Bulgur or Quinoa Dressing

Quinoa Dressing garnished with Giant Italian Parsley 

Bulgur Wheat or Quinoa Thanksgiving Dressing  (Serves 4 to 5 as a side dish)

Part 1 
Cook over medium heat:
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped celery with some leaves, in
2 to 4 Tablespoons oil and/or unsalted butter until onions are translucent. 

Add 1 cup medium to coarse bulgur wheat OR 1 cup (washed or prewashed) quinoa and 1 ¾ to 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth, cover tightly, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Let sit off heat for 5 minutes. Taste and carefully adjust salt if necessary. It probably will not need any additional salt if you used salted broth.  

Part 2
Microwave 1/3 cup packed sweetened dried cranberries in 2 Tablespoons orange or apple juice or water, until water simmers. Stir, cover and allow to stand until liquid is absorbed. 

Shortly before serving, fluff warm quinoa with a fork and add softened cranberries, 2 Tablespoons chopped Italian parsley and 4 finely minced young scallions with some of the tender green parts, or some minced chives. Serve.   

Seasoning Tips: 

Bulgur Wheat version:  The original recipe called for 1/4 teaspoon of poultry seasoning, but I leave it out because I want this dressing to taste different from the more traditional dressing on the table. You can add some black pepper with the onions and celery if using bulgur wheat.

Quinoa version:  Try doubling the amount of softened cranberries.

On a day other than Thanksgiving, you can substitute a minced garlic clove or one or two shallots (added with the onion and celery) for the scallions or chives added at the end.

If there is a no-sugar purist coming to dinner, you can leave out the cranberries and garnish the finished dressing with pomegranate arils. 

Quantity Cooking:  

If you will be eating with a crowd where the kitchen will be busy, a quadruple batch of the bulgur wheat version (Part 1) holds nicely for a few hours in a 6 or 7 quart slow cooker or big covered electric skillet set to “warm”. I don’t know how well the quinoa version holds. Add cranberries, parsley and green onion shortly before serving. 

Even after adding Part 2, this dressing re-heats nicely in a microwave.  Great for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving.

 Alternate Grains and Allergy information: 

The quinoa recipe is gluten-free.  I think  a wheat and milk-free alternative with brown rice and maybe a little wild rice, cooked until done but still chewy, would also be excellent.  For a different flavor, try adding some minced green tops from a bulb of fennel and chopping some of the bulb into the dressing, or some fresh tarragon. Consider pressure-cooking brown rice at high altitudes. Or try other grains. Cook enough rice (and/or other grain) in broth to make about 3 1/2 to 4 cups of cooked grain.  Add to cooked onions and celery, add additional liquid if necessary for a moister dressing and proceed as above.    

You're on your own figuring out equivalent amounts of cooked wild rice, millet, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat or pearled barley (people who react to wheat gluten may not get along with barley, either).   Check basic cooking techniques for these grains online to determine cooking times and the proportions of liquid which will be needed. 

This dish could easily be made VEGETARIAN.  Just use vegetable broth or water instead of chicken broth and use oil rather than butter. 

This recipe can be made free of corn products - check chicken broth and cranberry ingredients. 

Stocking Up, Preparing Bulgur Wheat without Electricity:  
The classic salad made with bulgur wheat, Tabouleh (AKA Tabouli) generally uses bulgur wheat soaked in hot or cold water, then drained before adding other ingredients.  

 In an emergency, even if you had no way to heat food and no fresh veggies, you could serve a salad using similar ingredients by soaking medium bulgur in cold water for one hour (or until hydrated), adding dried celery, parsley and onion (not as much as in this recipe) plus dried cranberries or other dried fruit, desired seasonings, a little oil and lemon juice or vinegar.  Allow to sit until vegetables re-hydrate and flavors blend, stirring occasionally.  Stir in a can of tuna or diced chicken (with the liquid in the can) if you like and serve.

Toasted Cornbread-Pecan Dressing for Thanksgiving

David's Mom always makes a big roasting pan full of cornbread dressing, moist and dense, for Thanksgiving. Still working on getting her recipes together and onto this blog. I can't eat the dressing because of the corn, but I need to learn how to make it for family gatherings.

The dressing below does not require oven time on Thanksgiving or Christmas day. It is adapted from The Cook's Bible: The Best of American Home Cooking by Christopher Kimball - the editor of "Cook's Illustrated" magazine.

