We all know that aftermath turkey sandwiches are one of the best parts of Thanksgiving. Both simple and delicious. But clearing out the refrigerator gridlock of side dishes is more of a challenge. Especially when our minds and bodies are just as overloaded. So here are three casual soup recipes to easily combine and revive all the odd bits before either you or they get lost in the muddle. One for right now, and two to save for when the cupboard is bare. 

First you'll need to take stock. And speaking of, do you have any on hand? (It could be chicken, turkey or vegetable.) If not, put your turkey carcass and random trim in a pot with some aromatic vegetables (big chunks of onion, carrot, celery; garlic cloves, parsley, thyme and a few peppercorns) and cool water to cover. Bring just to the boil, then simmer for several hours until flavorful; strain and taste for salt. Use a degreaser, or cool and refrigerate until the fat sets up on top so you can smoothly scrape or spoon it off. I'm always in favor of homemade broth. But don't let that bias stop you from making soup. Just check the ingredients list on any store-bought broths and bases to make sure they sound like food you recognize and would want to eat. Now let's get started.

SOUP #1: If you're lucky enough to have any mashed potatoes left over, then the first soup is practically made. Just stir in stock until the consistency is as thick or thin as you like it. Taste for salt and pepper, maybe some nutmeg. Then heat and serve. Any creamed onions or leeks, cooked spinach or chard, chopped parsley or chives would be welcome embellishments here. Add more stock as needed to thin out. (Potatoes get mealy when frozen, so this one is best eaten fresh.)

SOUP #2: You can use a similar approach with cooked yams, pumpkin, winter squash, and/or beets. Remove any skins or peels, and thin with stock. Then puree with an immersion blender or transfer to a standard blender, food processor or food mill to do the job. Heat, season and serve. Ginger, nutmeg, a little orange juice and/or Grand Marnier are lovely flavor companions. And you could garnish each bowl with a swirl of heavy or sour cream, and/or a spoonful of cranberry relish for a colorful taste spike. Any of these soups would freeze well for later.

SOUP #3: And now for the hodgepodge combo. Combine bite-sized pieces of roast turkey and cooked vegetables (could be mushrooms, green beans, spinach, chard, kale, cabbage, carrots and/or onions). Add enough stock to create a vegetable soup consistency. Enrich with any leftover gravy. Heat, season and serve. Once upon a time, breadcrumbs were often used to thicken up a thin broth, so just imagine what some turkey dressing or stuffing might contribute either as a thickener or hot garnish. This kind of soup would also freeze well for another day.

Now your fridge is cleaned out, and you've made the most of some great leftovers. You can depend on these basic concepts even when it's not right after a major feast day. They're also another great way to keep your pantry stocked with possibilities. Besides, good soup always takes care of us when we're tired, cold and hungry. When we want to feel nourished and satisfied instead of stuffed. So try one or all of them! Then go make a fresh green salad and have a little sorbet for dessert.

Bon Appetit! Kay

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It's been weeks since we ran outside for that last blaze of sun. On a day more summery than any in July. When it feels like all of nature is awash in autumn candlelight. We sat mesmerized in canvas lounge chairs under the liquid amber trees, trying to hang on to what we knew was a fleeting moment. Balancing BLT lunch plates up under our chins to catch the inevitable dripping ooze of dead ripe tomato juice, fresh basil mayonnaise, and smoky bacon fat. That the toast could only pretend to contain.

Licking our salty fingers, we sank into this best-ever sandwich to savor our whole season of tomato madness along with it. Like a side dish you can't get enough of. Remembering tomatoes in omelets, frittatas, pizza and foccacia. Layered into every single sandwich, salad and summertime soup. Tiny ones grabbed as a snack on the go. Meaty ones grilled, slow-roasted and stuffed a la Provencal. And those soaring to new heights when paired with peaches in Eileen's surprise tart. Our consuming passion. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. No wonder they're called "love apples". I was sorry I hadn't put up any sauce for the winter. But now it was time for sweet sorrow, and we were resigned to the parting. At least until next year.

