Historically, Thanksgiving has been a huge cooking holiday for me. I have never made Thanksgiving dishes for less than 12 people. Until this year. This year it is just Luke and I.

I decided to only make a few things: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, and deviled eggs. I made almost everything ahead of time, except for the turkey and potatoes. I think it’s the most relaxing holiday I’ve ever had!

I took my mom’s traditional sage stuffing recipe and altered it this year to add some new flavors. I used rosemary and thyme in addition to the sage, carrots and chanterelle mushrooms in addition to the onions and celery, and white wine and broth in addition to the butter. I also used a mix of crusty bread with the soft white bread we usually use. I also left all the crusts on this year, partially out of laziness, but then I thought it was just a waste to throw away perfectly good parts of the bread. Turned out for the best! It was very tasty and the edges crisped up nicely in the oven and the mellow mushrooms added a nice texture.

One of my co-workers gave me a small piece of smoked sturgeon the other day, so I made deviled eggs with fresh dill and smoked sturgeon.

A few weeks ago, we ordered Pumpkin Pie Soda from Maine Root, so our dessert was pumpkin pie soda floats. Maybe a new tradition?

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Homemade pretzels with rosemary butter.  Pork Schnitzel with horseradish mashed potatoes.  Cumin green beans.  It was all mine when we went to Slide Inn for dinner.  It was surprisingly empty, while just a couple blocks away, the line out the door at Screen Door went around the corner.  

Slide Inn has a great list of cocktails  – I tried one called Hansel Gets Screwed, with fresh OJ and ginger infused vodka.   Even just saying the name was fun.  But it was truly good, name aside.  Not too sweet.   

The green beans were actually my favorite thing – they were very garlicky and spicy and deliciously, perfectly cooked, with a slight crunch to them.  The schnitzel was flavorful and I loved the horseradish potatoes.  Gosh I love mashed potatoes.  So much. 

The polenta with mushroom sour cream sauce (vegan) was crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.  I was surprised, actually, because I am not generally a fan of fake sour cream.  But this was genuinely good.  So good that I would order it for an entree sometime.  And that’s saying something, coming from this carnivore.

I managed to make it for brunch a few days later, and enjoyed eggs benedict, apple fritters and some beer battered onion rings.  My friends had some tasty portobello burgers.  Mmmmm.  Good way to start the weekend.

**A portion of my dinner at the Slide Inn was provided to me at no cost.   I really liked it, or I wouldn’t write about it.

Head on over to the American Lamb Board and check out some amazing lamb recipes! If you feel inclined, vote for my recipe for Lamb, Mango and Avocado Salad. It’s pretty tasty. Thanks for reading!

I buy smoked salmon at the Farmers Market every few weeks.  I always try to do something different with it each time.  Today, I decided to make little sandwiches on biscuits.  It was the perfect light bite – not too much, and packed with flavor.  I whipped up some creme fraiche flavored with dill and capers and lemon juice and then braised some leeks in olive oil, lemon juice, water and butter, until they melded together.  Layered on a fresh tender biscuit with smoked salmon, the leek jam and creme fraiche perfected the sandwich.

Smoked Salmon Biscuit Sandwich

12 biscuits, split in half (use your favorite recipe)

1/2 c. Lemony Leek Jam (see below)

1/2 c. Dill Caper Creme Fraiche (see below)

6 oz. smoked salmon

Dill and capers for garnish

Layer the jam, creme fraiche and salmon on the bottom half of the biscuits.  Add the biscuit top and serve. Enjoy!

Lemony Leek Jam

1 leek, cleaned and diced

2 T. butter

1 T. olive oil

3/4 c. water

2 T. lemon juice

Salt

Fresh ground pepper

In a skillet, heat the butter and olive oil.  When butter is melted, add the leeks and season with salt and pepper.  Cook for 5 minutes, until leeks are beginning to caramelize.  Add the water and lemon juice.  Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, until liquid is absorbed and leeks take on a jam-like quality.  Set aside to cool.

Dill Caper Creme Fraiche

1 c. creme fraiche

2 sprigs of fresh dill

2 T. capers

1 tsp. lemon juice

Salt

Fresh ground pepper

In a food processor, combine all ingredients and pulse until creme fresh is thick and spreadable.  Season with salt and pepper. 

I’m a fan of steak salads with blue cheese and tomatoes on a leafy bed of greens.  It’s something about eating a “salad” while indulging in red meat.  I love it.  I recently had the opportunity to cook with some lamb, courtesy of the American Lamb Board.  I came up with this summery version of my favorite salad, with a spicy twist.

