Cuisine Diva

Thanksgiving Menu Plan & Meal Preparation

I looked through a couple of my cookbooks to find some unique dishes to serve at our house on Thanksgiving Day. I found 2 recipes from my slow cooker cookbook, and 4 recipes from The Culinary Institute of America cookbook, that I will prepare as part of our Thanksgiving meal. I also will add a couple of family favorites, which I have made so many times, I no longer need an exact recipe to follow.

Smythe Family Thanksgiving Menu

Here's what I plan to serve on Thanksgiving Day. I will provide recipes and photos for some of these menu items next week.

• Chicken saltimbocca with sage, prosciutto and provolone
• Brown onion gravy
• Sauteed mushrooms
• Roasted sweet potatoes with pecan molasses butter
• Potato gratin
• Sauteed Brussels sprouts
• Cornbread stuffing with carrots, onions and celery
• Baby glazed carrots
• Cranberry pear sauce
• Cheddar thyme muffins
• Pecan pie

Menu Preparation Game Plan

Slow cooker

1. cranberry pear sauce - prepare the day before Thanksgiving
2. baby glazed carrots - Thanksgiving day

Oven

Most of these items will be prepared and cooked on Thanksgiving Day. The stuffing could be prepared the day before, and stored in the refrigerator until ready to heat through in the oven at 350 degrees Farenheit for 30 minutes. I will probably make the pecan pie the day before Thanksgiving, to free up the oven for the rest of the meal. This will also allow ample time for the pie to cool off before serving, pecan pie hot out of the oven usually has the consistency of moletn lava - HOT!

1. Roasted sweet potatoes
2. Potato gratin
3. Cornbread stuffing
4. Cheddar thyme muffins
5. Pecan pie

Stove top

1. Chicken saltimbocca
2. Brown onion gravy
3. Sauteed Brussels sprouts
4. Sauteed mushrooms

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

 

Asian Style Vegetable Wraps

 

Veggie wrap in flour tortilla with ponzu dipping sauce.

On Friday I blogged about rice and bean thread noodles. I used rice noodles as part of the filling for Asian style vegetable wraps I made for my daughter, who has recently become a vegetarian. She was looking through one of my vegetarian cookbooks, The Best Ever Vegetarian Cookbook by Nicola Graimes (Barnes & Noble Books, 1999), where she saw a recipe for a vegetable wrap.

 

Ingredients for Asian style vegetable wraps. The alfalfa sprouts never made it into the wraps, thought we had enough veggies without them. I kept the veggies a bit on the crisp side, but you could cook your veggies a bit more then add sliced water chestnuts for a bit of crispness.

No Chickens Allowed
The recipe was for cilantro omelet packages with oriental vegetables. She liked the idea of mixed vegetables being stir-fried and wrapped up somehow, but she isn't a big fan of eggs. We decided to use flour tortilla's as our wrap, and we even used whole wheat pita pockets for some of the leftovers the next day.

 

Broccoli, carrots and snow peas prepared for veggie wraps.

New and Improved Recipe
I drastically changed the original recipe, and came up with an all new recipe for Asian style vegetable wraps. My daughter and I both thought this recipe was super delicious. She took a bit of the leftovers with her for her school lunch the next day. She placed the vegetable wrap filling, in a small plastic container, and wrapped up a couple of tortilla's in foil. I think she added a small container of mandarin oranges, and a carton of chocolate soy milk for a complete and delicious vegetarian meal.

 

Shredded cabbage.

Easy on the Seasonings
Ponzu sauce is a thin, soy sauce which is flavored with citrus. My daughter doesn't like overly flavored or spicy foods, so I kept the seasonings a bit on the light side. If I were making this just for myself, I would probably increase the amount of hoisin sauce and chili oil a bit, or even add a fresh Thai chili or two. My husband and son would even like this dish, if I added a bit of shrimp or chicken to it.

Ingredients for Asian Style Vegetable Wraps

• *1 bunch softened rice thread noodles
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/8 teaspoon chili oil
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger root - peeled and grated
• 2 cloves garlic - minced
• 4 green onions - sliced thin
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 1 cup pea pods - cut into thirds
• 3 cups Napa cabbage or Chinese cabbage - shredded
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves - chopped
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon Ponzu sauce

Ginger and garlic in the sizzling wok.

*To Soften Rice Thread Noodles

1. Remove one bundle of rice noodles from the package.
2. Place the bundle in a large bowl.
3. Cover the noodles with hot water.
4. Let the rice noodles soak for 10 minutes.
5. Drain off the water.
6. Cut the softened noodles into 2-3 inch long lengths.
7. Continue following the Asian style vegetable wrap recipe.

