Thanksgiving ’08: Cathy vs. Tradition

Wednesday, November 26, 9:00 am: Cathy triple-bags a thirteen and a half pound free-range turkey pre-ordered from DiPaolo Farms via the Greenmarket and tucks it into a camper's backpack. Heads off to the subway, gets off at Midtown. Explains something to startled co-worker as she takes turkey out of backpack, and stuffs it into office refrigerator. Tradition raises eyebrow. 3:15 pm: Cathy hoists turkey-stuffed backpack onto her back and trudges through the thickly crowded ten blocks to Penn Station, just in time to catch the utterly cramped 3:27 NJTransit train. Tradition shrugs. 8:00 pm: Cathy fills a bucket with salt and sugar solution and dunks the bird inside to brine overnight. Tradition (which would have preferred some generic store-bought, genetically mutated, cooped-up-indoors turkey for this) shakes fist and concedes defeat. Point one for Cathy. Tradition: 0.

Oh! You Cheesy Things

I think the makers of those aerosol cans of spray-cheese need to merge with Silly String. Then we’d have the perfect, edible orange goo to epitomize the celebration that was the second Fondue Takedown this past Sunday. And to clobber the winner with for a photo -- "Say Cheese!" So maybe Sunday night's winner was spared of the cheese sliming (she was wearing a handmade apron, though), but the back room of Union Pool, Brooklyn's popular bar and now mecca to cook-offs, was not. Venerable Chili Takedown host Matt Timms told me the clean-up afterward was something epic and, well, kind of stank.

Not-So-Strange Birds Part II: Roast Quail with Soda Bread Stuffing and Red Wine Reduction

According to Wikipedia, the quail is a "mid-sized" bird in the pheasant family. Jesus, what do the very small ones look like? I wondered, after carefully unwrapping the quail from plastic and placing it on my cutting board. I couldn't help imagining my grade-school pet parakeet sans feathers.

Not-So-Strange Birds Part I: Pan-Roasted Pheasant with Savory Vegetables

Now that everyone's hopefully got their turkey situation squared away, and are just about fed up with the annual Thanksgiving-food buzz (to brine or not to brine? Best seasonal stuffings?), I thought I'd take a moment to highlight a few overlooked birds of the feather. First up: pheasant! Isn't that a lovely word? The live bird, too, is known for its exceptional beauty. And friends, fowl-lovers, foodies or not: the meat of the pheasant is equally astounding. Especially when it's a pasture-raised, all-natural ring-necked pheasant produced through the ever-humane and conscientious care of D'Artagnan.

Table Talk

Since I'm a little behind on my recipe-writing and photo uploading for this week's eaten-in pleasures, I thought I'd direct you to something I did manage to accomplish: this Brooklyn Based piece on where to find the most clever, crafty, kitschy and most importantly, NOT disposable dinnerware that you can be proud to serve with at your next party.

The King of Cauliflower Casserole

You know what? After all the lovely compliments you've given me on my Orecchiette and Arugula casserole, I'm not sure how it would have fared, head-to-head, with the winner of the fourth annual Casserole Party. Nor the rest of the amazing twenty-eight casseroles that were brought to the cook-off this past Monday. Emily Farris, author of Casserole Crazy, has clearly inspired casserole craziness in Brooklyn since she created the cook-off four years ago. Of the very best kind.

Who’s the Top Ramen?

Last year it was the Bodega Challenge, this year it was the instant Ramen-Off, I swear, Harry and Taylor of The Brooklyn Kitchen have a thing for bringing out the best in the worst of foods. Perhaps terrified that I would endanger this reputation by bringing in something awful (i.e. my bodega-inspired Potato Chips au Gratin), they named me judge for this year's Ramen-Off, held in celebration of the two-year anniversary of the independent kitchen store. Mission accomplished, if so.

Completely Elitist Orecchiette & Arugula Casserole

This isn't really a political blog, but in light of recent circumstances (ahem -- GObama! -- ahem), I thought I'd make a little exception. Because if there's one thing I learned from the long road to the Presidential election, it's that food is political. Period. You cannot like arugula, for instance (which ironically was only a peasant food in Italian cuisine until recent waves of popularity), without being "elite" (and possibly, a terrorist). Let's look beyond that. This casserole combines orecchiette pasta (if you don't know what this is already, you better hit the books), homemade basil pesto, ARUGULA, pignoli (that's "pine nuts" to you, cracker!), Fontina and Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese, bound together in a creamy bechamel and baked to a golden crust. What's so un-American about something so insanely delicious? Let the elitist witch hunts be history!

Simply Roasted Beets

I've been bringing roasted beets to work for snacks a lot lately. A lot of people have peered over my shoulder and said, "Oh, beets -- how do you cook them like that?" My first reaction, that of a not-so-helpful home cook-ophile, is usually to say, "How do you not cook them like that?" I don't mean to sound snobbish here. Obviously, I'm writing this post in response to all these requests. But as long as you're not simmering them into borscht, or slicing or shredding them finely to serve raw, then the only way I know to bring beets to a palatable form is to roast them. It's simple, really.

I’m not a chicken, I’m getting a free-range turkey

I can't over-emphasize the surprise I had last year when biting into my first bit of free-range, organic, all-natural turkey that I'd stuffed and roasted for a Thanksgiving-like feast with friends: Savory. Succulent. Abundantly flavorful. These are words that you seldom think of when you think of turkey breast meat, right? That's why we traditionally smother it with things like pucker-sweet cranberry sauce and overpowering gravy, and why homes across the country have taken up the turkey brining trend with such fervent approval, right? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: I did not even brine this beast. Still, it had to have the best turkey meat I've ever tasted. I simply cannot overstate this reality, and furthermore, what it means for humane animal raising practices and the small, local farms that support them when you purchase this type of meat and poultry. That's why I wrote a piece for Brooklyn Based all about where to get your "gobble gobble."

From Instant to Awesome Ramen (and The Brooklyn Kitchen Ramen-Off)

Look, I know we're all frightened about the economy, but that doesn't mean we have to resort to eating instant ramen every day... Not convinced? Okay, neither am I. What I meant to say, really, is that you don't have to resort to eating blahmen every day. As long as there's still a few leafy green vegetables left to pick, and as long as eggs aren't a luxury item (which they actually might become soon), you can still cook up a mean bowl of soup noodles using your bodega-bought block of instant ramen. Or how about something new altogether, with said noodles? Hear, hear, Brooklyn's favorite kitchen store is calling on folks to do just that.