Green burgers are fowl - and very tasty

Photograph ©2013, Lori Korleski Richardson
Turkey Spinach Slider on baguette

The average turkey burger makes most people wonder if perhaps a veggie burger would have been a better choice for healthful eating. Turkey is extremely bland, but when mixed with more flavorful ingredients, it steps into the background and takes on the flavor of the other items in the pot.

I saw this recipe by Sue Li on epicurious.com, but since we were trying to cut out bread from our diet, I didn't try it for a while. What I finally hit upon was serving them not on slider buns or small dinner rolls, but in Boston or butter lettuce cups. They were so good!

Since then, I've made them with the following substitutions: Using half spinach and half chard; using all chard; using chard and arugula; using ground chicken instead of turkey; upping the cumin to 1 teaspoon, and using a shallot instead of scallions; and freezing the raw burgers, then putting them frozen into the pan. I must say, they were all excellent, and I really can't tell you which I liked best.

This recipe says it makes 4 servings, and that's about right with the lettuce cups. But with the bread, my husband and I were filled up with two apiece.

I think the secret is not to overcook them (if you're worried they might not get done enough, make them thinner in the middle when you pat them out or use an instant read thermometer and keep cooking until they reach an interior temperature of 170 degrees).

If you do put them on a bun, or as we did, pieces of horizontally sliced baguette, try the spread that follows. It really kicks it up a notch!

Photograph ©2013, Lori Korleski Richardson
The dozen sliders on a cookie sheet, ready to freeze.

Turkey Spinach Sliders
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
1/2 bunch flat-leaf spinach, thick stems removed, leaves chopped (about 4 cups)
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 pound ground turkey
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil (can spray patties lightly if grilling)
12 slider buns or small dinner rolls, split, lightly toasted (for serving)
Your favorite condiments

Instructions
Combine spinach, scallions, garlic, turkey, and cumin in a medium bowl; season with salt and pepper. Using a fork, mix gently just to combine. Form turkey mixture into 14 1/2"-thick patties.
If grilling, heat grill to very hot, place patties on grill, oiled side down, then turn down to low. Proceed as below.
If cooking on stove, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in two batches, cook patties until golden brown and cooked through (resist the temptation to press down on patties with your spatula while cooking), about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

Serve turkey-spinach patties on buns with mayonnaise, onion, and whatever other condiments you prefer. For a gluten-free dish, serve the patties on top of a salad.

Patties can be formed 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before cooking.

Lori's note: Besides the alternatives noted in the post above, I just put the spinach, scallions (or shallot) and garlic in the food processor and chopped everything fine before mixing it all with the turkey and cumin.

Lori K's Fantastic Green Spread
Makes about a cup

Ingredients
1 cup of packed arugula
1 ripe avocado
1/2 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 jalapeño, stemmed, seeded and quartered (or 2 mild jalapeños)
Cooking wine (optional)
Pepper to taste

Instructions
Mix first five ingredients in food processor; add wine until sauce is smooth. Add pepper to taste. Spread on buns, or on burgers in lettuce cups. Will keep for several days, and it stays a bright green.

Turkey tips - what NOT to do

The photo-op turkey

These tips were published last year in Food & Wine, but they're still good advice for the coming holiday. I cook four turkeys every Wednesday before Thanksgiving to feed about 80 people at St. Paul's Memorial Church. Please join us if you can; we ask those who are planning to come to call the office at (434) 295-2156 and let us know what side dish you'd like to bring.

I've taken the liberty to add some of my own hints to Alessandra Bulow's excellent ones.


5 Easy Ways to Ruin the Thanksgiving Turkey
BY ALESSANDRA BULOW | POSTED NOVEMBER 10, 2011 

You’ve reserved a beautiful bird, found a big enough pan (that fits in your oven!) and purchased an instant-read thermometer to roast your Thanksgiving turkey to a perfectly moist 160–165°F—but there's still room to go wrong. Here, F&W’s Senior Recipe Developer Grace Parisi reveals the biggest turkey mistakes made by home cooks.

For a better-tasting bird, divide and conquer

1. Overstuff the cavity. By the time the stuffing reaches a safe temperature (165 °F) in an overstuffed bird, the white meat will be totally dried out. Parisi’s rule of thumb: Cook no more than five cups of stuffing in a 15-pound bird and bake the rest in a separate dish. She also stuffs the neck, which won't increase overall cooking time.
My advice: Cook the stuffing, made with the broth from the giblets, in a casserole, and make a good gravy from the drippings to go over it.

