Charleston Gumbo

Ahhh… The first snow of 2012 got us thinking of a warming stew for dinner. So we tried this spicy thick seafood ‘soup,’ the Charleston Gumbo.  It’s easy to make and cleaning up is also easy because there’s only one pot to clean! This dish will definitely warm you up, and when served in one of Le Creuset‘s colorful Cast Iron Casseroles it will cheer up a wintry night.

Serves: 4/6                  Preparation and Cooking 1 1/2 hours

Ingredients

• 125 grams chopped bacon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 4 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 green chilli, seeded and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
• 2 small red chillies, seeded and chopped
• 500 g peeled and chopped tomatoes
• 500 g new potatoes cut into 1cm dice
• 225 g okra, cut into 1 cm slices
• a pinch of cayenne pepper, ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 4 cups fish stock or water
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 450 g cod fillet, cut into 6 cm pieces
• 1 kg large raw shrimp
• 1 kg small raw clams
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley, to garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat a Casserole on a low to medium heat for 3 – 4 minutes.
2. Add the bacon and cook, stirring until the fat begins to run. Add the olive oil with the onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic and chillies. Reduce the heat to low and cook these vegetables until they begin to soften.
3. Add the tomatoes and all the remaining ingredients, except the seafood.
4. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the vegetables are very tender. Add all the seafood, stirring well.
5. Cover again and cook for 5 to 8 minutes longer until the cod is cooked and the clams are open; discard any clams that remain closed.
6. Just before serving, stir in the chopped parsley and season.
7. To serve: Ladle over cooked long grained rice.
8. Bon Appétit!

This Saturday, It’s Party Time in Old Greenwich!

This Saturday is the First Light Festival in downtown Old Greenwich. Come join your friends and neighbors to celebrate the coming of Winter. Tons of fun activities for children and tasty snacks and drinks for everyone. This is the block party you don’t want to miss!

Peanut Turkey with Apples and Carrots

Photo: Tasting Table

Whoa… Hold the press! When I first got an email for Southern-inspired Thanksgiving recipes from Tasting Table, a daily “food culture” newsletter, I was immediately drawn to the peanut aspect of the recipe. Over the years I have read many turkey recipes that involve exotic spices, rubs, and brine liquids… But peanuts?? I have never heard of combining peanuts with turkey before! I would like to share this with our Cook and Craft family… Hope you enjoy it and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

– Mel Harjono

Yield: 6 servings    Cook Time: 2 hours

INGREDIENTS

Turkey

One 12-pound turkey–giblets removed, turkey rinsed and patted dry

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage, plus 3 sprigs fresh sage, divided

4 baking apples (such as Macintosh)–cored, halved and divided

1 shallot, peeled

Half a medium lemon

8 large carrots, peeled and sliced in half lengthwise

2 cups chicken stock

2 tablespoons peanut oil

Peanut-Butter Gravy

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup apple cider2 cups chicken stock

2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salted peanuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 425°. Sprinkle the cavity and skin of the turkey liberally with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, mash together 3 tablespoons of the butter with the chopped sage, salt and pepper. Carefully rub the seasoned butter under the turkey’s skin. Stuff the cavity with the remaining sage springs, 2 apple halves, shallot and lemon. Truss the turkey’s legs.

2. In a large roasting pan, add the 3 remaining apples and the carrots. Toss with the remaining teaspoon of sage butter. Season with salt and pepper and add the chicken stock. Transfer the turkey, breast side up, to a wire rack and fold the wing tips under the turkey; rub with the peanut oil and season liberally with salt and pepper. Place the rack on top of the vegetables.

3. Place the pan in the oven and roast until the turkey is golden, about 45 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375° and roast, basting every 20 minutes with the pan sauce until an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of a thigh reads 165°, about 1 to 1½ hours.

4. Transfer the turkey to a cutting board, cover loosely with aluminum foil and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.