Lamb, Mango and Avocado Salad

Serves 6.

3 lbs. boneless leg of lamb

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup lime juice, plus 1 T.

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

1 jalapeno pepper

3 cloves garlic

Salt

Fresh ground pepper

8 cups arugula

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1 mango, diced

1 small sweet onion, diced

2 sprigs fresh cilantro, minced

2 large avocados, diced

Juice of one orange

1/4 c. olive oil

3 oz. myzithra cheese, grated

Marinate the Lamb

Remove the fatty layer and any fatty pieces from the lamb and set aside.  Cut meat into 1/2 inch pieces and set aside.  Combine orange juice, 1/4 c. lime juice, cumin, chili powder, jalapeno and garlic in the food processor until combined.  Season with salt and pepper.  Place lamb in a shallow dish or ziploc bag and pour the orange juice mixture over it.  Toss to combine.  Let sit for 30 minutes.

Cook the Lamb

In a cast iron skillet, heat the lamb fat over medium high heat, until rendered enough to cover the bottom of the skillet.  Remove the fat and discard.  Working in batches, place the lamb in the skillet in a single layer, cooking about 4 minutes on each side, until brown, but not tough.  Remove the lamb and set aside to cool.  Repeat until all the lamb is cooked. 

Make the Mango Salsa

Combine the mango, red pepper, onion, cilantro and 1 T. of lime juice.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Assemble the Salad

On a platter, spread the arugula out evenly.  Layer the cooled lamb, avocado and mango salsa on top of the greens.  In a bowl, whisk together the fresh orange juice and olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Pour vinaigrette over the salad.  Top with grated Myzithra cheese.

Enjoy!

I left for college two weeks after my high school graduation. Excited does not begin to describe how I felt about college. I was ready. At least I thought I was. I call my first two years of college my social education, because it certainly wasn’t academic. Sometimes when I talk about my first two years, people get the idea that I was partying, being a little wild, as college kids often do. I did sleep in a lot and skip biology class, but there was no partying. My late nights were in the kitchen, baking, cooking, and talking until early morning with my roommates.

My freshman year, I made a lot of biscuits. Baking powder drop biscuits mostly. They weren’t very good. My sophomore year, I made scones. Everyone thought that scones were the “scones” that they made in the school food court – deep fried dough, served with honey butter, but my scones were the British kind. My mom’s recipe. They were like biscuits, but a little heavier, with more butter. I served them with Lemon Cheese, my family’s version of lemon curd. My cookbook pages became stained and worn while I concentrated on improving my techniques in the kitchen. My roommate Angie made soft, tender dinner rolls regularly for the dinners that we had together. We had fun, and skimped on the studying while indulging in excessive carbohydrates. There can be too much of a good thing – and we all went our separate ways at the end of that year.

This past week I was delighted to have a Facebook reunion with my sophomore year roommates. In honor of them, I made scones and Lemon Cheese this afternoon. The buttery, lemony bread smell has filled my studio apartment and for once, I don’t feel like airing the place out. I could sit in that aroma for hours. Perhaps I will do just that.

Scones

2 cups flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

1/2 cup milk

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in raisins and walnuts, if desired. Gradually add enough milk to form a soft dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly 4 or 5 times and form into a ball. Place dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten ball into a circle, 1/2 inch thick. Score circle into 8 sections. Bake at 450 degrees, 8-10 minutes, until lightly brown on top. Makes 8 scones.

Lemon Cheese

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

6 teaspoons lemon zest

2/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1 cup melted butter

Combine eggs, egg yolks and sugar and beat with an electric mixer 3-5 minutes. Stir in lemon zest, lemon juice and melted butter. Beat 1-2 minutes longer. Heat water in the bottom of a double boiler until hot, but not boiling. Pour the mixture into the top of the double boiler and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened. Remove from heat and cool thoroughly. Makes 4 cups.

Beautiful day. Fresh chive pesto. Succulent guanciale. Spring bliss.

Have you tried guanciale before? It’s like a more delicious, fattier bacon, with herbs and spices. You’ve just never tasted anything quite so magical.

Bite-sized chunks of guanciale rendered enough fat to sautée onions. I added pesto and cream and finished cooking the pasta in the cream sauce with a couple of cups of pasta water. With the last addition of frozen peas, I had my lunch.

Punctuated with fatty bits of goodness, the chive pesto pasta really shouted SPRING.

On Facebook the other night, I was contemplating what to do with the quail eggs, chicken eggs and duck eggs that have been residing in my fridge.  I thought about making something like Turducken, but with eggs.  Christina piped up and said “Quailchucken, with a side of pumpkin.”  It was postively inspired!

