Thanksgiving Hold the Turkey

Pork before Cooking

Crispy Skin, tender pork meat

Pat and Doshi present the Stuffed bread on our new board

Pork Tamales from Shumon

Leek Bread Pudding

Potatoes Vindaloo

Some of the desserts

This was definitely a year that we don’t feel we have a lot to be thankful for. We decided to have a Thanksgiving and make it very international.

We had 10 people over for dinner, the usual suspects. No one wanted Turkey so we decided wisely to make Bo Ssam a Korean Pork dish. We had made it for July 4^th and everyone asked for a repeat. The key is to get great pork shoulder and we got an 11.5 pound one from McCall’s Meat andFish. The second trick is to cook it low and slow. We cooked it for 6 hours. You can get the recipe on our blog of: May 27, 2016. Click the date to get the recipe. It is fantastic! We served it with Ssam Sauce we purchased from Momofuku. The night before we had eaten at Newport Seafood, our favorite Chinese restaurant. We brought home some of their Garlic, Chili, Pepper Sauce they serve with their Lobster it went perfect with the pork. In addition, we purchased what happened to be excellent Kimchi at Cookbook.

Shumon had previously brought us over once incredible Nicaraguan Tamales stuffed with Pork. They were filled with the lightest Masa and were delicious and they were huge. I did feel the pork they were made from was a bit gristly. We decided to serve them as appetizers, but we wanted them to be both appetizer size and made from a better quality of pork. We purchased the Pork from McCall’s Meat and Fish and gave the pork to Shumon. He took to the Nicaraguan women who makes the Tamales. After she stewed the pork, she told Shumon it was the best pork she had ever used in a recipe. Being from McCall’s I don’t doubt it.

Pat and Doshi brought all kinds of good stuff, including a beautiful cutting board as a gift. They made Spinach Stuffed bread, a wonderful Salad that we want the recipe for, a Pear and Ginger Pie with a crumb crust that I loved and a Cake. All were wonderful.

The night was warm and we had drinks on the deck with the Tamales, The Spinach Stuffed Bread and Hummus and Chips from Joan’s on 3rdStreet. We hadn’t even sat down for dinner and we were all stuffed! That is the way it should be on Thanksgiving.

I am very glad that Sharon Ubered up from Long Beach to join us. She knows everyone and it was good to be with her.

We made Potato Vindaloo, an Indian dish made with both regular Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes. It was extremely fragrant and added another international aspect to the dinner.

I also like stuffing so even though nothing was stuffed (except for us and the other guests) we made Leek Bread Pudding. It is better than any stuffing I have ever had. You can get the recipe on our blog of: December 2, 2010. Click the date to get the recipe.

Michael made Asparagus with Mushrooms. So we even had a green vegetable!

Tim brought two pies both big hits from Cake Monkey. Who would think Cake Monkey would have good pies, but they do! Everyone pigged out on the 3 pies and Cake.

Did I mention we had lots of Wine and Scotch? This was a dinner to give thanks for, even if the election results suck. Everyone went home with leftovers.

Two-Potato Vindaloo

Plenty

Yotam Ottolenghi

Here’s a great recipe you can make heaps of and keep for a few days. It only gets better! As always, thick cool yogurt will make an excellent condiment.

Serves 4

8         cardamom pods

1         tbsp cumin seeds

1         tbsp coriander seeds

½        tsp cloves

¼        tsp ground turmeric

1         tsp sweet paprika

1         tsp ground cinnamon

2         tbsp vegetable oil

12       shallots (about 10 oz in total), chopped

½        tsp brown mustard seeds

½        tsp fenugreek seeds

25       curry leaves

2         tbsp chopped fresh ginger

1         fresh red chile, finely chopped

3         ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped

¼        cup cider vinegar

1-3/4  cups water

1         tbsp sugar

salt

2-1/2  cups peeled waxy potatoes, cut into 1‑inch dice

2         small red bell peppers, cut into 1-inch dice

2-1/2  cups peeled sweet potatoes, cut into 1‑inch dice

mint or cilantro leaves to serve

Dry-roast the cardamorn pods and cumin and coriander seeds in a small frying pan over medium heat until they begin to pop. Transfer to a mortar and pestle and add the cloves. Work to a fine powder, removing and discarding the cardamom pods once the seeds are released. Add the turmeric, paprika and cinnamon and set aside.

