Ham Biscuits

Are homemade biscuits worth it? I pondered that question as I scraped crusty dough off of the table, the rolling pin, the pastry cutter, the bowl, the wooden spoon, and even the measuring tape (yep, I got out the tape and actually measured 4-inch by 3-inch biscuits out of the square of dough) I'd used in making them. The biscuits were in the oven by that time, and about 18 minutes later, I had my answer.

This making of biscuits all started because the December issue of Saveur magazine was devoted to the succulent meat taken from the haunch of a pig. One of the featured dishes was "ham biscuits," a savory treat made at the Old Chickahominy House in Williamsburg, VA, by one Maxine Williams. Ms. Williams has made the biscuits and filled them with Edwards ham at the restaurant for 40 years; 600 biscuit sandwiches a day (a day!) are sold.

The verdict on my biscuits? Well, it definitely would have been easier to buy ready-made biscuit dough, but here's the thing: These biscuits aren't intended to be the big, fluffy rounds that we normally think of. They're rectangular, for starters, and very thin. Admittedly, my first attempt fell short (I rolled the biscuits out too thin). And OK, they were a bit pathetic looking, not the perfect rectangles shown in the Saveur photos (I had some trouble getting them up off the table after rolling and cutting them). However, after slicing, spreading the top half with butter, and slipping a little ham between the two halves, I found the biscuit to be a pretty tasty thing, especially between sips of hot black coffee.

Here's the recipe in case you'd like to try making ham biscuits. To fill them, I used sliced smoked ham from Triple S Farm; Stan's ham has a wonderful flavor (it contains no nitrates or nitrites, and it has hints of the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cloves used in processing). Whether from a local farm or not, get yourself some really good-tasting ham for these biscuits.

Country Ham Biscuits
From the December issue of Saveur

2 cups self-rising flour
4 tbsp. lard or butter (I used bacon grease)
1 cup buttermilk
4 oz. thinly sliced cooked 
country ham or ham of choice

1. Heat oven to 425 ˚F. Sift flour into a large bowl; mix in lard until the mixture has the consistency of cornmeal.Using a wooden spoon, stir in buttermilk to form a dough. Transfer dough to a floured work surface; knead briefly until smooth.


2. Roll dough into a 1/4"-thick rectangle. Cut dough into twelve 4" x 3" rectangles; transfer to a baking sheet.Bake until golden brown, about 15–20 minutes. Cool slightly. To serve, slice biscuits and stuff with ham.

MAKES 12 BISCUITS

Now, I didn't get 12 biscuits out of the amount of dough this recipe made. I got 11, and that was after rolling the dough out thinner than the 1/4 inch specified. Next time, I'd roll the dough to 1/4 inch and would plan on ending up with 10 biscuits.

New Year's Eve Around C-U, 2009 Edition

[Updated 12/28: Info about NYE at Ko-Fusion added.]

I did posts about what was going on at restaurants and bars on New Year's Eve last year and in 2007, and I thought I'd try to make a tradition of it. (Not trying to ignore Christmas, here, but I figured you might want to start making plans.) So—deep breath. Here's what I've got for the 2009-2010 edition. Completely arbitrary and non-exhaustive; it just depended on what I could dig up on my own from various sources or pry out of our local chefs.

First off—our favorite BBQ joint is stepping it up several notches for New Year's Eve. Have you ever had smoked lobster? Or smoked prime rib, for that matter? Me, neither. The BD is offering a three-course menu, as follows.

The Black Dog New Year's Eve Dinner Menu

Potato, Leek, and Scallion Soup

Smoked Prime Rib and Smoked Lobster Tail
Choice of two sides:
Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Creamed Corn, Blackeyed Pea Salad, Collard Greens, Smoked Sweet Potato

Mexican Chocolate Pots de Crème or Crème Brûlée

$50.00 per person

You can also order à la carte. The soup is $2.95 for a cup or $4.95 for a bowl. Smoked prime rib with choice of two sides is $30.00, and you can add a lobster tail for $15.00. Smoked lobster tails (2 4-oz. tails) with choice of two sides goes for $30.00. The desserts are $3.95.

