Green Beans and Smoky Bacon

Bacon, indulgent, excessive~we use the whole package~ tender French Haricot Vert and caramelized shallots all intermingle to give this dish a great punch of flavor. We prefer not to have our vegetables teamed up with a can of soup, but oh my!, these are perfect for just this time of year.

Ingredients from Trader Joe's:

Serves 8-10 as a side dish

1 package Niman Ranch Applewood smoked bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces *

1 package frozen Haricot Vert green beans

2 shallots or you could use 1 small onion, peeled and cut into thin-thin rings

a dash of olive oil, a couple of pats of butter, pinch sugar, salt and fresh ground pepper

To begin:

In a large saute pan over medium high heat, add a drizzle of olive oil and 1 pat (tablespoon) butter. Add the thinly sliced shallots. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar. Slowly caramelize the shallots. If they start to get too dark, add a tablespoon water and remove from heat and stir up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Remove the shallots from the pan to cool in a small bowl.

Next, add the sliced bacon. As the bacon begins to warm the bacon will pull apart from each piece. Cook until the bacon is golden and crisp. Remove the bacon to a paper towel to drain. Remove all but a couple of tablespoons of the bacon fat.

You can make this dish ahead to this point. It will only take a couple of minutes to finish just before serving.

When you are ready to serve, heat the pan up on medium high heat, add a couple of tablespoons butter to the bacon fat reserved in the pan. When hot, add the green beans and saute until they are cooked through and tender. This goes quickly even though the beans were frozen when you began~they were pre-prepped by Trader Joe's already.

If you over-cook the beans they will not retain their beautiful green color.

Add the bacon and caramelized shallots.

Serve

** Niman Ranch treats their animals humanly. As a result, we find their products to be superior.

Thanksgiving Countdown

We've shopped for all our ingredients for Thanksgiving, cleaned out the fridge to make room for the abundance of food, cleaned out our cupboards to make sure we can find everything easily, made sure we are not out of spices, flour, sugar and other essentials, run our "His Majesty" dishes by Johnson Bros. through the dishwasher and plastic wrapped them, pulled out all our service, put up our holiday lights, made sure we are stocked with candles, found the free range bird at Whole Foods, bought the heirloom, rainbow carrots that will be part of our trio of yummy vegetables...bread is Melba toasted for the stuffing. Feeling good! We have a countdown schedule and as long as we stick to it, things should go smoothly.

We are so excited to spend the day with our family, treasured memories, fun, laughter, what's not to love about Thanksgiving??

Our plan is to stuff ourselves with as many vegetables and fruits as we can along with all the other delicious holiday meal foods we're having. We hope in that way not to overeat the things that take weeks of work to exercise off afterwards. Hope it works!!

Our high schooler is starting the tradition of being the person in charge of desserts with apples in them. She loves apples, so her first project is a 5 apple variety crisp. Served warm with vanilla ice cream, she just might win the blue ribbon.

Caramel Pumpkin Pie

~Caramel Pumpkin Pie~

Best described as sensuous, rich, extraordinary, light, delicate. Baked in a quiche pan.

Serves 12

**You will need a fluted metal quiche pan** Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table carry these pans.

Crust

1 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1 1/4 sticks cold butter (10 tablespoons)~ cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 to 5 tablespoons ice water

I put the above ingredients (except ice water) in my food processor. I do quick pulses until the mixture resembles course meal. Stream in the water from the top of the processor ( feed tube ). Pulse until the dough just comes together. Careful not to over-process or dough will be tough. Chill dough at least one hour before rolling out.

Make sure you have the quiche pan handy, mine is metal with a removable bottom.

Roll out on a floured board. Carefully fit into quiche pan and trim excess. Return to freezer or fridge and chill 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prick the bottom of the crust all over. Fit a piece of foil gently over the pricked raw crust. This keeps the dough from sliding down in the pan as it bakes. Bake for 20 minutes. Carefully lift off foil and return to the oven for 10 more minutes of baking time.

While the crust is blind baking, make the filling.

