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It's Time! The Craftsy Black Friday Sale!

11/28/2014

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In My Kitchen: Beans (and everything else) for Thanksgiving

11/20/2014

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I began my cooking career decades ago as a vegetarian cook determined to bring delightful, and not ascetic, vegetarian dishes to the public. I am still devoted to this, though I am no longer a strict vegetarian as I was then. Still, it’s the way I eat most of the time. I do partake of turkey and trimmings with pleasure at Thanksgiving, but I am also always assigned a vegetarian main dish as one of my contributions to the dinner I go to every year.

This year I was inspired, as I was a few months ago, by Rancho Gordo beans. I thought it would be particularly fitting to develop some vegetarian main dishes (and a side) with beans that are native to North America and Mexico (which covers many), particularly some of the beautiful heirloom varieties I’ve been buying from Rancho Gordo. I cooked them with sweet potatoes for one delicious Thanksgiving dish, and in a couple of dishes with winter squash, which we also associate with Thanksgiving. These will appeal to everyone at your Thanksgiving table, vegetarian or otherwise. But for the vegetarians they will definitely be welcome at the center of the plate.

What are some of the other dishes I will be bringing to the table this Thanksgiving? In addition to the colcannons I told you about a few weeks ago, I could never do without my favorite sweet potato recipe, Sweet Potato and Apple Puree, which I would make every week if I weren’t so busy testing new recipes. I also never miss an opportunity to make Pecan Pie, one of my true weaknesses in life. Mine is less cloying than the authentic version; but it’s pretty darned sweet and it has much more flavor, with honey and Lyle’s Golden Syrup pinch hitting for corn syrup. I often bring a salad to our collective Thanksgiving as well, and always I focus on endive, sometimes with apple as I will this year, sometimes with beets, as I have other years. I do so many new recipe tests every week, getting back to these tried and true dishes next week is a comforting thought, something I’m looking forward to.

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In My Traveling Kitchen

11/14/2014

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Tasting mushrooms this week, what a great addition to the Thanksgiving table these would be!

Apples, like landscapes, change from place to place, defining local in autumn farmers markets. October was a month of travel, and one of my great pleasures was checking out the different varieties of this fruit from city to city. Thus I found myself at a small New York City farmers market across from Lincoln Center on a rainy October market lingering among the Jonamacs and Jonagolds, Idareds and Mutsus, Macouns and McIntoshes, Spartans, Cortlands, and Empires, and a week later doing the same in Cambridge, where I saw some varieties that were new to me, Brocks, Spencers, Blushing Goldens and Golden Russets. The West Coast apples I work with are excellent (Braeburns, Galas, Pink Lady, Fuji, Granny Smith), but there are fewer varieties to chose from in Los Angeles, and there is something about the tart, juicy crispness of a New England apple on a cool day that can’t be outdone.

Inspired, I worked on apple recipes with Thanksgiving in mind. I didn’t work on pies -- there are plenty of great apple pie recipes in the NYTCooking data base. I worked on salads and sides, scones and some other desserts, all coming up on Recipes for Health.

New York and Boston were two stops on my way to Paris, where every meal I ate reminded me that it was wild mushroom season. Cèpes or girolles, or both, were on all the menus and I never resisted a dish that featured them. At the wonderful Ecailler du Bistrot in the 11th arrondissment, where the fish is so fresh it glistens and melts in your mouth, I reveled in a roasted barbue (brill) garnished with a girolle-studded parsley sauce; at a nondescript Italian place in the 6th I took a chance on risotto with cèpes (I usually avoid ordering risotto in restaurants because it is so often overcooked) and bet right; a ravioli with cèpes at Z Kitchen Gallerie was stunning. I bought as many wild mushrooms as I could afford (not many) at the marché on the Boulevard Richard Lenoir with the intention of making a risotto with mushrooms and pumpkin; but the guests I had hoped to cook for weren’t available and as the week began to get away, fearing my mushrooms would too, I nipped home between outings one day, cooked them quickly in a pan with garlic and wine, piled them onto toast and crumbled on the Parmesan I’d bought for the risotto. That was a perfect lunch.

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Out of the Kitchen

11/9/2014

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Martha has been out of the kitchen this week, traveling to Boston for the Whole Grains conference! If you didn't get to see her there and you need a quick and easy tutorial, check out her Big Bowls tutorial here. In the spirit of the [healthiful] holidays, these tutorials will be on sale for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Check back with us for more details!

Meanwhile, a spread worth celebrating- the New York Times has just published their holiday edition in the WELL Healthy section, and Martha is featured front and center. Her vegetarian fares are wholesome versions of quintessential Thanksgiving treats, perfect for a Vegetarian/Vegan friendly Turkey Day or anyone who enjoys the accoutrements that are as good as (if not better than) the main course. Check them out, try them out, before the big day is upon us!

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In My Kitchen: Bitter Lettuces and Thanksgiving to Come!

11/3/2014

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Stir Fried Tofu and Escarole

Penne with Radiccio and Goat Cheese

Endive Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

Coming soon: Thanksgiving specials

Last week’s Recipes for Health were inspired by a wonderful new cookbook by Jennifer McLagan called Bitter: A Taste of the World’s Most Dangerous Flavor, with Recipes. In the book, Ms. McLagan explores the pleasures of bitter foods, everything from lettuces like radicchio to beer to Campari to chocolate. My five recipes focus on lettuces like escarole, radicchio, arugula and endive, but they’re not all salads. These lettuces are robust and you can cook them in stir-fries, toss them with pasta, and sear them in a skillet. But they also make wonderful salads; I think my favorite was the endive wedges with blue cheese dressing. All of the salads are worth keeping in mind for your Thanksgiving menu.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, with November upon us I’ve devoted all of this month’s Recipes for Health to vegetarian ideas for turkey day, and for those who are enjoying turkey, there will be a week of recipes with ideas for turkey leftovers. I begin this week with thoughts on mashed potatoes. We love mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving and there’s no reason to give them up, carbs and butter notwithstanding. But you can play around with mashed potatoes and combine them with cooked vegetables, which brings down the carb count and introduces color, flavor, and nutrients. I decided to make a number of potato-vegetable combos, based on a classic Irish dish called colcannon, which is usually made with potatoes and cabbage or kale. I went all out with color, and you have a rainbow of recipes to choose from as I’ve combined potatoes with broccoli and leeks, carrots and parsnips, winter squash and apple, celeriac and purple cabbage, and dandelion greens or chard.

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It's Time! The Craftsy Black Friday Sale!

In My Kitchen: Beans (and everything else) for Thanksgiving

In My Traveling Kitchen

Out of the Kitchen

In My Kitchen: Bitter Lettuces and Thanksgiving to Come!

Martha Rose Shulman

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It's Time! The Craftsy Black Friday Sale!

In My Kitchen: Beans (and everything else) for Thanksgiving

In My Traveling Kitchen

Out of the Kitchen

In My Kitchen: Bitter Lettuces and Thanksgiving to Come!

﻿Martha Rose Shulman﻿

Classes

Receive Martha's monthly updates!

Archives

Categories

Martha Rose Shulman