Photo: Romulo Yanes
There’s nothing so stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth good as peanut butter. This versatile pantry perennial is one of America’s favorite foods. For me, the king of peanut butter creations is Elvis’ favorite: the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich.
What is your favorite way to eat peanut butter?
This week we’re sharing a bounty of recipes and Turkey Day tales in our special Thanksgiving Double Issue. Download the free Gourmet Live app for access to all of the issues and recipes, and visit Gourmet.com to read this week’s issue in full, including:
This year we’re joining forces with all of our food media colleagues for the ultimate Virtual Thanksgiving Feast. Our friends from Food Network organized the 2011 online potluck, and we’re bringing one of our favorite Thanksgiving desserts to the digital table, Pumpkin Coconut Panna Cottas.
The recipe, which is the dessert course from one of last years’ brand new Thanksgiving menus, is easy, quick, and the perfect sweet finale that can be made ahead of time without taking up any precious real estate in your oven. Simply blend creamy coconut milk with rich pumpkin purée and a few spices, stir in gelatin, and then chill the individual panna cottas until ready to serve. A final garnish of flaked coconut and honey tops off this quintessential Thanksgiving dessert that provides a modern take on classic pumpkin pie, sans the stress of working with piecrust.
Grab a taste of Pumpkin Coconut Panna Cottas then check out all of the other dishes at this year’s Virtual Thanksgiving Feast. And feel free to share a link to your own favorite holiday dish in the comments section below or on Twitter (#pullupachair)!
Cocktails, Appetizers, Salads and Breads:
Liquor.com: Thanksgiving Cocktails
The Kitchn: Goat Cheese Panna Cotta Topped With Canned Cranberry Jelly Cut-Outs
Big Girls Small Kitchen: Braided Biscuits
Epicurious: Chestnut and Sherry Soup
Yahoo! Shine: Spicy Caramelized Onion Jam With Goat Cheese
YumSugar: Kale and Chard Salad with Pomegranates and Hazelnuts
Whole Foods Market: Mixed Green Salad With Pears, Hazelnuts, Blue Cheese and Homemade Croutons
Mains:
FN Dish: Alton Brown’s Good Eats Roast Turkey
Eatocracy: Country Ham with Pickled Peaches
BlogHer Food: Root Vegetable Pot Pie With Cheddar Biscuit Crust
Sides:
Cooking Light: Fennel, Sausage, and Caramelized Apple Stuffing
Bon Appetit: Maxine Rapoport’s Turkey Stuffing
EatingWell: Green Bean Casserole
Serious Eats: Ultra-Crispy Roasted Potatoes
Oprah.com: David Chang’s Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Asian Vinaigrette
Food Republic: Cavatappi With Fontina and Fall Vegetables
Healthy Eats: Green Bean Casserole With Crispy Shallots
Saveur: Green Beans and Tomatoes
The Diner’s Journal: Fiery Sweet Potatoes
Real Simple: Brown Sugar-Glazed Carrots With Rosemary and Pecans
The Daily Meal: Bacon Brussels Sprouts
AP/ J.M. Hirsch: Ginger-Pear Cranberry Sauce
Food52: Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Onions and Goat Cheese
Food.com: Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
Food & Wine: Swiss Chard and Leek Gratin
All You: Sweet Potato Bake
Desserts:
The Blender/ Williams-Sonoma: Deep-Dish Apple Bourbon Streusel Pie
Southern Living: Pumpkin-Pecan Cheesecake
Cooking Channel: Apple Bread Pudding
Fox News: Ginger Molasses Sugar Cookies
Gourmet Live: Pumpkin Coconut Panna Cotta
Melissa Clark: Sweet Potato Ginger Custard Pie
MyRecipes.com: White Chocolate Cheesecake With Cranberry Currant Compote
Courtesy Abbie Row National Park Service
Each Thanksgiving, the most powerful person in America stands over a completely oblivious turkey and offers it clemency. It’s kitschy and bizarre, and yet Americans (and the turkey industry) rejoice with each pardon and subsequent send-off to an early retirement. So what’s the story behind the practice?
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Location: Chicago
What is your all-time favorite recipe from your blog?
I would say the longstanding favorite is my carrot cake. I have served it at many special occasions and even once made a barter deal with an artist trading this cake for a beautiful piece of pottery.
If you had to blog about one ingredient every day for a year, what food it be?
Chocolate. I have worked with a chocolatier for the past ten years so I am used to chocolate being a part of my daily life.
Is there a food you used to hate but now you love?
Growing up, I hated salad. I have never liked raw tomatoes nor iceberg or romaine lettuce. Though I still don’t care that much for those ingredients, I have come to appreciate salads as I discovered spinach, radicchio, frisée, cabbage and a much wider variety of greens.