In the beverage department, they'll have Chimay Tripel and Southern Tier Crème Brûlée Stout on tap and Champagne (by the bottle and by the glass).

Make a reservation by calling 217-344-9334.

Boltini Lounge NYE Party

Passed hors d'œuvre from 9 to 11 p.m., or have them served at your table. Premium-brand cocktails $1 all night. Music, dancing; balloon drop and complimentary sparkling toast at midnight. Party favors, take-home gift bag. $40 to $60 per person, depending on which party package you opt for. Get full details on Facebook.

The English Hedgerow Bistro New Year's Eve Dinner Menu

Duck Rillettes
carbonated blackberry

Tiger Shrimp and Gruyère Tart

Gastrique
micro greens

Forest Mushroom Soup
white truffle emulsion

Duck Two Ways
huckleberries - parsnips

Braised Beef Short Rib
sweet potato pavé – beetroot foam

Venison Rack Chop
green lentils – grilled tomato – Stilton blue

Pavlova Meringue
whipped cream – fresh berries - kiwi
Dark Chocolate Dessert
Locally Roasted Coffee

7 p.m seating only; $75 per person, $100 with wine pairings at each course

Call 217-365-0055 to make a reservation.

New Year's Eve Celebration at the iHotel
Open bar serving beer and wine

Appetizer, dinner, and dessert by University Catering

Colossal Shrimp Cocktail

Individual Beef Wellington or Salmon en Croûte
Oven-Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus Bundles

Cheese and Fruit

Variety of Desserts

Live music

$110.00 per person, $195.00 per couple
With addition of hotel room for the night: $210.00/person, $295.00/couple

Reservations required by 12/29; phone 217-819-5000

NYE at Jim Gould
Serving the regular menu until midnight. Live jazz throughout the evening, dancing, party favors, and Champagne toast at midnight.

Reservations: 217-531-1177

New Year's Eve Dinner at Ko-Fusion
Regular menu available until midnight, or have the four-course menu:

Shrimp Bisque

Oysters Rockefeller

Steak and Lobster or Cedar-Wrapped Black Cod

Your Choice of Dessert

Champagne

$55 per person

Call 217-531-1166 for a reservation

Radio Maria New Year's Eve Tasting Menu

Roasted Chestnut Soup
with bacon, kale puree, toasted hazelnuts

Steamed Manilla Clams and Mussels
with squid ink pasta, toasted breadcrumbs and garlic, vanilla

Butter Poached Lobster, Braised Beef Shank Ravioli, Pan Roasted N.Y. Strip
with pine nuts, white truffle oil, bull’s blood beets, black garlic

Fizzy Strawberry Shortcake, Mascarpone Cheese, Champagne Chocolate Sauce

$50 per person; $65 with wine pairings, $85 with premium wine pairings

Call 217-398-7729 to make a reservation.

A New Year's Eve Salsa Celebration begins at 10 p.m. Crown Royal and premium Oronoco Mojitos, $8.00. Passed cocktails early, Champagne toast at midnight. $7.00 cover.

Third Annual New Year's Eve Gala at The Refinery
9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Casino-themed atmosphere; hors d'œuvre and desserts by Jim Gould; Champagne toast at midnight. Wine and draught beer included in ticket price. Music, prizes. $55 per person or $100 a couple. Call 217-693-4441 for details.

A New Year's Eve Event at Seven Saints
Speakeasy theme; roaring 20s attire encouraged (but completely optional); 1920s-style jazz all evening, no cover. Classic cocktails from the era. Party starts at 8 p.m. No information about food specials as of this writing.

217-351-7775 for more information.

Sun Singer Wine Bar NYE Party

5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Plans for the celebration in the café include special small plates, "bubble bar," midnight countdown, and complimentary sparkling toast. I don't think you need a reservation, but call 217-351-1115 for more info.

New Year's Eve at Timpone's Restaurant
Specials will include patrons' favorite dishes from past years, as well as dishes from Tuscany, Umbria, and Le Marche. I'm told that lobster will be featured in some way (last year they did a "surf and turf": steak accompanied by lobster risotto).

Call 217-344-7619 to make a reservation.

