Thanksgiving Part II: Wild Mushroom Bacon Stuffing

This was my favorite dish of Thanksgiving, and I don't usually even like stuffing! We didn't stuff the turkey at all, just made a separate dish since most of us prefer a crispy-topped stuffing. This was the first leftover to be devoured (cold, with spoons, directly out of the baking dish) the next day. That's how good it is.

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Thanksgiving Part I: Citrus-Herb Roasted Turkey

Well this is embarrassing... all my previous lapses in posting are nothing compared to this one! So let's catch up. My summer was great. The Mediterranean cruise was unbelievable (picture from Cannes to the right) and our new house is all we ever wanted. We attended five beautiful weddings this year, ending the wedding season at the beginning of November with one of my best friend from college's rustic carriage house wedding. Oh, I also turned 30, but we can gloss right over that one.

This fall my parents visited from Connecticut for Thanksgiving, which was held at my house with my sister and brother-in-law also in attendance. It was my first Thanksgiving! (If you don't count the time in college my family visited me and cooked a meal in my dingy college apartment while I was at work) The meal turned out so well that it inspired me to pick up the keyboard and type up a few blog posts about it. My mom and sister helped tremendously and we all had a great time cooking together while the boys built a bonfire out back.

First, let's focus on the main event: the turkey! I picked up a fresh 16 lb hen from Maple Lawn farms, which happens to be just a few miles from my house.

Because of its freshness I decided against brining, but I definitely would have brined if I had gotten a store-bought turkey. The recipe is Giada's, but the real expertise came from my mom who has years of turkey-perfecting practice.

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Grilled Scallops with Mango Salsa

Spring has definitely sprung, and with that comes my love for all things grilled, including scallops on skewers. This time, I rubbed them with a homemade spice mix and served with fresh mango salsa. The most time-consuming part was the salsa and even that was simple: just chop up a few fresh veggies/fruits and mix together. Add some red rice, and you've got a perfect weeknight meal!

Just realized that this totally looks like a bikini bottom. You can't unsee it.

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MaPo Tofu

Howdy, strangers. I'm alive!! I really don't have a good excuse for not blogging in over 2 months, but I'll offer up some mediocre ones. First, my camera broke a few months ago. I've been taking pictures with my phone and as you may have noticed, they suck. A phone camera, even one with 8 mp, doesn't compare to a real one. I'm still using a point-and-shoot, mind you, but it's still better than the phone. We finally got a new camera a few weeks ago. Second, work has been really busy. Third, we're moving! We fell in love with a house in Howard County in February, and have been working with the seller (sans agents) since to finalize everything. In the meantime, we're also trying to find renters for our current house. We close in a few weeks, and move in June! So excited. Oh yeah, and we're also going on a cruise in the Mediterranean for 2 weeks at the end of May (!!!). Between packing the house, getting ready for the cruise, and showing the house, it's been crazy around these parts.

Anyway, my inaugural spring post is my favorite Szechuan dish: MaPo Tofu. We have a great Szechuan restaurant near my work and I order it every time. Szechuan peppercorns are essential in this style of cooking; they are spicy but in a totally unique, mouth-numbing way that you can only understand by trying them. Most Americanized Chinese restaurants with "Szechuan" dishes aren't using Szechuan peppercorns, so you need to go to a more authentic place to get the real deal. Don't make this dish without 'em. Some of the ingredients must be bought at an Asian market, but once you have them, this dish comes together in a jiffy.

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Valentine's Day: Hoisin Duck Pizza

Happy belated Valentine's Day to all! As I mentioned last year, we usually try to plan a getaway around Valentine's Day but it never works out. Without plans or reservations, we end up making a fancy meal at home which is always better and more relaxing than we could have wanted. This year, we had the best of both worlds! We actually managed to plan a last minute weekend getaway to the Bahamas, but were home in time to cook an elaborate Asian-themed meal for Valentine's Day. On the menu was tuna tartare, wild mushroom salad, and duck pizza.

The tuna tartare was everything I dreamed taste-wise, but it looked like a pile of soy vomit, for lack of better words. Without thinking of presentation, I marinated it in dark soy sauce which completely ruined the beautiful pink hue of the raw tuna. The tuna was mixed with avocado and should have created a gorgeous pink and green tower, but alas. I learned my lesson! Tartare requires clear marinades! I'll make it again in the future and post the recipe, but this one is going into the vault.

The mushroom salad was a simple mix of shiitake and oyster mushrooms served over greens with an Asian-inspired vinaigrette. Pictured below, but no recipe is really needed.

The hoisin duck pizza was the star of our evening. I will spare you the "before" pictures, but let's just say that I didn't realize when I bought a frozen unrecognizable ball of duck from the Asian market that, when thawed, it would be Mr. Quackers in full; duck bill, webbed feet, and all. Thankfully it was at least gutted for me. I had to learn my way around a meat cleaver right quick! Since I only needed the breast for the recipe, I saved the legs for another day. The carcass (neck and all) made duck stock which is sitting in my freezer. Not sure how good it will be but I'll let you know!