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup water

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 15-ounce solid-pack pumpkin (not the pre-made canned filling with spices already)

1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten

In a large, heavy bottomed pan, bring the sugar and water to a boil. Have a pastry brush handy to brush down the sides of the pan with water to prevent crystallization. Gently swirl the pan from time to time, but do not stir as this will cause the mixture to seize up. Continue cooking until the mixture turns a deep golden caramel color. This will take about 10 minutes.

Reduce oven to 350 degrees.

Reduce heat to medium and carefully pour in 1 cup of cream and the 1/2 teaspoon salt. Careful this will cause the mixture to bubble furiously for a minute or two. Stir until the caramel is dissolved. Now stir in the other cup of cream and remove pan from heat.

In a large bowl, whisk together the spices and then add the pumpkin puree and combine well. Add the eggs and mix in well. Slowly whisk in the warm caramel-cream mixture. Stir continuously to make sure eggs do not scramble. Pour into pre-baked crust. Return to oven and bake 55-60 minutes. Pie will continue to set as it cools.

Pie can be made one day before eating. Wrap with plastic wrap and place in fridge. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Pumpkin Cheesecake With Marshmallow-Sour Cream Topping and Gingersnap Crust

~A sublime pumpkin cheesecake recipe~

Serves 12

1. Prepare a springform pan or use a 9x13 pan. Spread the surface with a light film of butter. Wrap the bottom of the springform pan with foil.

2. I use a hand held mixer. My Kitchenaid mixer tends to over mix and that causes the top of the cheesecake to crack.

3. Overbaking is another no-no. The center should not be runny, but it still might jiggle just a little. Your cake will continue baking after it is removed from the oven.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

The Crust:

1/4 cup butter, melted (1/2 stick butter)

1/4 cup golden brown sugar (packed)

2 cups gingersnap cookies (crush in a Cuisinart or put in a ziploc and crush with a rolling pin

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Combine all the above ingredients. Press the ingredients into the bottom and sides of your pan. Place pan in freezer or refrigerator for 10 minutes. Remove and bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile...

Filling:

4 - 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 15 ounce can solid pack pumpkin (not pie filling pre-made~just regular canned pumpkin)

2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 eggs, room temperature

2 tablespoons real vanilla

Pull out your electric mixer and a large mixing bowl.

1. Add the sugar and spices, salt, and whisk to combine.

2. Add the room temperature cream cheese.

3. Combine the sugar, spices, salt, and cream cheese until well mixed.

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition to make sure you have no lumps.

5. Add the vanilla, mix and pour into prepared crust.

6. Bake for 65 minutes. Check to make sure the filling is set, but the center will still move slightly. Remove from heat. Cool.

7. Cover and refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to bloom.

Topping:

You can do this step the day before serving.

2 cups mini marshmallows

1/4 cup cream or whole milk

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/teaspoon real vanilla

1 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

In a medium saucepan, add marshmallows and milk, and melt over low heat. Remove from heat and add salt and vanilla. Mix and set aside to cool. When cool, add powdered sugar and 1 cup sour cream and gently fold into the marshmallow mixture. Pour over the cooled pumpkin cheesecake, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edge that the pumpkin cheesecake can peek through. I carefully insert toothpicks or skewers along the edge and one in the center and cover with plastic wrap. The toothpicks will keep the plastic wrap from clinging to the top of the cake. Keep chilled until 1 hour before serving. (You can store overnight right in the springform pan)

When ready to serve, run a knife around the edge and remove the springform ring. I set mine on top of a mason jar and let the ring drop off. You can leave the bottom of the pan on the cake if you want.

Triple Cranberry Conserve

Triple Cranberry Conserve

Ingredients:

1 12 ounce bag fresh or frozen cranberries, lightly chopped in a food processor (cranberries should still be chunky)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup cranberry juice

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Zest of one orange

Juice of one orange

You can make this recipe a couple of days before Thanksgiving.

Place all of the above ingredients in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan. (a heavy bottom pan is less likely to burn or scorch) Over medium-high heat, bring the mixture to a boil and as soon a it hits the boiling point, let it cook 1 minute and then turn off your stove and sit the pan aside to cool. Stir occasionally. This will give the sugar a chance to melt and sweeten the fresh cranberries, it will also allow the dried cranberries to soften. When cranberries are cool, place in a covered container in your refrigerator until ready to serve.