And there you have it. Whatever you end up doing, whether it's going out or celebrating at home and going to bed by 10:30, we here at CT wish you a very happy new year and all the best for 2010. If you have info to share re: other NYE happenings around town, let us know in the comments. Cheers!

Quick Bite: Fish Tacos at the Black Dog

For this holiday installment of the Quick Bite, I give you . . . fish tacos!? Yes, the Black Dog, that bastion of smoked delicacies in Urbana, is doing smoked catfish tacos at lunch on Fridays (three large tacos, $5.95). Look at those babies! Smoked fish fillets are nestled into soft, doubled corn tortillas and topped with red cabbage, pico de gallo, and salsa. I thought there was mango in that pico, because there was a wonderful sweetness going on, but I was told by the owner that unless the cooks are smuggling mangoes into the kitchen unbeknownst to him, the pico was mango-less. Wherever the sweetness came from (it may have been the cabbage and/or the smoked fish itself), it was very welcome. Sweet and spicy gets the job done.

In addition to the tacos, the B.D. also serves a whopper of a fried fish sandwich on Fridays. The gentleman sitting next to me at the bar at lunchtime had the sandwich, and the fish on it was large, golden, and crispy. (Wish I could show it to you. Wonder what the gentleman would have done had I asked him if I could take a photo of his lunch? I should whip the food blogger routine on an unsuspecting patron sometime; will let you know how that works out.)

So you may want to consider taking yourself to the B.D. for lunch on a Friday and sampling the fish. Not this Friday, of course, as the smokehouse will be closed for Christmas, but sometime soon. Muy delicioso!

For a peek at the daily lunch specials the Black Dog offers on Tuesday through Thursday, see an earlier post. There I said that Tuesday was taco day (they serve pulled pork or beef brisket tacos on Tuesdays), so now I guess we have to say that Tuesday and Friday are taco days. No problem; there can never be too many tacos.

Also I must tell you that recently I had chicken tortilla soup at the B.D., and it was extra-good. A large bowl of hot, homemade chicken broth was chock full of chunks of smoked chicken, plus carrots and celery, and rice, and was topped with fried tortilla strips and served with an enormous hunk of their "loaded" cornbread—it was just the thing to warm a person up on a deep-freeze day. It was reminiscent of the Mexican turkey stew I make sometimes, only I haven't done the tortilla strips on top. And speaking of soups, the B.D. is serving a smoked seafood gumbo on Fridays as well as the fish tacos. I know; you think they've done every fabulous thing imaginable, and then they go and add another new item. And they haven't even celebrated their first anniversary yet (that's coming in February).

In case you're thinking, why is she always reporting on the Black Dog? For the record, I am not affiliated with the Black Dog Smokehouse in any way. I receive no remuneration from them nor any free stuff. I just happen to think that they are serving some of the freshest and best food around at some of the most affordable prices, and thus I feel the need to broadcast the fact somewhat often. Kudos to the B.D. for their efforts. Even if they are in Urbana.

The Black Dog Smoke and Ale House
201 North Broadway Avenue
Urbana, IL
217-344-9334
Open Monday through Saturday at 11 a.m. Closed on Sundays. Lunch specials served Tuesday through Friday.

Pimento Cheese Potato Gratin

Looking for a little something different to serve at a holiday meal this year? Look no further. The Lee brothers (of boiled peanut fame) have concocted an American twist on the classic French gratin.

You may remember my adventures with pimento cheese a couple of years ago. P. cheese, as a friend and I started calling it when I took it as my mission to make the best version of the spread ever, is a Southern staple and quite rightly so, as it's versatile (put it in tea sandwiches! on a burger! in celery stalks! on crackers! eat it off of a spoon!) and scrumptious. Leave it to the Lee boys—who have an award-winning cookbook that I'm dying to own—to take p. cheese to the next level.

Extra-sharp Cheddar, heavy cream, roasted red peppers, a hint of chili, potatoes—are you starting to feel happy? Thought so. We made this dish twice this week and we're converts. The usual potatoes au gratin now seem bland and uninteresting in comparison.

