Tag: Thanksgiving

Mole for Thanksgiving

No, we did not dine on that furry little critter that lives underground.  The picture above is not a burnt mole, but sautéed dried peppers.

I made mole from scratch, using a recipe for mole poblano from Pati’s Mexican Table as the basis.  I was able to find all the ingredients in a local store which caters to the Middle Eastern, Asian, and Mexican populations, so there are far more exotic ingredients available than in the local chain grocery stores.

This is what I used:

Dried chilis:  ancho, pasilla, mulatos, chipotles – about 20-25 in different amounts.  I cut off their stems, and poured the seeds into a custard cup, to be added later on.  In a large Dutch Oven, I sauteed the chilis in oil, removing them from the pan, and draining them on towels; I did this is in small batches.

Once the chilis were done I added more oil to the pan and sautéed up a chopped white onion and an handful of chopped garlic.  Then I added about a quarter cup each of raw almonds, peanuts, raisins, sesame seeds, and pumpkin seeds.  At one point, I added all the saved seeds from the dried chilis.  Next came about a teaspoon each of whole cloves, anise seeds, and coriander seeds.  A stick of whole cinnamon followed along with a pinch of allspice, thyme, and marjoram.  These I sautéed and then added some tomatoes and tomatillos I had roasted over an open flame on a grill – two or three tomatoes and about eight large tomatillos.  The blackened skins of these were removed.  As a thickener, I tore up thin corn tortillas – about six.  Once all this was put together, it continued to simmer a bit on the stove, with a bit of stirring.

Once I was happy with the melange – it smelled wonderful! – I added about six cups of homemade chicken broth, the sautéed chilis, and 7 ozs. of 85% dark chocolate, specifically Valrhona.  From there, I let it simmer another 15-20 minutes, and let it cool.  The final step was to run it through the blender until smooth.

This makes very thick paste.  I ended up with more than a quart, which can keep for several weeks in the refrigerator, or frozen in small batches, to be used later on.

Making the mole was really easy – it only took a couple of hours as I did all the prep work as I moved along.  If I had been more organized, I doubt it would have taken even that long.

Anyway, mole sauce can be used with chicken or turkey (or moles?).  We had chicken.  I browned the chicken on all sides, and then took about 2 c. of the mole paste, and another quart of chicken stock, and put them in a slow oven – 300 degrees – for about 3 hours.  The result was heaven, and went well with saffron rice, cranberry sauce, salad, and tirimisu.

I hope your Thanksgiving feast was as tasty as ours!

All for Money

Black Friday.  It begins on Thursday.  At some Walmarts it will be at 8 p.m.  At Sears it is 8 p.m.  Other major retailers are doing all of this, just to bring in the bucks.  To quote a piece from ABC News, “A spokeswoman for Target said that the 9 p.m. opening time was ‘carefully evaluated with out guests, team and the business in mind.’ ”

Ha!  That spokeswoman will not be working on Thanksgiving, nor most likely that Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.  The CEOs of all these corporations will be sitting back with their families, friends, loved ones, whatever, and thinking about how happy they are.  They won’t be thinking about the laborers who provide them with their days off, the minions in the stores.

Me, I don’t work retail, but I have worked in the medical field for years, giving up weekends, nights, and holidays.  However, the ER is important, not Black Friday.

I expect that the fat cats at the top are thankful that they don’t have to work on Thanksgiving.

A Crostata of a Different Flavor

Sunset Magazine is filled with interesting things. Recipes of all sorts may be found, and the holiday issues are some of my favorites. The Thanksgiving edition had a particularly intriguing recipe, which I made for yesterday’s family get-together. You may find the original recipe here; what makes it particularly interesting is the fact it is made with an artisan flour derived from a different wheat than is in your average flour.  It is made with

Emmer farro flour, made from whole-grain emmer wheat, gives the crostata a rustic texture and great flavor. Because it’s low in gluten, it needs to be mixed with all-purpose flour to hold the crust together

The flour is from Bluebird Grain Farms whose specialty is heirloom organic grains.  While I did not use their flour, I think I am quite likely to try it in the near future.  I’ve added a link to their site under the Farmers to Admire category.

Below is how I made the crostata.  I think that you can use this recipe as a basis for any fresh, seasonal fruit – the frangipane is a wonderful flavor!

PASTRY

  • 1 1/2 c. whole wheat white flour
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes (1 stick of butter, and 2 T more)

Use a food processor, as in the original recipe:  pulse flours and salt to mix. Add butter and whirl 3 seconds. Drizzle in 1/3 cup ice water, pulsing until mixture comes together in a shaggy ball but still has bits of butter showing. Form into a disk, wrap airtight, and chill at least 2 hours or overnight.

FRANGIPANE

  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 6 t. white sugar
  • 1/3 cup blanched almonds, finely ground
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 T flour
  • 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. almond extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat together 6 T. of sugar with butter until light and fluffy.  Mix in almonds (I used ground almond meal from Trader Joe’s), egg, flour, extracts, until smoothly blended.  Set aside.

CRANBERRIES

  • 3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (1 12-oz. package)
  • 1/4 c. white sugar
  • 1 T. water

Mix together cranberries, sugar and water.  Set aside.

ASSEMBLING CROSTATA

Roll out dough on floured surface into a 14-inch circle.  Rotate and flip pastry as you roll it out.  Trim edges, and transfer to a round pizza pan or rectangular cookie sheet.  Line either with a sheet of parchment paper.   (I used a cookie sheet, only to find it was to big for my refrigerator, so I tilted it to fit, and had no problems with any berries escaping!)

Spread frangipane over inside of dough, leaving about a 3-inch border outside your circle of frangipane.

Place sugared cranberries over the frangipane mixture, pressing them in a bit to help keep the cranberries in place.

Fold the edges of the dough up and over the cranberries – do this gently! – and create pleats or folds as you go.  Once you do this, pinch the pleats in place a bit to seal the dough.  This will prevent leakage during baking.

Place crostata in refrigerator for about 30 minutes before baking.  While you do this, preheat the oven to 375 F with the cooking rack in the middle.  I used my oven on convection, but changed nothing as far as temperature or time.

Bake crostata for 45 minutes.  I checked mine at 35 minutes, and then continued.

Cool on parchment paper and cookie sheet, then transfer crostata and parchment paper to cookie rack to finish cooling.

Serve at room temperature, or warmed in the oven.  Great with vanilla ice cream!