2. Crowd the oven. Like a teenager, a roasting turkey likes privacy and space. Baking casseroles and other foods with the bird disrupts oven temperature and alters your turkey’s expected cooking time. Also, if the bird is placed too close to the top of the oven, the breast will dry out and the skin will burn; you should remove some of the higher oven racks to make room.
My advice: If your sides don't involve Parmesan or bread products, cook them ahead of time and warm up in the microwave. If they have a topping that needs to be crispy, cook them to almost done and cool.  Cook the turkey, take it out and cover it loosely, then turn up the heat. Take out the dishes that need oven time and cook 15 minutes or until bubbly.

3. Check the bird obsessively. Opening the oven door cools down the oven so much that you’ll end up increasing the cooking time by a lot.
My advice: Forget about basting. Brine or season well, make sure the skin is dry then well oiled, and don't overcook. Take it out when the instant read thermometer hits 160 degrees - it will gain another 5 degrees as it rests. If you really want the breast moist and the legs done, and don't need the bird for a photo op, separate them and cook the legs long and slow on the stove or in a crock pot, the breast in the oven. This also cuts down on the cooking time.

4. Carve the turkey immediately. Turkey needs to rest for at least 30 minutes to keep the juices from flowing out of the bird and drying out your meat. Resist the urge to carve right away and go freshen up. If guests aren't already waiting for you, they'll certainly be there soon.
My advice: That half hour is also a good time to finish the side dishes you've partially prepared in advance.

5. Brine a kosher turkey. Since a kosher turkey has already been treated with salt, brining it will yield an overly salty turkey.
My advice: Don't brine any turkey that says it has up to 15 percent saline solution added.

The secret to a juicy turkey

Lots of people say they hate turkey because it’s too dry. 

The solution: Begin your preparation the day before. 

Start with a fresh turkey. I figure a pound per person, and that's usually enough to have some leftovers.

Cut off the thighs and legs; season and cook separately. I like to boil them in a mixture of duck fat and oil until they are really tender, take the meat off the bone, then crisp it up in a hot oven for a few minutes before serving. You can even cook them the day ahead if you want to do this; it will just require a little more time to crisp up the meat.

Cut off the back and use it to make a nice stock, along with the neck, heart and gizzard. Cook the liver separately.

Get a 5-gallon bucket and line it with a food-quality plastic bag. Pour in a gallon of orange juice mixed with a cup of salt and any seasonings that you like. Put the breast (a 5-gallon bucket can hold two breasts from up to 20-pound turkeys) in the brine overnight.

Thanksgiving Day: Drain and dry before rubbing with oil or butter. Start your oven at 450 degrees and after you put the breast in, turn it down to 350.  Roast until the internal temperature is 165 degrees (about 12 minutes per pound). Do not baste, and keep oven door closed as much as possible.

When the internal temperature reaches 165, take it out of the oven and just let it rest in a warm place that's free of drafts. (If you want the skin to stay crispy, do not tent.) Wait at least 10 and up to 30 minutes. Slice and serve.

It won't look like a picture postcard this way, but it'll taste a whole lot better.

Gobble-good meatloaf

A Berkeley friend and Episcopal priest, Kristin Krantz, mostly shares tidbits about her family life and ministry on Facebook, but she surprised me one day with a most unusual meatloaf. She makes it with beef, but said it originally called for turkey, so that's what I used. I think it would be great with ground lamb as well. My substitutions are in parentheses (I didn't have any feta on hand, so I had to modify to use what I had).

It was very tasty, moist and didn't need ketchup. I'll use fresh parsley the next time, maybe plain crumbs and a shallot and spices instead of the crusting mixture (which I was trying to use up, since I don't like it as a meat coating). And definitely the feta, which I adore.

