these days, it’s my favorite place to visit (photo courtesy Melick’s Town Farm) BTW – Happy Thanksgiving to Winston and Joanie, my favorite porcine friends! (giving thanks that they’re not turkeys!)
Tick-Tock! Time’s Up! Here we go…… If you are still relaxed enough to consider recipe ideas, here are just a few more last-minute tantalizers to send out wafting aromas and little lovely undertones to your table tomorrow………
devotees line up last night on Bleecker St. @ Ottomanelli and Sons
Ok, so my most favorite ingredient this Fall and for Thanksgiving is Apple Cider. I have been experimenting a lot with it in my baking and now it’s time to expand it onto the cocktail and savory table.
What could possibly be more festive than Apple Cider? Years ago, when I had a large holiday tea, I kept a big copper cauldron on the stove with simmering cider which had been perfumed with mulling spices. The scent was the first thing anyone who attended encountered when they came in the door.
When it is chilly outside, and often when I am at the Farmer’s Market at Union Square, I head over to get a hot cider. I find it soothing, refreshing, warming, comforting and celebratory. Using it in the kitchen this week is a big bonus, too.
Over the past few weeks, I have experimented with how adding cider to baked goods not only adds a back note of lovely flavor, but adds in the leavening process, particularly in my scones. We all know of the chemical reactions taking place in these goodies and the ph of the cider gives the baking powder a little umph. Try it for yourself and see.
I have been busy combing through hundreds of recipes over the past couple of weeks as we get busy for tomorrow. Do I have time to be writing this post? Yikes! Anyway, you can literally use apple cider in every single course tomorrow without sensing too much repetition and by using varying degrees of flavor intensity in your dishes.
Here’s a little compendium of ideas:
-Hot Mulled Apple Cider (unspiked 0r spiked) on the stove (Wait a minute, I have to cook!)
-Cocktails – from my cousin, Carol Russomanno – recipe courtesy Reyka Vodka
Fall Mule
Ingredients:
2 parts Reyka Vodka
1 part ginger beer
1 part apple cider
½ part simple syrup
Cinnamon stick and apple slice (garnish)
Directions:
Combine Reyka Vodka, cider, and simple syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into copper mug filled with fresh ice. Top with ginger beer and garnish.
-Appetizers – make a cider-infused apple chutney with roasted shallots to serve as a topping for easy cheese and crackers – put a little heat in it with red pepper flakes or minced jalapeño
-breads – add a little cider to your brioche recipe (sweet potato rolls in my house) – always worth a study – Zoe Francois: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2014/11/05/apple-cider-gluten-free-brioche-doughnuts
-Cider-Glazed Turkey and Cider-Laced Gravy
-add a little bit to your stuffing, too, for me when you are sautéing the onions and celery
-Cider-Infused Brussels Sprouts
-Cider-reduction drizzle over Wild Rice sides, roasted squashes
-add some to your mashed turnips as a little snip-off their acrid edge
-ahhhh, dessert – drizzle reduced apple cider over your Pear Clafouti, see my post from last week
-add apple cider to your cookie plate – first up – adding it to my cardamom
crescents
-drizzle reduced apple cider over your pumpkin cheesecake, apple pie or tart (just
make a nice saucepan of reduced cider and keep it aside at the ready.
So, run out or send one of the loungers in your house out today and grab a gallon or two of fresh-pressed cider. You will find a lot of uses for it.
Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving to all! Remember all of you who are cooking, this is supposed to be fun. Don’t stress, it will all get done!
aside from leaving the silly plastic thermometer stuck in the side, this was one of my best-looking turkeys – we shall see tomorrow. This year I got a fresh turkey from Green Village Packing.