Cloudy forecasts and the first serious frost were right around the corner. So we tied tarps around the outdoor furniture, and changed our bed sheets to flannel. Vacuumed out the heater vents, pulled on our rain coats, bought chickens for broth, and went to get flu shots. On the way home, we swung by Green String Farm. Just for stock veg, braising greens, and another round of keeper apples. It was dark, cold and wet out, but there they were. In all their glory. Like an eye-blinking vision before us. Tomatoes. Still? Yes, stacks of tomatoes. Big, small, yellow and red. Even San Marzano Romas. The final harvest gathered in earlier this morning before the downpour, and priced to move before they rotted. $1/pound, $5/box or $12/crate. I could still make some sauce! We snatched up an overflowing crate, yet more aromatics, and then took off like bandits with loot in the back.

Home to haul it all inside. Then rinse, trim, peel, pound, slice, chop, stir, simmer and puree through the fine disk of our decades-old food mill. This is when an extended family of helping hands would come in handy. But did I mention how every room in the house filled with warm smelling spices? (An advantage to having the intake vent in our kitchen once the heater goes on.) And now we have twelve quarts of sauce. Satisfaction guaranteed. Forget the pork chops I got for dinner. We're having angel hair pasta. Simply straight up with tomato sauce. A shower of parmigiano reggiano and the absolutely last zucchini sauteed to caramelize and sit alongside.

No wonder this is my favorite season. Its abundance even comes with another last chance. And the lingering sweetness of a voluptuous summer. To keep us all cozy when the nights grow so cold.   

Bon Appetit! Kay

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This can mean so many things. Before the advent of instant-on switches and more labor-saving kitchen devices than we know what to do with, both good and bad cooks were forced to consider the power of natural consequences just to make it through their day. To be resourceful and self-reliant. To conserve and preserve. To haul in water and wood. Keep the fire burning and the kettle on. But even though most of us now face a different set of daily challenges, we're all still trying to survive. And learning how to cultivate the essence of these think-ahead, ripple-effect practices can certainly help ease the way. Particularly as we rev up for the holidays.

In my previous post ("Cooking from Scratch"), we made the most out of a hot oven. So now we're going to light up the burners on top and start with a pot of boiling salted water. What could be more basic than that? Let's say we need to cook some pasta. Take advantage of a deep steamer basket insert, so all the water can remain in the pot as you pull things out to drain. That sets you up for blanching a succession of vegetables, moving from mild to stronger flavored and/or colored varieties (e.g., first peas, then leeks, carrots, wax beans, green beans, asparagus, spinach, chard, broccoli, kale...). The resulting light vegetable broth will enhance the taste of your pasta (potatoes, rice, polenta or other grains) cooked in it next. And now we also have vegetables ready to combine with the pasta, use as a side dish, or refrigerate to keep for another meal. The leftover starchy cooking liquid can either help sauce the pasta, deglaze a roasting pan, or help create a soup base. All these possibilities from just one pot of water, and the chance to use every last drop of it.

Now pull out your favorite large, heavy skillet. You know the one. Let the others keep dangling clean on the pot rack, while we figure out everything we might do without them. Nuts, whole spice seeds, pods and dried chilies toast up nicely in a dry pan; then remove and reserve them. Next brown any meaty things. Could be bacon, sausages, ground meats, chops, chicken pieces or fish; remove and reserve. Pour out or add fat as needed to saute or braise any aromatic or main event vegetables, which will scrape up and absorb residual pan flavors. Depending on their use, you may or may not want to remove and reserve these vegetables. Stop there or continue on to add wine, stock, tomatoes and/or cream to make a sauce, stew, rice or grain dish. Any reserved ingredients may either be put away for another purpose or added back in to finish cooking with the rest. Each step building flavors and creating liaisons along the way.

