Another Lunch at Volt

Volt is one of my favorite restaurants in the area. It is a little bit out of the way, but it is a cute part of Frederick, and there really is nowhere else that you can get that a three-course meal with that quality of food for only $25. So, I finally decided that it was time that I introduce my boyfriend, E., to Bryan Voltaggio's cooking. We made a reservation for lunch before the holidays, and took the only opening they had, which was at 2pm on a Thursday. (Side note: I was actually very excited by the fact that Bryan Voltaggio was in the kitchen that day, and came out to the dining room to check how things were going)

We arrived a little bit late for our reservation because of traffic; I tried to call the restaurant to warn them, but Volt now has an answering service and it is no longer possible to speak with a human being. To our surprise, when we came in, we were told that our table wasn’t ready, so we waited in the lounge. After about five minutes, the hostess came and got us.

We were seated and given menus and our choice of sparkling or still house-purified water. As we made our selections, I was a little disappointed by the fact that they neglected to serve us their house-made bread sticks. At first I thought it was because we were a late lunch seating and perhaps they had run out. But then a table close to us had bread sticks on the table and a table of six that was seated long after us also got bread sticks. So we were simply passed over. I am not saying that this was a deliberate, but I will remark again on it later.

While we waited for our first course, we were offered bread, along with Vermont butter with big flakes of sea salt. As usual, there was a selection of three different things to pick from. I got a buttermilk chive biscuit and E. got an olive and rosemary roll. My biscuit was beautifully flaky, but a little bit salty. E.’s roll was on the sweeter side, light, and airy.

For our first course I ordered the shiitake velouté with pinenut sabayon, chili oil, and opal basil. I’ve had this before, and it didn’t blow me away the last time, but I liked the earthiness of the velouté and I thought it worked well with the creamy sabayon. This time, however, the dish was unbearably salty. Even with my biscuit and large sips of water, I couldn’t eat all of it, and so I left over half of it untouched. It was incredibly disappointing. When our server came by, he asked if everything was okay, and I did mention the saltiness; he apologized for the kitchen and offered to bring me another dish, which was very kind, but I felt it was unnecessary since we still had two more courses to go, and I couldn’t really imagine that what they would bring out would be that much more improved.

E.’s first course was the cherry glen farm goat cheese ravioli with butternut squash, maitake mushrooms, and sage air. E. had felt slightly unsure about the goat cheese, since it can be a very strong flavor, but he ended up enjoying the dish. It had a lot of character, but the goat cheese wasn’t overwhelming, and the mushrooms provided an earthiness and a light sweetness to the dish which complemented the ravioli beautifully. The dish was very rich, without being heavy, and felt rather perfect for the season.

For my main course, I had scallops with beluga lentils, chive pudding, and variations of cauliflower. The scallops were amazing. They were perfectly cooked, and the kitchen played off the natural sweetness of the scallops with the chive pudding, cauliflower purée, and roasted cauliflower. I especially enjoyed the texture of the beluga lentils, which had a bit of a bite to them, and the crunchy dehydrated cauliflower. It was hard to find anything wrong with this dish, and I would give it a very solid 9.5 out of 10. It was fun to eat—E. called it whimsical—and I loved that there were plays on both texture and taste.

E. ordered rockfish with black forbidden rice, pureed maroon carrot, and soy air for his main course. This dish was perfect. I normally consider rockfish a very meaty, solid fish, and yet somehow the kitchen turned out something that was almost delicate, and absolutely mouthwatering. The fish was moist and the skin was beautifully crisp, providing a nice textural difference. The black forbidden rice was fragrant and the carrot puree packed a surprising flavor punch. The entire dish was solid and filling, and we gave it a 9.5 out of 10.

I was a little sad when we finished both of our main courses, as they were both so wonderful and I didn't want the experience to end. But dessert did not disappoint.