The only change I made to the recipe is that I diced the roasted peppers instead of laying them over the potatoes whole. I found that it was easier to scatter the peppers evenly that way. And be aware that if you want to fill, say, a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, you'll need to double the recipe. A single recipe works great in an 8-by-8 pan or similar sized gratin dish.

This is a dish that doesn't take much effort but tastes like it did. And the gold-and-red colors make it quite festive looking.

Pimento Cheese Potato Gratin
Recipe by Matt and Ted Lee, via the Paula Deen Web site. The recipe also appears in the Lees' newest cookbook, Simple Fresh Southern.

3 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste (divided)
1 1⁄2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1⁄4-inch thick rounds
3⁄4 cup heavy cream
3 shallots, finely diced (scant 1⁄2 cup)
1⁄4 teaspoon crushed dried red chile flakes
1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
One 9-ounce jar roasted red peppers or piquillo peppers, with their liquid
8 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (about 2 cups)

Heat the oven to 375 °F, with racks positioned in the middle and the top third of the oven.

In a 3- to 4-quart stockpot, bring 2 quarts water and 2 teaspoons of the salt to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Then drain, and set them aside.

Combine the cream, shallots, chile flakes, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, the black pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the liquid from the jar of roasted peppers in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook until the chile flakes have begun to stain the cream, about 2 minutes. Add half of the cheese and stir until it melts, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat.

Layer roughly a third of the potatoes in a 6-cup baking dish, overlapping them slightly so that they fit in an even layer. Scatter half of the roasted peppers on top of the potatoes (cut up any peppers that have remained whole so that they lie flat), and repeat layering potatoes and peppers until all the peppers and potatoes have been used. Pour the cream mixture over the potatoes and peppers, and agitate the dish to distribute the liquid throughout. Cover with aluminum foil and bake on the middle rack for 15 minutes.

Uncover the dish, sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, and place the dish on the top oven rack. Bake for 8 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and gently browned on top. Serve immediately.

We have what is considered the old-fashioned type of gas oven, in which the heating element (and thus the broiler) is below the oven. So, I didn't mess around with moving the gratin from one oven rack to another; I just put it on a rack in the top third of the oven, and it took longer than the 8 minutes suggested in the recipe to brown the top. I think I baked it for about 30 minutes total. Just look for the sauce to reduce a bit and the top to be browned to your liking.

Vriner's Candy Canes: A 111-Year Family Tradition Continues

You know I always love to champion local food producers. And you may well remember the Vriner's candy store and soda shop, which was housed—from 1898 and for eons after—in a building that is a national historic landmark in downtown Champaign. Though the Vriner's store is no longer operational (the building now houses the Memphis on Main bar), the Vriner family is still in full swing.And thank heavens, for the second year in a row, you can find them this holiday season creating confections downtown—not far from the kitchen they worked out of for so many years. Pete, Georgia, and other family members, and their children, found a home for the holiday season at Jim Gould restaurant, on the corner of Main and Neil Streets.The Vriners have reclaimed their original Greek surname, so the company is now called Vrinios. But the recipes for their fabulous treats, and the skill and care they put into preserving their family's more than 100-year-old tradition, remain unchanged.

What about the candy canes, you ask. Well, they're hand-rolled and shaped candy canes. Candy canes of substance and heft. Available in many flavors. Here you can see trays and trays of the Illini-style canes, orange and blue in color, orange in flavor, that the Vriners were making during the part of the day I visited Jim Gould last week.The full list of flavors.In addition to the candy canes and ribbons, the Vriners make delicious peanut brittle, which you can see wrapped in festive bags at the far end of the table below.If you go down to Jim Gould this week (Monday–Thursday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. until around 2 p.m., depending on the crowd), you can see the Vriners and this fascinating candy-making process for yourself. You don't have to search for them; they're conveniently located in the lobby area of the restaurant (near the bar, which is where you can pay for any treats you may purchase). Take the kids! They'd get a kick out of watching the molten sugar for the canes poured onto the marble-topped table and wrestled into shape, then stretched and worked and rolled and cut and hooked. And maybe you need sweet gifts for family, friends, or coworkers . . .

