Sunday, March 4, 2012

More November cooking

For a gathering we attended, I found a recipe in the book, Small Bites by Jennifer Joyce.  It combined pears (I used canned), arugula and prosciutto.  Topping each, a shard of parmesan and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a twist of freshly ground black pepper.  Rolling up all inside the prosciutto, placing seam side down for a beautiful presentation and delightful bites.  


Finding whole chickens on sale, I cooked one with piles of chopped carrots, celery and onion making lots of lovely broth.  After deboning it for a recipe of Chicken and Dumplings, I pureed the cooked veggies and about half of the broth (six cups or so) Adding a cup of white wine formed the base.  After adding the chicken in and correcting the seasonings, I mixed up a batch of dumplings, adding them to steam.  It made a lovely comfort food dinner with a side salad.
Since we generally schedule our holidays on alternate dates, I pre-made all of our Thanksgiving dishes so that they would be ready to reaheat.  A great way to use fresh out of season (not the most tender) green beans - a recipe for Crock Pot Green Beans from the Test Kitchen magazine.  Slow cooked with a mushroom white sauce, they were tender and tasty and freed me to work on other items.  For mashed potatoes, I cooked a potful of quartered Idaho potatoes (not peeled).  After cooking and draining most of the liquid, I coarsly mashed them.  By adding heated half & half, a bit of melted butter, a half cup of grated white cheddar and a half bottle of ale found depth of flavor.  Oh yum!  While the Turkey was grilling (in a foil pan, coated with melted butter and white wine), I made some Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast and the dinner.  

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