For my dessert, I had the textures of chocolate with dark chocolate ganache, chocolate caramel, and raw organic cocoa. E. was shocked by the size of my dessert, and by the amount of the sugar I was thus consuming, but we both enjoyed it. The combination of the caramel, ganache, ice cream, and cocoa provided different tastes and textures that melded together to create a symphony of flavors. While I have this dessert so many times that it no longer wows me, it is consistently and beautifully executed, and provided a nice finish to a lovely meal. It is always a 9 out of 10.

For his dessert, E. ordered the goat cheese cake with d’anjou pear, spiced vanilla ice cream, and citrus tuille. The cheese cake was light and the scent and flavor of the goat cheese wasn’t at all overwhelming. The tangy-ness was well balanced with sweetness. If it hadn't been called a goat cheese cheesecake, you wouldn't have known it at all. The pear was cooked so that it retained a slight bite to it (instead of being soft and mushy) and the ice cream was beautifully flecked with vanilla seeds. This dessert was lovely, sophisticated, and E. much enjoyed it. A solid 9 out of 10.

After our table was cleared, the check came with two little paper packages, one for each person. Each package had two big chocolate chip cookies. They were soft baked, but with crispy edges, and fragrant with butter. The takeaway gift was, as always, a nice touch, which we enjoyed later as a post-lunch, pre-dinner snack.

As for the service? Service at Volt has always been consistent and good. No matter what day of the week or how crowded the restaurant is, our servers have always been polite, friendly, and knowledgeable. They are good at refilling glasses and paying attention to the little needs of diners, and they can always answer any questions about the dishes on the menu.

Our service this time was polite, but also a little spotty. While our glasses were refilled at a good rate, I was disappointed by the fact that they neglected to bring us the bread sticks (mentioned above) and that we were never offered bread after our first tasting. These may seem like small things, but the servers at Volt are never this negligent. I was surprised that bread was only offered at the beginning of the meal, and that though we both finished our servings, we were not offered bread again with the main course. This is an anomaly, not just for Volt, but for any restaurant. Bread should be served with the main course, if you’re serving bread. And in all my visits to Volt, the servers had never failed before to offer bread during the main course (in the past, we’d had multiple offerings for bread during the course of our meal).

I couldn't help but wonder if it was the age factor. I know I look young for my age; I have a very young face. E. looks just as young as I do. When we go out, I sometimes joke with my friends that we look like two sixteen year olds. This wouldn’t be a problem, except that most young people will tell you that service given to the young differs drastically compared to service given to those who are older.

I am always wary when I go out to eat, because I know I look many years younger than I actually am, and my perceived age, I've noticed, sometimes affects my quality of service. This aggravates me beyond words. I am older than I look, and I have dined at restaurants from CityZen to Inn at Little Washington to Le Grand Vefour. I know what service I should be getting and what quality of food I should be served, and when I am paying the same price as other customers, I expect to be treated just as they are treated. I hate getting poorer service simply because people think they can get away with it. Volt, I cannot say that your service was slightly sub-par because of the youth factor, but I will be on my guard in the future. Remember, service makes up half the experience of dining out, and I dine out because I want to have good experiences.

Volt

228 North Market Street

Frederick, MD 21701
Tel: 301-696-8658

Overall rating for the price: 8.5 out of 10

Rosemary Pine Nut Cookies

I'm sorry to do this, but I think I ought to give you all one last potential holiday recipe, and because these past few days have been crazy, I shall post this recipe without pictures. This will just be a one time thing though. (Well... I can't make any promises)

These Rosemary Pine Nut Cookies are delicious, with a mild nutty flavor, and they carry a beautiful background tone of rosemary. I have yet to make these for someone and have them be received with anything other than pleasure and enthusiasm.

If you're dying to know what these things look like, I can tell you that they are beautiful sand colored cookies and absolutely worth making. These cookies are great for gift-giving, or just as a quick dessert to wrap up a good meal. They also work great with a cheese plate.

Happy Holidays!