Thanks to the Vriners for their dedication to this wonderful, generation-spanning tradition. And kudos to Jim Gould for giving them a high-profile downtown Champaign location in which to keep it alive.

P.S. If you can't make it to Jim Gould but want to get hold of Vriner's canes, ribbons, or brittle, no tears! Here's a list of other places you can purchase their candy this holiday season:

• Walnut Street Tea Company
• Sun Singer
• International Galleries (in Lincoln Square Village, Urbana)
• Mahomet IGA
• Flesor's Candy Kitchen in Tuscola
• Flesor's kiosk at Market Place Mall
• Café Kopi

Tasting Party Highlights an Array of Local Foods

Did you see the article in Sunday's News-Gazette titled "Homegrown for the Holidays"? It was a guide to buying holiday gifts from local producers and businesses. A section of the article gave suggestions for gifts you could give that food-lover in your life. Local businesses and farms like the Sun Singer, Prairie Fruits Farm, and Curtis Orchard were mentioned, as well as as a buying club called This Little Piggy.

Laurence Mate, the Champaign resident who started the club, produces all manner of delicacies with meat he procures from local farmers: pulled BBQ pork, pâtés and terrines, corned beef and pastrami, Spanish chorizo, bacon, and more. In addition to those products, his club also carries breads and bagels baked by Stewart Pequinot of Mahomet, butter churned by an Amish farmer, and handmade chocolate courtesy of Daniel Schreiber of Urbana.I had a chance to sample many of the above-mentioned items at a tasting party that Laurence organized. His own corned beef, pastrami, and turkey pastrami were delicious,especially on Stewart's new light rye sourdough bread.Daniel's chocolate, some studded with soft caramel and some sprinkled with Columbia Street Roastery's coffee beans, was a great way to cap off the evening.In the end I took home corned beef, mortadella (Laurence makes that, too), a tub of butter, a loaf of light rye, and a bar of chocolate. Keith was quite happy with the sandwich he made the next day, saying "the corned beef tasted like corned beef!" So unlike the corned beef you get at the grocery store deli, which doesn't really taste like anything.

If you want to explore This Little Piggy, the buying club, you can do so as a guest (click on "club" in the menu at the top of the page). If you like what you see, you can join (because all of the products are only available to club members) and start tasting for yourself. The club is open to everyone; you don't have to know Laurence to be part of this local food extravaganza!

Update 12/23/09: Laurence was mentioned in the New York Times' Dining and Wine section yesterday! See the article, "A Dollop of Salami, Spreading from Calabria."

Farmers' Market Going Strong Inside Lincoln Square

Just in case you thought the farmers were all out of vegetables.

Look at that: Tomatoes, butternut squash, potatoes, spinach, peppers, turnips, collard greens (being washed—not pictured!), Brussels sprouts, apples, potato rolls, and bagels. And that was just my little haul. There was more. In December. Thank you, farmers. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

After filling my tote bag with veggies and bread, I took myself and my last ten bucks (I don't mean my last ten bucks ever, just my last farmers' market cash!) over to the Art Mart deli, where I purchased some of the brand-new Toscana salami, mortadella, and New Amsterdam aged Gouda. If you haven't had mortadella, that's it in the photo below; think bologna, and then think lots more yummy.A mini-feast of mind-numbingly delicious meats and cheese. So thanks to you, too, Art Mart. Even though you don't grow your own stuff.

That's all. Just wanted to trill about the farmers' market and the deli. No better way to put the kibosh on the blues than to make yourself get out of the house and go chat with your friends and neighbors over fresh bread and vegetables (sorry, Cary—and a million varieties of apples!).

P.S. They have jars of duck fat at the Art Mart now. Figured you'd want to know.

Might As Well Wrap Gifts and Eat Pizza (and Ribeye Sandwiches)

It's possibly a platitude that when times are tough, doing something for somebody else helps. Be that as it may, I was happy that Lori of This Just In organized an event to get hundreds of gift packages to people who can't be home this holiday season so that I could do something to further the effort. And by people, I mean the men and women serving in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last night at that landmark downtown Champaign watering hole the Esquire, we helped fill out the customs forms that need to accompany those packages. Seeing the names and addresses of the people the packages will go to, while sitting in a warm and comfy pub surrounded by food and drink was an odd feeling. But it was good to know that maybe someone's day will be brightened when his or her name is called and s/he gets a little taste of home. I can relate to some degree, because when I was in the Peace Corps for two years, getting any piece of mail from home was thrilling.

