Hi My Name is Tom and I’m a Carb-o-holic!!

Whipped Potatoes 2Mashed potatoes and stuffing!! Are you freaking kidding me?? Why are we not eating these with every meal??

oh . . .  :-(

Copycat StuffingAh the heck with it, it’s Thanksgiving and I for one, like every good American, plan to overindulge this holiday season. This means that multiple helpings of mashed potatoes and stuffing will make it off of my plate, on to my fork and into my head. Fork one, napkin two, fork one, napkin two.

I won’t dilly dally any longer as the DAY is nearly upon us.  Here are my tried and true,

Damn Tom, these are great, how much butter did you say was in them, Mashed Potatoes.

Serves 1 or 4 depending on personal greed

3           Russet potatoes, large, peel, large dice
1/8+      Butter stick, unsalted, soft.   p.s. I have been known to add more ;-)
1/4 c     Sour cream
salt & white pepper to taste

Diced PotatoesPlace diced potatoes in a sauce pan with enough cold water to cover.  Add 1 tablespoon salt, place on high heat and bring to a gentle boil.  Cook for about 15 minutes checking with a fork for doneness regularly. (Yes, doneness is a word.) Place a clean colander in an empty sink.

Potato ForkThe potatoes should just yield to the pressure of a fork. Take the pot off of the heat and pour potatoes and water through the colander. Return the potatoes and place back on the stove on high heat for one minute to boil off any excess fluid.

Mashing PotatoesTurn the heat off and with a mashing tool mash the potatoes until the lumps are gone.  With a whisk begin whipping the potatoes.  Add the sour cream and butter and whip until the potatoes are smooth in texture.  Do not over whip. This will make the potatoes gluey.

\Whipped PotatoesAdd salt and white pepper and extra butter to taste.  Place in an oven proof dish, cover and place in warm oven to keep while your turkey is standing.

My preference is to serve with them with a tab of butter on top, then smother with gravy. Yum!!  Fork one, napkin two, . . .

 

This stuffing recipe I created while working on the set of Copycat with Holly Hunter and Sigourney Weaver.  One of the stage hands wanted a good fresh recipe for stuffing so I made this one up on the fly.  He reported back a few years later that my stuffing recipe has become the family favorite and that each year he has to make extra croutons so that there is enough to snack on as well as make in to stuffing.

Copycat Stuffing

Serves 1 to 4, (yadda, yadda, yadda)

1          English Muffin package, small dice
6          Garlic cloves, diced fine
1/4       Butter stick
3T        Olive oil

Garlic ButterIn a sauce pan place butter, olive oil and garlic.  Heat over medium heat until butter starts to bubble.  In a large bowl toss garlic butter and diced English Muffins. Place onto a baking sheet and place baking sheet in to a preheated 350° F oven. Bake until browned about 30 minutes. (This part can be done the day before with no loss of quality.) (You might want to double this part of the recipe and put the croutons out for snacks . . . damn good!!)

Chopped Herbs

1/4 c + 2 T     Olive oil
2 c       Mushrooms, brown, sliced
salt and pepper to taste

1          Onion, white or yellow, small dice
4          Celery ribs, small dice
1          Marjoram, Thyme & Sage, bunch each, stripped of stems and chopped.
2 c       Chicken broth
 

In a saute’ pan place 1/4 c olive oil and turn on medium heat.   Have a large soon for stirring handy.  When the oil just begins to shimmer add the slice mushrooms. Caution!! The mushrooms will splatter. I recommend wearing long sleeves.  Stir and/or toss to saute all sides of the mushroom slices.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper during this process to heighten flavor. Cook for about 5 minutes then pour out on to a paper towel and let sit undisturbed.

Broth and VeggiesIn a clean saute’ pan place 2 T of olive oil and place on medium high heat. When the oil begins to shimmer add the diced onion and celery. Stir and/or toss to cook slightly. After about 5 minutes add the mushrooms and the herbs and stir.  Let cook for one minute then add the chicken broth.  Simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes then remove from heat.

Mixed StuffingIn a large mixing bowl mix the croutons and the vegetable mixture with broth.  Place the moistened croutons in to a baking dish and bake for 1 hour at 350° F.  Serve and enjoy!!