Rosemary & Pine Nut Shortbread Cookies
adapted from Martha Stewart

½ cup pine nuts
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Pulse the pine nuts and rosemary in a food processor until finely chopped and combined.

Add the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt. Pulse until smooth. [Note: It may be necessary to pull out the blade and scraped down the sides so that everything is evenly incorporated.]

Add the flour. Pulse until dough comes together and is fairly smooth.

Turn out dough onto saran wrap, and form a log with a diameter of approximately 2 inches (give or take). Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes, or up to 2 days.

Unwrapped the dough and slice the cookies into ¼ inch rounds. [Optional: dust with coarse/demerara sugar]

Transfer to an aluminum or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until just golden, 13 to 15 minutes.

Let cool, then store in an airtight container for up to 5 days (if they last that long) at room temperature.

Yields about 3 dozen cookies

Dim Sum Garden

On the way home to Maryland from New Jersey, my parents and I decided to stop for lunch in Philadelphia. My dad had heard about a place in Chinatown that was highly praised for its Shanghai "soup dumplings," and so the decision was made to lunch there.

The restaurant, Dim Sum Garden, is just a small place, very easy to miss. It didn't seem like anything impressive from the outside, and its menu is fairly limited, but we decided on four things that we wanted to order.

Our orders were quickly taken and we barely had a chance to enjoy the hot tea before our food arrived on the table. The service was quick and friendly, and the waitress occasionally came by to ask us, "Is good?" to which we wholeheartedly replied yes.

We started with their famous "Shanghai Crabmeat & Pork Juicy Bun" ($5.75 for 8 pieces). The English name of the dish is a mediocre translation from the Chinese name, but it gets the point across. Some people call these "soup dumplings" because once you bite into the dumpling, not only is there the standard meat filling, but there is also a delicious, warm broth that fills your mouth. It was great and fun to eat, and we all agreed that this restaurant lived up to its reputation.

The scallion pancakes ($2.50 for 6 pieces) that we ordered also exceeded our expectations. The "pancakes" were thin and very crispy, flavorful and perfectly seasoned. The texture of the pancakes were especially pleasing because scallion pancakes can sometimes be on the soft and pliable side, but these were perfect.

We also ordered a roast duck dish ($6.95). This was actually the only disappointment. It didn't have the strong "five spice" flavor that typifies roast duck, and it leaned heavily on the salty side. We actually didn't finish this dish, although it was small, because it was too salt to keep eating. We did, however, bring it home, and after heating it in our toaster oven, we found the leftovers to be just fine when eaten with rice.

These shrimp dumpling ($5.75 for 6 pieces) were another hit. They were flavorful, perfectly cooked, and beautifully made.

Everything was hot, fresh, and well made. We were especially pleased with the scallion pancakes and impressed by the Shanghai "juicy buns" or soup dumplings. On our way home, we were already talking about our next visit. Not only was the food great, but it was also incredibly affordable. While the restaurant's specific location might not be the best, it is Philadelphia's Chinatown, and conveniently close to many tourist hot spots. So, if you ever happen to find yourself in the area, I will say that Dim Sum Garden is the place to go for a good, affordable Shanghai-style dim sum meal.

Dim Sum Garden
59 North 11th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107-3004
Tel: (215) 627-0218

Overall rating for the price: 8.5 out of 10

Wintery Cranberry Relish with Crushed Pecans

It's really been feeling like winter here the past few days. The wind howls at night, we've seen some flurries, anytime I look out my window, I see hats and scarves and thick coats with hoods.

Winter time always seem to signify busy time, doesn't it? If it's not holiday shopping, then it's having guests over or family visits. Work gets stressful and the days feel shorter (the days are shorter). So I won't linger. I will give you a recipe, but with no real story.