If you want to join in, go over to the Village Inn Pizza Parlor this Sunday, December 6, at 1 p.m., for the event. There you can wrap gifts, fill boxes with those gifts, eat some pizza, and drink . . . well, whatever you like to drink. Toys for Troops will take all of the boxes to the post office and get them sent on their way.

Swiss Chard and Potato Frittata

My sister sent me this recipe recently; it was one of a half-dozen autumn-friendly ones she'd found in various online locations. One day when I had Swiss chard and potatoes from Blue Moon—which I got at the farmers' market, now known as the Holiday Market and still going strong inside Lincoln Square—I whipped it up. Loved, loved, loved the combination of chard, potatoes, cheese, and eggs. Very homey and earthy—comfort food, really.

This frittata is reminiscent of the Spanish potato omelet I posted the recipe for in 2007. But the frittata is a little more delicate. When I ate it at home for lunch I topped it with some marinara sauce, but I found that it was a great on-the-go breakfast all by itself; I just heated wedges in the microwave on subsequent week-day mornings.

If you don't have the chard, I think that about a half-pound of fresh spinach would be a fine substitute.

Swiss Chard and Potato Frittata
From Big Oven

6 large Swiss chard leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 medium boiling potato, peeled and diced finely
6 large eggs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
Ground black pepper
1 teaspoon unsalted butter

1. Wash the Swiss chard and pat very dry. Cut off and discard the stems, then gather the leaves into a tight bundle and finely chop them.

2. Heat the oil in a 9- or 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and sauté until the onion turns golden, about 10 minutes. Mix in the potato and cover the pan. Cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until the potato is tender and the onions are brown, about 10-15 minutes. Remove the cover and pile on the Swiss chard. Cover again and cook, tossing occasionally, until the leaves are wilted, about 5 minutes. Scrape this mixture onto a plate and let cool. Wipe the pan clean.

3. Beat the eggs thoroughly in a large bowl. Beat in the cheese, salt and pepper. Stir in the cooled vegetable mixture.

4. Melt the butter in the skillet over low heat and swirl it around to coat the sides of the pan. Pour in the egg mixture. After about 5 minutes, when the edges begin to set, help the liquid egg pour over the sides of the frittata by occasionally loosening the edges with a rubber spatula and tilting the pan. It should take about 15 minutes for the frittata to become almost completely set.

5. Preheat the broiler. When the frittata is about 80 percent cooked, slide it under the broiler for a minute or so, until the top is set. (If the handle of your pan isn't ovenproof, wrap a few layers of foil around it before placing it under the broiler.) Let the frittata cool 10 minutes before cutting it into wedges.
Wouldn't you know it, I grated some more Parmesan over the frittata right after it came out of the broiler, so that the cheese melted in. Please forgive the piece out of one wedge of the otherwise perfectly whole frittata in the photo; sometimes our cat Louie simply cannot control himself.

Crock-Pot Italian Beef + Secret Info

I know—you've made Italian beef in the Crock-Pot a thousand times. But I have some earth-shattering information for you:

You can put a frozen roast in the Crock-Pot!

Now, maybe that is not news to you, but it sure was to me. I had no idea until I was clued in by Rayne, who pointed me to a recipe for French dip sandwiches on the Midwest Parents blog. Is that the easiest recipe you've ever seen, or what? Of course, I can't leave well enough alone, so I added some stuff and made it into Italian beef. Still super easy, and something you can do before work on a week-day morning without breaking a sweat. Certainly nothing like the rigamarole of my regular Italian beef method.

If you don't use the wine called for below, you'll probably want to put in more broth—just whatever amount looks right for the size of roast that you have, so that you have some dipping sauce at the end of the day.