Sundried tomato and feta meatloaf
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
1/2 cup plain dried bread crumbs (McCormick's French onion, pepper and herb Crusting Blend)
1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (3 tablespoons dried parsley)
1/4 cup chopped garlic and herb marinated sun-dried tomatoes (sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 large eggs, at room temp, lightly beaten (1 egg)
1/4 cup olive oil (1 tablespoon olive oil)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (1/2 cup Greek nonfat yogurt)
1 1/2 tsp. salt (1/2 teaspoon)
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper (1/2 teaspoon)
1 lb. ground beef (ground turkey)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 9x5 loaf pan with cooking spray
In a large bowl stir (or hand mix) the bread crumbs, parsley, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, eggs, olive oil, feta (yogurt), salt and pepper. Add the meat and combine. Pack the mixture into the pan. Bake until internal temp is 165 degrees, approximately 45 minutes.
Remove pan from oven and let meatloaf rest for 5 minutes. Soak extra fat on the surface with a paper towel.

From Kristin Nelson Krantz**The recipe is for turkey meatloaf, which is why I think there is olive oil in the mix - when I used ground beef I just used a little oil.

Talking turkey

Turkey has become more popular as a lunch meat, but have you looked at the nutrition label on that pack of "deli sliced" processed meat? The sodium is way high, and even if you don't have high blood pressure, it can't be that good for you, especially for something you eat every day.

But what can a busy worker do? Well, the next time you see a whole (not boneless) frozen turkey breast on sale, buy it. I found them for 99 cents a pound last week, and cooked it yesterday for dinner. I will have sliced turkey for the week with minimal sodium, and it'll taste like real turkey, too.

Turkey breast is easy to cook. Thaw it in the fridge a day or two before you want to cook it. Turn on your oven to 500 degrees. Drain the turkey, wash it and dry it well. Flatten out the ribs as much as you can. If you like garlic, poke a couple of holes in the thickest part, cut the garlic cloves in half and put them in. Rub the underside and top with your favorite spice mixture. I always add a little paprika or smoked paprika to give the skin a good color, and spray it with olive oil. A 5-pound breast fit snugly in a glass 8x8-inch baking pan, and for added flavor, I set it on top of two onions, each peeled and cut in half.

Put the turkey in the oven and turn it down to 325. Bake for about 20 minutes per pound, or until an instant-read thermometer reaches 160 degrees. My 5-pound breast took about an hour and a half. Remove from oven and let it rest for at least 20 minutes for the juices to settle in the meat, then slice. If you're only using it for lunch meat, wrap it as soon as it cools and refrigerate. It will be easier to slice when cold.

Want to waste not? Tips to use leftovers

Making a great pot of chili last night, my thoughts wandered to recipe cooking vs. instinctual cooking. Most everyone, who has basic cooking skills and instructions that make sense, can cook from a recipe and have a dish that turns out well. (Of course, everyone who conveys a recipe hopes the instructions make sense, but you'd be surprised at how many don't, even ones that make it into a cookbook.) But the instinctual cook uses his or her senses on how a dish should be and goes on to make it unique. The advantage to this method is that one can use what is at hand, the freshest produce and most inexpensive meats, even bits and pieces of previous dinners, commonly derided as "leftovers."

The dishes that lend themselves most easily to this are melanges, and almost every cuisine has one or two of them. My standbys are chili, jambalaya, gumbo, spaghetti, curry and soups (five options can get most anyone through a week; if you have others, please let me know).

For the chili, I started with a pound of ground turkey and a tablespoon of olive oil. Turkey is bland, but much like tofu, it picks up the flavors around it. I season it as it's cooking with garlic, onions, cumin and oregano. And of course, chili.

I prefer straight chili. Prepared chili powder is OK, but it's a combination of chilies, cumin, oregano, salt and sometimes other spices, and you don't know how old the other spices are that go into it, since the smell of chili overwhelms the others. I use ancho powder if I'm in a hurry; otherwise, I like to use dried whole chilies (a combination depending on how hot I want it) stemmed and seeded, soaked in a little boiled water for 45 minutes, then puréed.

If I'm preparing a bowl of red, I add a can of beer and stop right there. But turkey doesn't hold up nearly as well as beef for that. So my turkey chili is what the sainted Frank X. Tolbert would refer to as "a rather tasty vegetable stew." (Those were the fighting words that led to the first chili cookoff, which gave birth to a cultural phenomenon that will continue this year in Terlingua, TX, Nov. 5-7.)

