delish! Doesn't last long in this house!

Container for freezing - preferably 2" high and 8-10" long oblong container

4 cups water
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder  (used TJs cocoa powder)
4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a large saucepan, whisk together the water, sugar, salt and cocoa powder.  Bring to a full boil and continue to boil, stirring occasionally for 15 seconds.

Remove from heat and add the chocolate.  Stir the mixture until the chocolate is completely melted, then add the vanilla

Pour the mixture into the dish and place in the freezer.  Once it starts to freeze around the edges(check after about an hour), take a fork and stir the mixture, breaking up the frozen parts near the edges into smaller chunks and raking them toward the center.

Return the dish to the freezer, then check the mixture every 30 minutes afterward, stirring each time and breaking up any large chunks into small pieces with a fork, until you have beautiful fine crystals of homemade granita.  If it freezes too hard, simply leave it out at room temperature for a few minutes until it softens enough to be stirred again with a fork, and rake it back into crystals.  Then return to the freezer.

Spoon over ice cream or sorbet, or top with sweetened whipped cream.