Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

I now have three dressing casseroles in my repertoire for Thanksgiving.  They are all my favorites because I love dressing so much that I would not be able to choose.  Take your pick.  This newest dressing is one that I saw in Bon Appetit last year.  It is Rosemary Bread Stuffing with Prosciutto, Fennel and Lemon.  One of my favorite breads is La Brea’s rosemary olive oil bread and this recipe is built around that kind of bread.  How could you go wrong?  Fennel is used liberally in the recipe and I love the subtle flavor that it imparts.  Add prosciutto or speck to the mix and there is no doubt that it will be good.  I made this last week and even David, who is not a stuffing or dressing aficionado, loved it.

ROSEMARY BREAD STUFFING WITH PROSCIUTTO, FENNEL AND LEMON (Bon Appetit)

1 14 1/2-to 16-ounce purchased rosemary-olive oil bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
7 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 tablespoons butter, melted, divided
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup golden raisins
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
2 cups chopped fresh fennel bulb (from 1 large) plus 1 tablespoon chopped fresh fennel fronds
1 cup finely chopped shallots
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
8 ounced thinly sliced Speck or prosciutto, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
1 cup (or more) low-salt chicken broth
2 large eggs, beaten to blend

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Toss bread cubes, 3 tablespoons oil, and 2 tablespoons melted butter in large bowl.  Spread mixture on large rimmed baking sheet.  Bake until bread cubes are golden, stirring occasionally, 20 to 22 minutes.  Cool.

Mix wine and raisins in small saucepan; let soak 10 minutes.  Boil 2 minutes Cool.

Stir fennel seeds in small dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant and slightly darker, 2 to 3 minutes.  Transfer fennel seeds to plate to cool.  Finely grind seeds in mortar with pestle or in spice mill.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter with 3 tablespoons oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add fennel bulb, shallots, 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; saute until fennel is tender and shallots are pale golden, about 7 minutes.  Stir in ground fennel seeds, prosciutto, lemon peel, and fennel fronds.  Stir raisins into fennel mixture; cool.

Do Ahead;  Bread cubes and fennel mixture can be made 1 day ahead.  Store bread airtight at room temperature.  Cover and refrigerate fennel mixture.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Coat 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish with 1 tablespoon oil.  Toss bread cubes and fennel mixture in large bowl.  Add 1 cup broth and eggs; toss until moistened, adding up to 1/4 cup more broth if dry.  Transfer stuffing to prepared baking dish.  Cover with foil coated lightly with oil. oiled side down.  Bake until stuffing is heated through, about 30 minutes.  Remove foil; bake uncovered until top is crisp and golden, about 30 minutes.

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CORNBREAD SAUSAGE STUFFING WITH APPLES.  This dressing has been a favorite for many years.  It is adapted from the Silver Palate Cookbook.  Cornbread, whole wheat, and sourdough bread are combined with sausage and apples.  It is very flavorful.  Here is the link to the recipe.

MOM’S THANKSGIVING DRESSING.  This is the dressing that I grew up with.  It is very basic but it is the favorite of the whole family.  Every bite of it is loaded with memories.  My Mother knew what she was doing.  Here is the link to the recipe.

I wish all of you a very happy and memorable Thanksgiving.  I am thankful for all of you.

We will be having a small Thanksgiving this year.  We plan to spend two weeks with the family over Christmas, so a trip north for a quick Thanksgiving dinner is not in the picture.  But a small Thanksgiving dinner for two doesn’t have to be boring.  There was the year that hubby and I were by ourselves.  I bought a small turkey.  He wanted to do it on the grill.  I wanted it in the oven so I could make gravy.  So with Solomon like judgement we decided to split it in half; half on the grill and half in the oven.  Mine was best.  He disagrees.

I am not sure yet what we will do with our turkey this year, but I know that this is the way I will be preparing the green beans.  I ran across this recipe while on Pinterest.  It has lots of pins and repins.  The recipe came originally from Aubrey of Just Cook Already,  a blog that I had not visited before.  You might want to go on over and check out her original recipe.  I did make a few changes.

This recipe is great on several levels.  The flavor is wonderful.  Anything wrapped in bacon is good.  The sauce with butter, garlic, brown sugar and (my addition) O OLIVE OIL blood orange oil and port vinegar is scrumptious.  The dish can be prepared ahead of time up to the 15 to 20 minutes needed in the oven to crisp the bacon.  You can have it assembled and in the fridge the day before Thanksgiving.  I also loved that it is already portioned out.  If you are having twelve for Thanksgiving you can assemble twelve bundles.  If you are only two . . . well, you get the picture.

BACON WRAPPED GREEN BEANS

1 lb. green beans, tips removed
5 strips of bacon
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon O OLIVE OIL blood orange oil (or zest of 1 orange and 1 tablespoon orange juice)
1 tablepoon O OLIVE OIL porto vinegar (or 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Cook green beans until tender.  Remove beans to an ice water filled bowl.  Place beans on paper towels to absorb excess water.