What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
Quesadillas. I open a can of black beans, drain them and heat them in a sauce pan, mashing them with cumin, Greek oregano and salt. The beans are slathered inside a flour tortilla with whatever else I have on hand (leftover chicken, cheeses, veggies). Sour cream, salsa, avocado if you have it … voilà.
Who would you love to have over for dinner?
Ferran Adrià, the chef of the former El Bulli in Spain. I recently heard him speak and it was so moving that I was inspired me to make some major life changes. Though cooking for the man some say is the best chef in the world be unbelievably stressful, I would be honored to have a meal with him.
Sharpen your chef’s knife and break out the bone saw because Ryan Farr’s new book, Whole Beast Butchery (Chronicle Books), is going to have you wholeheartedly embracing the recent rebirth of DIY butchery.
Farr is the founder of 4505 Meats in San Francisco, where he teaches the art of butchering entire hogs, cows, and lambs. As a classically trained chef, he shares his learned tips and tricks in the comprehensive manual for meat, which also includes recipes that make the most of snout-to-tail cooking, such as Crispy Pork Shoulder and Shank, Beef Tongue Pastrami, and Merguez Sausage.
The book features stunning step-by-step photographs by Ed Anderson on nearly every page of the 239-page guide. From sawing down the belly of a hog to fabricating and then tying the perfect boneless lamb leg roast, Farr’s first book is the ultimate resource for meat geeks everywhere.
Photo: Kemp Minifie
Garlic and pasta are two staples I’m never without in my kitchen. No matter how late I get home, I know I’ve got the makings of a fast and super-satisfying meal. If tuna noodle casserole was my mother’s default dinner, spaghetti with garlic and oil—spaghetti aglio e olio—is mine.
The simplicity of the dish eluded me at first, and I did things to complicate it. It took me a while to realize that all I had to do was dump the golden garlic and oil on top of the cooked spaghetti and everything would get mixed together in the process of serving it. Continue reading
Photo: CN Digital Studio
A big salad is my go-to lunch year-round—I find a salad loaded with hearty grains and greens so much more satisfying than a sandwich, and it’s just as easy to make (I toss everything but the dressing in a reusable container and bring a little jar of vinaigrette to add at the last minute, then shake and serve). But this time of year, what to put in my reusable container to tote to the office becomes a little less obvious than it is in the summer, when the salads practically make themselves at the farmers’ market.
I’m sad to see the juicy tomatoes, cucumbers, snap peas, and tender lettuces go, but I’m also happy to welcome back some of their robust fall counterparts: radicchio, lacinato kale, fennel, dried fruit, apples and pears, roasted squash, cauliflower, and mushrooms, to name a few. See below for fall salad recipes that are exciting me now, then share your favorites in the Comments section:
Dress up your favorite bowl of noodles with our favorite classic and creative recipes from our Perfect Pasta Sauces collection, now available in the Gourmet Live Store.
Stick to tradition with Sunday Ragú that simmers on your stovetop for hours before being ladled onto spaghetti, fettuccini, and more. Or add a spicy kick to your carbs with Red Chile Sauce made with whole dried New Mexico and guajillo chiles.
Download the free Gourmet Live app then head to the Library to access the Store for our Perfect Pasta Sauces collection.
Photo: Gourmet.com
I’ve given up wheat. Well, for the past four days at least, and already, what I miss most is beer. When I decided to sample a gluten-free lifestyle, naturally I considered the food sacrifices: no more pizza or pasta. My lunch would devolve into turkey in a cup. What I didn’t consider is that not only do people with Celiac Disease have to think carefully about what they eat every day, but they also have to always be cognizant of what their bartenders are mixing up.
Though some believe that any distilled spirit is safe, others refrain from wheat-based liquor all together. Sure, grain-free vodkas exist (Ciroc and Chopin to name a few), but I recently found myself at a bar with an especially surly waitress that didn’t take kindly to my request to see a listing of the available corn and grape-distilled varieties. She just scowled and suggested I try tequila, which is made from agave, and rum, which comes from sugarcane. I just ordered another glass of wine.
Here’s a round-up of wintery, wheat-free drinks from our sister-site, Epicurious that you can make at home:
Are you gluten-sensitive? What’s your go-to cocktail?
Photo: Kemp Minifie
I’d just finished writing “Twelve Pasta Myths Toppled” for Gourmet Live, when Maureen Fant, author of “Pasta Through the Ages,” which appears in the current issue, stopped by the office. We got talking about capellini (angel-hair pasta), and she casually mentioned that she didn’t know why Americans cook it like a pasta with sauce. “It’s a soup noodle,” she said matter-of-factly. She should know. She’s a co-author of Encyclopedia of Pasta.