Heat up the oil in a large heavy-based pot. Add the shallots with the mustard and fenugreek seeds, and sauté on a medium-low heat for 8 minutes, or until the shallots brown. Stir in the spice mix, curry leaves, ginger and chile and cook for a further 3 minutes. Next, add the tomatoes, vinegar, water, sugar and some salt. Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

Add the potatoes and bell peppers and simmer for another 20 minutes. For the last stage, add the sweet potatoes. Make sure all the vegetables are just immersed in the sauce (add more water if needed) and continue cooking, covered, for about 40 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

Remove the lid and le|ive to bubble away for about 10 minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce. Serve hot, with plain rice and garnished with herbs.

Paleron and Aligot

We want to make a warm winter dish. What could possibly be better than Pot Roast and Mashed Potatoes? The answer is: Pot Roast and Aligot. We first had Aligot in France and fell in love with it. It is mashed potatoes that was cheese melted into it. Making it even richer. There was a recipe for Aligot in The New York Times and we decided to make it. First we had to scramble to get the proper pot roast, which in French is called a Paleron. It is a full flat-iron steak. We finally found one.

I was prepared to make mashed potatoes, but we happened to stop in at Joan's on 3rd Street and they were selling a supper rich mashed potatoes. So we bought the mashed potatoes and used them. We then used a fabulous trick on mashed potatoes that we observed from eating a ChiSpacca. We had refrigerated the store bought mashed potatoes. When we were ready to cook them we removed from the refrigerator and let them reach room temperature. We then put them in a pan and continually wisked in cream and milk. They reheated perfectly. We then added the cheese. Shumon joined us and the dinner was perfect for a cool night.

You can get the recipe for the Pot Roast from our blog of: March 15, 2016. Click the date to get the recipe.

Aligot

Cheesy Mashed Potatoes for the Soul

New York Times

In times of great stress, or of flickering, low-level dread, I find that canceling all my plans and staying in to make mashed potatoes generally helps. This year, there were quite a few opportunities to do so. Election-related anxiety gnawed at me for months, lighting up old networks of pain in my shoulders and back. Mold bloomed around the mysterious wet patch that appeared in my bedroom ceiling. I started a thrilling, but terrifying, new job. And as the holidays neared, I worried about my grandmother, almost 80, living alone. Still, I let about half her calls go to voice mail each week, and hated myself for it.

I turned to aligot, the cheese-thickened mashed potatoes with roots in central France. Aligot doesn’t fix anything, but it does put a little cushion between you and the abyss, whatever form the abyss might take.

To make it, you’ll need a ricer. You could, technically, blitz everything together in the food processor, but you risk potatoes with the gooey, elastic texture of an industrial-strength glue, setting up between planks. If you’re in a delicate emotional state, as I usually am when I start these potatoes, it’s better not to risk it. Besides, pressing down on the ricer is an essential part of the process. Squashing hot, tender potatoes through tiny holes is a pure and simple joy, one of the rare cooking tasks that’s just as fun as those Play-Doh sets once had you believe. The potato rushes out in tiny, twirling, noodles. You don’t need to worry about lumps.

In France, aligot is traditionally made with tomme fraîche or unripened Cantal, but those cheeses can be hard to find. At North End Grill, a restaurant in Manhattan’s Battery Park City, the chef Eric Korsh makes aligot with a little bit of roasted garlic and a lot of Comté. Any cheese that melts well will do, but for aligot you also want to seek out a cheese with a capacity for stringiness. I’ve had great aligot with Comté, Gruyère and Emmental, and fresh mozzarella can also work in a pinch.

Aligot puts a little cushion between you and the abyss.

Ham el-Waylly, a chef at the Brooklyn diner Hail Mary, starts with Robuchon potatoes. Among cooks, the phrase “Robuchon potatoes” is shorthand for what many still consider the Platonic ideal of mashed potatoes: a flawless purée, mounted with an obscene amount of butter and named for the celebrity French chef Joël Robuchon. In a video dedicated to his famous mashed potatoes, Robuchon leans over a cook and says in French, quite sternly: “More butter! More butter! More butter! More butter! More, more, more!”

Robuchon uses ratte potatoes — an expensive variety from France. He boils them whole, then peels them while hot. After pushing the potatoes through a food mill, he adds loads of cold butter over the heat and finally some milk or cream, whisking the whole thing until it’s an airy, slow-moving cloud. Waylly starts around there, then adds a mix of Gruyère and a soft-ripened cow’s milk cheese from Vermont, even throwing in part of the bloomy rind. The key, he told me, is to whip the potatoes with confidence, vigor and speed once you add the cheese, to build up the stringiness as it melts. “When you pull it, you want it to seem like you’re pulling at fondue,” Waylly said. “You want to see a good amount of strands falling, and they should have some strength. They should fight with you.”