5. Make the gravy: Transfer the apples and carrots from the pan to a bowl and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Skim the fat off of the pan drippings and set the pan on two burners over medium heat. Deglaze the pan with the cider vinegar and whisk, scraping up any browned bits from the pan. Add the flour to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, whisking constantly, until the gravy is thickened and the starch flavor is cooked out, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the apple cider and chicken stock and cook for 3 minutes. Whisk in the peanut butter and cook another 30 seconds. Season with salt and pepper to taste and keep warm.

6. Carve the turkey and serve warm with the caramelized carrots, peanut-butter gravy and salted peanuts.

Do a Thanksgiving Feast Like a Pro… Avoid these 10 rookie’s mistakes

So you wanna create an awesome, memorable Thanksgiving party?

The food editors at Bon Appetite magazine (clearly a source you can trust!) compiled these 10 most common Thanksgiving mistakes and gave us some common sense tips to avoid them. Believe it or not, we are guilty of committing at least a couple of mistakes on this list in the past. This list is a good reminder (like, read the recipe first!) for novice and pro-alike. May we all have a stress-free, delicious Thanksgiving this year… Cheers!

10 Most Common Thanksgiving Mistakes

Not reading the recipes first — This classic mistake results in a lot of “Oops, I don’t have that pan” or “oops, I didn’t know it needed to brine overnight.” Avoid these disasters by reading the recipes! Make sure you have the dishes needed and ample time to get things done.

Picking dishes that all require last-minute preparation… When designing the feast, figure out how it’s going to get put together and on the table at the same time. Know what can be done ahead, what can be warmed in the oven while the turkey rests, etc.

…Or that all need to be in the oven at the same time — Choose recipes that require different preparation and can be served at different temperatures; oven versus stovetop and hot versus room temp.

Not having all of the serving dishes and utensils needed — Reading the recipes will help you figure out what you might need, but you can always rearrange the dishes you have to fit with the right recipe. If you are short, borrow from friends and family.

Undercooking the turkey — Rely on internal temperatures rather than cooking time to determine when your bird is done. Don’t even think about roasting a turkey without a thermometer.

Overcooking the turkey — Start checking if it’s done about 1/2 hour before the recipe says it will be. But make it fast! The more you open the door, the more heat the oven will lose, making roasting time longer. OR, use a probe thermometer that stays in the turkey while it roasts, with an alarm that goes off when it’s ready.

Making lumpy mashed potatoes — Buy a potato ricer! It’s the best guarantee for a silky, lump-free mash.

Not serving hors d’oeuvres — Even if you’ve been tasting (read: snacking) all day as you cook, your guests haven’t. Put out something light, like cured salmon and crisps, to keep them hungry–but not ravenous–for the big meal.

Dishing out cold gravy — You can keep your gravy at serving temperature indefinitely by keeping it in a pot of barely simmering water that comes halfway up the sides of the gravy boat (although if you’re using grandma’s china, you might want to use a ceramic bowl).

Setting the table at the last minute – Set the table one day ahead. You can even put Post-It’s on serving dishes that say what recipe will go with which platter or bowl.

French Toast + Pancake = Awesomeness

photo: A Cozy Kitchen

File this under “Why did I not think of this genius idea before??” This scrumptious dish is a modified French toast… instead of the regular egg batter, dip the toast in pancake batter. The result is a firm yet moist toast with amazing crust. Give this recipe a try this weekend!

Ingredients
4 whole Large Eggs
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1 cup Milk
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla (optional)
½ teaspoons Cinnamon, Optional
12 slices Bread (you’ll Want Something Thick And Hearty To Stand Up To The Heavier Batter)

Instruction
Beat eggs until fluffy. Beat in remaining ingredients (except bread). Heat a griddle over medium high heat until a drop of water skitters across the pan. Dip one slice of bread at a time in the batter until it is completely covered. Place on the griddle and cook until brown on one side. Then, flip and brown the other side. You will know the bread is ready to flip in the same way you know pancakes are ready: the edges look dry and bubbles have formed in the batter along the crust. Slather with butter and drizzle on some maple syrup. These also freeze well for breakfast later in the week.

