I'll be cooking for five women and myself. Here's what's planned:


BEFORE DINNER

Cocktails: vodka, orange juice, and cranberry juice. (Is there a name for
that combination?)

Cheddar, Bacon, and Scallion Quesadillas: The family has a "family favorite"
recipe which consists of a deep-fried tortilla enclosing cheddar cheese and
a hot dog. This is as close as I'm willing to come to making that.


DINNER

Cream of Chestnut Soup with Arugula: I made this for Christmas last year for
a different girlfriend, and liked it a lot.

Roast Turkey: The turkey will be brined, then injected with a wine/butter
mixture, then frozen butter will be placed between the skin and the breast
meat, then a butter-soaked cheesecloth pad will be draped over the breast
before it goes into the oven. I fear it will be a mishmash, but in the
interests of harmony I'll let it go ahead.

Gravy (my girlfriend's mother's contribution)

Mashed Potatoes: I make them with lots of butter and cream, then sprinkle
with chopped chives or parsley before serving.

Marshmallow Sweet Potatoes (my girlfriend's contribution)

Dressing with sausage, apples, pecans, currants, and mushrooms

Glazed Cranberries: I *hope* I can get these to come out right. Basically,
you mix sugar, water, and cranberries, bringing the water to a boil. If you
stop it at the right moment, the cranberries are covered with a crackly
glaze and they don't burst. I made it serendipitously some years ago, but I
didn't write down exactly how I made it, and some attempts to duplicate it
have been less than successful -- though I ended up with cranberry sauce
instead.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Au Gratin: with cheddar Mornay sauce in the
casserole and Parmesan cheese in the bread-crumb topping. I made this a
couple years ago for a different -- and much pickier -- girlfriend and it
was a BIG hit.

Mashed winter vegetables (parsnips, carrots, turnips, and rutabaga) with
herbed butter and cream: I think I got this recipe from one of the Tyler
Florence shows. It's the best way I've ever found to have rutabagas.

Dinner Rolls: I follow the recipe in the cookbook which came with my mixer.


DESSERT

Pumpkin Pie: Last year I made a spicy pumpkin pie from a recipe on the food
network web site. It was so spicy that I was the only one who could eat it.
This year I think I'll stick to a more conventional recipe.

Southern Comfort Pecan Pie

Vanilla ice cream

Whipped cream -- maybe with Grand Marnier


For wines, we'll have Pinot Noir, Vouvray, and Electra. For those abstaining
from alcohol we'll have Blackberry-Sage iced tea and water. To accompany
dessert, we'll serve sweet sherry, coffee, and praline liqueur.

Bob

Bob Terwilliger wrote:
> I'll be cooking for five women and myself. Here's what's planned:

<snipped>

Could you make that 6 women, please? Sounds great!

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

On 23 Oct 2006 02:56:02 -0500, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>I'll be cooking for five women and myself. Here's what's planned:

This sounds like a much more conventional menu than the one last year,
if I remember correctly....

>Broccoli and Cauliflower Au Gratin: with cheddar Mornay sauce in the
>casserole and Parmesan cheese in the bread-crumb topping. I made this a
>couple years ago for a different -- and much pickier -- girlfriend and it
>was a BIG hit.

Recipe please?


Christine

Christine wrote:

>> I'll be cooking for five women and myself. Here's what's planned:
>
> This sounds like a much more conventional menu than the one last year,
> if I remember correctly....

Well, I don't want to display my sometimes-frightening penchant for culinary
experimentation to these people right off the bat -- they only know *of* me
through my girlfriend! The soup is from last year's menu, and the vegetables
(the broccoli-cauliflower casserole and the mashed winter vegetables) are
from the year before.


>> Broccoli and Cauliflower Au Gratin: with cheddar Mornay sauce in the
>> casserole and Parmesan cheese in the bread-crumb topping. I made this a
>> couple years ago for a different -- and much pickier -- girlfriend and it
>> was a BIG hit.
>
> Recipe please?

I kind of winged it. To the best of my recollection, this is what I did:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Cut up a small cauliflower and an approximately equal amount of broccoli.
Set a pot on to boil with a lot of salted water. Make about four cups of
béchamel sauce and stir in about a cup of finely-shredded cheddar cheese and
a big teaspoon of dry mustard. Make bread crumbs using about three slices
of white bread, and combine with about two tablespoons of melted butter and
a quarter-cup of finely-grated (I used a microplane grater) Parmesan cheese.

When the water is boiling vigorously, blanch the cauliflower and broccoli
for about a minute and a half, dump into a colander, and shake off excess
water. Put a cup of the sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish, add half
the cauliflower/broccoli pieces, sprinkle with half the bread crumbs, top
with the remaining sauce and then the remaining bread crumbs.

Bake until crisp on top, about 15 minutes.


Bob

Michael asked:

>> Dressing with sausage, apples, pecans, currants, and mushrooms
>
> Do you have a recipe or do you just wing it? I make a really decent
> sausage stuffing but have no recipe for it. Sometimes I'll add onions and
> pecans to mine, sometimes not. I've never used apples, currants or
> mushrooms in stuffing. I'm guessing the liquid used in the stuffing would
> have to be reduced somewhat because of the liquid the mushrooms and apples
> would let off during cooking.


Here's what I wrote about it last year:

I must give credit to Gloria (Puester) for her dressing recipe. It's the
best I've ever made. She hasn't posted it this year, so allow me to post it
on her behalf:

1 package Pepperidge Farm seasoned bread crumbs
1 package Jimmy Dean hot sausage
1/4 cup butter
1/2 to 1 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1 large onion, diced
2-3 celery stalks, chopped
1 or 2 sweet-tart apples, peeled and diced
1 cup pecans
chicken broth
Bell's seasoning or other poultry seasoning
GLORIA'S NOTE: (My sister in law adds oysters to this but my family prefers
it without. You could also add dried fruit--apricots, prunes, golden
raisins, etc. which have been soaked to plump up.)

Sauté sausage, drain and set aside.
Melt butter (or use sausage fat if you prefer) in a skillet, sauté
mushrooms, onion and celery till tender. Add apples, crumbs and pecans with
enough broth to moisten. Add poultry seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.
Pack lightly into a greased casserole. Refrigerate until ready to bake.

BOB'S NOTES:
* I generally use a mixture of half white bread cubes and half cornbread
cubes.
* I add some kind of plumped dried fruit: I've tried dried cranberries
plumped in orange juice and I've tried Zante currants plumped in plum wine.
Both were good. Since I'm making goose with blackberry sauce this year, I
might include dried cherries in the dressing.
* I usually cut back on the mushrooms or omit them altogether. Depends on
what the dressing is accompanying: Chickens, Cornish hens, or capons can get
the mushrooms; turkeys do not. Waterfowl may or may not, depending on what
else is in the meal.

(At my girlfriend's request, I *am* putting mushrooms in the dressing this
year, even though it goes against my normal practice of not having them with
turkey.)

Bob

Bob Terwilliger wrote:
> I'll be cooking for five women and myself. Here's what's planned:
>
>
> BEFORE DINNER
>
> Cocktails: vodka, orange juice, and cranberry juice. (Is there a name
> for that combination?)
>
Not that exact combination that I know of... if you drizzled cherry syrup on
top instead of using cranberry juice I'd call it a Southern Sunrise

> Gravy (my girlfriend's mother's contribution)
>
> Marshmallow Sweet Potatoes (my girlfriend's contribution)
>
This is why I hated sweet potatoes for years!

> Dressing with sausage, apples, pecans, currants, and mushrooms
>
I give apples to my parrot

> Broccoli and Cauliflower Au Gratin: with cheddar Mornay sauce in the
> casserole and Parmesan cheese in the bread-crumb topping. I made this
> a couple years ago for a different -- and much pickier -- girlfriend
> and it was a BIG hit.
>
That sounds nice; I love broccoli & cauliflower paired up. Cheese or no
cheese, doesn't matter.

Jill

On 23 Oct 2006 06:13:02 -0500, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>I kind of winged it.

That's, "I kind of wung it." Get it right!

Carol, Grammar Nazi

On 23 Oct 2006 02:56:02 -0500, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>I'll be cooking for five women and myself. Here's what's planned:

BTW, your menu sounds great. Those are five lucky women!

"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote in message
...
> I'll be cooking for five women and myself. Here's what's planned:
>
>
> BEFORE DINNER
>
> Cocktails: vodka, orange juice, and cranberry juice. (Is there a name for
> that combination?)
>
> Cheddar, Bacon, and Scallion Quesadillas: The family has a "family
> favorite" recipe which consists of a deep-fried tortilla enclosing cheddar
> cheese and a hot dog. This is as close as I'm willing to come to making
> that.
>
>
> DINNER
>
> Cream of Chestnut Soup with Arugula: I made this for Christmas last year
> for
> a different girlfriend, and liked it a lot.

Yummmmmm. Could you post a recipe please?

How often do you go through women? "-)

I know, I know: MYOB.

I'll be good now.

TammyM

On Mon, 23 Oct 2006 11:42:10 -0700, "TammyM" >
wrote:

>
>"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote in message

>> Cream of Chestnut Soup with Arugula: I made this for Christmas last year
>> for
>> a different girlfriend, and liked it a lot.
>
>Yummmmmm. Could you post a recipe please?
>
>How often do you go through women? "-)
>
>I know, I know: MYOB.
>
>I'll be good now.
>
>TammyM
>

I was thinking the same thing, but was afraid to ask... LOL

I really love seeing what everyone plans for Thanksgiving. It is
probably my favorite holiday of all. Christmas 2nd, if you focus on
the food and baking... I ignore everything else...LOL.

Christine, who hopes she will be recuperating enough to have
Thanksgiving dinner here.

Far too much butter!

Orlando

Orlando Enrique Fiol wrote:
> Far too much butter!
>
> Orlando


There's never too much butter at these holiday feasts.

Tammy wrote:

>> Cream of Chestnut Soup with Arugula: I made this for Christmas last year
>> for a different girlfriend, and liked it a lot.
>
> Yummmmmm. Could you post a recipe please?
>
> How often do you go through women? "-)
>
> I know, I know: MYOB.
>
> I'll be good now.

HAH! Well, I was with the same one for something like eleven years before I
accepted that it wasn't ever going to work out. I caught one on the rebound,
and that lasted for about a year and a half. My newest one has only been in
place since September, but it's looking pretty serious.


Regarding the soup recipe, I think I posted it here before. Googling...

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.f...38fdbb3?hl=en&

I made this for Thanksgiving and it was very, very good. I *think* that the
chestnut-arugula combination is my own invention. Prior to this, I hadn't
been all that fond of chestnuts, since they'd usually had a mealy quality
that I didn't like. But this soup was velvety, lush, and luscious.

Cream of Chestnut soup

15 oz roasted chestnuts
4 cups chicken broth
1 small onion, peeled and chunked
about 10 good-sized arugula leaves
3 tablespoons soft butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
Salt & pepper to taste

In a blender, combine chestnuts, chicken stock, and onion; liquefy. (You
might have to work in batches.) Set aside a few arugula leaves for garnish;
chop the remaining arugula roughly. Add the chopped arugula, butter, salt,
and white pepper to the soup. Bring mixture just to a boil, reduce the heat,
and simmer it gently for 15 minutes.

Cut the reserved arugula leaves into chiffonade.

Add the cream, stirring to blend the mixture. Season with salt and pepper to
taste, and garnish with the arugula chiffonade.


NOTES:

1. When cooked, arugula's taste changes quite a bit. This soup presents both
the cooked and the uncooked flavors.

2. I used fresh-ground white pepper; I imagine that pre-ground would be more
subdued. I also eyeballed the measurement, but probably added a full
teaspoon rather than the half-teaspoon I wrote above.

3. I think a blender is the best tool for making this soup, but feel free to
use a stick blender or a food processor. Just don't cry to me if the texture
isn't velvety.


Bob

"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote in message
...
> Tammy wrote:
>
>>> Cream of Chestnut Soup with Arugula: I made this for Christmas last year
>>> for a different girlfriend, and liked it a lot.
>>
>> Yummmmmm. Could you post a recipe please?
>>
>> How often do you go through women? "-)
>>
>> I know, I know: MYOB.
>>
>> I'll be good now.
>
> HAH! Well, I was with the same one for something like eleven years before
> I
> accepted that it wasn't ever going to work out. I caught one on the
> rebound,
> and that lasted for about a year and a half. My newest one has only been
> in
> place since September, but it's looking pretty serious.

Not that it was any of my beeswax, just ... enquiring minds and all that "-)
A guy who can cook like you is a pretty cool guy to have around. Now if you
tell me you're handy with hammers and electrical and such, I'll find myself
a wailing wall somewhere!

> Regarding the soup recipe, I think I posted it here before. Googling...
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/rec.f...38fdbb3?hl=en&

One of the reasons I was interested is that I once planned an entire dinner
menu around a chestnut soup recipe, AND THEN LOST THE DAMNED RECIPE! I
finally recovered it and will compare and contrast these when I have a
moment. That dinner promised to be deeee-vine.

<snip>

TammyM