Best Thanksgiving. Ever.

I could go into great detail about how wonderful the white balsamic was with the roasted carrots and parsnips, or how the roasted sweet potato wedges were perfect with the sour cream chile sauce, or how rosemary added subtle fragrance to almost every dish, but I feel that would bore just about anyone but myself.  I know we all had wonderful, beautiful, exquisite, delicious Thanksgivings in our own unique ways, so I feel the best way to share my own is through pictures.  And when it comes down to it, what do we remember about Thanksgiving..the new cooking techniques and flavors, or the great conversation had while eating?

My Thanksgiving consisted of me, my mom, dad and our new kitty. The thing is, for me, the new recipes and techniques are the most exciting part because my family I should be catching up with and exchanging stories with is all in Wisconsin.  And while we had great conversation, my mom and I had too much fun cooking for five hours and testing Bon Appétit recipes I'm sure will be at Thanksgivings to come.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving 2.0 with more traditional fair including turkey and mashed potatoes.  Today, we tried four new Bon Appétit recipes along with a couple traditional ones.  We have always had ham growing up because my mom claims we never liked turkey, so today we made ham.  I hope your Thanksgivings were as memorable, warm, comforting and of course, delicious as mine.

I felt, that this year we had the most delicious Thanksgiving ever.  Everything from scratch (except Pillsbury crescent roll, which are so perfect I don't even want to attempt making biscuits) and everything included fresh produce, fresh herbs and simple ingredients.  I knew we were in for a good Thanksgiving when our shopping list was more than predominantly fresh produce.  It was perfect.  Our menu consisted of:

• Sweet Potato Wedges with Smoked Chile Cream
• Sage Sausage and Apple Dressing my absolute favorite dressing of all time, I wait 364 days for it
• Celery and Pear Bisque a new favorite- very light, subtle but delicious
• Roasted Cranberry Sauce with Herbed Candied Walnuts 
• Roasted Carrots and Parsnips with White Balsamic
• Bone-in smoked ham from Everett's with a homemade apple/butter glaze
• Of course, Pillsbury crescent rolls

Glazing the ham

White Thanksgiving

Takes muscle to mix dressing

Unlimited chopping, peeling, mincing

Mom got a crack at her new immersion blender!

mmmmmm....ham

I'd love to hear your Thanksgiving stories and recipes, so please comment!

Our new unnamed kitty says happy Thanksgiving!

Late Night at Corner Table

I was lucky enough to attend a late night dinner at Scott Pampuch's Corner Table put on by KBEM's restaurantour.  It was a pre-set dinner with a Belgium theme paired with Belgium beer.  Although I could not participate in the beer tasting, I enjoyed their housemade soda: cranberry ginger-ale with rosemary; both seasonal and refreshing.

Pampuch made it known exactly whose restaurant it was when he alerted a customer that it is not a good idea to stand on a chair and unscrew a light bulb, no matter how glaring the light may be.  Apparently, the team at Corner Table has more than succeeded at creating a "home-y" feel to their restaurant because it was obvious this customer felt he was at home.  Needless to say I think it is a good idea to leave the housekeeping to the staff.  Despite this minor stresser, the team was able to produce 40 meals without a hitch.

Pampuch is well known in the city for being a leader and active advocate of local food and local farm support.  This was more than evident in his food that night with local rabbit (no, not ones running down Nicollet, but a farm) local vegetables and cream and butter like I've never tasted.  I could not stop slathering that butter over the perfect bread offered, which I assume was baked at Rustica.  Pampuch also noted the simplicity of "just cream" which was featured on his dessert.  No extra stuff like honey and sugar, but delicious pure whipped cream.

Thousand Hills cattle grassfed beef and fried potatoes "steak frites"

Rabbit terrine with braised rabbit and vegetables in an apple cider

Belgium waffle with Belgium chocolate, cookie and cream

I like the irony of celebrating and using local ingredients and farms to create Belgium cuisine.  From the couple sips I stole from my Mother's beer, I could see the why the beers were paired with the food.  None of the beers were too heavy or overly powerful and offered complementary flavors.