Crock-Pot Italian Beef
Adapted from this recipe on Midwest Parents

2 1/2 pound beef roast (I used a round roast), FROZEN
Beef broth (I used 2 or 3 cups made from Better Than Bouillon)
2 to 3 sweet peppers (I used one green bell and two red frying peppers), sliced or chopped
1/2 to 1 cup dry white wine (optional, but if you have part of a bottle sitting around . . .)
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 large bay leaf
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Remove your beef roast from the freezer, unwrap, and place it in the Crock-Pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on Low all day (8-10 hours). When the meat is tender, take it out of the pot and thinly slice or shred, then return it to the pot.

Serve on rolls or chunks cut from a long loaf of Italian bread. If you like, place a slice of Provolone cheese on the bottom half of the bread, then pile meat on top so the cheese melts.

How to Use That Leftover Turkey: When Cuisines Collide!

Updated Sunday, November 29: I'm revising and republishing my post from Friday because I want to share another recipe that can be made with leftover turkey before we leave Thanksgiving behind. That recipe would be Jamie Oliver's turkey Tetrazzini. It's actually called spaghetti Tetrazzini in his book Jamie's Italy, but you and I, Americans that we are, will call it turkey (or chicken) Tetrazzini. Wink wink.I'd seen Alanna Kellogg's turkey Tetrazzini recipe on Friday (the recipe I link to at the bottom of this post), and it reminded me that I'd wanted to make the version in my Jamie Oliver book for a couple of years. If you saw the photo of the dish in Jamie's Italy, you'd know why I'd been longing to try it; the photo is gorgeous.

Even without seeing a photo, this creamy, cheesy dish would have appealed to me. I had never made turkey T. before, but I'll surely make it again. Mr. Oliver's recipe calls for chicken, not turkey, and uncooked chicken at that; I'm going to give you his original recipe so you can try it even if you don't have leftover cooked turkey around.

Spaghetti Tetrazzini
From Jamie's Italy, by Jamie Oliver

1 ounce/a small handful of dried porcini mushrooms
Olive oil
4 chicken thighs, boned, skinned and cut into bite-sized pieces
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
2 handfuls of mixed fresh mushrooms, cleaned and torn
1 cup white wine
1 pound dried spaghetti
2 1/4 cups heavy cream
7 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated
A sprig of fresh basil, leaves picked
Extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 °F. Put your porcini mushrooms in a bowl and pour over just enough boiling water to cover them (approx. 5 ounces). Put to one side to soak for a few minutes. Heat a saucepan big enough to hold all the ingredients, and pour in a splash of olive oil. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and brown them gently in the oil. Strain the porcini, reserving the soaking water, and add them to the pan with the garlic and fresh mushrooms. Add the wine, with the strained porcini soaking water, and turn the heat down. Simmer gently until the chicken pieces are cooked through and the wine has reduced a little.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions and drain well. Add the cream to the pan of chicken, then bring to the boil and turn the heat off. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the drained spaghetti to the creamy chicken sauce and toss well. Add three-quarters of the Parmesan and all of the basil and stir well. Transfer to an ovenproof baking dish or non-stick pan, sprinkle with half the remaining cheese and bake in the oven until golden brown, bubbling and crisp. Divide between your plates, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese before serving.

Serves 4.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Since I was using leftover roast turkey, and since I also didn't use the dried mushrooms, I did this dish a bit differently. I first briefly sautéed one very large portobello mushroom (which I had chopped into smallish pieces) and the garlic in the olive oil. Then I added the wine to the pan, stirred in 2 cups of cooked, chopped turkey meat, and simmered it gently while the pasta cooked (I used spaghettini). From there I followed the recipe as shown—well, almost. I made only a half-recipe, so I cut down the ingredients accordingly.

From Italy we move on to India! The names of both countries start with I, and both dishes are creamy and delicious, but that's where the similarity ends. If you like Indian food, this dish is a must-try.This year we had a pastured turkey from Stan of Triple S Farm——for the third year in a row now, I think it is. It was delicious as usual. We roasted it simply, and, per a tip from The Barefoot Contessa, we didn't baste it at all! Isn't that crazy? Basting the turkey was a mainstay in both Keith's and my childhood homes, but this year, we blithely abandoned the flush-inducing, grease-splattering, oven-heat-dissipating process. And it worked out great. Of course, we had slathered an entire stick of butter over the birdie before putting him into the oven. And we'd filled him with two halved lemons, fresh thyme, a quartered onion, and a whole head of garlic. What we got was a moist and flavorful roast turkey with browned and crispy skin.