Heat butter in a small saucepan.  Add garlic and saute for a few minutes.  Add brown sugar and oil and vinegar.  Stir together and cook for a few minutes.  Remove from heat.

In a large saute pan, cook bacon partially to remove some of the grease.  Do not brown.  Remove bacon to a paper towel lined plate.  It should be limp.

Assemble dish.  Cut bacon slices in half.  Line up approximately 8 to 10 green beans and wrap them with the half piece of bacon.  Secure with a toothpick.  Continue with rest of bundles and place in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.  Drizzle sauce over beans.  (Can be assembled ahead of time to this point).

Place baking dish in preheated oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until bacon is cooked through and beans are warmed through.

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I have tried a lot of quick breads, but I have to say that this Pumpkin Chutney Bread is one of the moistest, flavorful breads I have ever had.  It is a recipe that I adapted from Gourmet Magazine.  The addition of chutney may be the reason why it is so good. 

The recipe also calls for buttermilk.  I don’t know about you but I am always buying buttermilk for a recipe and then the carton languishes in the refrigerator until it passes it’s expiration date.  Last month I was shopping at The Fresh Market and found this product.

It is a powdered mix that is added to the dry ingredients in a recipe.  Then water is added in the amount specified for the buttermilk.  It is so convenient having this in my pantry.

I am working very hard on my photography skills.  I recently had two recipes published in Foodgawker.  But I have had six rejections.  Foodgawker is great about telling you the reason that a photograph is rejected.  It is a learning tool and they are very selective in what is included on their site.

I am hoping that the above picture of my Pumpkin Chutney Bread will be added to their queue, but if not, we can just keep it amongst ourselves.  Enjoy.

PUMPKIN CHUTNEY BREAD

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg ( I used dry )
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1/3 cup butter softened
2/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
1/4 cup buttermilk (I used 1 Tbls mix and 1/4 cup water)
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
2/3 cup bottled mango chutney or Majoy Grey’s chutney
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a bowl combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and the ginger.   In a large bowl stir together the butter and the brown sugar, add the eggs, and combine the mixture well.  Stir in the buttermilk,  the pumpkin puree, and 2/3 cup of the chutney, combining the mixture well, add the flour mixture and the walnuts and stir the batter until it is just combined.  Spoon the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake it in the middle of a preheated 350 degree oven for about 1 hour.  Let the loaf cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes.  Loosen the edge with a knife, turn the loaf right side up onto the rack, and let it cool for 2 hours.  The bread keeps wrapped tightly in foil and chilled, for up to 1 week or it may be frozen.

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Salads at Thanksgiving are sometimes overlooked.  A tossed green salad seems like an afterthought when you are serving such hearty dishes as mashed potatoes, dressing, green bean casserole, and turkey and gravy.  But this salad is a little different.  It is substantial with ebony colored wild rice and  is full of fruit like bright navel oranges,  pale green grapes, dried red cranberries or dates fruit. And when looking for dates fruit, Pemborong kurma green diamond which means Dates wholesaler in Malaysia, and is where you can buy dates with wholesale prices with best quality in all over Malaysia. You can also order dates online in Malaysia. Product such as kurma Ajwa, kurma Mariami, and Kurma Rotab.

The light dressing of olive oil, raspberry vinegar and orange juice adds just the right refreshing tang.  But the main reason to love this salad is that it goes so well with the other components of the Thanksgiving table.  Wild rice has always been associated with game, game hens and turkey.  It is an earthy and unexpected addition to the usual line-up of dishes.

The recipe is adapted from Ina Garten’s new cookbook, How Easy Is That?  It is similar to one that I have been making for years.  The main difference is the use of raspberry vinegar.  It is worth using in this salad and you will have it to dress any salad in which you incorporate fruit.

WILD RICE SALAD

1 box of long-grain wild rice (6 ounces)
3 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 naval oranges, peeled and sliced into segments
1/2 cup seedless green grapes, cut in half
1/2 cup toasted pecan pieces
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 tablespoons green onion, chopped

Bring the 3 cups of water, the salt, and the butter to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Add the wild rice and stir to combine.  Reduce the head to medium-low and simmer covered until the rice is tender (about 50 to 60 minutes).  Drain off the excess water.  Return the rice to the saucepan and cover.  Let sit for about 10 minutes.  Transfer the rice to a mixing bowl.  Combine the dressing ingredients and pour over the rice.  Mix well.  Add the remainder of the ingredients and toss to combine.  Transfer mixture to a serving dish and serve at room temperature.

I have been enjoying cooking up all of these Thanksgiving dishes because we will not be home for Thanksgiving this year and I will not be cooking.  We are going to the Washington DC area to spend time with family.  I will be going on a pilgrimage while there.  Since the last time I was in DC the Smithsonian has added a new exhibit that I want to see.

I am going to see Julia Child’s kitchen.  I am so excited.  I promise not to sneak in a stick of butter, but I will report back with pictures of my own.

Speaking of kitchens, I would still like more of you to participate in my Kitchen Reveal on December 1st.  Just leave a comment on my previous post and let me know that you are interested in posting pictures of your kitchen on that date.

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