I added a 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, then found in the refrigerator the following: 1 eggplant, which I had sliced and salted in preparation to sauté, but had a change of plans; 1 1/2 yellow bell peppers, which had been charred and the skins removed; a lonely carrot; a half cup of refried black beans. I rinsed the eggplant slices, trimmed the skins off them, then chopped them and the peppers coarsely before adding them and the beans to the pot. I peeled the carrot and shredded it into the pot. Then everything cooked for about three hours. The texture, no doubt thanks to the refried beans, was just right; usually if the chili is a little soupy at the end, I add a little masa harina to thicken the stew.

One taste and you, too, would know why it drives me crazy when people say they'd rather eat fast food than leftovers.

Now, no discussion on chili would be complete without a little travelogue on Texas, so here's one on Big Bend National Park, which will give you a little taste of Terlingua country.

Turkey day postmortem

My favorite line from a Slate article by Regina Schrambling, a New York writer who travels to eat and writes about it for gastropoda.com, the Los Angeles Times and other publications:

Every fall, writers and editors have to knock themselves out to come up with a gimmick—fast turkey, slow turkey, brined turkey, unbrined turkey—when the meal essentially has to stay the same. It's like redrawing the Kama Sutra when readers really only care about the missionary position.

I so loved cooking the turkeys this year, and I am thankful they all came out so well. Even the no-salt turkey came out tasting fine. Which just goes to show: Don't overcook it. Turn off the oven when the thermometer hits 170 in the breast, 180 in the thighs. Brining overnight gives the turkey a nice taste but doesn't give it the texture of canned ham. We fed 60 people on the night before Thanksgiving and probably could have fed 40 more with the four big fowl and extra breast.

Talking turkey... prices

One thing for which I'm not thankful as Thanksgiving approaches is that I couldn't justify spending four times as much to buy the turkeys for our free night-before-Thanksgiving dinner from a local farm. I called them all; the lowest price per pound was $5.25. When feeding 8-10 people, that's certainly less than the same amount of beef tenderloin, even taking into account the bones. But when you're talking between 50 and 100 people, one does have to consider the total cost. I did get one fresh, organic turkey to cook salt-free. I thought about doing each turkey with a different seasoning, but decided that may be a little too ambitious. Maybe next year. This year, we're just going to focus on delicious.

BTW, I just heard on the Today show that the average number of calories consumed in a traditional Thanksgiving dinner is 4,000. Be careful out there, people.

Thanksgiving Treat

Do you sometimes feel that you have little to be thankful for at Thanksgiving, after stressing out over cooking for a crowd? I wrote a story several years ago for The Sacamento Bee on "Do-ahead Thanksgiving" and the timetable and recipes that Dianne Phillips came up with still are about the best I've seen.  

By Lori Korleski Richardson


The Sacramento Bee

Thanksgiving is a grand feast, with many dishes to choose from, desserts galore and a whopping brown bird as the centerpiece. It takes hours and hours to prepare. It comes to a table made special by painstaking decorating, the best your budget can afford. And for all this, what happens?

The whole shebang gets wolfed down in minutes so the gang can get back to the football games. Just who is giving thanks here? Certainly not the cook.

If this is your life, Diane Phillips can transform it and show you how to have as much fun as the rest of the gang on Turkey Day. How? Do-ahead Thanksgiving. "I came up with this idea about 10 years ago, after I had spent 12 hours fixing Thanksgiving dinner for 12 people and they polished it off in 10 minutes."

Phillips, a San Diego author of cookbooks and traveling cooking teacher, shows what can be prepared in advance so that "all you have to do on the big day is put the turkey in the oven and the last-minute preparation can be done in the 45 minutes that the turkey is resting after it's out of the oven."

Lest anyone question what a turkey would be like 45 minutes after it was baked, the turkey that was served to the students in one class came out 90 minutes before carving, and it still was warm and delicious. Phillips began her demonstration with a hot apple cake with caramel pecan sauce "because that's just the kind of girl I am." If there is an easier cake to make, it would be hard to imagine. Phillips said that it freezes well for up to two months. You thaw it out the night before, and then pop it into the post-turkey 350-degree oven for 10 minutes and serve, topped with the caramel sauce. It's super-moist and delicious, as we found out near the end of the class.

Then it was on to the make-ahead mashed potatoes, Gulliver's corn, green beans with sherried onion and mushroom sauce, and the do-ahead gravy. At the top of her steps to a painless Thanksgiving is "Relax!" -- and she means it.

