Weekend Foodie Thread
Seems DL has quite a few foodies. So let’s see how this goes.
This week I’d like to discuss and share Thanksgiving recipes. In future weeks the theme will change, but I thought that keeping each thread to a theme would make searching for recipes easier. Any other suggestions are welcome… and probably desperately needed!
I love to cook, and, unfortunately for this thread, I’m one of those cooks who rarely measures. I’m a sorta fly by the seat of her pants chef – which means I taste often. So with that disclaimer let me get the ball rolling with one of my favorite recipes – which took me quite a bit of trial and error – Pumpkin Mushroom Soup, a wonderfully rich, sweet soup that’s always a crowd-pleaser. (For those of you who live locally, this recipe is a dead ringer for what’s served at the Back Burner in Hockessin.)
Pumpkin Mushroom Soup
1lb sliced mushrooms
3/4 cups chopped onion
2tbsp butter
2tbsp flour
4tbsp curry powder, maybe more! (okay, I use a lot of curry, so you should add or subtract to your taste, but you should definitely be able to taste the curry)
6 cups chicken broth
1 1lb can of pumpkin (or one pound roasted and pureed fresh pumpkin)
Sugar – here’s where I wish I measured. I usually start out with 1/2 cup sugar, let the soup simmer for 10 min., taste, and then add more sugar, by the tablespoon (approx. 3-4 more), until my taste buds tingle. If for any reason the soup becomes too sweet, add more broth.
Dash of nutmeg, salt, pepper
Heavy cream
In a large soup pot, saute mushrooms and onions in butter until tender. Stir in flour and curry. Gradually add chicken broth, then pumpkin, sugar, and seasonings. Stir and simmer. *This is the stage you can start adding more sugar. And, I’m not lying, you’ll know when you’ve hit the right sweetness. Yummy. 5 minutes before serving add the heavy cream until the color of the soup goes from a dark brown to a rich golden hue. Heat through, without boiling. Spoon soup into bowls and top with a dollop of sour cream.
This soup has always gotten me rave reviews. It can also be prepared a day ahead of time and simply warmed up. It makes an excellent first course. It is also rich enough to stand on its own with some crusty bread on the side – gotta love bread machines! My kids call it dessert soup.
Please submit your favorite recipes below. And let me apologize, again, for being one of <i>those</i> cooks who doesn’t measure. I promise my next recipe will be exact, but I just couldn’t resist starting off with my favorite!
Tags: Food, Thanksgiving
Pandora — sounds delicious…are you going for the “dessert” taste or is the curry supposed to dominate?
Also — do you have a favorite curry blend or brand?
I’ll post carrot ginger soup as soon as I dig it out….
You don’t believe in starting small, do you? The Geezer family’s Thanksgiving spectacular draws about 30 friends and family, and the side dishes are a true groaning board — four kinds of stuffing, six kinds of pie, about a dozen vegetable dishes (including those delicious brussels sprouts), three different cranberry sauces. I’m not sure I would know where to begin.
Searching for recipes now.
We make turkey gumbo with our leftover turkey but it’s a combination of recipes.
One of my favorite (non-Thanksgiving) recipes is for swiss chard. I’ll see if I can find it.
OMG, the pumpkin mushroom soup Pandora makes is incredible. Damn, now I have to fight through making it.
My Pennsylvania Dutch Grandmother’s Turkey Stuffing
3 eggs
1 t salt
pepper to taste
1 green pepper chopped
1 C celery chopped
1 C pop-corn
garlic and parsley to taste
Mix all ingredients together well, stuff turkey loosely. Put in 350 degree oven and bake until the popcorn blows the ass off the turkey.
I know its corny but every year my grandmother would get out this recipe around this time and laugh until the tears ran down her cheeks. Racy woman.
Pandora, I’ve been missing the sugar part of the pumpkin mushroom recipe. I’m like you, I replicate recipes based on taste but I never got the sugar part right. Thanks for the tip.
Pandora’s Pumpkin Mushroom soup is pretty fantastic — I made it last weekend and spiced it up with some additional curry, a little coriander, a healthy pinch of cayenne. I used less sugar, since I very slow roasted a sugar pumpkin which let alot of its own sweetness come though and added great flavor. Topped with toasted pumpkin seeds. Fantastic!
This sounds pretty spectacular, p. Would make a wonderful first-course for my Thanksgiving feast I’ll be preparing with my sister in LA this year!
Geezer and Cassandra, I want the brussel sprout recipes!
PM, I just use a basic grocery store (McCormick?) brand curry – because 1) it’s expensive, and 2) I use A LOT. The soup will be a curry sweet. Trust me, add sugar, taste, add sugar, taste. You Will know when it’s perfect. And get cracking on that carrot ginger soup recipe! 😉 Sounds delicious… and tis the soup season!
Brussels sprouts and bacon are a wonderful combo.
First, take half-a-pound of bacon, render it in a pan over medium heat until nice and crispy. Remove bacon, but leave tasty drippings in pan.