Red Tomato and Garlic Chutney

ToMAYto, toMAHto… Let’s not call the whole thing off, and make some chutney instead! The middle of summer is usually filled with an abundance of tomatoes. One can only eat so much of tomato salad. A great way to preserve this summer fruit is by canning, freezing, or making chutney with them. This recipe is an easy classic. Chutney sounds fancy, but it is so easy to make!

Ingredients — Makes about 6.5 cups

• 1 tsp. whole allspice
• 1 tsp. coriander seeds
• 2 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 2 pieces fresh ginger, approximately 3/4 x 2 1/2 inches, bruised
• 3 1/4 pounds red tomatoes, skinned and chopped
• 1 pound cooking apples, peeled, cored, and diced
• 1 pound onions, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 small garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 ml) red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. coarse salt
• 7/8 cup packed (200 grams) warmed good brown sugar

Methods –

1. Place the whole spices and bruised ginger in a piece of muslin and tie it into a bag with string.
2. Place all the ingredients except the sugar in a stainless steel preserving pan and bring to the boil, then simmer until tender. Add the warmed sugar and stir over a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil, then simmer gently for approximately 1.5 hours until the chutney is think but still juicy, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove the muslin bag, then pour the chutney into hot, sterilized jars and seal.

To sterilize the jars –

European-style canning jars, which have glass tops, secured by a thick wire clamp are best for chutneys. Wash the jars in hot soapy water, rinse in hot water, and leave to air-dry. Place a folded dish towel on an oven shelf and lay the jars on their sides on top. Shortly before you need to use them, heat the oven to 225 F/ 110 C and leave the jars at this temperature for 20-30 minutes. The jars should still be hot when you fill them with hot jam or chutney.

Equipment note –

Preserving pan: a noncorrosive, nonreactive preserving pan, big enough to hold large quantities of boiling jam. Also known as a maslin pan or a jam pan, is wide and shallow to encourage rapid evaporation when bringing jam to setting point. A good quality pan will have a thick, heavy base, which will prevent any preserve from burning.

Yucatan-Style Baby Back Ribs with Spicy Cherry Glaze

This extremely delicious baby-back ribs recipe is courtesy of Ivy Stark, the executive chef for the Dos Caminos restaurants in New York and Florida. It’s succulent ribs cooked Yucatan style: wrapped in banana leaves, covered with spices and orange juice, and baked. The flavor is complex and crave-inducing… these ribs can be kept for days, you’ll have them as excellent leftover.

Yucatan-Style Baby Back Ribs with Spicy Cherry Glaze
Yield: 24 (1/2 rack or 8-10 ounce) portions. Preparation time: 30 minutes plus unattended cooking time. Shelf life: 5 days.

For the ribs:
Banana leaves, available from Latin food suppliers.
2 bunches thyme, chopped
2 bunches oregano, chopped
1 bunch rosemary, chopped
16 ounces sliced shallots
5 ounces sliced garlic
12 bay leaves
2 tablespoons whole allspice
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1/4 cup achiote paste (substitute with annato seeds, or omit entirely)
12 rack baby back ribs, rinsed in cold water and patted dry
10 lemons, sliced
10 limes, sliced
1 1/2 quarts orange juice
Toasted sesame seeds, to garnish

For the Spicy Cherry Glaze:
1 ounce vegetable oil
1 ounce garlic, minced
8 ounces red onion, diced
2 ounces fresh ginger, minced
1 1/2 quarts sour cherries
2 ounces resposado tequila
3 ounces Sriracha hot sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 ounce sherry wine vinegar
4 ounces soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange banana leaves in the bottom of a deep full-size baking pan large enough so the ribs will be completely covered.

2. In a bowl, combine thyme, oregano, rosemary, shallots, garlic, bay leaves, allspice, cumin, coriander and achiote paste. Lay ribs in the pan and distribute seasoning mixture evenly. Add lemons and limes, pour orange juice over the meat, cover pan with foil, seal tightly and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Remove, leave pan covered, and cool the ribs to room temperature.