On the green beans dish: "Blanch the green beans by bringing a large pot of water to boil, throw the beans in, bring it to a boil again, then drain the beans and put them in a bowl of ice water. They'll keep several days in the fridge that way. Keep the water boiling, and throw the pearl onions in, skins and all. Cook about two minutes, then drain and cool. The skins will slide right off."

On the gravy: "Want to know how to avoid lumpy gravy? Cook the flour and butter together for at least three minutes after the white bubbles appear. This is what keeps the lumps from happening. Make it thicker than you want it. It will look a little pale, but it will thin out and get its color when you add the fat-skimmed drippings on Thursday."

Her tips for turkey were simple, as well:

• Use a fresh turkey, 16 pounds or less. Figure 1 pound per person if you want to send some home with people, 3/4 pound if you just want a few leftovers. If you have more people, buy a second turkey. The bigger ones are too tough and have too many tendons, and they don't cook as evenly. If you can't resist the bargains on the frozen ones, buy one and cook it for your family some other time.
  
• Use a meat thermometer. Those little plastic pop-up ones are inadequate and inaccurate.
  
• Scoop out the stuffing as soon as the turkey is cooked and put it in a bowl. Or bake it separately, in loaf pans, for about 45 minutes to an hour at 350 degrees, basting it with turkey drippings. Slice it as you would a loaf of bread and serve.
  

And every time Phillips dotted another casserole with butter, she'd shrug and say, "It's the holiday." She did make some allowances for those watching their fat intake, such as substituting whole milk for cream in some of the recipes, but she drew the line firmly against using just broth in one's mashed potatoes: "Ee-yew," she said, with a shake of her blond bob. "Promise me that none of you will do that!" "It's the holiday," she pleaded.

It also wouldn't work with the do-ahead theme. The advance potatoes rely on cream cheese and sour cream to give them the body to survive two nights in the fridge and come out all pretty and fluffy after a 25-minute bake in the post-turkey oven. Regular mashed potatoes are likely to turn watery or even discolor in that time.

Phillips warned that the participants may get some flak from family members who'd rather stick with tradition, even though her menu doesn't stray far from customary Thanksgiving fare. But to point out how silly traditions sometimes are, she told the story of the newlywed fixing her first holiday ham for her new husband. She cut off the end of the ham and threw it out; he wondered why. "Well, my mother always did it that way." So she asked her mother why they always cut off the end of the ham. Her mother said, "Grandma always did it that way." So mother and daughter went to ask grandmother why she always cut the end off the ham. "Simple," said Grandma. "It wouldn't fit in the pan otherwise."

 

 

The timetable

Start cooking Sunday; buy bird Wednesday.

Sunday: Make the apple cake and/or the pumpkin ice cream pie and freeze (the sauces can be refrigerated).

Monday: Make the Gulliver's Corn. Refrigerate.

Tuesday: Make the Curried Cream of Pumpkin Soup and the Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes. Blanch the green beans and make the sauce for that dish. Refrigerate.

Wednesday: Pick up a fresh turkey, allowing 3/4 to 1 pound per person. Make stock from the neck and giblets. Make stuffing and gravy; refrigerate. Wash turkey in cold water and dry well; cover and refrigerate. Set the table and cover with a sheet. Take the cake out of the freezer and thaw overnight in the fridge.

Thursday: Determine when you would like to eat. Calculate the cooking time, stuff the turkey, place it on a rack in a large roasting pan and bake as directed. If you don't stuff the turkey, put the dressing into a loaf pan and cook it with the turkey for 45 minutes to an hour. Remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest for 45 minutes while you heat the soup, the gravy and vegetable sauce on the stove, and bake the potatoes and corn in the 350-degree oven. Take out the green beans from the fridge. After 25-30 minutes, take out the potatoes and corn and crank up the oven to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, serve the soup and urge everyone to start without you. Carve the turkey. Remove the stuffing to a serving dish, or slice it from the loaf pans. Toss the green beans with the sauce. Turn down the oven to 350 degrees. Serve and enjoy!

For dessert, put the apple cake into the oven 10 minutes before you're ready to serve. Heat up the sauce. Serve up the cake and top with sauce. Or soften the ice-cream pie a bit by putting it in the refrigerator before sitting down to eat, then serve it with its sauce after the meal.

