Holiday Dishes

Holiday Dishes is the name of this post as I cooked some of these dishes for Thanksgiving, but they can be prepared anytime.  When we were near Nashville visiting our daughter and family last summer I used their new spiral vegetable slicer gadget.  Of course the grandchildren loved to help me and enjoyed cooking the vegetable - a good way for them to eat more vegetable!  Back at home, I ordered my own Spiralizer from Amazon - there are several brands offered and mine was under $20.  It works very well.

Zucchini noodles can be made very quickly.  With the grandchildren, we cooked them in the microwave, with a little bit of water and butter, maybe for 3 or 4 minutes, and this was good.  For Thanksgiving I tried something different.  I made the dish again this week-end so I could take some photos.  First I "spiralized" 3 or 4 zucchinis.  I also sliced a red onion and two green onions and briefly stir-fried them.

I'll try to write the recipe, but it can be changed, according to one's taste.

Zucchini Noodles

3 to 4 zucchinis, 1 red onion, 2 green onions, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon bacon fat, 1 teaspoon French thyme, 2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence (or rosemary, or basil or both) Smokehouse ground black pepper, salt and 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar - some chopped parsley.

Wash then spiralize the zucchinis into noodles.  Slice the red onion and the 2 green onions - separating the white parts and green parts.  Place the olive oil, butter and bacon fat in a large frying pan.  Add the red onion and white parts of the green onions.  Stir and fry for a minute or so.  Add the zucchini noodles, stir, then add the Smokehouse black pepper and salt.  (I like this pepper as it is strong and I usually cover the vegetables with it to get the dish a bit spicy.)  Then add the herbs, stir.  Add the balsamic vinegar - white or red balsamic.  Lower heat and cover.  No need to add any liquid as the zucchinis will render some liquid.  Cook for about 8 to 10 minutes, until tender but still crunchy (taste after 7 min. or so and stir.)  When ready add chopped green part of the green onions and chopped parsley.  That's it.

I have also made zucchini noodles, added some spaghetti sauce, basil and turkey meat balls - it is a lighter dish than made with regular pasta.

For Thanksgiving, I usually make my basic cranberry sauce - a recipe I found on a bag a long time ago and very easy.  Place 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup apple juice and 1/4 teaspoon allspice in a saucepan on medium heat.  Heat until sugar is dissolved.  Add 2 cups washed cranberries and stir.  Keep stirring until the liquid boils.  Lower hear and cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Cool.  I have some left as you can see below - it makes a thick sauce, not too sweet.

Since I had more cranberries I decided to make a cake - I made two - almost the same but with some variations.  Both were made like an upside down pineapple cake.  The first one contained 2 sliced apples, 1+ cup of cranberries and 1/2 cup pecans.  That was placed on the melted brown sugar and butter in a cast iron frying pan, then I poured the cake batter on top.  The batter had 2 eggs, sugar, butter, baking power, spices and 1 1/4 cup flour.  I baked it 40 minutes in 350 F oven.  My husband preferred that cake.

For the second cake I used only 1 sliced apple, 1+ cup cranberries and 1/2 cup pecans.  I used less flour (1 cup) but 3 eggs, separated - the white beaten stiff with white sugar, and 1 tablespoon Bourbon whiskey.  Baked it 45 minutes in 325 F oven, left it in the frying pan 10 minutes then placed it upside down on a plate.  I preferred the taste of that cake.

This cake looked quite different from the first one.  I placed the apple slices first in the number one cake and the cranberries and pecan first in cake number two.  Both cakes were good and not too sweet - if served warm, vanilla ice cream would be good with either cake.  Below is cake number 2.

Since cranberries were plentiful I also made some jam.  One of my daughters gave me a jar of jam last summer that she had bought at the Loretta Lynn's Ranch.  It was called FROG jam - which stands for fig, raspberry, orange and ginger jam.  This gave me the idea of making my own CROG jam - using cranberries, raspberries, orange peel and ginger.  The jam is delicious and not too sweet - good on toast but also can be used as a condiment with meat.

We went to a country restaurant some time ago and I enjoyed eating their steamed cabbage.  I have never made steamed cabbage, or any cabbage apart from placing pieces of them in my corned beef dish in the spring.  So I tried my own version last Saturday.  I quartered the cabbage and cut the stem off, then sliced it.  Shallots sounded right with the cabbage, so I chopped a couple.  I had half a bunch of fresh kale leftover from a turkey soup I made, so I sliced the kale as well.  It may not have been "steamed" cabbage, but it was very tasty and cooking it on low heat, quickly, it did not leave a cabbage smell in the kitchen.

Here is my recipe - 1 cabbage, washed, cored and sliced (add kale if available,) 2 shallots, sliced thin then chopped.  Place 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large frying pan.  Add shallot and fry briefly.  Add cabbage and stir for a couple of minutes.  Season with salt and Hickory smoke black pepper (or regular black pepper and some Tabasco sauce to give it a kick.)  Add 3/4 cup chicken or turkey broth in which 1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke was placed.  Pour on cabbage and stir well.  Lower heat, cover and cook 6 to 8 minutes until done but still crunchy.  Voila!

Saturday was a good day for cooking as it rained in the morning.  It was cloudy and only 67 degree F (19 C.)  The back yard looked very golden with a thick cover of dead leaves.  The leaves had vivid colors as they were still coated with water when I took my photos.

On Sunday it was bright and sunny.  The colors in the backyard looked different.  It was warmer as well.

 With all the pine trees and ivy, the color green is still very present in our backyard.  I like  the way the sun plays with the dead leaves still standing on some of the trees.

Our cats were indoor, not even looking at the birds in the bird feeders.  Cody was asleep, hiding his eyes with his paws (maybe from the scent of the cut shallot...) and Mitsuko was watching TV - an old I love Lucy rerun - such was last week-end.