"Toasting the cornbread and the chopped pecans gives a wonderful taste and texture to the finished product". You'll have to let me know, because I can't eat it. Sounds good, though. Bet you could double the recipe for a big crowd and leave it in a big electric skillet for buffet service:

Toasted Cornbread-Pecan Dressing

6 cups coarsely crumbled cornbread
3/4 cup pecans
1/4 pound bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onions
3/4 cup finely chopped celery
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
1 tablespoon minced fresh sage or 1 tsp dried
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup minced flat leaf parsley

1. Heat over to 350F. Spread crumbled cornbread onto a baking sheet. Coarsely chop pecans and add to cornbread. Toast in oven for 25-30 minutes or until cornbread is golden, tossing the crumbs once or twice during toasting. Cool and place in a large mixing bowl.

2. Cook bacon over medium heat in a skillet. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to the bowl with the cornbread and pour off all but 1 tablespoon of drippings (mmm...bacon drippings). Add butter and olive oil to skillet and when butter has melted, add onion and saute for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add celery and saute another three minutes.
Stir in thyme and sage and salt and pepper to taste. Add to cornbread.

3. Turn up heat under skillet. Add chicken stock and cook for 3 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon and scraping the bottom of the pan. Add mixture to the bowl of cornbread. Add parsley to bowl and adjust seasonings.

And you're thinking, "Put it back in the oven, right?" No, that's it.
You're done. Makes about 10 cups, and it tastes even better if you make it today and let it sit overnight. Reheat in microwave (if made ahead) and turn into a serving bowl.

Last Year's Thanksgiving Tips - plus more

CRANBERRIES
One thing I always do at Thanksgiving now is to make a batch of cranberry sauce from scratch, from the Ocean Spray Cranberry package. Sort through the berries while washing (they float) and follow the recipe exactly, breaking berries which don't burst. It's so easy, and much better than canned whole-berry sauce. Wonderful if you're transporting food to someone else's house, as it doesn't need to be refrigerated and is best made ahead. For a different flavor, less assertive, add 1/4 teaspoon salt. Recommended by Cook's Illustrated as the best recipe for cranberry sauce.

You can also use part orange juice in place of water and a little orange zest mixed in, or as a garnish. Plus a teaspoon of ginger or some other spices. If using orange and/or spices, try using part brown sugar in place of white sugar. Some people like red grape juice in place of water (or port wine - a no-no for those with sulfite allergies), plus the zest from a couple of lemons.

I've been going the purist route in recent years. Just a 12-oz. bag of berries and a cup each of sugar and water. Makes a zingy sauce (though if the fresh cranberries available this year are not completely ripe, a little salt will cut the bitterness). If it's a good year for cranberries, make extra for later in the season. Process canning jars as for jelly if you're serious about having extra homemade sauce.

I have been leaving the oranges, etc. for raw cranberry relish. There's a recipe on the Ocean Spray bag. And you can find others easily. If chunky relish is too bold, try blending it in a food processor until pureed.

For kids, have some mild, jellied cranberry (even better, cranberry/raspberry) sauce on hand. Remove the "log" from the can, cut in half lengthwise, then cut into half-rounds and fan them out on a serving plate, or cut in half again lengthwise before slicing quarter-logs into wedges. Individual servings will take up less room on the plate and will be less "floppy" than big round slices.

Update: More Cranberry Sauce ideas here. And from NPR, the famous pink cranberry/horseradish/sour cream relish. And relish with orange and ginger here.

VEGETABLES AND FRUITS
One idea for keeping guests happy while simplifying your Thanksgiving Day menu (and cutting down on rich foods) is to expand the number of vegetable dishes you serve and to set out platters of fruit and nuts for nibbling. Very much in keeping with the idea of gratitude for the harvest. And this holds true for the entire Thanksgiving weekend, when fruits and vegetables can fill in around meals based on leftovers. If guests arrive a day early, fruits and vegetables, and marinated salads, can be kept on hand to accommodate variable schedules.

Here's a pretty fruit salad you can make mostly ahead. It features pomegranates. Our friends in Switzerland could make it in summer, substituting red currants for pomegranates.

One year here in our garden, we had fresh shelly beans in the garden at Thanksgiving, several varieties, and I combined them with corn, a little caramelized onion and a touch of heavy cream for a "more traditional" succotash. I got the idea from the Joy of Cooking. No cup of butter in the succotash for me. Though tomatoes in succotash are another way to go. Keira's mom used to cook dried corn and add a little cream for fall sometimes to remind everyone how things used to be.