Recipes for some of the dishes discussed in Diane Phillips' class appear below.

Curried Cream of Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

4 Tbs. butter


1/2 cup chopped apple


1/4 cup chopped onion


1/2 tsp. curry powder


1 Tbs. flour


2 cups pumpkin puree


4 cups chicken stock


2 cups half-and-half (light cream)


4 to 5 tsp. toasted coconut, optional

Preparation:

Melt the butter in a 3-quart saucepan and add the apple, onion and curry powder, sauteeing until the apple is softened. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Gradually add the pumpkin and chicken stock, whisking until smooth. Add the cream.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. When ready to serve, heat the soup and garnish with toasted coconut, if desired.

Serves: 8

Per serving: 173 cal.; 3 g pro.; 7 g carb.; 13 g fat (8 sat., 4 monounsat., 1 polyunsat.); 48 mg chol.; 531 mg sod.; 1 g fiber; 5 g sugar; 75 percent calories from fat.





Green Beans with Sherried Onion and Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:

1 lb. green beans, stemmed, and cut into 2-inch lengths


Salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg


3 Tbs. butter


1 cup small pearl onions, sliced in half


1/2 lb. sliced mushrooms


2 Tbs. flour


1/2 cup chicken stock


1/2 cup heavy cream


2 Tbs. sherry

Preparation:

Bring 2 quarts water to a boil and add the beans. Simmer until they're crisp, but tender. Drain; season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

In a 10-inch skillet, melt the butter and add the onions, sauteeing for three minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms give off some of their liquid. Add the flour; stir until blended.

Gradually stir in the stock and whisk until thickened. Add the cream and sherry, stirring until the mixture thickens. Add the seasonings and refrigerate until ready to serve. At that time, heat the sauce and add the green beans to the sauce.

Serves: 6

Per serving: 191 cal.; 3 g pro.; 15 g carb.; 13 g fat (8 sat., 4 monounsat., 1 polyunsat.); 43 mg chol.; 201 mg sod.; 3 g fiber; 4 g sugar; 62 percent calories from fat. 




 

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 cup sour cream


1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened


8 to 10 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and boiled until tender


4 Tbs. butter or margarine plus 2 Tbs.


1/3 cup chopped chives (optional)


Salt and pepper to taste


1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus 1/4 cup

Preparation:

Beat the sour cream and cream cheese together. Add the hot, drained potatoes. Beat until smooth. Add the butter, optional chives, salt and pepper. Rub the inside of a 3-quart souffle dish with 2 tablespoons softened butter. Sprinkle 1/4 cup grated Parmesan into the dish, and tip the dish, so that the cheese adheres to the butter. Turn the potatoes into the souffle dish and dot with butter and sprinkle with cheese. Refrigerate 2 to 3 days and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, until golden.

Serves: 10

Per serving: 308 cal.; 7 g pro.; 29 g carb.; 19 g fat (12 sat., 6 monounsat., 1 polyunsat.); 52 mg chol.; 237 mg sod.; 2 g fiber; 3 g sugar; 54 percent calories from fat. 




Hot Apple Cake with Caramel Pecan Sauce

Ingredients for cake:

2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
3 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tsp. vanilla

Ingredients for caramel sauce:

4 Tbs. butter
1/2 cup pecan halves
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup whipping cream

Preparation:

To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch cake pan. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, until well blended. Add flour, spices and soda and beat until just incorporated. Mix in the apples, nuts and vanilla. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove to rack to cool. Refrigerate the cake when cooled. Reheat in 350-degree oven for 10 minutes before serving.

To make the caramel sauce: Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add pecan halves. Add brown sugar and whipping cream, and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce boils and sugar dissolves. Refrigerate for up to a week. To serve, place a wedge of warm cake onto dessert plate. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and spoon hot caramel pecan sauce over all.

Note: A true taste of autumn, this cake and sauce can be made ahead and frozen (1 month) or refrigerated for 3 to 4 days.

Serves: 8

Per serving: 485 cal.; 5 g pro.; 52 g carb.; 29 g fat (15 sat., 11 monounsat., 3 polyunsat.); 115 mg chol.; 177 mg sod.; 2 g fiber; 31 g sugar; 54 percent calories from fat. 