The same dry-to-wet, mild-to-strong progression concept can be applied to cooking utensils as well. For example, a single measuring cup can first portion out nuts, grain, flour or sugar; then water, stock, lemon juice, vinegar, oil, honey, or molasses cycled through in that order. So that maybe at the end of this cooking session, we not only have one or more meals good to go, but just one pot, one pan and a few utensils to wash up. And if you didn't use that leftover hot pasta water for anything else, then you could always squirt some soap into it for soaking the dirty dishes while you waltz in to sit down, relax and replenish yourself at the table. Makes sense to me. Try it. You'll be amazed at how clever and satisfied you can end up feeling.

Bon Appetit! Kay

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...doesn't have to mean starting from scratch. At least not every day. And that's our saving grace. Because no matter how much we might love to cook, sometimes (perhaps even often), there's just not enough time or energy available to do what it takes. Particularly if you find yourself having to begin at square one. So here's a routine we've come to depend on that keeps us all going even when we're running on empty.

About twice a week my husband fires up our gas oven to 525 degrees for baking the heavenly bread he makes to feed us every day. Having grown up learning how to want not, we just can't waste it. Not only every precious crumb, but all that heat developing while the dough slowly rises. So we decided to adopt the traditional village oven concept for establishing our own credo: When it's hot, fill it up! With everything you can find and fit in as the heat both builds up and then cools down. And I do mean everything.

We rifle through the fridge pulling out bags of vegetables we don't want to miss out on. Rescue potatoes before they sprout, and take advantage of the excuse to dream up new cookie recipes. Not worrying about when or how we'll end up using each item. But just focusing on getting it all cooked. We can always keep the temperature constant for a while if something needs to get done before the oven grows too hot or cold. But it's easiest to choose things that are pretty temperature flexible. Almost everything's happy between 350-400 degrees. And if we're not baking bread, now we automatically think of possibilities whenever the oven gets turned on. In fact, it often starts out with a chicken to roast. 

The other night while the bird was spitting and hissing its way to crispy, golden perfection, a succession of sheet pans lined with green beans, peppers, eggplant, zucchini and cauliflower kept nudging it over to roast alongside. Then some hefty whole yams and another pan of fingerling potatoes rolling around in duck fat and herbs. It's easy to get carried away when the room fills with aromas that keep calling you home. A spiced apple crisp baked while we ate dinner, then we lowered the heat for slow-roasting tomatoes that would finish drying overnight.

Because this assembly line approach enables re-using many of the same bowls, pans and implements, the clean-up wasn't nearly as bad as it would have been otherwise. And now the fridge was packed like a picnic basket full of promise. Just waiting to delight and take care of us. We could coast on this harvest for many meals to come. And so could you!

We turned off the oven and toddled off to bed. 

Bon Appetit! Kay

Reminder: Our next class, HOLIDAY STEW POT is on Wed, Nov 2 [10am–2pm] with a follow-up Review Session on Wed, Nov 16 [10am-12pm]; please see the Current Class Schedule.

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It was our first. Review Session, that is. Just two weeks after the Drop Cookie Classics class. And although neither canning equipment nor musical instruments were involved, we did gather again to keep playing. To harmonize and improvise together. To share our individual riffs on the Mother Recipe. To figure out what still needed practicing. To continue creating and storing up ideas for the months and years to come.

In class we had creamed and beaten and sifted and mixed and pulsed and chopped and soaked and scooped. To crank out cookies called Coconut Almond Chocolate Chunk, Apricot Oatmeal Spice, Orange Pistachio Praline, Double Chocolate Oatmeal and Chocolate Mint Chip. Only this time it was a lively round table discussion (with treats). Without the insistent mixer running and timers beeping, we were freed up to sit around talking about what happened when we tried these same recipes at home on our own. And to taste through the new Offspring Creations students had also felt inspired to make. And bring along with them. 