Anyway, to the pizza...

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Chickpea and Chorizo Soup

I made this soup last winter, took pictures of it because it was so delicious, then never got around to writing about it before the weather got warm! At that point, a hearty sausage-y soup lost out over more summery grill and salad recipes. But fear not; I made the soup again the other night and remembered how awesome it was, and how easy to throw together with ingredients that you probably already have. I usually keep a variety of meats and sausages in the freezer, and chickpeas always live in my cupboard. Feel free to use turkey sausage if you want to reduce the fat a little, but I'll keep the yummy spicy chorizo thank-you-very-much. The original recipe has you adding extra olive oil but I omitted that and instead used some of the rendered sausage fat to cook the onions. I didn't miss the oil one bit.

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Awesome Peanut Sauce for Satay

I found this recipe for chicken satays with peanut dipping sauce a while ago and haven't looked back since. Once you make this, you'll never make another peanut sauce again! With a food processor and a reasonably short shopping list, this sauce is a cinch to make and lasts a while in the fridge. Serve with grilled chicken (or any other meat, or tofu - can you grill tofu??) skewers or veggies. When I use chicken, I marinate it first in a simple Asian marinade (either a homemade mix or Makoto Ginger Dressing).

One ingredient this calls for is a shallot, which I use all the time as a more mild onion. Shallots are great for dressings, marinades, and sauces and don't need to be cooked to have a great, mild flavor. Today's shallot is brought to you by Frieda's - it came along with the Meyer lemons and red pearl onions.

this is a shallot, my friends

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Spinach and Goat Cheese Ravioli

Armed with my new pasta maker attachment for the KitchenAid (again, thanks Mom and Dad!!), we set out on a Sunday ravioli-making experience. Making homemade ravioli is very time-consuming, but you get to choose exactly what goes inside and bonus: no preservatives or extra crap you see in store-bought ravioli ingredients! I'm always amazed by the paragraph of unrecognizable ingredients in a lot of store-bought food, so I try to make things at home as much as possible. Of course, it's not always feasible, but I think that every little bit counts. Who knows what all that stuff is doing to us?? A couple easy things to make at home where store-bought is usually filled with high fructose corn syrup or other unappetizing ingredients are dressings and marinades. There are gazillions of awesome and easy dressing and marinade recipes out there. But, I digress... to the ravioli!

We ate the ravioli with brown butter sauce which is delicious, but I probably won't make it again. The ravioli would be just as good in a lighter tomato or olive oil-based sauce without all the extra saturated fat. For a splurge, though, it's great!

You don't need a pasta maker attachment to make ravioli, but it does make it easier.

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Baked Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Artichokes

Now that we have all these preserved lemons, what to do?? How about an awesome Moroccan-themed oven-roasted chicken, served over couscous? Sounds yummy to me. I cooked mine in my new Le Creuset Dutch Oven (thanks Mom and Dad!!), but any ol' baking dish will do!

Once you have the preserved lemons, the rest of the recipe is incredibly simple. Essentially just toss everything together in a baking dish and throw in the oven.

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How to Preserve Lemons

I'm not at all experienced with Meyer lemons, but what I have heard/read about them is that they are perfect for preserving, which is another first for me! I went to the Container Store and bought a singular canning jar (since I don't have plans to make this a habit...yet) that seals via boiling. The actual preserving process was stupidly easy, and I now know that the results are kinda awesome, so if I do come across Meyer lemons again I know what I'm gonna do.

If you have seen these lemons at the store, I recommend trying your hand at canning to preserve them! As mentioned previously, Meyer lemons are slightly sweeter and less tart than regular lemons; preserving them only enhances these attributes. The actual preserving is no more than adding a buttload of salt and sealing them in a jar with their juices. Then waiting, for at least 3 weeks. Read on for the steps!

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Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had as great a holiday as I did. I know I promised my next post would be on preserving lemons, but you'll have to be patient. They are still sitting in the fridge a'preservin' and I didn't feel like taking them out for photos just yet. So instead I'm posting a recipe for an amazing appetizer I used to buy frozen all the time (...and eat the entire tray myself, but who's counting). I decided a while back that I wanted to try my hand at making spanakopita myself. This particular recipe has three different kinds of onions, but don't fear because the end product is definitely not overwhelming in the onion department. However, the flavors meld deliciously with the spinach and feta cheese. Serve that up in a flaky, crusty phyllo dough and your guests are sure to swoon! I won't lie, working with phyllo dough is time-consuming and can be frustrating at times when the dough breaks apart, but it's totally worth it for special occasions.

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