Dancing Spoon

Thanksgiving Game Plan

Planning Holiday

by J. Michael Wheeler
Thanksgiving Tips: Game Plan
There’s no question about it, for me, Thanksgiving is absolutely the best holiday: it’s all about getting together with friends and family and eating a great meal. No Christmas present stresses or New Year’s Eve anxiety. Cook a lot of good food and share it with friends and family. One of my favorite Thanksgivings was when I was in college in San Diego and I organized an “Orphan’s Thanksgiving” for my fellow college friends who wouldn’t be traveling home for the holiday. It was a bit less than traditional, but the spirit certainly was there.

Of course, for the host, Thanksgiving might not be all that stress-free. Still-frozen turkeys, wallpaper-paste gravies, and well, we’ve all got our stories (we’d love to yours). So in the interest of everyone enjoying our favorite holiday, we’re sharing with you some tips for a great Thanksgiving. We’ll start out with an overall game plan that we call, cleverly, T-Day Game Plan.

Keep Veggies Colorful

Tips Tasty

by Anna Tourkakis
How to Keep Color, Texture, and Nutrients in Cooked Vegetables
Fresh vegetables are the foundation of both nutrition and exceptional meals. They provide our bodies with valuable vitamins and minerals and add color and texture to our meals. Bright beautiful greens, reds, oranges, purples, and yellows are a taste-treat for the eyes and their crunchy texture adds interest to every bite. The basic guidelines for cooking vegetables are: quick cooking, minimum water, and use of a lid. These simple guides will help retain color, texture, and nutrients.

The common methods for cooking vegetables, boiling, steaming, stir-frying and sautéing are all suitable for quick cooking. When boiling vegetables the first questions are always, “how much water to use,” and “should I cover the pot?” Vegetables are added to just enough boiling water to cover them. Cook them to fork-tender. The use of a lid depends on the flavor of the vegetables. Mild flavored vegetables such as carrots, corn, winter squash and potatoes should be cooked with the lid on. Stronger flavored vegetables such as green beans, broccoli and zucchini are best cooked without a lid which allows volatile compounds to escape. These last veggies should be cooked in water one-half to one inch above the vegetables. This dilutes the volatile compounds and prevents discoloration. 

In steaming, stir-frying and sautéing methods, vegetables should be cut to a uniform small size for quick, even cooking. Typically, stir-fry vegetables are cut into thin strips. Sautéing is suitable for tender or thinly sliced vegetables. Steaming is best for retaining water soluble vitamins regardless of a longer cooking time. 

These basic procedures ensure bright colored and crunchy textured vegetables with its many nutrients retained.

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Anna Q. Tourkakis, DTR, MPA is a nutritional counselor. She teaches nutrition to food service professionals at North Shore Community College and does cooking demonstrations and healthy eating related presentations. Anna Q. Tourkakis, DTR, MPA is a nutritional counselor. She teaches nutrition to food service professionals at North Shore Community College and does cooking demonstrations and healthy eating related presentations.

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How to Smoke Cheese

Cheese Smokin'

by J. Michael Wheeler
How to Smoke Cheese
Don, a reader of Dancing Spoon, was browsing through Foodie’s Emporium (our online store) in the Grilling category when he came across EZ Smoke, our natural wood chip smoker in a can. He asked:

Can you cold smoke with ez smoker. I want to smoke cheese. Thanks Don

Yes, Don, you can. And it’s a simple process.

Just about any kind of cheese can be smoked. Most commonly known are smoked provolones, mozzarellas, cheddars, and goudas, but goat cheeses and even blue cheeses can be deliciously smoked. Because of it’s low melting temperature, cheese must be smoked using the cold smoked technique. Cold smoking takes place at temperatures of 90 degrees or less. Here's how to smoke cheese:

1. After selecting your cheeses (at least 8 oz each) for smoking, unwrap them and set on aluminum pans. Leave at room temperature for 1-2 hours. The cheese will form a slight skin that will protect it from melting while allowing the smoke to penetrate. 

2. When your cheese has set, prepare a grill with a lid. Place 3-4 pieces of charcoal on one side of the grill and light them. The goal is to produce smoke, but not heat. If you have a small grill you may need to use less charcoal at the onset and add a piece of charcoal if you want to smoke the cheese longer. Leave lid off initially, to prevent heat build up.

3. Select one of our EZ Smoke BBQ wood flavors, Apple, Mesquite, Pecan or Hickory. When the coals are hot, peel off the can’s seal and place on top of the coals. (You don’t need to soak the EZ Smoke chips.)

4. Place the aluminum pans on your grill on the opposite side of the charcoal and close the lid. Open the top and side vents to allow the smoke to circulate.

5. Check the cheeses after about a half hour to make sure they are not melting, and then every 15 to 20 minutes to taste the cheese. Remove the cheese when they have absorbed the smoky flavor you desire.