Thursday nights I use up my produce before I go to the market on Saturday again, so tonight was the right night for a cooking experiment.  I simmered fresh tomatoes, red pepper, onion, garlic, red pepper flakes and a little water for a couple of hours in a small saucepan and pureed it.  While that was working, I attacked my Quailchucken.  I made a potato pancake crust in my cast iron skillet, with my last Russet potato. 

In my other cast iron skillet, I sauteed bacon, onion, red pepper, chard stems and chard leaves.  I added in a spoonful of pesto that I just made with the rest of my parsley, chives, chard, sunflower seeds, parmesan and the last of my olive oil.  In a bowl, I mixed together 3 duck eggs, 4 chicken eggs, 1/4 cup of cream.  1 1/2 cups cottage cheese, 1 cup Romano cheese, salt and pepper.  I stirred in my sauteed vegetables and bacon. 

Since my potato crust looked crispy, after I baked it in the oven for about 30 minutes, I poured the egg mixture into the potato crust.  I popped it back in the oven at 400 for about 35 minutes.   Once it was firm to the touch, I pulled it out and let it cool.  I cut a piece, and sauced it with my tomato and red pepper sauce.  Then.  I fried two quail eggs – and one of them turned out to be a lucky double yolk!    Served them up on top of the sauced chucken, and wa la!  Quailchucken, with tomato and red pepper sauce.  Whaddyathink?

*Please note: these ingredients and the measurements were based solely on what I had in my fridge.  No science or planning was involved.  Try at your own risk.  Remarkably, mine turned out to be very tasty!

The Potato-Crusted Chucken, before the Quail

I know I’ve preached it before, but the PSU Farmers Market is simply delightful.  My weekends are not complete without it.  The first few weeks of the market are full of kale and chard and mushrooms, fresh pasta, meat. 

I fiddled around a bit today when I got home and made this pasta dish.  Fresh tagliatelle, chicken meatballs, chard.  It was delicious.  Why don’t I use fresh pasta more often?

One night, talking to Luke, the subject of Corned Beef Hash came up.  He said something about loving Corned Beef Hash and that Hormel had the best.  What?  I said.  In a can?  I had never heard of it.  I suddenly had a brilliant idea.  With St. Patricks day coming up, we should do a Corned Beef Hash taste test.  I would make some homemade hash and then I would dislodge the canned hash from the metal entrapment and heat it up.  Surely my hash would win, because, hello.  How could it not beat a can?

So.  On St. Patrick’s day, I bought corned beef from Kenny and Zuke’s and bought Hormel Corned Beef Hash.  Saturday night, I went to work, while Luke watched March Madness.  After about 45 minutes, I was ready.  I would tell you which one is which, but come on.  You can tell, right? 

So who was the winner?  Me?  Or Hormel? 

My hash: what I would get in a nice restaurant.  Very good.  Hormel: I’ve been conditioned to believe that this is corned beef hash.  Dog food compared to yours.  Still good, though.

It’s true that sometimes what we are familiar with and what we connect with as comfort food is what we crave.  It’s why I like Totino’s pizza and Tostino’s nacho cheese.  We just do.  One time I made beef stroganoff for my family with creme fraiche and really good beef.  Everyone said it was good, but not as good as the kind we grew up with, which was made with cream of mushroom soup and ground beef.  It’s the familiarity and comfort factors.  We can still appreciate good things, but we will always hold a fond place in our hearts for the maybe not quite as excellent food of our past.

So let’s just say, Lizzy and Hormel are not to be compared.  We are too different.  Separate but equal.  Or something.  Maybe not QUITE equal in my book.  But you get the idea.

Lizzy’s Corned Beef Hash

2 T. olive oil

1 large Russet potato, diced

2 shallots, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 large red pepper, diced

1 cup of beef broth

1 T. creamy horseradish sauce

1/2 lb. corned beef, chopped into bite sized pieces

2 T. butter

1/4 c. heavy cream

2 T. fresh parsley, finely chopped

Heat a oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.  Add potatoes, shallots, garlic and red pepper.  Sautee until lightly browned.  Add beef broth, and continue cooking over medium high heat until potatoes are tender and liquid is absorbed.  Add the horseradish sauce, the corned beef, the butter and the cream.  Stir to combine.  Cook, stirring occasionally over medium high heat until the corned beef is slightly browned, the butter is melted and incorporated and the cream is absorbed, about 7 minutes.  Add the parsley.  Enjoy!