This is actually my sister's recipe. It is one that she found, I believe, in a newspaper somewhere (most likely the Washington Post) and then, as she proudly told me, edited a bit. Which is quite a feat for her. She's a recipe follower. She doesn't improvise with food. But this time she did, and so now I give you, with some of my own edits as well, a raw cranberry relish recipe that is at least ten times better than it sounds. It's also fantastically healthy and easy to make. Give it a go. Really. You'd be surprised how delicious it is, especially when served with a pecan pie or some ice cream or alongside some rosemary chicken. It goes great as a replacement for cranberry sauce or jelly in holiday meals.

Raw Cranberry Relish with Crushed Pecans
1 bag fresh cranberries
2 whole clementines, organic, skin included, washed and cut into chunks
3/4 cup shelled pecans
1/3 cup mild honey, such as clover
1/4 tsp cinnamon
dash of ground cloves

Place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and pulse. Blend to get a uniform, finely chopped mixture. If you want a crunchier texture, blend less. Chill until ready to serve.

Be sure to make at least 4-5 hours in advance. The longer the mixture is allowed to sit and marinate (in the fridge), the better it tastes, since the raw cranberries mellow out.

Cranberry Pecan Tart

I like pecan pie as much as the next guy, but I've always thought that it was a teensy bit one-dimensional. I mean, you have that gooey, delicious buttery brown sugar filling... and nuts. That's it. And there's nothing to balance the sweetness. Sure, you can throw in some dark chocolate chips or some brandy or rum, but sometimes I just want a little bit of something extra.

Well, this year, I found it.

This beauty, this Cranberry Pecan Pie, is perfect for entertaining and perfect for a night in. Not only is it really easy to make--just throw everything into the food processor!--but it also has just the right balance of sweetness, nuttiness, and slight tartness, with all the warmth of a proper holiday dessert.

My family liked this recipe so much that after I made it for our Thanksgiving dinner, it was gone the next day (remember, this was just for my little family of four), and I was asked to makethree more tarts the next day. Three. This is definitely a winner.

This tart has all the deliciousness of a traditional pecan pie--yes that buttery, gooey, filling--with the added bonus of some fruity, sweet, tart deliciousness from the cranberries. If you want to go with nuts on top, you can (you can see that I did for one of my pies, above, and neglected to add them for the pie below), or you can just decorate with some pretty red berries.

Either way, if you have a holiday party coming up, or some guests on their way over, or are just going to spend the night in and want a delicious but easy dessert to fix for yourself, this is the way to go. This tart is also delicious the next day, so it's great to make ahead of time (my family actually debated whether or not it was better the next day).

And since the holidays aren't the time to worry about your waistline, I just want to add that this is heavenly when served with lightly sweetened, fresh whipped cream. Just take some heavy whipping cream, some sugar and maybe a pinch of salt. Extra points if you use vanilla sugar or some good vanilla extract.

Cranberry Pecan Tart

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup pecans
½ cup cranberries
2/3 cup sugar
1 ½ tbsp all-purpose flour
zest from 2-3 clementines or 1 orange
½ tsp ground cinnamon
dash of ground ginger (optional, for a kick)
dash of ground cloves
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tbsp rum
1 large egg
1 large egg white
9 tbsp (1 stick + 1 tbsp ) softened butter
handful whole, fresh cranberries
handful whole pecans
1 pre-baked tart shell

Finely grind pecans, cranberries, and sugar in food processor. Pulse in flour, zest, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and rum till smooth. Add egg and egg white and blend. Blend in softened butter. Transfer filling to medium container, cover, and chill at least 3 hours. (This can be done up to 2 days in advance.)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread pecan filling evenly in baked tart crust. Arrange cranberries and pecans decoratively on top. Bake tart on middle rack until golden, about 45 minutes. Cool.

Important note: Only bake your tart shell until just done. Do not wait until it is golden. For example, packaged pie crusts say to bake for 10 minutes at 400°F. I baked mine for only 8-9 minutes. This will prevent your crust from over-browning later and you having to cover it with tin foil.

*Additional note: I used salted butter. I find that it provides a rounder flavor. I tend to think that people who talk about using unsalted butter to "control the salt content" are a little silly.