6. Remove the cheeses, let them cool, and enjoy. Store as you normally would.

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Peel off the seal and put the flavor into your meal with EZ Smoke BBQ! Four varieties of natural wood chips flavors to give your meats, poultry, fish or vegetables a unique smoky taste with no mess or fuss. Re-usable up to 3 times. Quick and easy! No soaking, no mess, no flying ash. Produces natural wood smoke in about 2 minutes. One can of EZ Smoke produces the same amount of smoking time as a 180 cubic inch bag of chips. Easy to use! Simply remove the label, place can on coals or lava rocks, and within minutes it begins to smoke. Grill as you normally would. Use on gas or charcoal grills.

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Shitake Bear Stew

Ordinary Out of the

OOO by Kate Krukowski Gooding

Shitake Bear Stew
Fall is here and we are going from grillin’ to chillin’ outside. Perfect weather for a stew and when you have dried mushrooms on hand it gives you more  flexibility of use and variety throughout the year.

I was in Beijing and Xiamen, China for the holidays this year to see my step-daughter, Julia, who is a Fulbright Scholar in Beijing. Understandably, she wanted family around for the holidays and Don and I use almost any excuse to travel.

We quickly discovered you cannot go anywhere without an interpreter. Thank goodness I could recognize most of the spices and products in the market. I pointed, picked the size bag, which translated to the amount I wanted to buy, and paid for my culinary treasures. The biggest bag went to the dried shitake mushrooms, the price was very reasonable so I stocked up. I also picked up dried cumin, unnamed hot red peppers, and these yummy Nori treats.

I love using dried mushrooms, they add another level of flavor and you don’t forget to add the reconstituted juices!

Burgundian Raccoon Stew

Ordinary Out of the

OOO by Kate Krukowski Gooding

Braised Burgundian Raccoon Stew and Provençal Bread
Many of my cooking adventures take me to paths unknown, with herbs, spices, meats, seafood, vegetables and wines. Raccoon is a new meat for me. It has a very light gamey aroma, looks lean and is delicious! I decided to try a layering of herbs rather than spices and braising to infuse yet another layer into the dish.

I know the rule about red wine with meats and white with fish, but not here. With the combination of fresh and dried herbs, white wine, white beans and white broth, this adventurous dish came out a winner. The fresh-made bread and complementing wine made this a complete and delightful meal, game for everyone!

Recipe Roundup #1

Cooking What's

by J. Michael Wheeler
Tasty Tips
We'd like to welcome our newest columnist, Anna Tourkakis, to Dancing Spoon. Anna's column, Tasty Tips, combines nutrition, cooking tips, and great, healthy recipes. Anna is a nutrition counselor, a teacher, and an international expert in healthy eating habits. She has been teaching healthy eating and nutrition for over 20 years.

Check out Tasty Tips for About Mustard, Italian Style Potato Salad, and The Right Potato-Salad-Potato.

From PB & J to Truffles
Did you know that you can find recipes from PB & J Updated to Roasted Ambercup Chili to Steak and Truffles: Wow on Dancing Spoon? Pour a glass of wine and browse through our Recipes.

From Chef Gavan Murphy (The Healthy Irishman!) find Pistachio Pesto Roasted Rack of Lamb and Grilled Scallops with Saffron Butternut Squash Risotto.

Gloria Bakst treats us to Black Cod or Sable Grilled in Miso Marinade, Plank Grilled Snapper, and for next month's Turkey Fest, Smoked Turkey with Apples and Onions.

Kate Krukowski Gooding's Out of the Ordinary column, really is! Try her Spicy Buffalo Salami, Peppered Kangaroo Filets, Moose and Stout Chili, and tamer Provençal Goat & Bean Soup.

We've got recipes like O'Reilly's Most Excellent Scones, from Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media; Roast Fennel and It's a Piece of (Crab) Cake from David Shepherd; and recipes from our Dancing Spoon Members like Anthony Theobald's recipe for Braised Mustard Greens.

Got some great recipes you'd like to share? Join Dancing Spoon Community's Recipe Club.

Still Grilling
There's still some very tasty grilling recipes too. Kate Gooding's Grilled Wild Turkey with Apricot Glaze on Basmati Rice is from her Dancing Spoon column Out of the Ordinary.  Gloria Baskt is very much into cedar planked grilling. She's got several tasty recipes like Cedar Plank Grilled Snapper and Lime Ginger Marinade for Cedar Plank Grilled Chicken.

Steak lovers might want to try David Haley's Chimichurri Grilled Flank Steak. He has some great wine suggestions too. And for something really over the top check out Steak & Truffles: Wow. As part of his Super Bowl Shuffle, Chef Gavan Murphy gave us grilled Mini Beef Sliders and Asparagus Skewered Shrimp. More Grilling Recipes.

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Garlic with Your Pesto?

Memories Taste

by J. Michael Wheeler
A Pesto to Remember
My most memorable pesto experience was in the tiny French fishing village of Villefranche Sur Mer just down the coast from Nice, heading towards Italy. (French and Italian cuisine tend to overlap down there.) We were at a tiny restaurant in the vielle ville, and our waitress, cook, and owner were all the same smiling French grandmother. We sat on a sunny little stone patio behind the restaurant and were her only customers for a late lunch. She didn't seem to mind. When we ordered her pesto, she smiled, turned to the big planter pots that surrounded the patio and plucked some basil from the plants growing right there. Then she asked us if we liked garlic.