Of course I’d heard of capellini in brodo (broth), but I’m so used to seeing capellini with shrimp and garlic sauce on menus, I never thought about the long thin strands in soup. Suddenly I had a hankering for chicken noodle soup, Italian-style. Continue reading
Photo: CN Digital Studio
Everyone has their secret, weird food pairing they love. Some of our favorites are peanut butter with cheddar cheese, fried eggs with blueberry pie, macaroni and cheese with apple sauce, pickles with pizza, and tuna salad with ketchup.
What’s your go-to strange food combo?
Scandi Foodie‘s Eggplant and Lentil Stacks are vegetarian, gluten-free, and packed with layer after layer of flavor. Stack seared slices of eggplant with tender lentils and crumbly feta, then top off the pile with a handful of arugula for a peppery final kick. Serve these stacks as an all-star main dish or as a simple side salad at your next holiday bash.
Conde Nast Digital Studio
Every fourth Thursday of November, almost 90 percent of Americans sit down at the table and feast on turkey. For all our fowl friends out there wondering what gives, here’s a brief history of one of America’s favorite traditions: the Thanksgiving turkey.
The year was 1621 and the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts had barely survived a harsh winter. The nearby Wampanoag tribe saw the colonists’ dwindling numbers and unsuccessful attempts at harvesting crops, and stepped in to help. The Wampanoag introduced them to local crops and showed them how to hunt North American game, and Governor William Bradford hosted a feast in gratitude.
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Location: Vancouver, BC
What is your all-time favorite recipe from your blog?
It’s hard to say since my favorites change all the time. But one of my current favorites is this Garden Fresh Salsa because it’s very versatile and you can add in everything from peppers, cucumbers and pineapple in addition to the more traditional ingredients. Plus, my dad got me a food processor for a Christmas gift last year and whizzing up something still has loads of appeal.
What is your favorite restaurant and what do you order there?
Vancouver has lots of great restaurants but my favorite is The Alibi Room because it’s got a stunning selection of small batch beers on tap. It also helps that the space is gorgeous – lots of windows and it’s comfortable without being pretentious. Plus, they make a great burger and it’s close to home.
What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
If you’re looking for quick and easy, I think you could do no better than a soup or a stew. Or a quick pasta dish. Our CSA loves to give us kale and chard, so for a quick meal, I’ll get a pot of pasta cooking and in a large skillet I’ll saute some onions, garlic, some crushed red pepper, and kale until soft and fragrant. If you’ve got some nice farmer’s sausage, slice it up and throw it in as well. Pour in a little of the pasta water along with some chicken stock base and add in the drained pasta when it’s close to al dente. Let it simmer and reduce for a minute or two and add in a squeeze of fresh orange or lemon juice and some of the zest. Serve with grated cheese and it’s a surprisingly delicious and hearty meal that takes less than 30 minutes to prepare.
“More Einstein, less Escoffier—what say you?”
“The rituals attending the preparation, serving, and consumption of food can be hilarious,” says New Yorker regular and former art and cartoon editor Lee Lorenz. Grab a laugh in our November 2 Humor issue, courtesy of Lorenz and fellow cartoonists Charles Barsotti and Victoria Roberts. Here’s a quick Q&A with Roberts to amuse your gueule:
GL: What’s funny about food?
VR: The exquisite pleasure it can give, and consequently how “over the top” people can become about flavors and cooking and restaurants. I love the madeleine bringing back a flood of memories for Proust and imagine someone trying to do this via chicken Divan and failing.
GL: Your breakfast this morning?
VR: Oatmeal with flax seeds and coffee in a very large cup with a dash of skim milk. I always have the same breakfast, though this may change, as I discovered, at 77th and Lex, a french toast bagel! Sounds almost as dangerous as the “pretzel croissant” available at City Bakery. Dangerous fusion cooking. Continue reading
Skillet-Fried Versus Oven-Baked Bacon
When it comes to cooking bacon, are you a skillet-lover, or a fan of the oven?
Bacon and cast–iron skillets have a symbiotic relationship. Bacon cooks up well in the pans, all the while letting its rendered fat create a natural non-stick surface.
But a round pan only fits two to three whole strips at a time, so if you’re cooking for more than yourself, you’ll be tempted to halve some slices. I don’t know about you, but I like my slices long. The first few slices do take a while to crisp up, but as you accumulate more rendered fat, successive ones fry up faster. Even so, if you’ve got a crowd to feed, you’ll be standing in front of that skillet for a while.
And skillet-bacon requires attention. You’ve got to turn the slices occasionally and press the ends down with a spatula to get them to cook evenly. Continue reading
