Time to Give Thanks

November marks the beginning of the holiday season and it’s when my thoughts turn to home, friends, family and of course…turkey! This Thanksgiving, we wanted a bird raised somewhere that was close to NY (in efforts to support “local”) and found Applecheek Farm, in Hyde Park, Vermont (with a name like “Applecheek” how could we resist?). Our 21 lb. heritage turkey arrived fresh and right on schedule: slaughtered on Monday and delivered on Tuesday. It arrived with a copy of the recipe from LocalHarvest (which we followed for the most part) and worked out well for us. We made a slight modification by skipping the maple butter and instead, seasoning the turkey with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. We also used an electric thermometer so we could capture an accurate temperature read. We looked online and couldn’t find any estimates on exactly how long it would take to finish–all we knew was that the cook time is shorter for heritage turkeys than conventional birds and that we were to roast it until the thigh temperature reached 140F-150F.

And so we set the thermometer and waited by the oven. Sure enough, the temperature started to rise, and the number ticked up at an amazing pace. Turns out, the average roasting time for a 21 lb. turkey is 5 hours. We could hardly believe it, but our turkey was fully cooked in a mere 1.5 hours. As LocalHarvest explains:

Heritage Turkeys are also much more leaner and smaller than sedentary commercial birds. This means that fast cooking at high temperatures is a better method than slow roasting.

The result was a beautiful, moist, delicious bird with crisp golden skin. The best way I can describe the flavor of a heritage turkey is that it tastes…more like turkey. So basically, a little goes a long way in satisfying the taste buds. No gravy needed. The turkey was great by itself. So if you’ve ever considered trying a heritage turkey, I say, go for it. For me, there’s no going back.

Before

After

Our Thanksgiving feast ended on a high note with five fine homemade desserts (as is the annual tradition, they are made completely from scratch). Our selection included a cherry pie and apple, pear, apricot and kiwi/berry tarts. Though I admit I had nothing to do with the dessert preparation, I include these images which bring back happy memories of the time spent with my family and us sharing a fantastic meals together.

Kiwi and Berry Tart

Pear Tart

Happy Holidays to you and yours! Gobble, gobble.

Here is an Aebleskiver, Turn Turn, Turn…

During my dear friend Susie’s wedding weekend last fall, we stayed in Solvang, located in the Santa Ynez Valley wine country. Solvang is a super cute town and has some strong Danish roots, which are still very evident and going strong today. One morning during our trip, we tried some aebleskivers (spherical pancakes) for breakfast and we got hooked. Since then, we invested in a cast iron aebleskiver pan and have been working on perfecting a recipe and cooking technique, which is pretty fun, once you get the hang of it.

We had found other versions of the pan made of aluminum, but we love cooking with cast iron, since constant use encourages a natural non-stick coating and the material holds and distributes heat extremely well.

Truth be told, we’re not very good about doing exact measurements as we cook. But in short, we tried to make a healthier version of this treat by swapping the white flour out with buckwheat and whole wheat flours. To make enough for enough two people, here’s what we use and do:

2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
~3/4 c. buckwheat flour
~3/4 c. buckwheat flour
1 c. buttermilk
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. of freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. butter

1. Beat eggs. Add vanilla extract and mix.
2. Add buckwheat and whole wheat flour and mix (approximately 3/4 cup each, you may need to add more or less and mix until consistency resembles a thick paste).
3. Add buttermilk and wisk until the batter is smooth and pourable.
4. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and baking soda and mix until all ingredients are combined.
5. Heat aebleskiver pan on low/med heat and brush butter into each well.
6. Pour the batter in the wells, filling 3/4 of the way, starting on the outside and filling the middle one last (since that one gets the most heat on the range).
7. Cook until the outer shell of the aebleskiver is brown and firm and, using some toothpicks or skewers, rotate 45 degrees. In 30 seconds, rotate the ball all the way around so the cooked, brown half is now on top.
8. After a few minutes, the aebleskivers should be browned all the way around. Remove and serve with maple syrup.

We like serving our aebleskivers with a little bit of hard cheese on the side, like Parmigiano-Reggiano. We like the texture and how the salt brings out the sweetness of the aebleskivers and syrup.

Fun to make and delicious to eat, we’ve been making them every weekend for the past couple of months. It also seems like something kids would enjoy helping make (and eat). Enjoy!

Matzo Ball Soup

We made a large pot of chicken broth last week and finally paired it today with homemade matzo balls. Simple, light but very hearty.

We used the recipe on the box for 10 balls which included:

4 eggs

.5 cup water

.5 cup olive oil

1 tsp. salt

pinch pepper

1 cup of spelt matzo meal

After mixing the wet ingredients and then folding in the meal, we rested it for an hour in the fridge. We made 1″ balls from the mixture with hands wet with cold water and dropped into boiling water and let simmer, covered, for .5 hour. Meanwhile we heated our stock with finely diced carrots. After the balls were ready we dropped them in the soup and simmered for 15 minutes more.

We served the soup with chopped parsley and spring onions.

Festival of Oil

Here is the first batch of sweet potato latkes I’ve ever made. Sweet potatoes are an excellent alternative to potatoes–they are delicious and hold a lot less moisture, which means less work squeezing out all of the liquid before frying. I followed a simple recipe on Epicurious, but upped the egg ratio to 1 egg per 1 cup of shredded sweet potato, which helped it hold together while frying.