“Oui, bien sur!” we answered. What’s pesto without garlic, we thought? Certainly Madame felt the same way. Our pesto arrived, sur commande, tossed over fresh pasta, was fragrantly bright green, shimmered with local olive oil, and was absolutely explosive with garlic! When Madame demandé if we liked garlic, she meant do we really like garlic! Well, we certainly did that day.

Pesto is one of those really simple magic sauces: some olive oil, a little garlic, fresh basil, pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese. You mix it up in a blender, food processor, or, traditionally, using a mortal and pestle.

Pesto can be a sauce for pasta or it can top a nice piece of grilled fish, or a steak, or used in an omelet. Spread it on bruschetta or even whisk some in olive oil for a fresh tasty salad dressing. Make a bunch of it: it freezes really well. Use the ice cube tray trick: fill the tray with pesto, cover it, freeze it, then take out your pesto-cubes and bag ‘em. 

Coming up: Pesto with sautéed scallops (with a little tasty twist).

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Spicy Buffalo Salami

Ordinary Out of the

OOO by Kate Krukowski Gooding
Spicy Buffalo Salami
Buffalo –the new red meat! Buffalo was the primary meat source to many of the Plains Indians back in the 1800’s. Surviving the slaughter and nearly becoming extinct, they are now farm raised on private ranches and are numbered at about 250,000. Buffalo spend their lives grazing on grass and are not subjected to drugs, chemicals or hormones. Their nutritional value is better than beef and some doctors recommend Buffalo over beef to reduce fat intake. Buffalo is 80% leaner than beef has half the calories and contains more iron.

Humid, hot summer days takes you to the water, and eating cool salads. But did you know that spicy foods can also cool you down? Make this recipe ahead of time freeze it and use when needed for appetizers, salad toppings or sandwiches. It is perfect for unexpected guests, which we have had many of this summer, and it has been fun for them  to try something new!

Italian Style Potato Salad

Salads Summer

by Anna Tourkakis
Italian Style Potato Salad.
This fresh flavored potato salad is a great alternative to the usual mayonnaise-based salad. The vinegar gives a tangy flavor. Slightly cooking the vegetables makes a unique blend with the potatoes. And remember, great potato salads start with the right potato. See The Right Potato-Salad-Potato.

Ingredients Salad
Serves 6

2-pounds Yukon gold potatoes
6 tablespoons Extra-Virgin olive oil
1 large celery stalk, thinly sliced
1 small bunch, ¼ inch slices of scallions
1 small red onion, thinly sliced, reserve a few slices for garnish  
3 cloves garlic, cut into 3 pieces each
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, fresh tarragon or parsley
 Salt and pepper to taste

The Right Potato-Salad-Potato

Tips Cooking

by Anna Tourkakis
Great potato salads start with the right potato.
Salads are a staple of summer menus. Ever present at cookouts, picnics, and just about any party this time of year, is the potato salad. Making a great potato salad starts with the right potato. Choose a potato that remains in distinct pieces after cooking. The right choice is the waxy type potato.

There are two basic types of potatoes, waxy and non-waxy. The difference is due to their relative content of sugar and starch. The waxy potatoes are high in sugar and low in starch. The non-waxy potatoes are just the opposite: high in starch and low in sugar. These qualities influence how well they hold their shape during cooking.

Non-waxy type potatoes, such as the Idaho or russet potato, with their higher starch content, are ideal for mashing, baking and frying. The waxy potato, such as Yukon gold and red potatoes, with their low starch content, are better suited for preparing boiled potatoes. Waxy potatoes retain a distinct outline after cooking is completed and hold their shape well during preparation.  Usually, potatoes that are round in shape, with a thin, smooth, and lighter colored skin tend to be waxy; long flat potatoes with thicker, darker, and coarser skin tend to be non-waxy.  

The potato of choice for a potato salad boasting solid pieces are Yukon gold, red potatoes, and other varieties of waxy potato.

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Anna Q. Tourkakis, DTR, MPA is a nutritional counselor. She teaches nutrition to food service professionals at North Shore Community College and does cooking demonstrations and healthy eating related presentations.

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Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express
Presented here are 404 dishes -- 101 for each season -- that will get you in and out of the kitchen in 20 minutes or less. Mark Bittman's recipe sketches provide exactly the directions a home cook needs to prepare a repertoire of eggs, seafood, poultry, meats, vegetables, sandwiches, and even desserts. Add a salad here, a loaf of bread there, and these dishes become full meals that are better than takeout and far less expensive.

Because good ingredients are the backbone of delicious home cooking, Bittman includes a guide to the foods you'll want on hand to cook the Kitchen Express way, as well as suggestions for seasonal menus and lists of recipes for specific uses, like brown-bag lunches or the best dishes for reheating. With Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express, you can have dinner on the table in not much more time than it takes to read a traditional recipe.

Hand selected books for foodes are at Foodie's Emporium! Click here.

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