Buttermilk Chive Mashed Potatoes

This is a potato ricer. There are many versions of it. You can also use a food mill or just whip them with an electric mixer. If you are a lumpy potato lover, then just use an old fashioned potato masher. We are not lumpy potato lovers, they must have a creamy mouth-feel.

This is how you want your mashed potatoes to look when you serve them. I always make a shallow puddle on the top of the mounded mashed potatoes, just enough for a pat of butter to nestle into and melt into a golden pool of unctuous bliss. Then I carefully crack a light dust of fresh ground pepper over the top and serve.

We have this recipe one or two at the most times a year. They are decadent and rich.

Important techniques when making mashed potatoes.

1. Use Yukon Gold potatoes if you can find them and if they are within your budget. They are one of the best!

2. After you peel the potatoes, place them in a pan large enough to hold all the potatoes and still be able to cover the potatoes with water - this will prevent them from turning brown.

3. Cut all the potatoes into large chunks. Cut medium potatoes in quarters and if the potatoes are large and longish, half and then quarter each of those halves. If your potatoes are cut too small they cook too quickly and turn mushy.

4. Place peeled and cut potato chunks into a large pan, add cold water, season the water with salt so that it tastes like the ocean (don't go overboard here). Cover with a lid.

5. You can set your potatoes aside about 1 1/2 hours covered before cooking them on the stove. When you are ready to start the cooking process, turn your stove temperature to high, bring them to a boil and turn the heat down to medium. Crack the lid just a little to prevent the potatoes from boiling over. Cook until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from heat and drain well. My pans have a heavy bottom, so I put my drained potatoes back on the stove over low heat for about 2-3 minutes to make sure all the water has evaporated. **This is a key step** This makes the potatoes a better recipient for the butter and cream.

6. I rice my potatoes at this point. You could just whip them with a mixer though. Don't overdue it with the mixing, this is what causes a glue-like consistency.

7. First add the cream cheese and some of the evaporated milk, cream or buttermilk. Add the cold butter piece by piece, stirring it into the potatoes. Add more of your choice of milk/cream/buttermilk, if needed.

8. Season with salt to taste. Potatoes take a lot of salt. There is a fine line between perfectly salted potatoes and over-salted ones. When in doubt, let your guests add more.

Here's the Recipe

Serves 8

5 pounds Yukon Gold, Russet, or White Rose, potatoes - peeled and cut into large chunks

1 stick butter, cut into 8 pieces

1 8 ounce block cream cheese, room temperature

2 to 2 1/2 cups buttermilk, or cream, or evaporated milk

1/4 cup chives finely minced

salt to taste

Now follow the above directions and you will be the mashed potato queen.

If you have a half hour or so before serving these potatoes. Cover them with a lid and keep them sitting by the warm stove.

French Chestnut Heirloom Stuffing

French Chestnut Heirloom Stuffing

Serves 12-18

Ingredients:

1 loaf white country bread (if you can find it Pepperidge Farms thin slice white bread works best)

1 can Marie Callendar's Cornbread with 4 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon minced fresh sage, added

make according to package directions. *I like to bake this in a large sheet pan to yield more browned surface.*

3 stalks celery, prefer inner stalks with leaves on them. Leaves add so much flavor.

1 large yellow sweet onion

1/2 to 1 stick butter - your choice

3/4 lb. sage sausage - Jimmy Dean has an easy one to find at the markets. I am searching for a sustainable, humanly treated animal brand. I'll let you know if I find one.

1/2 cup chestnuts (I found mine at Williams Sonoma--these are not Asian water chestnuts, but a starchy, almost sweet delicacy)

2 eggs

3/4 to 1 cup milk

1 tablespoon Kosher or sea salt

poultry seasoning to taste

Important Technique:

**This step is a must!!!***Do this a couple of days before making your stuffing!!**

What sets this stuffing apart from almost all others is that the white bread is layed out in a single layer directly on the oven rack positioned in the very center of your oven. The temperature is low--250-275 degrees depending on if your oven is calibrated accurately. Let the bread toast to a light caramel brown on one side and then turn it over and do the same on the other side of your bread slices. You may need to move some of the bread slices around if your oven cooks them unevenly. Make sure the bread is cooked light brown all the way through with no blonde spots left. Many ovens have hot spots-you will discover where they are while you melba toast your bread. This can be done several days before making your stuffing. Save the wrapper your bread came in and put all the pieces back in, twist closed and set aside until needed. Some of my students like to use sourdough as their bread of choice.