Do-Ahead Stuffing

Ingredients:

1 cup butter or margarine


2 cups chopped celery


2 cups chopped onion


4 quarts bread cubes


1 Tbs. salt


2 tsp. poultry seasoning


1/2 tsp. ground pepper


1/4 tsp. crushed sage leaves


1/4 tsp. crushed thyme leaves


1-1/2 to 2 cups chicken broth

Preparation:

Cook the celery and onion in the butter over low heat and stir until golden. Meanwhile, blend the bread cubes and seasonings. Add the celery-onion mixture. Toss lightly to blend. Pour broth over and stir to blend. Add more seasonings as desired. Can be refrigerated for 2 to 3 days.

On Thanksgiving Day, stuff the turkey, or the stuffing can be baked in greased loaf pans for about 1 hour, basting occasionally with turkey drippings.

This is a basic dressing, there are lots of additions that can be done while sauteeing the onion and celery: 1 pound sliced mushrooms, 1/2 cup dried chopped apricots, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, 1 dozen chopped oysters, 1 cup pecan halves, 1/2 pound crawfish tails.

Serves: Enough stuffing for a 14 to 18 lb. turkey

Per serving: 273 cal.; 5 g pro.; 28 g carb.; 16 g fat (9 sat., 5 monounsat., 2 polyunsat.); 36 mg chol.; 880 mg sod.; 2 g fiber; 2 g sugar; 52 percent calories from fat. 




Turkey Stock

Ingredients:

Giblets and neck from turkey


1 large onion, quartered


3 carrots, chopped


3 ribs celery, chopped


1 tsp. dried thyme


1 bay leaf


2 tsp. salt


6 whole black peppercorns


Water to cover

Preparation:

Place all the ingredients into a 5-quart stock pot, and bring to a boil. Skim the foam from the surface of the stock, and then simmer the broth partially covered for 3 hours. Strain the broth, and skim the fat from the top of the stock. Use for gravy, or soup.

Note: This can be done the day before, or on the day you roast the bird.

Serves: 2 quarts 




Gulliver's Corn

Ingredients:

2 bags (16 oz.) frozen kernel corn (defrosted)


1-1/2 cups whipping cream


2 tsp. salt


1 tsp. sugar


3 Tbs. flour mixed with 3 Tbs. melted butter or margarine


2 to 3 Tbs. plus 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Butter an ovenproof baking dish. Sprinkle 2 to 3 tablespoons Parmesan over the butter, tilting the pan to distribute the cheese. Bring the whipping cream to a boil. Reduce the heat and add corn. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in salt and sugar. Make a paste out of the butter and flour, and stir into the corn and cook until thickened. Turn corn into oven-proof dish, sprinkle with cheese and dot with butter. Refrigerate up to 4 days. Do not freeze this dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbling and golden brown.

Serves: 8

Per serving: 310 cal.; 7 g pro.; 28 g carb.; 20 g fat (13 sat., 6 monounsat., 1 polyunsat.); 66 mg chol.; 717 mg sod.; 3 g fiber; 3 g sugar; 57 percent calories from fat. 




Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie with Butterscotch Sauce

Ingredients for graham cracker crust:

1 stick melted butter


6 Tbs. sugar


2 cups graham cracker crumbs


1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Ingredients for pie:

One 16-oz. can pumpkin puree


1 tsp. ground cinnamon


3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg


3 pints vanilla ice cream, divided use


2/3 cup brown sugar


1 tsp. ground ginger


1/8 tsp. ground cloves

Ingredients for butterscotch sauce:

4 Tbs. butter


1 cup dark brown sugar


1 cup cream

Preparation:

Cook the pumpkin with the seasonings and sugar over low heat until the sugar dissolves and the puree thickens. Refrigerate until cool. Soften 2 pints of ice cream and beat it with the pumpkin mixture. Spread evenly over frozen pie crust. Freeze at least 2 hours. Soften remaining ice cream and spread over pumpkin mixture and return it to the freezer. Wrap and freeze for up to one month.

Butterscotch sauce: In a small saucepan melt butter, and add brown sugar. Add cream and stir until the sauce boils. Remove from the heat. Refrigerate until ready to use, then warm before serving over pie.