With Triple S, you can't pick the exact turkey that you want; you tell Stan about how many pounds, and he does his best. He told us that his turkeys grew bigger, faster than expected this year, so ours was a few pounds larger than we'd bargained for. That's OK, though, because between the usual sandwiches, the Mexican turkey stew I've made in previous years, this curry, and the Tetrazzini, we'll polish it off without tiring of it.

This recipe is from Mark Bittman, author of several cookbooks, including How to Cook Everything, and the food column The Minimalist and blog Bitten in The New York Times. I just love the title of the column related to the recipe: "The Turkey That Went to India," and I wish I'd thought it up myself.

Turkey and Spinach Curry
From Mark Bittman via The Minimalist, with a couple of minor additions from me

1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste (I used probably 1/2 teaspoon)
1 cup tomatoes, chopped (canned are fine; include their juice)
1 cup coconut milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 pound fresh spinach, trimmed of thick stems, washed and roughly chopped
2 cups leftover turkey, white or dark meat or a combination, roughly chopped
Juice of half a lime
Freshly chopped cilantro for garnish

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat; add onion, garlic and ginger and cook until they begin to soften, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add cumin, coriander, turmeric and cayenne and cook, stirring, until spices are fragrant, about another minute.

Add tomatoes and their juices and coconut milk and sprinkle with salt and pepper; bring mixture to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Simmer for another 8 to 10 minutes, or until tomatoes break down. Stir in garam masala to taste.

Add spinach and turkey to pan and continue to cook until spinach wilts and turkey is warmed through, another 3 to 5 minutes. Squeeze in the juice of half a lime and stir. Adjust seasoning, garnish with cilantro, and serve.

Yield: 4 servings.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
This was a really delicious dish, warming and wonderful over rice. And, as Mr. Bittman says in his video, "completely different from what you ate on Thanksgiving day."

For a slew of other ideas about how to use roast turkey, see "Turkey Leftovers" on Elise Bauer's blog Simply Recipes. (Turkey tacos with cranberry salsa sounds like a winner to me.)

And then there's a dish that Alanna Kellogg of Kitchen Parade calls "good ol' plain home cooking and proud of it," turkey Tetrazzini.

Ooh—and how about turkey enchiladas? There's a good-looking recipe for those on Epicurious.

That ought to keep us busy for a while.

Food Poetry 10: Cranberry-Orange Relish

Here's a poem for the holiday from John Engels. The book the poem appears in is called Sinking Creek.

Cranberry-Orange Relish

A pound of ripe cranberries, for two days
macerate in a dark rum, then do not
treat them gently, but bruise,
mash, pulp, squash
with a wooden pestle
to an abundance of juices, in fact
until the juices seem on the verge

of overswelling the bowl, then drop in
two fistsful, maybe three, of fine-
chopped orange with rind, two golden
blobs of it, and crush
it in, and then add sugar, no thin
sprinkling, but a cupful dumped
and awakened with a wooden spoon

to a thick suffusion, drench of sourness, bite of color,
then for two days let conjoin
the lonely taste of cranberry,
the joyous orange, the rum, in some
warm corner of the kitchen, until
the bowl faintly becomes
audible, a scarce wash of sound, a tiny
bubbling, and then
in a glass bowl set it out
and let it be eaten last, to offset
gravied breast and thigh
of the heavy fowl, liverish
stuffing, the effete
potato, lethargy of pumpkins

gone leaden in their crusts, let it be eaten
so that our hearts may be together overrun
with comparable sweetnesses,
tart gratitudes, until finally,
dawdling and groaning, we bear them
to the various hungerings
of our beds, lightened
of their desolations.

© The Lyons Press, 1998. Reprinted with permission.

Happy Thanksgiving, all. Be back on Friday with a few ideas for easy dishes made with leftover you-know-what.