Why do this?? You get the lightest texture, not glue-like consistency, the bread is a lovely caramel flavor, it sets this dressing apart from all others. This is a secret passed on from one generation to the next in some southern families. Everyone who tries this recipe is hooked.

**A day or two before making this recipe, also make your cornbread adding the 4 tablespoons sugar and minced fresh sage. Store in a ziplock.**

To make stuffing:

Before you begin, give attention to the turkey you are going to stuff. I wash mine with Kosher salt, giving it a good scrub inside and out. Pull off any bitsy feathers and quill pieces, remove the giblets and neck from inside the bird and neck area, I discard mine. Pat the turkey dry and season. Set aside and make stuffing.

Have ready a large saute pan and 2 large bowls or large dutch oven type pans.

1. Fill the large bowl or dutch oven with warm water. Place the melba toasted bread in the water. Squeeze out water from bread and lightly shred the bread into the 2nd bowl. Continue with all the toasted bread.

2. Now add the prepared cornbread to the melba toasted bread. Add the 1 tablespoon salt and lightly sprinkle a small amount of poultry season over stuffing. Gently mix. Taste and adjust poultry seasoning, use a light hand--a little goes a long way. You will not need more salt.

3. Finely chop the onion. I like to use a processor for this - pulse until finely chopped.

4. Add 2-3 tablespoons butter to a large saute pan. Add onions and saute until the onions are translucent but not browned. Remove and add to stuffing mixture.

5. Repeat this step with the finely chopped celery. When softened, but not brown, remove from heat and add to stuffing.

6. Slice or chop chestnuts, warm in a little butter. (chestnuts are optional)

7. Cut cold sausage into tiny pieces or mash it in a saute pan. Lightly brown. Add to stuffing.

8. Mix eggs with 3/4 cup milk. Add to stuffing. If you need more liquid, add a bit more, you usually don't though.

9. Combine all stuffing ingredients and gently mix.

10. Now you are ready to stuff your turkey. I always put some in the neck and fold the wings behind the bird to hold the neck skin down over the stuffing. Next I lightly fill the inside cavity of the bird. I use a little foil square placed over the opening to ensure the stuffing is not exposed and dries out. Any leftover stuffing can go in a casserole dish and be baked separately. It's okay if you don't want to put your stuffing inside the turkey, you can also bake it by itself. If you do, place in a buttered casserole dish. Cover with foil and bake. Remove foil at the end and bake a few minutes longer to get a crusty top.

Thanksgiving Menu

Herb Buttered Roasted Free Range Heritage Turkey

French Chestnut Heirloom Stuffing (the basic part of this recipe goes back many generations in the south)

Buttermilk Chive Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes

Turkey Gravy

Triple Cranberry Conserve

Roasted Vegetable Platter

(Heirloom Carrots & Thyme, Haricot Vert with Smoky Niman Ranch Bacon, Baby Broccoli with Red Bell Pepper, Leaves of Brussels Sprouts with Date Vinaigrette)

Classic Maple-Brown Sugar Sweet Potatoes with Toasted Marshmallow Topping

1950's Scalloped Corn (been a part of our families Thanksgiving since we were little)

Homemade Yeasty Dinner Rolls with Creamery Butter

Dessert

Caramel Pumpkin Pie

Warm Apple, Pear, Cranberry Crisp and Vanilla Ice Cream

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Marshmallow-Sour Cream Topping & Gingersnap Crust

Jen's Famous Cookies

Our Thanksgiving will be an all day affair. We are taking some time at noon to deliver food to a local church that is feeding those in the community most affected by the economic downturn. Then back home to serve our meal. We eat and then we eat some of the leftovers later. We will be posting our recipes all week. Michael Symon, one of the Iron Chefs made a statement recently, he said, "I can teach you a recipe and you will have learned that recipe, but I can teach you technique and then you can make hundreds of recipes."

