I like to cook when I go home.  I learned to cook, at the earliest stages, from my family.  I made tortillas from maize, or added the salt and sugar to cookies, or chopped vegetables.  My family still seems to eat mostly the same things though, so I get to bring a ton of different ideas and ingredients to them.  I also get to show off a bit, with something I am passionate about.

This year I called up and claimed Thanksgiving dinner.  Then I got the list of meats that I could not utilize.  No turkey (grandpa), no shellfish (dad), no small birds (mom, grandma), no pig products (dad again).  Sweet.  I decided immediately that I would revolt and make a Thanksgiving dinner that had only frail connections to a traditional meal.  After I got the skeleton of a menu down, I decided to enlist my sister Hannah.  She had endured a sushi dinner with me before without complaint, so I knew she was not picky.

The menu evolved like this.  I have a good cranberry salsa recipe, and I’ve been meaning to make pozole (pronounced poe-soe-lay), so a turkey pozole with cranberry salsa and crème fraîche was almost instantly on the menu.  I had already been brainstorming green bean casserole replacements so I started thinking chutneys with cilantro and lime.  I experimented and it failed so I resorted to a heavy puree of green beans and cream.  Going back to the vaguely Mexican/New Mexican theme I decided to make a chocolate chili pie, and stuff sopapillas with yams and marshmallows.  Lastly, after running across it at a work potluck and noticing my menu was a little short, I added a fatty jalapeno corn recipe to the mix, just for kicks.

With as many new things as I was trying I was extremely happy with the results.  Three dishes came out better than I had hoped, one was fine, and only one I would classify as a miss.  My sister loved helping me cook, my family loved eating an inventive dinner (although it was meant to be a punishment for being picky!), and I loved cooking.  I call that a success!

Chocolate Chili Pie

As the only real failure in the bunch, I figured I would start with this and work through it.  The main problem was that the base recipe was very rich, and we just added random chili powder to the basic recipe.  If I had spent more time looking into recipes I still think the concept could be a success.  As it was, everyone pretty much had two or three bites and then abandoned it.  It was just too much. Oh well, you win some you lose some.  I am not goin to re-post the recipe.  We followed the recipe directly, adding 1.5 tbls chili powder to the filling mixture and omitting the meringue.

Fatty Jalapeno Corn

We did a gigantic work potluck the Friday before Thanksgiving, for which I roasted a whole turkey in a roaster, getting to work at 5am to start it off.  With probably 30 people participating it was a ridiculous spread with everything from KFC to german chocolate and cranberry cookies and of course the turkey.  I threw down a towel on my desk and carved it right in my cube.  I need a roaster.

Anyways, one of the dishes brought in by a budding matron was this creamy canned corn and jalapeno monstrosity that was really good.  I give her credit that she at least tried to tone down the fact that it was obviously about 50% fat.  I did not.  I took this recipe and modified it as follows:

Ingredients:

• 4 15 oz Cans Sweet Yellow Corn, Drained
• 1 8 oz Package Cream Cheese
• 1 Stick Butter
• 3 Jalapenos, Diced
• 1/4 Cup Heavy Cream

Recipe:

Soften butter and mix with cream cheese.  Add milk and mix thoroughly until the mix has a uniform consistancy.  Add corn and jalapenos and mix well.  Pour mixture into a casserole dish and heat for 15 minutes at 375F.

The flavor is surprisingly balanced for such a low-class dish.  A bit of spice, enough cream to tame it, sweetness from the corn, something for everyone and easy to fit into any equally low-class meal!

Yam and Marshmallow Stuffed Sopapillas

Note: Require 3 hours advance prep for dough to rise.

Ingredients:

• 4 Large Yams/Sweet Potatoes/Whatever-You-Call-them-in-Your-District
• 1 Bag of Large Marshmallows

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• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon yeast (scant)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups milk, scalded (cooled to lukewarm)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal
• 5 cups flour

Procedure:

Dissolve yeast in water, then add egg, butter, milk, sugar, salt and cornmeal, mix well.  Add 2 cups flour and mix well, let rise 1 hour.  Add 3 cups flour and mix well, the dough should be soft but not sticky, add more flour sparingly if it is still very sticky.  Let rise for an hour.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, into a roughly rectangular shape that is 6″ high on one side, and as long as is necessary on the other, about 12″.  Cut the dough into triangles that are half of a 3″x3″ square, and let rise for another 30 minutes.