What amazing grace. And imagination. Caramelized pecans and candy cap mushrooms. Dried cherries in brandy with chocolate, of course. Espresso shots, cocoa nibs and roasted peanuts gone to butter. Salt. Remembering to aerate not compact your flour. The value of parchment paper and good heavy baking pans. Where to find candied orange peel and different sized scoops. A tasting of flavored dark chocolates. But it was so much more than all that.

There was the story about making three trips to the store for different basic ingredients before realizing it had been that long since she'd baked anything. And how we could arrange to have one of us buy less readily available specialty items for the rest. It was clear how much fun everyone had all had. Playing in their kitchens. How empowered they now seemed. I started hyperventilating when one experienced baker said she'd never before realized that the same simple formula was at the heart of so many of the cookie recipes she'd had in her file for years. Repeating themes with adjustments here and there. And now she knew how, when and where to make them. She had discovered for herself and expressed to the rest of us the whole point behind the development of my Mother Recipe concept.

What gifts. Apparently the planting of seeds and ideas has come to fruition. Once again. And now we get to fill ourselves up with yet another harvest. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and squash. Fresh shell beans and potatoes. Pumpkins and mushrooms and onions. Winter greens coming up and garlic galore. All a vital part of something larger than ourselves. So we exchanged favorite ways to stock up on and prepare this bounty. How the next class will steep us in stuffing and vegetables. Both simple and more complicated. Made for one or one hundred. For you and for me.

You might already be planning to join us. But first...When's the last time you wondered what your neighbor had in mind? Why not take a break now to wander next door and find out. Perhaps borrow that cup of sugar or offer around your bumper crop of zucchini. Ask how they make pistou or pesto. If they need help with canning all those tomatoes. Or to finish off that plate of cookies. No matter what. There is always so much to share. And it brings us to life.

Bon Appetit! Kay

Reminder: Our next class, STUFFED VEGETABLES is on Wed, Oct 5 [10am–2pm] with a follow-up Review Session on Wed, Oct 19 [10am-12pm]; please see the Current Class Schedule.

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Amuse-bouche. I love that French term for a tasty little bite. You even have to pucker your lips to say it. Typically off menu and more whimsical than an actual appetizer course, palate teasers afford the chef complete freedom in their creation. And for both professional and home cooks alike, it always makes sense to at least start with what we already have on hand. I'm happy to say that right now that's baskets full of sun-ripened tomatoes.

I needed to make some finger food for a casual aperitif gathering we recently hosted, and guests were arriving in about half an hour. What with one thing and another that day, I was already way past Plan B. But we did have good bread, some homemade aioli (garlic mayonnaise) and olive tapenade. So I mixed the two sauces together to spread on small triangles of toast, and then started dicing those tomatoes.

Tossed with a dose of balsamic vinegar, sea salt, black pepper and shallots, their sweet, red juices flowed freely through the strainer and into a small saute pan to briefly reduce until syrupy. Then just spoon the cut tomatoes onto the dressed toast, drizzle on their reduced juices with a little extra-virgin olive oil, scatter cherry tomatoes, tiny leaf basil and herbes de Provence olives around on top, and Voila! An embellished French version of the familiar Italian bruschetta. Made more intriguing with an undergarment of mystery between the tomatoes and toast. And all done in a matter of minutes.

You could, of course, make them bigger for lunch. Or as a side with grilled meat, fish or chicken for dinner. Perhaps slipping in roasted peppers, zucchini or eggplant. Layering with salumi and/or shavings of cheese. Whatever suits you and the needs of that moment. Just remember, it's a casual affair. And you get to enjoy it too!

Bon Appetit! Kay

Reminder: Our next class, STUFFED VEGETABLES is on Wed, Oct 5 [10am–2pm] with a follow-up Review Session on Wed, Oct 19 [10am-12pm]; please see the Current Class Schedule.

To Subscribe to this Blog by Email or Feed Reader:
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