Our goal this week is to give you the techniques that will give you the results you need to ensure your efforts do not go un-rewarded. Let's face it, Thanksgiving is a labor of love, (even with the best laid plans) so let guests bring some of the side dishes or desserts, or buy some of it pre-made. Plan, write up your menu. Make a list of all the things you will need at the store and don't forget things like foil, or extra paper towels, etc. We even plan to have extra fresh bread on hand for turkey sandwiches later. Next clean out your fridge and food pantry. This way you will know what you have, what you need, and plenty of space to store the big items like the turkey. Tomorrow, we will pull out all our dishes, utensils, napkins and serving pieces and make sure they are refreshed and ready to go. When we hit next weekend, we just want to shop and get our home ready.

The best way to look at this ~ is to think of Thanksgiving conceptually. You are putting together all the parts that create a loving environment that allows our guests to reflect on the joys of being with family and friends, for the guests at our table to feel special and included; to look back on this past year and give thanks. Surround those you have in your home with a sense of appreciation. It is an honor to create all of the components that allow others to walk into our home and feel the warmth of togetherness and belonging.

Tomorrow we will post our French Chestnut Heirloom Stuffing Recipe.

Getting our home ready for the holidays

We're getting ready for the holidays and there is a little spot that needs some ompfh! A little sassing up! We took an old mirror we've schlepped around for a ka-zillion years, cleaned the surface, then sanded it and taped it off for paint.

The paint we chose for this project was Restoration Hardware's Slate color,

and a touch of Mediterranean White to highlight the textured rice paper we added at the top.

We added a patterned rice paper using 1/2 white glue and 1/2 water to adhere it. When it was dry, we added a medallion and roped some tiny pearls for a beading effect along the top under edge for interest. We used a hot glue gun to attach the ornaments. We then began the painting process. First 2 or 3 coats of the Slate color.

A close up view. After we painted the Slate color. We used a dry brush with a small dab of Mediterranean White just to pop the pattern in the rice paper and the beading. We then wiped it off. Use a light hand. The rice paper came from Paper Source.

A close-up of the finished process.

Here it is in it's new place.
A close up view.

Holiday Musings

click on the pictures to enlarge them and see all the little details.

We've settled on a centerpiece this year of large fall branches. A couple of days before Thanksgiving we'll go to our favorite spot and get some branches. All on the up-and-up mind you. They will get a good bath and then be placed in a large rustic vase. We're loving the woodland textures this year. One of our co-workers is lending us their small chainsaw. Some of the trees in our backyard will yield some nice pieces for our table that we will combine with some other French wood pieces we've collected. Now we just have to pull out our family's signature recipes and order our free-range, humanly treated turkey (I hope you can support those that really care about how humanly an animal is treated and not kept in small boxes and tiny pens. Animals were meant to roam and roast and have a normal life. We can so easily do away with the inhumane treatment so prevalent in the USA. We'll jump down off our soap box now). Yippee, Thanksgiving is almost here! Look for our special recipes here over the next couple of weeks.

Anthro holiday post

Trees made with green plastic twist ties and beige tissue paper are so charming. So much creativity and we love the organic quality to all of their visuals.

Chocolatine

This is a charming little French restaurant named, Chocolatine! Located on T.O. Blvd in T.O, it has lots of character and quaintness. Let's just get away from all the hub-bub and put it all on simmer and enjoy the pleasure of each other's company.
Good strong coffee!
French pastries made right on the premises.

Nutella crepes.
Vanilla and pistachio macarons

A peek inside.
The bill

Sunday Morning in Malibu

Malibu in the early morning, quiet solitude! Out of town guest always want to see the ocean and if they want to see the ocean, then Malibu is quite a beauty. This is time to think and dream and let the tide erase all of the past weeks cares. The homes along this coastline are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! Driving back down Kanan is enchanting, one of our guests thinks it compare to some of the roads in Europe. Too funny! Once we saw Matthew M. cycling along the road. A 6 pack for abs! Almost lost control of the steering wheel. We always pass that one gigantic manse on the top of one of the hills. It's surrounded by vineyards and is beyond the "wow" comments, it's jaw-dropping, really who lives like that we just want to know????

This boogie boarder gave us a chuckle! We'll just leave it at that!