Pesto Potato, Asparagus, and Green Bean Salad

I know I'm late on the band wagon, but I didn't get into pesto until this year. Beautiful, flavorful, bright green pesto. Now, I can't get enough of it. I eat it all the time. I'm surprised my teeth aren't turning green from all the basil.

Now before you say anything about seasonality, because pesto is generally, I know, considered a spring dish, I want to say this: seasonality smeasonality. When I crave something and it's available, I'll take it, even if it is out of season. If you look hard enough and are willing to pay good money for it, you can generally find good produce year-round, even if it is out of season. The only exceptions to this, I've found, are tomatoes and corn. Sometimes it feels impossible to find a good tomato in the fall and winter. But that's for another post. (Still got a tomato craving though? Here's an idea to try if you've got some not-in-their-prime tomatoes that you want to use) And yes, before you try to argue, berries can be found out of season. In fact, for the past week, I've been eating blueberries and blackberries with my yogurt and granola. Delicious!

Anyhow, my apologies for the tangent. The point is, pesto is wonderful and versatile (use it on pasta, potatoes, chicken, green beans, asparagus, grilled zucchini, fresh mozzarella cheese), and you shouldn't put it aside just because winter doesn't feel like the appropriate time for to make this recipe. The bright green color is perfect for the holidays, and if you want a potato dish that doesn't feel heavy with butter and cream, this is a great way to go.

Pesto Potato Salad with Green Beans
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

2-3 pounds small Yukon gold or red-skinned potatoes
½ pound green beans

1 pound asparagus
2 garlic cloves
4 large bunches of basil (washed and dried, about 4 ounces?)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp + 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
grated Parmesan cheese to taste
1/4 to 1/2 tsp kosher salt (depending on your taste)

ground black pepper

Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until fork tender. Drain, cool, and quarter. Put into a large enough bowl for serving.

Cook the green beans until fully cooked, but still snappy (do not just blanch them, this is the only cooking they'll get). Cut the green beans in half and add to the potatoes.

Cook the asparagus like the beans, then cut in half. If serving to guests, I use only the pretty pointy end. Add to the green beans and potatoes.

To make the pesto, crush and peel the garlic. Put into the bowl of a food processor along with the washed and dried basil leaves (discard the stems). Add in 2 tsp pine nuts. Pulse to combine. Drizzle in the olive oil with the food processor running. Add just enough to get it to an appropriately "sauce-y" consistency. Season with kosher salt and pepper.

Pour the pesto over the potatoes and beans and mix. Add in the remaining pine nuts. Add Parmesan cheese to taste.

Serve at room temperature for best flavor. This can be made one day in advance.

Serves 6, as a side.

Buttermilk Biscuits with Rosemary and Thyme

I love how the name of this recipe just rolls off the tongue: buttermilk biscuits.

I probably sound like a broken record now, always calling my recipes versatile and easy to make, but this one definitely is.

Why do I keep stressing this idea of simplicity? Because I recognize that the reason why a lot of people don't develop a love of cooking is because of this idea that cooking is a long and complicated process that involves special kitchenware or tools. This isn't true though.

I bake all the time, and yet I don't keep yeast in my kitchen, ever, and I don't own biscuit cutters. I try to only buy things that I use often. My kitchen has one kind of flour: all purpose flour. I have a food processor and a mixer and that's about as fancy as I get with my kitchen gadgets. I love to cook, but I never see any reason to go out and buy special ingredients or tools/gadgets. So I try to keep things simple. For my sake and yours.

These biscuits are great free form biscuits. meaning they require no rolling out of the dough, and you don't need to run out and purchase biscuits cutters. The recipe is also very novice-friendly and forgiving.

