thanksgiving small plates - un-pumpkin pie & maple vanilla whipped cream

So I dislike pumpkin pie as much as I dislike turkey. Luckily I normally don't have to make them ever. I saw a recipe in the NYTimes about a pumpkin pie that used butternut squash, cream and brandy to make a mousse-like filling and figured I'd give it a try. They recommend roasting the butternut squash in butter to give it a nice caramelized flavor. This is where I got the idea of blending my sweet potato pie as well since they suggested pureeing the squash in a food processor I don't have. I put a lot more spices in this one (too much, in my opinion), but the whipped cream kind of tempers the flavor of the pumpkin pie seasoning.  I also used rum since that was all I had. I'd probably always use something other than pumpkin if I had to make pie with it, but I still prefer sweet potato.  The frozen pie crust is also different on this one. 

thanksgiving small plates - sweet potato pie & mangalista ham

So it's surprisingly hard to get a piece of ham to look ok next to pie no matter how delicious it is, but maybe that's just my problem. This is the ham I mentioned in my risotto post. It came from Mosefund Mangalista and we almost didn't get to have it for dinner. It got delivered to the wrong building so I ran around like a crazy person in PJs, flip flops, coat and a winter hat with a pom pom on top to get my package from the doorman in the building 4 doors down from me.  I warmed it in the oven in a pan with a bit of water in the bottom. Then I added whole cloves and a satsuma mandarin to the water as aromatics. I was going to glaze it, but no one else seemed to mind if I didn't so, yay, one less thing to do!

The sweet potato pie was made the semi-lazy way with a frozen crust, pumpkin pie spice, powdered ginger, and a dash of cayenne. I also blended (yes, I still don't have a food processor)  the sweet potatoes with cream and butter this year before adding other ingredients instead of just dumping everything into the mixer. It yielded a smoother texture. I would've added the cream and butter anyway, but I think I like this whole puree thing. Also, I probably would have eaten the puree straight from the blender if I didn't have a pie to make. 

things I did this year : cronuts

Yeah. I waited in that line late in May right before my birthday twice , because the day before I missed a cronut by like 4 people. Silly me. I like his DKAs more. The cronuts were good, but not worth me standing on line two days in a row before work. I ended up seeing myself in the cab on the way home as some reporter from NBC apparently took a picture of the line that day.  It's not fun to have photographic proof you were waiting in line at 6:00am for a pastry, though. 

food & comfort

Thanksgiving is almost here and it will be the first I have without my father. I always remember painstakingly planning the menu so that he would be able to enjoy the food he loved, but not get too sick from eating what he shouldn't. Renal diets are no joke. When his kidneys failed he wasn't supposed to have so many of the things he loved: potatoes, dark leafy greens, chocolate, tomatoes, bananas, bacon, pig's feet... salt. It got difficult, but I always managed to make something that he could enjoy even if he only ate a little.  

Last year he could barely manage a few spoonfuls of everything, but he surely tried and had to enjoy the food with a sip of beer or wine because he liked it that way. This year, as I prepare to make some of the foods he loved, I wonder if he'd like the menu I'm planning.

Anyway, it's been on my mind. As a first post since ever it's a bit of a downer, but I'm ok with it so you don't have to be. The picture is a throwback from a few years ago, but I know it's something he'd have loved.