Thanksgiving

Recipes 9, 10, 11 – Vegetarian Entrées and Side Dishes – Apple Yam Holiday Casserole, Raspberry Snap Peas, and Thanksgiving Stuffing

Three recipes from the book made it onto the Thanksgiving menu. In addition to the usual suspects of turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie, I made Apple Yam Holiday Casserole, Raspberry Snap Peas, and Thanksgiving Stuffing. All in all, this thanksgiving feast was fruitier than most years.

Apple Yam Holiday Casserole

I’ve never had yams or sweet potatoes partnered with apples in a lasagna-like layered casserole. I’ve also never used mini-marshmallows in any of my holiday cooking, so that was a first for me as well. It was hard to keep those little suckers from burning when I put it under the boiler for a light melting. The combination of yams and apples with an appropriate amount of brown sugar was pleasing.

Raspberry Snap Peas

These were not my favorite. The raspberry vinegar – while fruity – is just too tart and didn’t balance well with anything else on the plate (or in the glass for that matter).

Thanksgiving Stuffing

Finally, the Thanksgiving Stuffing, like all stuffing (and carbs generally), was the star of the plate (after the turkey, of course!). It also had fruity flair. In the mix are granny smith apples, dried apricots, and currants. All the fruit was a nice change to the usual menu and gave a primal, hunter gatherer edge, to the traditional fair.

Recipe 7 – Vegetarian Entrée and Side Dish - Cheese-Macaroni Asparagus Bake

The special ingredient in this vegetarian entrée or side dish is cheese! The recipe calls for 2.5 cups Swedish fontina or Red Leicester cheese.

J and I ventured into Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, in our opinion the mecca for cheese in Pike Place Market, and asked if they make either a fontina or Red Leicester. They do not but recommended a substitute: Beecher’s Flagship cheddar. We accepted the substitute and used it to make this fancy mac & cheese, which is basically what this casserole dish is all about. Here are some views inside the shop:

You can see that Beecher's also makes their own fancy Mac & Cheese using the Flagship and Just Jack cheese.

Honestly, there isn’t too much to say about this one. If you like mac & cheese and don’t mind grating up a mound of speciality cheese and then watching it melt, this recipe is for you.

The best sandwich ever.

Recipe 5 - Vegetarian Entrée and Side Dish – Panini Brutti

This recipe is the contribution of The Pink Door, which is a Seattle favorite, primarily because of its secret, unmarked location. It’s not that secret, though. There is a pink door almost directly across from the entry to Kell’s in Post Alley and behind the pink door in the alley is, well, The Pink Door, a lovely Italian restaurant with a bar and patio area. The bar area has a lot of charisma and frequently on the weekends live music. The patio area is another popular spot, almost always jammed in the summertime. I think in my almost decade of living in Seattle, I’ve only made it to the patio once or twice.

The matter at hand, though, is the panini brutti and how J and I faired preparing the ugly sandwich, the translation of its name. I have to say that so far this is my favorite recipe, which is an oddity because it’s just a sandwich. It has everything to do with the ingredients:

Fresh Mozzarella from DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine
The cheese counter was hopping on the Saturday we decided to stop in. Once we finally had our chance in the spotlight, we lucked out and got the last of their in-store made fresh mozzarella cheese. What makes it special is that it has never been refrigerated, which makes it as fresh as fresh can be. We were directed to not refrigerate it and use it within 24 hours, if possible. The reason being – once the fresh mozzarella is refrigerated, the texture changes and not for the better. They only had a half pound of their in-store made mozzarella so we made up the rest that we needed with the Wisconsin dairy version. We had a little taste test on our hand, and the difference in texture could definitely be tasted in a side-by-side comparison. What a difference refrigeration makes! While the choice may be obvious, I will confirm that if you have the choice between freshly made, never refrigerated mozzarella and something else, go with the former. It will knock your socks off.

Crusty Country Style Bread from Three Girls Bakery
It’s a sandwich so you’re going to need some high quality bread and this can be easily found at Three Girls Bakery. I picked up a loaf of the country white and asked them to slice it. The baker gave me the lesson on how to store the bread – get it out of the plastic bag and into paper as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to comply with his request. I frequently experience a paper bag shortage since I use almost entire reusable bags at the grocery store these days. And when I forget – which also happens – the only choice is usually plastic. I didn’t store it in paper but rather plastic in the refrigerator. I have to say that it fared okay. It never got too hard and was the perfect choice for the panini brutti.

In addition to the white bread and fresh mozzarella, there is garlic, zucchini, eggplant, and red bell pepper along with herbs and seasonings on a panini brutti. All the veggies are grilled and then the sandwich assembled. In my mind, it seemed like a lot of work for a sandwich, but it was among the best sandwiches I’ve had so well worth it.