Mince two shallots. Throw into bacon grease and cook for a minute or two.
Take 2 pounds of Brussels sprouts. Peel loose layers away and cut in half. On medium-high heat, throw the sprouts into the bacon fat. Cook for 10-15 minutes until they begin to tenderize and get all brown and tasty-looking. Lower heat to medium-low and add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of chicken broth. Cover and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Remove cover. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add reserved bacon. Mix and serve.
I’ve had people swear they would never eat Brussels sprouts; not so after trying these!
That sounds awesome. I’ll break my prohibition against eating things from Belgium to try it.
This gingered carrot vichyssoise is from the Frog Commissary Cookbook (which the website says is the best selling Philly region cookbook ever). Way back in the day, The Frog had this soup on its fall menu.
Here’s the original recipe; my changes are listed below
The original recipe makes about 5 cups.
1 cup thinly sliced leeks (2 large)
2 tblspn butter
1/4 cup chopped onions
3/4 lb carrots, peeled, thinly sliced
2 1/2 tspns minced fresh ginger (do not substitute a ground spice)
1/2 lb “boiling” potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
3 cups half and half
minced chives or slivered candied ginger for garnish
Soak the leeks to get out the grit before slicing. Melt butter in medium saucepan. Add leeks and onions and saute until translucent and wilted. Add carrots, ginger, potatoes. Saute and stir for a few minutes to soften. Add salt, pepper, chicken stock. Cover and simmer until veggies are tender enough to be mashed with a fork. Cool and puree in food processor or blender. Chill thoroughly. Blend in half and half. Serve chilled in small chilled bowls; or serve warm after reheating gently.
PM’s changes to the original:
Use 1/2 cup onions, preferably the sweet ones. Use at least 1 lb. to 1 1/4 lb. organic carrots, and TASTE the carrots before you start the soup. If they don’t taste delicious raw, you will have nasty soup. If they have good, fresh carrot flavor but aren’t sweet, consider adding a little sugar to the soup to taste. Use two medium Yukon Gold potatoes and one medium-small “boiling” potato. Use 3 tspns. minced fresh ginger. Cook, cool and puree. Omit the half and half completely. The pureed soup is delicious and thick without it. Serve this variation warmed … add a little more stock when warming if it seems too much like “baby food” (my mother’s complaint!) Use the same garnishes or add a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream to the top, as your congratulations for not using all that half and half!
If you puree, taste and something isn’t to your liking, just store your first batch, make a second to over-correct, and blend the two batches. This is a very forgiving soup, and a very nice first course.
ARGh — Another edit…
In my version, you need enough chicken stock to cover the veggies as they cook, which is more than 1 1/2 cups as in the original. Just watch it, add broth as needed. If it purees too heavy, add more broth at the end; if it purees too light, just give it some reheating time without a lid.
As I said, very forgiving…
Yummy!
Roasted Turnips, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, and Dried Cranberries
3 cups cubed peeled turnips (about 1 1/4 pounds)
3 cups cubed peeled sweet potato (about 1 1/4 pounds)
2 1/2 cups cubed peeled Granny Smith apple (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine, cut into small pieces
Preheat oven to 350°.
Coat a shallow 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray. Combine the first 4 ingredients in the baking dish and toss with the lemon juice. Combine the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan ont he stove and when butter and sugar have melted, pour over the vegetables and toss. Bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours or until tender, stirring after 45 minutes.
This recipe is from an old Cooking Light magazine. I modify this abit by backing off of the sugar — using about 1/3 cup. The veggies plus fruit make this plenty sweet for me. Also, have added 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar to the butter/sugar mixture to add some richness. You can substitute parsnips for the turnips if you prefer and once you’ve got the recipe down, you can start exchanging root veggies as you like.
Like Pandora, I often don’t use a recipe with simple dishes, just go by taste. But, as luck would have it, here’s last week’s “Minimalist” recipe from the NYTimes — basically Mike M.’s sprouts, only shredded, with figs added. (Mark Bittman is one of my favorite recipe authors, committed to freshness, simplicity and accurate recipes.)
I’ll be trying this one out this week; it might be the best way to handle sprouts of mixed sizes, which tend to cook unevenly:
Brussels Sprouts With Bacon and Figs
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 to 8 ounces bacon, chopped
1 pound Brussels sprouts, stems trimmed
1 cup dried figs, stemmed and quartered
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar, or more to taste.
1. Put a large skillet over medium heat and add oil, then bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to crisp, 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, put sprouts through feed tube of a food processor equipped with a slicing attachment and shred. (You can also do this with a mandoline or a knife.)
3. Add sprouts, figs and 1/4 cup water to pan; sprinkle with salt and pepper, turn heat to medium, and cook, undisturbed, until sprouts and figs are nearly tender, about 5 to 10 minutes. Turn heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, until any remaining water evaporates, another 5 to 10 minutes. Add vinegar, taste, adjust seasoning and serve.
Yield: 4 servings.
I’m saving that one, geezer! Me loves figs paired with salty pork!