Note: This is a lighter ending to a heavy holiday meal than the traditional pumpkin pie.

Serves: 10

Per serving: 442 cal.; 5 g pro.; 62 g carb.; 20 g fat (12 sat., 6 monounsat., 2 polyunsat.); 60 mg chol.; 217 mg sod.; 2 g fiber; 41 g sugar; 40 percent calories from fat. 




Do-Ahead Gravy

6 Tbs. flour


6 Tbs. butter or margarine


4 cups chicken broth, or turkey stock

Preparation:

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Cook over medium high heat until the flour is incorporated. Gradually add the broth, whisking constantly and stirring until the gravy is thickened, and the mixture boils. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper.

Refrigerate 3 to 4 days ahead.

Thanksgiving Day: Heat the gravy, and when the turkey is done, pour off all the drippings into a jar, or fat separator. Skim or spoon off all the fat and add the drippings to the gravy.

Makes: 4 cups

Per serving: Per 1/4 cup: 59 cal.; 1 g pro.; 2 g carb.; 5 g fat (3 sat., 2 monounsat., 0 polyunsat.); 13 mg chol.; 250 mg sod.; 0 g fiber; 0 g sugar; 81 percent calories from fat.

After Thanksgiving:

Turkey Sausage Casserole

Ingredients:

1/2 stick butter or margarine


3/4 lb. sliced mushrooms


4 Tbs. flour


1-1/2 cups chicken or turkey broth


1/2 cup whipping cream


1 cup shredded Swiss cheese (or you can substitute cheddar)


1 tsp. Dijon mustard


1 tsp. salt


Freshly ground pepper


3 to 4 cups cooked turkey, cut into bite-size pieces


1 lb. bulk sausage, cooked and drained


2 cups herbed seasoned stuffing or any leftover stuffing

Preparation:

In a large saucepan, melt the butter and saute the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Sprinkle in the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for one minute. Stir in the chicken or turkey broth and cream. Cook over moderate heat, stirring until the mixture comes to a boil. Cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese, mustard, salt, pepper, turkey and sausage.

Pour into a greased 2-quart casserole. Melt 4 tablespoons butter. If using dry herb seasoned stuffing, place it in a small bowl and toss with the butter. Sprinkle over the casserole. If using leftover stuffing, sprinkle it over the casserole and sprinkle the butter over the top. This may be covered with foil and refrigerated for 2 days, or frozen for 1 month and defrosted the night before Thanksgiving. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until top is browned and sauce is bubbling.

Serves: 6

Per serving: 667 cal.; 46 g pro.; 25 g carb.; 39 g fat (19 sat., 15 monounsat., 5 polyunsat.); 191 mg chol.; 1501 mg sod.; 2 g fiber; 4 g sugar; 57 percent calories from fat. 




Southwestern Black Bean Turkey Chili

Ingredients:

Two 16-oz. cans black beans


1/2 cup butter or margarine


1 cup chopped mild fresh chilies


1/2 cup chopped onion


1/2 cup chopped red pepper


3 cloves garlic, minced


1/2 cup chopped leeks


2 Tbs. dried oregano


1/4 cup flour


4 chicken bouillon cubes, crumbled


2 Tbs. ground coriander seeds


1-1/2 Tbs. chili powder


2 Tbs. ground cumin


1/2 tsp. salt


1/2 tsp. sugar


4 cups water


2 cups fresh corn, or equivalent of frozen, defrosted


4 cups shredded cooked turkey or chicken

Preparation:

In a large stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat, add the vegetables, and cook for 10 minutes, until they are softened. Add the next 8 ingredients, and whisk until the mixture is combined and bubbles. Stir for 3 minutes, or until the flour is golden. Gradually stir in the water.

Puree 1 cup of corn and add to the chili. Add the sugar, the remaining corn, chicken or turkey and black beans. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, or keep in the refrigerator for 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

Serves: 8

Note: A great warm-up while watching the football game. From Diane Phillips' "Do- Ahead Thanksgiving" class, originally published in The Perfect Basket.

Per serving: 370 cal.; 30 g pro.; 32 g carb.; 14 g fat (8 sat., 4 monounsat., 2 polyunsat.); 91 mg chol.; 1224 mg sod.; 10 g fiber; 2 g sugar; 34 percent calories from fat.