It's great to make if you have friends over, and especially good for children. One key thing that I think helps make this recipe fairly difficult to mess up is this: freezing the butter. I know that sounds weird, but really if you take your butter and cut it into fairly small chunks you can handle the dough for a long period of time without worrying about any negative consequences (e.g. cakey or tough biscuits). Freezing butter when making biscuits and pie doughs is important because it keeps the butter cold and the cold pieces of butter distributed throughout your biscuit dough are what helps to make your biscuit flaky during baking.

This biscuit recipe is also a great recipe for anyone who wants biscuits but doesn't want to have to plan a special trip to the grocery store just to make some biscuits.

You don't even need to have buttermilk on hand! (I've actually never bought buttermilk) Just get some milk and some lemon juice (or lime juice) following the ratio below, combine, and allow to sit at room temperature and you've got beautiful buttermilk. And yes, don't worry, there are suppose to be those curds forming.

As for flavoring of the biscuits, you can really mix things up. I used rosemary and thyme, but you could make oregano biscuits, tarragon biscuits, cheese biscuits (although you'll want to decrease the salt in the recipe then), ham biscuits, onion and sage biscuits, whatever floats your boat.

So, without further ado, a biscuit recipe from me to you.

Buttermilk Biscuits with Rosemary and Thyme
adapted from Dot’s Diner

275g all purpose flour (scant 3 cups)
2 tsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¾ cup (1½ sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
½ tsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary
1 cup buttermilk (scant cup milk + juice from ½ lemon)
2 tbsp melted butter (optional)

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in large bowl. Finely chop rosemary and thyme and mix to combine.

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Using fingertips, rub the chilled butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk and stir until evenly moistened.

Form biscuits using approximately 1/4 cup dough for each. Biscuits don’t spread too much in the oven, so 1-2 inches of space between biscuits should be fine.

Optional: decorate with a small bunch of rosemary. Brush with butter.

Bake until biscuits are golden, about 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Makes 12-13 biscuits.

Note: If freezing your butter, you only need to toss it in the freezer about 15-20 minutes ahead of time.

Roasted Onions & Cornbread and Sage Stuffing

I know it might seem to you a little bit late to be posting stuffing recipes, but while this is something that we served at the D. house for Thanksgiving, this recipe actually works all year round, and it is so delicious, it really shouldn't just be saved for one day in the year. And if you do happen to try it, be prepared to replace your old Thanksgiving stuffing recipe with this one. I wouldn't be surprised if this beats the socks off some more traditional recipes.

The recipe actually just started as a regular cornbread stuffing. We bought store-bought cornbread (for simplicity's sake) and crumbled it and mixed with some various fun ingredients and then baked it all in a glass casserole/pie pan. It was delicious. It quickly became a Thanksgiving staple (like the Rosemary Cornish Hen). Then this year, I saw a recipe for roasted onions with stuffing inside and I thought it was a really clever idea. But I couldn't bear to part with our family's stuffing recipe. So with a little bit of tweaking, we now have this, a recipe for roasted Vidalia onions, filled with cornbread and sage stuffing.

If you want to skip the roasting and stuffing of the onions for the sake of time, feel free. I'll also warn you that hallowing out those onions was a huge tear-jerker. I'm not normally an onion crier--in fact, I've never teared up before from cutting onions--but while I was scooping out the inner layers of those onions, I could not stop crying. Those were some very real tears. But it was worth it.

This stuffing is sweet and savory, and the caramelized onions go so well with the sweetness of the corn and the earthiness of the sage. I also love the moist texture of this stuffing. Having the stuffing inside of the roasted Vidalia onions just put the icing on the cake, so to speak. It was perfect, and well worth the tears.

Roasted Onions

These instructions work for any number of onions. Just change your pan size based on your amount of onions. I used sweet Vidalia onions. Yellow onions work just as well. I wouldn't use white onions, however, as they don't have the same flavor.

To make the onions shells, cut and discards the tops and bottoms of the onions (about ¼ inch). Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop out the inner layers of the onions. Leave the outer 2 layers intact. The scooped-out onion can be sautéed and reserved for cooking. Don’t worry if you make a hole at the bottom of your onion shells.