Variety of vegetables stir frying in the wok.

Directions for Asian Style Vegetable Wraps

The vegetables should still be a bit crispy, and not mushy, after cooking. The cooking times given in this recipe are just guidelines. I have one of those induction top stoves, but a gas stove would be much hotter, thus a shorter cooking time will be necessary.

 

Completed veggie wrap filling, with rice noodles and sauce added.

1. Heat the vegetable oil and chili oil in a wok, or a large frying pan.
2. Stir the ginger into the wok, and cook for 1 minute.
3. Stir the garlic and green onions into the wok, and cook for an additional minute.
4. Add the broccoli and cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Stir in the carrot and cook for 1-2 minutes.
6. Stir in the snow peas and cook for 1-2 minutes.
7. Stir in the Chinese cabbage and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
8. Stir in the cilantro leaves.
9. In a small bowl, whisk together the hoisin sauce, water and ponzu sauce.
10. Stir the sauce mixture into the pan full of stir fried vegetables.
11. Cook for another minute or two, until the cabbage has wilted, and all the vegetables are well coated with the sauce.
12. Remove the wok from the heat.
13. Serve immediately. Use rice paper wrappers (i.e. spring roll wrappers), flour tortillas or pita pockets to make vegetable wraps. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days.

Flour tortilla, on the left, and whole wheat pita, on the right, used for Asian style vegetable wraps.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Food & Culinary Equipment from Mex Grocer

Right now I'm on a Tex-Mex cooking kick. I have a copy of Daniel Hoyer's book Culinary Mexico; Authentic Recipes and Traditions (Gibbs Smith, 2005). When I first read through this book, for a review I wrote on Suite101, I was a bit mystified regarding some of the ingredients used. I did a search on chile peppers, and found a link to the Mex Grocer website.

I decided I wanted to try some of the recipes in the Culinary Mexico cookbook, so I placed an order with Mex Grocer.

Here's what I ordered:

Achiote paste - when using achiote seeds in recipes, many of them have you soak the seeds in vinegar or water, then grinding the softened seeds into a paste. I want to see if the achiote paste is as good as the from scratch method.

Achiote seeds - I've actually used achiote seeds in the past. Used for flavoring and coloring in many recipes. In case I don't like the pre-made achiote paste, I decided to also order some achiote seeds so I can make my own paste. I've also heated achiote seeds in a bit of vegetable oil to make a smokey, brick red cooking oil. The seeds are strained out and discarded, leaving a wonderful flavored oil which can then be used to stir fry meats and vegetables.

Hominy - corn kernels that have the outer hull removed. Not something I want to try making myself, as the kernels have to be soaked in either lime-water (calcium hydroxide) or lye-water (sodium hydroxide). I have 2 cans on order. I saw Guy Fieri, on Diners Drive-in and Dives, reviewing a restaurant featuring pozole. Pozole is a type of Mexican soup, which contains pork meat, chiles, onion, garlic, lots of spices and hominy AKA pozole.

Green chili sauce - I might try making my own sometime, but since I'm testing so many other Mexican recipes, I thought I'd buy a can of pre-made sauce.

Tomato/chicken bouillon - seems like an interesting ingredient. I might use it when making pozole.

 

Piloncillo - small, hard blocks of palm sugar. AKA panela or panocha. Used to flavor hot chocolate, coffee and desserts. Like a smokey version of brown sugar. The blocks must either be grated, or dissolved in water before using.

Dulce de leche - caramel sauce. You could make your own caramel sauce from evaporated milk, but I wanted to try the pre-made variety first. No reason to buy this other than it looks delicious. Just give me a spoon, and a bit of vanilla ice cream, and I'll be good to go!

100% pure Mexican vanilla extract - I use a ton of vanilla while baking.

Mexican sweet chocolate - 6 tablets. I'll use this to make mole sauce, if I'm brave enough to attempt that recipe. Or I can mix it with a bit of the piloncillo and milk to make Mexican hot chocolate. I also might try making champurrado sometime. Champurrado is Mexican hot chocolate thickened with masa and flavored with piloncillo and anise seeds.

Peppers in adobo sauce - for mole and lots of other recipes.

Queso cotija - described as either a bit like Parmesan cheese or feta cheese. A hard cheese, which is very salty and made from cow's milk.