It was a warm evening on a very cold night.  One that ended with me spending 20 minutes thawing my Mom's car and chipping at the inch of ice that accumulated during dinner.  Nonetheless, it was a night filled with delicious food, new flavors (I didn't know I liked brussel sprouts and rabbit) and great conversation (other then when everyone told their own rabbit story..not so appetizing while eating one)

Pre-Blog

I was always told to not play with my food, but for a long time now I've been guilty of taking pictures of my food.  I often embarrass my friends in restaurants and halt my family's dinner to take pictures of the food we are about to eat.  I mean it took effort to prepare, why not appreciate that both in the moment and later visually?  It is also a good way to remember recipes I've enjoyed or dishes I've ordered.  I'd like to share some of my favorite food photographs from this past summer that are pb.  Pre-blog.  The reason I started this blog was because I knew I needed something to do with all of these pictures.  So please, enjoy viewing as much as I enjoyed eating them!

My mom and I attempted a Bobby Flay salad with shrimp and mangoes (grilled tomato and avocado on the side)

I made the delicious pasta featured on Food Network's June issue

Red pepper, tomato, basil, garlic and provolone open-faced sandwich

Sweet potatoes and onions on the grill

Grilled potatoes, veggies and pork on the grill

Lemon and garlic green beans, Sicilian penne with cauliflower and grilled chicken

Findings from the Farmer's Market

Basil gnocchi with heirloom tomatoes and toasted pine nuts

Grilled chicken, potatoes and peaches a la Lee Swanson

Basil linguine with fresh basil, tomatoes and parm

Vegetable tempura from Sushi Tango

Ratatouille pasta at Lucia's

Asparagus soup with basil and goat cheese

Breakfast at Grand Cafe

Roasted tomato ravioli with capers from French Meadow Bakery

Spaghetti Squash vs. Butternut Squash

Apparently there is a difference?  I've learned...

My sister in-law (first time saying that!) asked me about spaghetti squash after the posting of my last blog entry about my butternut squash soup.  She asked me if I had ever made it and her friend Keegan responded with a recipe she has used before to make it.  To be honest, I have never looked much into spaghetti squash.  I think every time I heard it I sort of ignored it because I didn't know what it was.  Interesting how we do that?  I thought it was one of those overly complicated things I'd never be able to do, until I looked at the recipe she posted.  It not only didn't look complicated, but it sounded amazing.

After a weekend of road-tripping, my friend/roommate so very kindly brought me home two butternut squashes from her grandmother's garden.  I was thrilled and knew exactly what I wanted to try.

It has taken me a week to write and post this entry because I was disheartened after I tried to make this dish.  I used the recipe Keegan had recommended, and my boyfriend and I got some wine (recommended from a wine consultant at Surdyk's to pair with butternut squash) a baguette, and some delicious Parmesan cheese.  We had fun preparing this dish together and I even put Drew to work on grating the cheese and mincing the garlic.  After baking the squashes for an hour, I was disappointed to slice them open and find a very firm, not spaghetti like, texture.  I felt stupid because I didn't know if I overcooked it or hadn't cooked it enough, so I put it back in the oven for 10 more minutes.  When it came out, I started to shred the insides as much as I could with a fork to create some kind of stringy concoction to put in my pan with oil and garlic.  Not only was I burning my hand, but I was overworking the other by forcing the squash to shred with a fork.  I was getting very frustrated when the squash was coming out as just a mushy pureé.  I continued to add the squash to the sauteé pan with a lot of minced garlic and a lot of oil and a little butter.  I mixed in the cheese and came out with something like closer to a spread.

Doesn't look like spaghetti to me?

As we were drinking wine and spreading this mixture over the baguette, I was disappointed by the fact it was not what I was trying to make, even though it still tasted very delicious.  Drew kept telling me I didn't have to define it or make a name for it, because it tasted good.  Butternut squash spread? Butternut squash pureé? Dip? Should I eat it with a fork or spread it on the bread?  Isn't that too much starch?? I gave up and stuffed my face with squash and bread.