To roast the onions, preheat the oven to 400°F. Arrange the onion shells open side up in a 9x13 baking pan. Add enough water to go up the onions one-quarter of the way. Add 1 tsp kosher/sea salt. Cover the pan with foil and bake until onions are tender, 20 to 30 minutes.

Cornbread and Sage Stuffing

Crumble an 8x8 pan of cornbread (we use store bought for simplicity) into a medium bowl.

Add about ¼ cup chopped sage, a dash of salt, and some ground black pepper.

In a separate bowl, beat 1 egg with ¼ cup heavy cream and ¾ cup chicken stock.

Pour over the cornbread mixture and stir to combine.

Meanwhile, sauté 1 cup chopped onions (this is where you can use the excess onions from above) in 2 tbsp butter. Add the onions to the cornbread mixture.

If using the roasted onions, place the roasted onions in a large enough pan to contain them, and then stuff the onions with the cornbread mixture. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 400°F (until golden on top and a toothpick inserted comes out clean).

The cornbread “stuffing” (really, it has more the texture of bread pudding) can be baked in a casserole dish at 400°F for 45 minutes.

Serves 4, with plenty of leftovers, or 8, as a side. The stuffing recipe can be used to stuff AT LEAST 8 large onions.

We just stuffed 4 onions and baked the rest of the stuffing in a 6 inch round casserole dish.

With buttermilk biscuit and cranberry relish

On the table, stuffed onions on the far side,
(pesto potato salad in the middle),
and cornbread stuffing baked in a small casserole dish in the front.

Thanksgiving for Four

Another delicious Thanksgiving at the D. house. A meal full of love and care, served to the best company in the world: my family.

My mom, my sister, and I started preparing at around noon, as usual. There were potatoes to be scrubbed, asparagus to be washed, green beans to be blanched, onions to be roasted, cornbread to be crumbled and turned into stuffing, biscuits to be formed, Cornish hens to be dressed, pie to be made, and so very much more.

This year we managed to plan things well enough that we finished early, and dinner was served at around 5:30pm or so (normally we plan for 6pm or 6:30).

My dad opened up a bottle of white wine, and we all sat down to feast together. The wine we had was a Chester Gap Cellars Petit Manseng 2009, a bold sweet white wine. It was aromatic and had a bright acidity that balanced the sweetness of the wine. (Chester Gap is a small vineyard in Front Royal, Virginia.)

For the meal, we had chestnut soup with whipped cream (lightly sweetened and salted) to start. Buttermilk biscuits with rosemary and thyme accompanied.
Then we dug into some delicious cranberry relish and some roasted onions stuffed with cornbread "stuffing" flavored with caramelized onions and sage. We enjoyed some pesto potatoes with asparagus and green beans. And of course, there was the star of the night: the rosemary Cornish game hens I told you about, with my mother's delicious sticky rice stuffing.

After some clean up, we settled down on the couch for our traditional post-feast movie. At around 8:30, having digested some of our dinner, we paused the movie and came back to the dining room table for the finale: dessert: This year, we finished our Thanksgiving meal with a beautiful Cranberry Pecan Tart. It was quickly devoured, as you can see below. I barely had time to snap some decent pictures.

Recipes (and more pictures) coming soon!

Planning Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving is an American thing. And yes, it is a somewhat twisted idea to celebrate the genocide of the Native Americans year after year (illegal immigration conversation, anyone?) with a meal that is supposed to represent one story tale day in history when colonists supposedly put down their weapons and smallpox-infested blankets for a little while to eat in peace with the people whose land they had stolen, but now this day has come to mean something else. It is a break from work, a break from school, and a holiday to spend with loved ones and family, giving thanks for what we have.

I do like Thanksgiving. We have no big traditions in my house, and Thanksgiving is just a small affair normally--just close family, never more than 10 people, sometimes only four--but it is something we look forward to. It is another family meal where we can sit down together, talk, laugh, and remember how lucky we are to have what we have.

