Herbed Oyster Stuffing

Can be assembled (without oysters and not baked) 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature and stir in oysters before baking.

From Gourmet, November 2002

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Ingredients:

2 loaves Italian or French bread (1 lb total), cut into 3/4-inch cubes (12 cups)
1/2 lb sliced bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil (if needed)
2 medium onions, finely chopped (2 cups)
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme or 1 tablespoon dried thyme, crumbled
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage or 2 teaspoons dried sage, crumbled
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2/3 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
18 oysters, shucked, drained, and chopped (3/4 cup)
2 1/4 cups turkey giblet stock or low-sodium chicken broth

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Spread bread cubes in 2 shallow baking pans and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of pans halfway through baking, until golden, 25 to 30 minutes total. Cool bread in pans on racks, then transfer to a large bowl.

Meanwhile, cook bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 10 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain, reserving fat in skillet.

If bacon renders less than 1/4 cup fat, add enough oil to skillet to total 1/4 cup fat. Cook onions, celery, thyme, sage, garlic, salt, and pepper in fat in skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to bowl with bread cubes, then stir in bacon, parsley, butter, and oysters. Drizzle with stock, then season with salt and pepper and toss well.

Transfer stuffing to a buttered 3- to 3 1/2-quart shallow baking dish. Bake, covered, in middle of oven 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until browned, about 30 minutes more.

Sweet Potato Puree with Brown Sugar and Sherry

Who knew? Red-skinned sweet potatoes are yams, the real deal. Apparently tan-skinned sweet potatoes are just posers. When roasted, the flesh of the red ones turns BRIGHT, beautiful orange. You could totally eat it like a baked potato; in fact, I'm planning on trying it sometime this week.



Apparently, there was a lot that I didn't know about sweet potatoes. For our Thanksgiving yams, my mom and I were aiming for something a little less sweet than the traditional marshmallow-topped dish. While searching for a new yam inspiration online, I discovered that there are so many different ways to prepare them, and barely any include marshmallows. A few blogs even called the (what I thought was) traditional marshmallow yams "tacky."

I found this recipe on Epicurious.com and decided to try it out. Although my brother was skeptical about the lack of marshmallows, he's now a believer that yams can be enjoyed without those pillowy white sugar cubes.

Can be made 2 hours ahead (let stand at room temperature). Recommended method of re-heating: warm over medium-low heat in saucepan, stirring often. My method of re-heating: microwave. Works every time.



Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Ingredients:

2 pounds medium-size red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams)
2 pounds medium-size tan-skinned sweet potatoes
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) butter, room temperature
1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
5 tablespoons dry Sherry

Preheat oven to 425°F. Pierce all sweet potatoes in several places with fork. Bake until tender when pierced with knife, about 55 minutes. Cool slightly.

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise. Using spoon, scoop potato pulp into large bowl. Add butter and brown sugar to potatoes. Using electric mixer, beat until smooth. Beat in Sherry. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to large saucepan.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Chives

This recipe makes gorgeous, rich mashed potatoes studded with festive red and green flecks. I realized at the last minute that I used all the sour cream in the Pumpkin Cheesecake, so I improvised and used plain yogurt, which worked just fine.




From Bon Appetit, September 2003

Makes 6 servings (I doubled the recipe).

Ingredients:

1 head of garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 pounds red-skinned potatoes, half of them peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Preheat oven to 425°F. Cut top 1/4 inch off head of garlic to expose tops of cloves. Place in small baking dish. Spoon oil over; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake until garlic cloves are tender, about 45 minutes. Squeeze garlic cloves from skins and mash in small bowl.

Cook potatoes in heavy large pot of boiling salted water until very tender, about 18 minutes. Drain; return to pot. Stir over low heat to allow excess water to evaporate. Add whipping cream, butter, sour cream, and roasted garlic and mash together. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in chives and serve.

Ambrosia Macaroons

I made these coconut-based treats for my Papou (Greek for "grandpa") on Thanksgiving because my mom said that he loves macaroons. But when he showed up at our house that evening, he brought a half-squished package of Twinkies. Luckily, it was a joke (at least we think it was...), and after we successfully hid his dessert of choice, he tried a macaroon and gave it a thumbs-up.





Coconut takes the main stage in this recipe, and it got great reviews at the Thanksgiving dinner table. I mean, people even ate them after the year's biggest meal, and if that doesn't say something, I don't know what does. Unfortunately for me, I'm not a huge coconut fan... at least they look pretty in these pictures!



From Bon Appetit, December 2008

Makes about 45 macaroons.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons finely grated orange peel
3 large eggs
24 ounces sweetened flaked coconut (about 6 cups firmly packed)
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 325°F. Line 3 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar and salt; beat until blended. Beat in orange peel, then eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in coconut. Drop batter onto sheets by tablespoonfuls, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake macaroons, 1 sheet at a time, until golden on bottom and browned in spots, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely on sheets.