Turns out, I wasn't a total failure.  After telling this story to my mother, she was like, "well you need a spaghetti squash to do that, a butternut squash won't work". Like, "duh Lauren, everyone knows that".  Turns out, it is good to look into ingredients you don't know about.  The experience taught me a lot about mishaps in the kitchen and how to adjust, and how to not let them get you too discouraged.  I ended up with a satisfying, yummy meal and learned something new about squash.  I also have a new determination to get a real spaghetti squash and make this dish.

Yes, we were eating on the floor

P.S. I don't know much about wine, but the consultant at Surdyk's sure did.  He took us directly to wine on sale called Chateau Ste Michelle, a Syrah from Columbia Valley, that was very delicious with the butternut squash, and I recommend it as a wine that is not overpowering and very complementary to bolder flavors.  But like I said, I'm only a wine connoisseur in training :).

Fall in a Bowl

It's a classic.  I mean, it really is.  Butternut squash soup.  But why stop there? I added an apple, onion and sweet potato.  After exploiting my mother at the grocery store yesterday, I came home to a fully stocked pantry and fridge.  I was so excited to come home and survey my produce and come up with something delicious for dinner.  I decided to use my butternut squash for a soup.  My sweet potatoes, apples, onions and garlic looked like they wanted to join, so I decided to search online for a recipe including these ingredients.  After searching through about a dozen recipes, I decided to take matters into my own hands and do simply what I thought would taste good.  It turned out wonderfully, and definitely a flavor combination I'll keep in my back pocket.  I'm not a huge fan of writing recipes because I like to taste as I go and when it comes to soup, you don't really need measurements.  Once you know certain simple techniques it is so easy to make a soup and you can add flavor as you'd like.  I'd love to share the method and ingredients that went into making my wonderful soup.

INGREDIENTS:

•  1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped
• 1 Apple, peeled and chopped (I used honeycrisp)
• 1 Sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 3-4 cups of chicken broth and water depending on choice of consistency
• Olive oil for sprinkling over vegetables before roasting
• Salt & pepper
• I used varied sprinkles of:
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Chili powder
• Sage
• Ground ginger
• Green onions (chopped, optional garnish)

I began by chopping up all the produce (with no peeler, I may add...took quite a while to peel a potato, squash and apple with just a knife) and massaged some some salt, pepper and olive oil throughout.  Then I threw it in the oven at 425 to roast for about 30 minutes.  Roasting the vegetables allows them to soften and be able to be blended and also brings out their natural flavors.  My house smelled so amazing I couldn't wait to take them out of the oven.  When you are roasting vegetables, they sometimes make a whistling sound that lets you know they are done, but you can also use a fork to make sure they are tender.  I added the roasted veggies to a large pot with the stock and then the fun began.  I added the liquid and produce to a blender in small amounts to ensure it didn't overflow.  I added veggies, stock, veggies, stock until I found a texture I liked.  The potato and squash are so starchy that it is easy for the mixture to turn into a thick pureé, rather than a soup so make sure to add liquid accordingly to make it as thick/thin as you like.  I personally prefer a consistency that is smooth, creamy, and not too thick.  I want to add that the soup does not include any cream, milk or butter and still reached a wonderful texture with just water, olive oil and stock.  Once you have all of the veggies pureed, return to large pot and put over heat.  Add spices, herbs, and liquid accordingly to taste.  I garnished my bowl with some finely chopped scallions.

The most important thing about making a soup is to not worry.  There is so much room for error and you can always adjust flavors and textures.  Too salty or spicy? Add a little bit of water.  Too thin? Add a little more olive oil or a little bit of cornstarch.  Soup is an empty canvas and is open and willing for whatever you have to offer.  So add what you love, and enjoy!

The soup turned out better than I could have expected.  The cinnamon and nutmeg offered such a warm and comforting flavor that reminded me of the holidays.  The chili powder left a spicy kick after each bite that gave so much flavor.  My roommate and I enjoyed alongside a baguette and great conversation.  It was a hit and will definitely be made again.  Keep in mind, this recipe fully fed three (food-loving) girls.

If you would like an actual recipe that is similar to this, look here.  Although, I recommend adding some more spices!

Beso wanted to watch me cook

Disclaimer: please don't actually fall into a bowl, just enjoy the flavors of fall, in a bowl. :)