Wash yams and cut into pieces about 1″ thick.  Boil yams until very soft, allow to cool enough to handle then peel off the skins.  Add 3 cups marshmallows and mix well, the marshmallows will not all dissolve completely, which is ok.  Set aside or in an oven to keep warm.

Heat oil that is at least 1.5″ deep in a small saucepan.  Fry sopapillas one by one, bumping the sides of the sopapilla against the side of the saucepan to make it puff up, flip once so both sides are golden brown. Allow to drain on a rack. Start with the most misformed triangles for practice.

Cut the sopapillas each into two smaller triangles and fill the open part in the center with about 1/3 cup of yam mix.

Credit to Dylan for thinking of this combination.  Sopapillas are always good, as is anything else doughy and fried.  These were a perfect way to transport the sweetened yams from plate to mouth.  This recipe had the added benefit of not overly melting all the marshmallows so instead of the sugary butter that is always at the bottom of the candied yam dish, we got lumps of golden marshmallows in a thick yam puree.  Avoiding the brown sugar was necessary to keep the flavor profile more neutral and to avoid it becoming obviously not hispanic.  The dish still retained much of the familiarity that keeps candied yams on Thanksgiving tables year in and year out.

(Base Sopapilla Recipe)

“Green Bean Casserole” on Potato Blini

This composition is a major personal victory.  I have long thought that green bean casserole is a weak dish.  I have made it for maybe 4 or 5 Thanksgivings, and each time the texture is disappointing.  Cream of mushroom hanging limply to stringy or flaccid green beans.  Soggy french fried onions barely providing crunch.  Too much distance between elements to provide all of the flavors for a cohesive bite unless you work at it.  That is not what a traditional dish should be.  Granted, I could probably execute the traditional dish perfectly and come off with something at least mediocre, but this was the perfect chance to try something new.

Potato blini with Yukon Gold potatoes are a direct ripoff from Keller’s “The French Laundry“, so I will leave it at that.  Using them as the transport mechanism for the casserole allowed me to include a form of mashed potatoes in my dinner though!  The basic idea for the green bean preparation came from a Ruhlman blog post back in May.  The green bean mixture can be made a day or two ahead of time and refrigerated.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs fresh green beans
• 1 pint heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 lb chantrelles
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 large white onion
• flour, milk, oil as needed, about 1 cup of each

Procedure:

For the green bean puree.  Remove about 100 seeds from fresh green beans and reserve for garnish.  In a large pot boil water with 1 tbls salt.  Trim the ends off of the green beans while the water comes to a boil.  Add the green beans and boil for 5 minutes, then blanch.  Dice the green beans as finely as possible to aid in blending.  Working in batches blend green beans and cream together, the cream is necessary at this step to blend the green beans properly.  Pass the puree through a fine mesh strainer and set aside for later.  It is possible that the cream will have coagulated slightly, especially if there was any trouble blending, this is beneficial for the green bean mixture to be thick enough to hold together when plating.

The same day as the meal.  Wash the chantrelles lightly and slice thinly.  Sautee in the white wine until the liquid from the wine is nearly evaporated.  About an hour before plating mix chantrelles with the green bean mixture and add salt and pepper to taste, more salt than pepper.

For the french fried onions:  Slice the onions thinly and submerge in milk for a half hour.  Heat oil in a large skillet.  In batches, dredge onions through a plate or container with the flour mixed with 2 tsp of salt, and fry until golden brown.  Let the fried onions drain an then chop into a fine dice.

To plate:  Just before serving prepare the blini.  On each blini place 1 tbls of the green bean and mushroom mixture.  Sprinkle liberally with green bean seeds and french fried onion crumbles.  4 of these bites per person seems to be adequate.