Stringiness is the whole point of aligot, that long, delightful stretch, the way it takes on all the qualities of melted cheese but remains mashed potato. And though it’s tough to get it like the cooks in Auvergne, some of whom can pull spoonfuls of hot aligot that stretch several feet, you can still get a good, cheesy texture as a beginner, working with a small amount of potato over low heat.

At home, in the 20 minutes or so it takes for the potatoes to cook through, I like to get the rest of the meal going. I brown sausages and wilt a big bunch of greens in the same pan. I have a glass of whatever wine is open in the fridge. By now, things are looking up. Cheesy mashed potatoes are on the horizon, like sunshine after a long, dark night. And by the time those potatoes are ready, so am I.

Ingredients

1       pound russet potatoes, peeled and quartered

¼      pound cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

½      cup cream, heated

½      pound Comté or Gruyère cheese, grated

Salt to taste

Preparation

1.   Simmer the potatoes in water until very tender to the point of a knife, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain potatoes, and tip out any remaining water from the pot. Push the hot potatoes through a ricer back into the pot. Over low heat, use a heatproof spatula to move the potatoes around the pot for a minute so that any excess water can evaporate.

2.   Add butter to the potatoes, half at a time, stirring until completely incorporated. Add hot cream, half at a time, stirring until incorporated. Add cheese a little bit at a time, stirring vigorously, until all the cheese is evenly melted and the spoon makes cheesy strings as you pull it away from the potatoes. If necessary, turn the heat up a little. Taste, and season with salt. Serve.

Shumon Cooks

A new Indian grocery store opened in Artesia: Pioneer Cash and Carry. It is as large as our Gelson's and is stocked with lots of imported items. We went with Shumon to check it out. He found to vegetables we have never seen nor eaten. Shumon said he has never seen them in America. He was very excited and wanted to cook them for us. We were happy to sit back and be served!

Shumon made Green Gourd with Shrimps in Coconut Chilly Gravy and Parwal fried with Yellow Onions. Both were excellent and a new taste sensation for us. At the grocery store we bought frozen Carrot Halva that was excellent. It was a wonderful dinner and we didn't have to do any work! Thank you Shumon.

Eggplant Lasagna

This is our super cheesy Eggplant Lasagna. Cathy modified Mario Batali's recipe for Baked Lasagne Alla Norma. We do NOT use a béchamel sauce. We crumble 1 pound of Ricotta Cheese with a small hunk of Truffle Cheese. We then alternate layers of the Lasagna Noodles, Eggplant and the cheese mixture and big dollops of Burrata Cheese. Oh my! This makes for a great lasagna. As you can see it looks beautiful. You can find Mario's original recipe on our blog of: March 31, 2015. Click the date to get the recipe.

Pasta al'Fresco

Notice Trump Pinnate in the background 

It was another warm night and we ate on the deck. Darryl stopped by and joined us along with Shumon. We made one of my very favorite pastas: PASTA ALL 'AMATRICIANA, This is a simple dish that is delicious. You can get the recipe on our blog of: November 21, 2207. Click the date to get the recipe.

Grandmother’s Cauliflower with Cheese is a wonderful Indian recipe. Shumon had never had it, so we made it for him. He loved it! I always love it. You definitely should give this a try. The recipe for Grandmother's Cauliflower with Cheese can be found on our blog of: March 5, 2007. Click the date to get the recipe.

Paella Made With Lobster Stock

When ever we go to our favorite Chinese Restaurant: Newport Seafood, we always have their famous Special Lobster. It comes with an excellent sauce made from chilies and peppers. After we consume the lobster, we bring all of the shells home. We throw them in a big pan with water and boil to make a delicious Lobster Stock. We then freeze the stock for later use.

We used that frozen Lobster Stock as the basis for a Seafood Paella. We used lots of shrimps and Scallops. It was delicious. We used the recipe for Monkfish Rice with Saffron from the Moro Cookbook, substituting the Scallops and Shrimp for the Monkfish. What a great use for the frozen Lobster Stock. You can get the recipe for the Paella from our blog of: January 25, 2010. Click the date to get the recipe.