3. Once cool, transfer ribs to sheet pans and refrigerate for up to 24 hours if not using right away.

4. Prepare the Spicy Cherry Glaze: in a medium-size skillet over medium heat, combine oil, garlic, onion, ginger and cherries and saute until lightly browned. Stir in tequila, hot sauce, sesame oil, sherry wine vinegar and soy sauce and simmer for 15 minutes; season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Generously coat ribs with the glaze. Heat broiler and position the rack about 5 inches from the heat. Broil for 10 minutes to crisp the glaze; sprinkle on sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Cassoulet, Cassoulet…

Wow, just as we thought winter is almost over, Old Greenwich received another 5  inches of snow!  During the snow storm a few weeks back we were hunkering down in our homes and made some cassoulet from Amateur Gourmet‘s recipe. It was absolutely delicious and easy, the perfect dish to make in this kind of weather.

Cassoulet is a dish that just makes sense. Why does it make sense? You take fatty, flavorful meat, put it in a big pot with moisture-hungry beans and bake the whole thing until the beans are infused with all that fat and flavor and the meat is cooked. It’s not meant to be a fancy dish–this is the kind of food French people make at home–and it’s infinitely variable, as evidenced by the infinite cassoulet recipes you will find in my infinite cookbook collection, recipes that vary the type of meat, the type of bean, even the amount of time it takes to make the dish…

Follow Adam’s step-by-step (with pictures!) recipe: Cassoulet in 10 Easy Steps — you won’t be disappointed!

 

Top 5 Last Minute Gift Ideas For The Holiday

Hello, 11th hour shoppers… we have picked these best-sellers (which are our favorites, too) to help you speed through your holiday shopping. Here are our top 5 selection:

1. Hillborn Pottery — We’ve been carrying Rick Hillborn’s pottery since 2005. He creates these affordable unique gift, handmade in Canada, with careful attention only an artisan can give. Prices start at $18

2. Insulated wine carrier — featured in December edition of Greenwich Magazine’s  as the perfect little hostess gift. This good-looking wine carrier will be useful for many times over, especially for summertime picnic… Picnic At Ascot, $24

3. Nespresso‘s Citiz — what an amazing espresso machine! You don’t have to hire a barista to have a perfect cup of espresso or latte. And, right now is the perfect time to get a Nespresso machine: $75 credit towards coffee when you purchase a machine $249 and up.

4. Breville Panini Maker — actually, this panini maker is truly versatile: the dual plate design is suitable for cooking any meal of the day. The flat bottom plate is perfect for cooking eggs and pancakes, while the ribbed top plate provides authentic, cafe style grill marks. $69.99

And finally…
5. Le Cadeaux‘s melamine oval platter — these platters are our newest addition to our store. Elegant, unbreakable, dishwasher safe, they are great for parties — yours or the hostess… Small oval is $15.99 and the large oval is $24.99

If you need additional gift ideas, we will be at the store on December 24th  to help you complete your gift list… We can create a food gift baskets filled with select, artisanal food goodies, or other gift basket combination…

OUR HOLIDAY EXTENDED HOURS:

Monday — Saturday 10:00 AM till 6:00 PM
Sunday                        11:00 AM till 2:00

As always, Happy Cooking,

and HAPPY HOLIDAYS from
the Cook and Craft crew!

Old Greenwich Town’s First Light 2010

This is the Old Greenwich Town block party… There will be holiday carolers, sweet and treats by other merchants, hot chocolate, magic, fun activities for kids, music, and (of course) Santa Claus!  We are going to serve some wine and hors d’oeuvres… and just like last year, and the year before, and the year before that… there will be a RAFFLE!

– OUR HOLIDAY EXTENDED HOURS –

Monday — Saturday 10:00 AM till 6:00 PM
Sunday                           11:00 AM till 2:00 PM

our phone number: 203-637-2755

email: theshop@cookandcraft.com