Creamed corn - I want to make Mexican cornbread, you know, that creamy variety that gets baked in a pan, unlike firmer corn muffins. I could buy creamed corn at the grocery store, but I'm trying to use mostly authentic Mexican ingredients while on my Mexican cuisine binge.

Can of whole tomatillos - they look a bit like miniature, green tomatoes. I used to grow tomatillos in my garden, but I haven't had a garden in a couple of years. Not sure what I'll use them for, maybe a green chile sauce, or as part of a tamale stuffing. Hmmm, didn't I buy green chili sauce so I didn't have to make my own - whatever!

Wood spatula - like I need another kitchen utensil. This looks like a small paddle, pretty cool looking. I'm a sucker for interesting looking kitchen gear.

Molinillo - hollow wooden stirrer. For making authentic Mexican hot chocolate. Sort of like a whisk, used to make hot chocolate frothy. You place the molinillo at the bottom of the container that is being used to make the hot chocolate, then you rotate the molinillo between the palms of your hands until the hot chocolate turns frothy/foamy.

Chili - I've ordered both ground California molido chili and whole, dried chile negro. Lots of recipes, including mole and pozole, call for chile.

Tortilla press - cast iron press for making homemade tortillas.

Tortilla warmer - yes, one of those cheesy looking tortilla holders you get in restaurants anytime you order fajitas. But if I'm going to go to the trouble of making tortillas from scratch, I might as well get a warmer.

Tamale Lover's Kit - I freaking love tamales. If I'm going to be testing authentic Mexican recipes, then HELL yes, I'm going whole hog and learning how to make my own tamales. I also saw a Diner's Drive-ins and Dives episode where the featured diner made their own tamales. Not as complicated as I thought, time consuming yes, but not difficult. The tamale kit contains: corn husks, masa mix, tamale masa spreader and a 12 quart aluminum tamale steamer. BRING IT!   

Molcajete y Tejolote
I didn't buy a molcajete y tejolote - a traditional Mexican mortar and pestle. I have TONS of mortar and pestle sets, another hobby/passion of mine. A couple of years ago I purchased a large Thai granite mortar/pestle set, which is very similar to the Mexican variety. The Thai version is polished rather smooth on the inside, compared to the rougher surface of the molcajete. Used to grind chile peppers, herbs, spices and to make salsas and guacamole.

That's a molacajete y tejolote which is pictured on the cover of the Culinary Mexico cookbook, which is shown at the beginning of this blog post.

Comal
Comal are cast iron skillets, either round or oblong in shape, which are used to cook tortilla. My order was already getting pretty large, I thought the shipping charges on a cast iron skillet would be a bit high, so I didn't order a comal. I can use a large frying pan to make my tortilla, but I know I'm going to want to purchase a comal someday. Comal's can also go right in the oven since they are cast iron. If you've ever ordered fajitas, you've probably seem a comal, that hot, heavy, sizzling pan that is brought straight to your table.

What is your favorite Mexican/Latin American cooking utensil, ingredient or recipe? I'd love to hear about it.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Tex-Mex Style Recipes

Culinary Mexico cookbook by Daniel Hoyer

From time-to-time I enjoy making Mexican style meals. Here are links to a few of my own favorite Tex-Mex style recipes.

Black Bean and Corn Turkey Chili - tasty variation of a classic chili recipe.

Bowl of black bean and corn turkey chili

Guacamole - classic avocado dip flavored with garlic, cilantro and lime.

Bowl of guacamole

How-to Make Ceviche - traditional seafood salad dish seasoned with lime juice and cilantro.

Quick and Easy Savory Corn Muffins - traditional corn bread enhanced with whole corn, onion and cheese.

Quick Bread Recipes - includes a recipe for Chili Cheese Cornbread.

Mexican Food Recipes - features recipes for a creamy avocado dip, black bean dip and white bean dip.

White bean dip

If you enjoy authentic Mexican cooking, check out my review of Daniel Hoyer's cookbook, Culinary Mexico, which features authentic Mexican recipes and traditions.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

Book Review: Healthy South Indian Cooking

I am the Herbs & Spices Feature Writer for Suite101. I recently wrote a review of the book Healthy South Indian Cooking (Hippocrene Books, 2008) for the Suite101 website.

Here is a short summary of the review:
Healthy South Indian Cooking Ethnic Style Cookbook by Alamelu Vairavan & Patricia Marquardt.

The all new, expanded edition of a classic south Indian recipe book contains 40 new recipes and more than 100 vegetarian treats.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva