happy thanksgiving

Today is officially Canadian Thanksgiving. But to accomodate work schedules, etc we had our dinner yesterday. I chose to do Nigella's ginger glazed ham (from the Christmas book) as I've made it several times and it is a favorite with our family. To go along side I created a potato dish that was completely inspired by a menu item (which I didn't have) at a dinner with friends in Seattle on Friday night - potato, mushroom, leek and goat cheese gratin. Also I roasted some lovely market organic carrots,

vegetables waiting to be roasted

made spinach gunge and roasted a butternut squash. The original intention for the squash was just some cubes for the salad course - to go with market greens, thin pear slices, chopped pistachios and a tuscan style balsamic vinegrette.


salad ingredients

And I did that and it was lovely. But then I was scrolling through some blogs yesterday afternoon and came across this over at Sprouted Kitchen which sounded intriguing so I modified it a bit, using this recipe as inspiration as well and created a roasted squash with breadcrumbs dish that was delicious. For dessert there was plainjane apple pie

this week's plainjane apple pie (it browned too well!)

and a pumpkin pie I bought at the market.

Potato, Mushroom, Leek, Goat Cheese Gratin
6 small organic potatoes, scrubbed and sliced into 1/4" slices
3 small organic leeks, halved, washed and sliced into 1/4" slices
2 big handfuls of organic cremini mushrooms, sliced
a knob of butter
1 garlic clove, minced
3 stems oregano, leaves stripped off and chopped
1 cup mild goat cheese, grated
cream
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Melt the butter in a saute pan until melted, add the mushrooms. Saute the mushrooms until brown, add the garlic and a third of the oregano and stir. Set aside.
Into a greased baking dish, layer 2 of the potatoes to cover the bottom of the dish. Layer evenly with half of the mushrooms and then half the leeks. Season with salt and pepper and half of the remaining oregano. Cover with a sprinkling of goat cheese. Repeat. Add the last layer of potato, season with salt and pepper. Pour cream over the potatoes (~ 1 c of cream) and sprinkle the last of the goat cheese over the top. Bake for an hour or more until the top is golden brown and the potatoes are fork tender.

Butternut Squash Gratin (inspired by Sprouted Kitchen and 101cookbooks)
Roast a butternut squash in a 350 deg F oven for about 45 minutes until soft and starting to char slightly.
Remove from the oven and let cool. Cut in half and remove the skin, seeds and stingy bits. Dice the remaining flesh into small cubes. To the bowl of a food processor add ~ 1 1/2 c of coarse breadcrumbs, 1 clove minced garlic, 4 sprigs of oregano leaves, a pinch of cayenne. Pulse this until combined. In a saucepan add  about 2 tbsp of butter and heat until slightly nutty brown. Add the breadcrumbs and toast, mixing well.
To a greased baking dish, add half of the diced squash and cover with about half of the breadcrumbs, adding a handful of grated parmesan to the crumbs before adding. Cover with the remaining squash and then the remaining breadcrumbs. Bake in a 350 deg F oven for 15-20 minutes until hot and golden brown.

butternut squash gratin waiting to be baked

happy thanksgiving!

I made our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. The menu was ginger glazed ham (Nigella's Christmas), potatoes boulangeres with sage, honey roasted carrots with dill, braised red cabbage with maple and ginger, ginger squash with collards and sausage, and this pumpkin pie. My sister-in-law made a fall salad complete with greens, raisins, apples, beets - yummy. So we were all stuffed at the end of dinner. And I have a fridge full of left-overs. Including a sliver of pie. Excuse me.....

I made the pumpkin pie last week, a trial run so to speak for the market's pumpkin pie contest. Based on yesterday's pie, I don't think I baked it long enough so it was a bit gooey.

Pumpkin Pie (based on this recipe from Smitten Kitchen)

1 butter pastry crust (I used this one from Sassy Radish but added 1 tsp vanilla to the double recipe)

Crust:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup plus 1 to 4 Tbsp ice water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt and pulse in a food processor. Blend in butter by pulsing until most of mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle 1/3 cup ice water over mixture and pulse until incorporated. If a dough doesn't form, keep adding water, 1 tbsp at a time, pulsing each time, until a dough starts to form. Gather the dough together, divide in half and form 2 disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour.

Roll out dough on parchment paper to make 12-inch circle about 1/8-inch thick. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1-inch overhang all around pie plate. Ease the dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Trim the overhang. Refrigerate about 15 minutes.

Remove pan from refrigerator, line crust with foil and fill with pie weights or pennies.

Bake on rimmed baking sheet 15 minutes. Remove the weights and bake 5 to 10 more minutes until crust is golden brown and crisp.

Filling:

1 1/3 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup 2% milk

3 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 small can pumpkin puree (~445 ML)

1 cup mashed roasted yam

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon table salt

Make the filling: While pie shell is baking, whisk cream, milk, eggs, yolks and vanilla together in medium bowl. Combine pumpkin puree, yams, sugar, maple syrup, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until smooth and well-incorporated. Scrap into a large heavy-bottomed saucepan; bring to sputtering simmer over medium heat, 5 to 7 minutes. Continue to simmer until thick and shiny, 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove pan from heat. Whisk in cream mixture slowly, until fully incorporated and transfer to warm pre-baked pie shell. Return pie plate with baking sheet to oven and bake pie for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 degrees. Continue baking until edges are set and a bit puffy and the center of the pie jiggles slightly - 25 to 40 minutes longer. Transfer pie to wire rack and cool to room temperature, 2 to 3 hours. Serve, or wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

I baked the one yesterday for longer (40 minutes) and it wasn't gooey and it was delicious.

happy thanksgiving!

Today we are having a lazy day at home as it is Thanksgiving!

We had our dinner last night - and despite having invited others, in the end it was just the 3 of us. Really for most of the dinner it was D and I as T was in a 3 year old mood and not wanting to participate in dinner (don't like it, I'm not going to eat ANYTHING!) so D and I had ham, creamy potatoes and roasted cauliflower and broccoli with onion cheese sauce. And for dessert a lovely apple pie I picked up at the market yesterday. T did eventually join us.


Creamy potatoes are one of my favorite standbys for a potato dish for special occasions or dinners. It's classy name is Pommes de Terre Dauphanoise but in our house they are C's creamy pototoes. To make, thinly slice potatoes and layer them in a buttered or oiled baking dish. Between the potato layers you can add thinly sliced onion, green onion, leek or just black pepper. Once you have filled the dish, add 1 c of grated gruyere cheese, some grated nutmeg and black pepper to 1 c of cream and pour over the potatoes. Bake for 45-60 minutes at 350 F until the potatoes are tender, the cream is mostly absorbed and the top is golden brown. Yum!