 

I hope that you found my Thanksgiving day recipes helpful.  They are a great part of the holiday, but the best part is sharing them with friends and family.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

Eat Well and Smile Often,

 

tj

 

p.s. Fork one, fork two, fork three . . . (belch.)  Begin again!!

Mashed Potatoes & Gravy!!

Mashed Potatoes and GravyAh! The magic of Thanksgiving lies not in the gratitude we openly express for life’s gifts, large or small.  No, no, no . . . the magic lies in the GRAVY!!

Pan Gravy!!  Just the way my mother used to make it; and her mother before her and her mother . . .  I came from a large household with lots of cousins with assorted and attached aunts and uncles.  Often times there would be 13 kids and 10 adults sharing turkey dinner each year.  It was great fun playing with my cousins and watching the Wizard of Oz. But the best fun for me was enjoying the ample amounts of mashed potatoes and gravy. They had the best of love and experience that mom and grandma could mix in.  But it wasn’t until I started having my own Thanksgiving dinners that I discovered leftovers!  Turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce and stuffing for lunch.  Yum!!  But I must confess, I still rush home every day just for mashed potatoes with gravy as a snack.  Hits the spot like no candy bar ever could.

Over the years I have played with my mashed potato recipe by adding garlic, milk, cream, butter, sour cream and potato cooking water. Each one by themselves was fine but never quite right.  This year I concentrated on cooking the potatoes just right and added butter, sour cream, salt and white pepper to taste.  They are wonderful.  Light, fluffy, full bodied, great creamy texture and a perfect foil for the gravy. (Check back Wednesday for the recipe.)

Gra-a-a-a-a-v-y-y-y-y!  The best way to say gravy is the way Homer Simpson says it.  Gra-a-a-a-a-v-y-y-y-y!  Now I learned a thing or two at the CCA and sauces was chief among the finer points of my education.  There is a step by step process for every sauce with patience being the key factor for every preparation.  Each step must be executed perfectly or a substandard sauce will result.  Not so much with Pan Gravy.

Pan Gravy is very straight forward to make.  Some cooks choose to roast the neck separately and then simmer it in water while the turkey is roasting using this liquid to add flavor to the gravy.  Others cook the giblets, grind them and toss them in the pan to add flavor as well.  I can certainly recommend both of these approaches but I have a far simpler recipe, one that will reduce the level of stress in the kitchen while providing an excellent sauce for your bird, stuffing, potatoes and tongue!

Flour and DrippingsAfter you have taken the bird from the oven, remove it to a dish or cutting board to stand for about 15 – 20 minutes before carving.  This is the time to knock out ‘Le Piece de Resistance’ of the meal: the pan gravy.  Start by placing the pan across one or two burners of your stove and turn them on low.  Just enough that the fat and juices begin to bubble.  For my 13lb turkey recipe there were enough drippings from the bird and the herbed butter to need about 2/3 cup of flour to thicken.  This is a judgment call on the cook’s part.

Cooking the Roux

While the measurement is not critical, a sharp eye should be kept to monitor the consistency of the roux you are making. If the roux is too stiff do not worry, it will just take a little more broth to get the right consistency.  If it is a little runny then add more flour a tablespoon at a time until it just holds together.

Gently Boiling BrothWhisk the flour and all of the drippings together over the low heat and cook the roux until it bubbles and gets a little fluffy, stirring occasionally to even out the cooking. This process literally opens up the starch in the flour and allows it to absorb more liquid than when it is raw. While the roux is cooking, place some chicken broth in a separate saucepan and bring it to a gentle boil. If I could find a commercial source for turkey broth I would have used that. In the restaurant there were always turkeys being roasted for sandwiches and we would save the bones and make a stock from them. Chicken or turkey, both add great flavor.  I used a 32 oz container of unsalted broth and made one quart of gravy . . . almost enough!