Ok, so this turned out to be amazing.  All of the benefits of green bean casserole with none of the detriments.  The whole thing is eaten in one bite and all of the flavors that green bean casserole is supposed to have come together at once.  Salt and fat from the onions with a bit of sweet.  Creaminess from both the blini an the cream in the green bean mixture.  The classic earthiness of the mushrooms failed to materialize, which would have been a disappointment if anyone had noticed at the time.  The green bean taste started as subtle as all of the primary tastes affected the tongue, then about 5 seconds after a bite a huge rush of green bean flavor became evident.  Brilliant!  The texture came across right two, firm but creamy, with the crunch that is expected from the french fried onions.  If this dish was not so labor intensive I would propose it everywhere as a permanent replacement for the casserole.

Turkey Pozole

How do you capture the flavor profile of turkey and create a Mexican/New Mexican stew that is true to both simultaneously?  Stock of course!  The turkey pozole was warm and had an intense turkey flavor, but also had the some spice, both from the pozole and from the cranberry salsa.  Pozole is basically a pork based stew with hominy and assorted spices.  It is fairly densely packed with hominy and chunks of turkey and bits of aromatics.  The broth seems fairly secondary, more of a way to season the hominy than anything.

There are so many recipes for roasting turkeys out there that I do not think it is necessary for me to write one out, although I will make a couple points as to which method I chose.  Brine the turkey!  The entire turkey is not used for the pozole, there will be leftovers, and for delicious leftover turkey sandwiches, it is important that the white meat is as moist and flavorful as possible.  Roast breast side down!  Since the turkey was carved up the day before the meal, there is no reason to sacrifice flavor for appearance.

Ingredients (for 8):

• 1 whole roasted 14 lb turkey
• 2 cups cranberry salsa
• 8 oz crème fraîche
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 2 limes
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon cumin powder
• 1 onion
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon oregano
• 4 cups canned white hominy, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup diced green chilis
• 2 whole fresh jalapenos, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

The night before fill a large soup pot with water and add 2 tbls salt, and heat on medium, two gallons should be enough.  Carve the turkey sloppily, leaving some meat on the carcass.  Reserve the meat and skin to a try in the refrigerator.  Add the carcass, two cloves of garlic, cumin, 1 tsp black pepper, and oregano to the water and let simmer for at least 2 hours, the longer the better.  The water should be cloes to covering the carcass the whole time.  6 cups of broth will be required.  When ready to prepare the actual soup remove the carcass then strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer and reserve.

Tear and dice up about 2 lbs of turkey meat, half white and half dark.  Dice the onions and garlic and sautee in oil until translucent in the large soupt pot.  Add the chili, 1 tsp salt, and cayenne and mix well, then add the turkey and mix again.  Quickly add the hominy then add the turkey broth, it should at least cover the solid ingredients, but the actual amount of broth afterwards depends on how soupy a stew is desired.  Dice the jalapenos and green chili and add, then stir the whole mixture well.  Let simmer for at least 1 hour, then taste and season with salt and pepper to taste.  The pozole can continue to simmer for up to 3 more hours.  Serve  garnished with about 1 tbls cranberry salsa, 1 tbls crème fraîche, cilantro and wedges of lime.

(Adapted from here)

There is not much more to say about the pozole, I am not aware of turkey being used in much latin cuisine, but it seemed to be right at home absorbed into the hominy.  I loved the fact that I could add the cranberry salsa.  As is apparent by the directions, the timing on the pozole is very forgiving, unlike a traditional turkey, which makes the plating and serving timing much easier.

Notes:

• I guess I should note that Dylan deserves credit for a large portion of all of my ideas.  At minimum she is a sounding board for anything I come up with.  At worst I blatently steal her ideas and post them here as my own.  Posting that here means I have full rights to pliagarize as much as I want, right?
• Funny how the holidays bring bck things you do not normally remember.  Apparently my mother used to make sopapillas all the time.  I guess I just thought they were donuts?  Hannah did a great job of carrying the torch though, she was my expert sopapilla frier.
• I like to build meals that all work well together, but this was probably first really transformed meal.  It is challenging and rewarding to take one meal and turn it into another while retaining most of the benefits of the first meal.
• My family did not seem to mind the change of pace.  I wonder if I can do this again with another of their common meals.  Stir Fry desserts?  Heh.
• Happy Holidays!

-Gabe