Using fork, drizzle chocolate over macaroons. Chill on sheets until chocolate is firm, about 30 minutes.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

This is my Thanksgiving dessert of choice two years and running.



Ingredients:

FOR CRUST
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

FOR FILLING
1 1/2 cups fresh or solid pack pumpkin
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, cut into bits and softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon bourbon or Frangelico

FOR TOPPING
2 cups sour cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon bourbon or Frangelico, or to taste
12-16 pecan halves for garnish

Crust: In a bowl combine the cracker crumbs, the pecans and the sugars. Stir in the butter and press the mixture into the bottom and 1/2-inch up the side of a buttered 9-inch springform pan. Chill crust for 1 hour.

Filling: In a bowl whisk together pumpkin, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt and brown sugar. In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together cream cheese and granulated sugar, beat in cream, cornstarch, vanilla, bourbon or liqueur and pumpkin mixture. Beat filling until smooth.

Pour filling into crust. Bake cheesecake in the middle of a preheated 350-degree oven for 50-55 minutes, or until the center is just set, and let it cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes.

Topping: In a bowl whisk together sour cream, sugar and bourbon or liqueur. Spread sour cream mixture over top of cheesecake and bake for 5 minutes more. Let the cheesecake cool in the pan on a rack and chill it, covered, overnight.

Remove the side of the pan and garnish the top of the cheesecake with pecans.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you're having a great Thanksgiving day filled with family, friends, love, and, of course, food! This year, I was in charge of "re-vamping" our traditional family feast. I'm trying out new recipes, and so far (fingers crossed) everything has turned out great! Here's the menu:

Starters
Emily's Baked Brie with Cranberries
Artichoke Dip
Salted Nuts & Grapes

Yiayia's Salad

Diestel Turkey
Homemade Wheat Bread
Spanakopita
Herbed Oyster Stuffing
Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Chives
Sweet Potato Puree with Brown Sugar and Sherry
Green Beans with Ginger Butter
Traditional Cranberry Sauce

Dessert
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ambrosia Macaroons

Here's a little preview:

I'll put up recipes for all the dishes tomorrow!

Girls' Night Out: Father's Office & Ugo Wine Bar

Since it's my roommates and my last year of college, we decided to make a list of everything we absolutely must do before we graduate. Things that we've wanted to do since freshman year, but just haven't found the time. Things that we're old enough to do, now that we're all 21. Things that anyone and everyone living in Los Angeles should do at least once. So, now that our time together is quickly approaching (sadly), we're going to do it all!

Having a burger and a beer at Father's Office was one of the first things on our list, so last weekend, we went out for a much-needed girls' night. And, in an effort to cross everything off the College To-Do List as efficiently as possible, we looked up the closest wine bar in the area. We found Ugo, an elegant yet unpretentious wine bar with plenty of delicious choices.



Father's Office is a bar with two locations (Santa Monica and Culver City) that's famous for its wide selection of beers on tap - there are probably about 30 at any given time. When we arrived at the Culver City Office for a late dinner, we were quickly ushered inside by a bouncer who first asked, "Have you been here before? (Yes for Emily and Christina, no for Jamie and me) Do you know how this works? Order at the bar, no waiters, seat yourself." We all ordered the famous Office Burger, and each got a different beer (after sampling a few each). Then came the daunting task of finding a table for four. We did a few laps around the restaurant, and decided that the picnic-type tables on the patio were our best bet. When Christina got her food and was worried she'd have to eat it standing up, we decided to get a little more aggressive and ask to share one of the tables. Fortunately, the people we asked were really nice and we squished in next to them (we paid it forward at the end of our meal when another group asked to sit down at our table)!


Jamie and me


Emily and Christina

Our burgers, hailed as the "best in Los Angeles" by many credible sources, were incredible, if a little expensive (around $12). Topped with blue and gruyere cheeses, carmelized onions, and arugula, this burger is the definition of gourmet. Yum! Unfortunately, I couldn't get a decent picture with the dim lighting. Personally, I thought the garlic fries were a little disappointing, but others thought they were fantastic. These fries were very thin and crunchy; I like mine a little meatier. The garlic aioli dip served on the side was tasty, but rich.


Our beers of choice, light to dark


A close-up of my beer... I forget the name!

After dinner and a beer, we took a cab less than a mile to Ugo Wine Bar. Once there, we loaded up "wine cards" at the bar with $10. With a wide selection of wines from all over the world, you can use your card to sample an ounce of wine from a bottle under nitrogen pressure. Each bottle of wine is marked with a different price per ounce, ranging from less than a dollar to over twenty dollars (yikes!). We were all able to sample about four different wines that caught our eye. It's a really fun idea for low-maintenance wine tasting with friends (or on a date!).


Wine dispenser, presented by Christina the hand model


Emily and Jamie


Me and Christina


My glass of wine and wine card