Ladling Hot BrothAfter the roux has cooked sufficiently, about 5 minutes, turn off the heat and let it cool for about one minute.  Then gently ladle in one-ladle-full of boiling broth and whisk together well.  After it has fully incorporated repeat this step 3 or 4 more times. Turn the heat back on low under the pan to cook the gravy while whisking. Having hot broth and a little bit of patience whisking it in will give you a smooth gravy, the envy of every wanna-be sauce make out there.  Turn the heat off under the broth and now you can start pouring it in to the pan in greater volumes whisking until fully incorporated each time. Heat the gravy for about 2 minutes while whisking then turn the heat off under the pan and serve.

Whisking for Smooth GravySince I used a brined turkey my drippings were already salted.  My mother would add some Worcestershire sauce for extra spice. (Fair Notice: I had to grab a bottle from the refrigerator in order to spell it correctly.) I simply stuck a spoon into the gravy then into my head and tasted it.  Lovely!! As you see in the picture above it went extremely well with my snack of mashed potatoes.

Bowl of GravyCheck back Wednesday for the final installment of Thanksgiving recipes.

TIP: Buy your bird today,if you haven’t already done so.  A fresh bird will last in the refrigerator until Thursday.  A frozen bird needs 2 to 3 days to fully thaw before preparation.

Enjoy and feel free to visit my Facebook page to leave any questions or comments.

Eat Well and Smile Often.

 

tj

 

p.s. My first turkey is already gone.  Time for Tom Turkey Two!!

T’is the Season to Be Baking!!

Our CakeFa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.

Time to turn up the ovens and pull down the Betty Crocker; cook book that is.  I suggest flipping to the dirtiest, stuck together pages you can find and start mixing together those copious quantities of sugar, butter and flour that make all our holidays ‘Oh So Yum!!’

I can smell it now, cuz t’is also the season to be smelling. I see it now. It all starts with a lone cinnamon or vanilla scented candle.  Then the cider on the stove kicks in with its whole cloves and slices of orange peel spinning and dancing in the heated swirls.

Cookies!! Oh the cookies, fresh from the oven. Chocolate chip, oatmeal and my all-time-favorite: Snickerdoodles!! “Why is it we only make snickerdoodles at the holidays?”  you ask. “Siiliness,” I reply “Pure silliness.”  Banana breads and fruit cakes begin showing up in the mail while food writers around the nation share their bestest recipes for turkeys and hams, potatoes and green beans, and sweet potatoes oh my!!  (Tune in next week for my tips on how to roast a perfect Thanksgiving turkey.)

And homemade candies like fudge and peanut brittle and those crispy little peanut butter balls my former mother-in-law used to make.   (I should have gotten that recipe.)  All dressed up on those pretty little plates that grandma keeps wrapped up and locked away all year because, “They are not for every day use Tommy, only special occasions ”   And hard candies and Nuts!! Lots and lots of nuts.  Bowls, chock full of nuts and chocolates and, and, and (breathless) . . . bliss.

And Bells!! Those little holiday bells that jingle outside, everywhere, in the cold crisp air. And that one Farmer’s Market vendor, 5 miles away but worth the trip, selling Chestnuts that were roasted on an open fire.  Ah, the holiday season is here at last.

The last weekend I didn’t need to ask, “For Whom the Bells Tolls” the “Belle’ tolled for me. The Belle being my charming niece Lindsay who got it in to her pretty-little-head to bake a 3 level, tiered cake for a dear friend’s 40th birthday.

cake 2“Want to come bake a cake with your favorite niece?” she asked. When she asks like that, what am I supposed to say?

“No, and don’t forget to leave my respirator plugged in until you are completely certain that I am brain dead. And NO, just because I watch the Simpsons that doesn’t count as brain dead, just brain . . . ”

Of course I said yes and we made quite a day of it.  MY bad it started off slowly. I forgot to set my alarm and not only did I arrive an hour and a half late I forgot a bag of newly purchased decorating supplies.  (What a putz of an uncle I am . . . Don’t answer that.) After I arrived we decided to make the cake larger than I had anticipated so we sent Lindsay’s charming, handsome, patient husband to the store to purchase 5 more boxes of cake mix and 4 more pounds of confectioners sugar. Oh! And 1 more pound of butter.  You can never have enough butter.  Now I do have a ‘Binder Full’ of cake recipes but sometimes it is quicker to use the packages.  The only difference is the pre-measured dry ingredients, everything else we added fresh. 3 cake pans, 8 boxes of cake mix, 2 dozen eggs, 5 pounds of sugar, 3 pounds of butter, 2 pounds of fondant and 1 special ordered, custom cut, cake-stacker later we had our mini masterpiece. (Please stay tuned for the Partridge-in-a-Pear-Tree recipe . . . What?? It could happen.)