Sometimes, the years when it is just the four of us--parents and children, no one else--are my favorite. My mom, my sister, and I will gather together in the kitchen around noon and start the preparations for the meal. We always break up our tasks so that someone is working on this side dish while someone else is working on something else, and we laugh and talk while my dad sits close by in the family room, working and occasionally helping us out when we call for him. The one thing we always know we're having? Rosemary chicken.

My mom will buy two small Cornish hens and marinate them in nuoc mam, pepper, garlic powder, and chopped rosemary. Then she'll make this stuffing from sticky rice (com nep), with corn, shitake mushrooms, and Chinese sausage (lap xuong). It is delicious. The blending of American and Oriental cooking works for us, and we have repeated it year after year.

There are always sides that my sister and I make, which have included a raw cranberry and orange relish that was featured during last year's meal, a sage and cornbread baked stuffing that we've repeated several times, a butternut squash and apple soup, a curried pumpkin soup, and the vegetable tart I just posted about.

Most years, Thanksgiving also includes pecan pie. Sometimes we try to change it up, but more often than not, we end up coming back to it. It's hard to resist the urge to be creative and maybe jazz up an old favorite, but the original is a good classic, and it needs no edits.

I can't wait to see what the final menu will be for this year, after tasks have been divided and grocery shopping has been done. I will be coming back to you with a full report. For now though, I am on my way home, back to the comfort of the familiar streets where I grew up.

Versatile Vegetable Tart (aka dressed up Tarte à L'Oignon)

I often read blogs that post Thanksgiving recipes before Thanksgiving and I sometimes wonder how they do that. I haven't cooked yet for Thanksgiving, how could I have a recipe with photos to share with you? But I suppose it would be somewhat useless for you, as the reader, to hear about my Thanksgiving recipes after the fact. So here is a recipe for you to consider which I made last year: a beautifully versatile vegetable tart.

I do love quiches and savory tarts and the like, but I often find that their recipes include a rather ridiculous amount of heavy cream or large amounts of cheese. I don't particularly like rich foods--I tend to find that the fatty taste gets tiring after a couple bites and you never feel good afterwards, which ruins the experience of eating--and I have a slight cheese aversion, so when I found this recipe, I was quite pleased.

This vegetable tart recipe, besides being fairly healthy and cheese-free, is also incredibly versatile. It is originally a tarte à l'oignon, but it can be made with zucchini, bell peppers, ham, or anything else you find appropriate (probably not tomatoes or pumpkin though, since their textures aren't quite right).

I actually made this with a friend last year for a potluck with his friends. Being a somewhat stereotypical male, he was not the kitchen/cooking type, so I picked this to make together since it was easy and unintimidating. Granted, I still ended up doing the majority of the work, but I think it's a good recipe if you're looking for something easy to make with a partner who is unexperienced in the cooking or baking arena.

Versatile Vegetable Tart
Adapted from André Soltner, The New York Times (October 20, 2003)

Pre-baked tart shell/pie crust
1-2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small zuchinni, sliced (can substitute with other savory items*)
1 large egg
½ cup heavy cream
dash of salt
dash of freshly ground pepper
pinch of ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, and sauté the onions and garlic with salt and pepper, stirring regularly, until they are lightly golden, caramelized, and tender (10-15 minutes). Pour off into a separate bowl. Sauté the zuchinni in the same skillet until just tender, add more oil if needed. Remove the skillet from the heat.

In a small bowl, beat the egg and cream together. Add a dash of salt and pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Add this to the onions and garlic mixture, stirring to combine.

Fill the tart shell with the onion, garlic, and egg mixture. Top with a few slices of zucchini, arranged in some decorative pattern.

Bake tart for 25 minutes, or until the filling is golden brown and set. Serve hot, warm, or even cold.

*Other ideas: bell peppers, ham, cooked bacon, shredded chicken, shredded turkey (a great use of Thanksgiving leftovers!)