Lindsay and her friendAll credit for the decoration goes to my lovely niece. Her friend is an avid Raiders fan so ‘Black and Silver’ was the theme. Beyond honorable mention, super hubby Mark gets my vote for MVP.

The holidays are a fabulous time of year.  There is nothing like the cacophony of football and cooking, laughter and loving, too many cooks in the kitchen and lots and lots of leftovers!!  Many thanks to Lindsay and Mark for kick starting this season’s baking frenzy for me. Note: I won’t be posting any current pictures of myself until March of next year.  (You know why.)

Eat Well and Smile Often!!

 

tj

 

p.s. T’is the season to add poundage.Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.

p.p.s. Count ’em, they’re all there.

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Man Can Cook!!

Tom a cookin'By now you know that this Man Can Cook . . . does yours??

I have engaged in an informal study of sorts. You see, I like to cook. I’m pretty good at preparing some things and still experimenting with others. But it’s fun. Whether the dish turns out successfully or as a ‘recipe in progress’ really does not matter too much to me. It is the process and experience of cooking that I like.  So why would I not want to share this experience with my date? No reason comes readily to mind.

I asked my friend Jeffery what he thought about cooking for a date, he is a very good cook and one of the nicest men I have ever met. His reply summed it up nicely, “Cooking for a date in your home doesn’t have to be sexual, but it is intimate.”  He is spot on. Roasted PumpkinThe process of preparing food for another person, going to all that effort just for them, is very intimate. It also shows how much you care about them.  The general consensus of opinion is that, “It makes me feel pampered.” And why wouldn’t you want to pamper someone you care about? (FYI: That was a rhetorical question.) Again, no reason comes to mind.

I asked my New York, electronic Pen Pal Melani Robinson if she liked it when her dates cooked for her. Melani writes a blog 1 Year of Online Dating at 50 where she explores online dating with equal measures of bravery and vulnerability.  She wrote back to me and I quote, “I’ve never dated a man who could cook for me, but I’m still hopeful. A guy who knows his way around the kitchen is a big turn on–delicious food is very sexy. Cooking together? Fantastic!”

So fellas . . . What’s Up!!

I am extra lucky in that my paramour Suzanne Griffin of Cooking by the Bay is a fantastic cook.  When we get together sparks fly!!  “What do you mean it has too much lime in it?!”  Well, not always like that.  But honestly, cooking with her is one of my favorite-st things to do. We chop up recipes, hash out techniques, and both of us know how to ‘stir the pot’ as it were.  It is so much fun.Suzanne Griffin

So guys, here’s the thing and it ain’t hard.

  1. Clean your house.  And I mean CLEAN it.  Dust, wash, scrub if you have to, air it out and buy one or two (no more!) scented candles.  I suggest cinnamon.
  2. Clean yourself . . . shower, bathe . . . whatever and wear clean clothes.  Pick out what you are going to wear a week ahead of time.  Take your clothes to the cleaners so your shirt is clean and pressed.
  3. Read my blog! There are a few great recipes in here.  Think ahead about the meal you want to prepare. If you have time, PRACTICE making the main dish.  (Look, you have to eat anyway.) If you get stuck, drop me a note. I’ll un-stick you.
  4. Be ready when your date arrives.  Kitchen clean, items prepped in the refrigerator, wine glasses polished and wine chilled if not red.

Wine Glasses

I like to cook in front of my date but you may feel better/safer having many things prepared ahead of time.

Cooking is an intimate, kind gesture to make for a friend, new or long-time. Go ahead  . . . pamper someone . . . make their day.  They just might make yours!! ;)

Eat Well and Smile Often!!

 

tj

 

p.s. Be kind for everyone’s life is hard – Plato