I cooked some of the shellies (fresh seeds from over-grown, but not dried, green beans) separately for myself, since I can't eat corn. Black Valentine and Coco Rose de Prague are good varieties for variable fall weather, and make good shellies as well as green beans. Supplement with frozen lima or green beans if you are short of "shellies".

GENERAL

Nothing wrong with having two or three kinds of dressing.

Don't think I'll be doing deep-fried turkey.

My rolls will be from frozen dough, not "scratch".

Hoping that everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Let me know if you have any particularly wonderful dishes for next year.

Fluffy Rice

Adapted from The Best Recipe.

This recipe is for fluffy, separate white rice - not for rice to be eaten with chopsticks. You may also cook long-grain rice in a rice-cooker without oil for a more delicate flavor. This recipe uses techniques for preparing rice pilaf.

1 cup rice
2 teaspoons vegetable oil, unsalted butter or a combination
1 1/2 cups water (proportionately less water for more rice: 2 3/4 cups water for 2 cups rice, etc.)
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

Place oil in a heavy-bottomed 2 to 2 1/2 quart saucepan with a tight-fitting lid and heat over medium heat. Add rice and saute for one to three minutes, depending on the amount of nutty flavor you want. I go for one minute unless preparing a pilaf-like dish.

Add water and salt and bring to a boil. Swirl pan to distribute rice evenly. Cover tightly, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to sit for an additional 15 minutes without lifting the lid.

How I do it: I usually add a little more water than called for in the recipe above, and cook for 18 minutes before allowing the rice to sit for the additional 15 minutes to finish cooking. For example, for 4 cups dry rice, I have used almost 3 Tablespoons oil, 6 cups water and 2 teaspoons salt, cooking in a kettle for 18 minutes after bringing to a boil, then allowing to continue cooking after turning off the heat. On my stove, the heat setting must be a notch above "low" in order for the rice to cook completely.

You may also need more water than the recipe above specifies if the lid to your pan does not fit tightly. You may need both a longer cooking time and more water if preparing rice at high altitude. If you are planning to serve rice for a crowd, do a trial run in advance to be sure that your rice will be thoroughly cooked at the heat setting and in the pan you choose. Rice cookers give reliable results as long as you are at a relatively low altitude.

Okie Squash and Tomatoes

Family Memories
David's Grandma used to fix this dish a lot in the summer, when they ate mostly out of the garden. It is a good way to use bigger summer squashes which are beyond the tender, baby stage which we prize (especially in the case of crooknecks or straightnecks) for more delicate recipes. But if the seeds have started to harden or the skin is tough, you'll have to seed and/or pare the squashes first.

While I was staying with Yvonne's family in Switzerland, her mother prepared sliced kohlrabi with tomato, onion and bacon and froze it for winter.  It tasted something like "Okie squash and tomatoes" with a little cabbage flavor.  I haven't tried freezing the squash, onion and tomato dish (no cheese until serving time), but I bet it would work. 

David's Mom currently prefers to make this dish with bacon - no cheese - using fresh tomatoes.  Jana recently did a layered variation using spaghetti sauce and roast beef.  Vary at will.  

Basic Ingredients
Squash to fill a 10 to 12 inch covered skillet (or a big electric skillet for a larger batch)
One medium onion (10-inch skillet), more for a larger skillet
Salt to taste
Fresh tomatoes, tomato sauce or diced or stewed canned tomatoes
Ground red or black pepper to taste

Optional Ingredients
• Bacon, fried until crisp, or diced ham
• Diced Ancho, Pasilla or other mild, fresh chiles, to taste.
• Roasted Jalapeno or other hot chiles to taste
• Italian or other seasoning to taste
• Cheese - cheddar, pepper jack, cheddar plus mozzarella, parmesan plus mozzarella, Swiss. Pair the type of cheese you use with the ingredients you add (pepper jack with fresh chiles, cheddar or Swiss with bacon, Italian cheeses with Italian spices, etc.)

Directions
Heat a large covered skillet over medium heat. Add some vegetable or olive oil (or bacon grease for authenticity) to lightly coat the skillet. If you plan to add bacon, fry the bacon first, drain away most of the fat and cook the onions in the same pan. Quarter and slice an onion into the oil or bacon fat and sautee until it starts to become translucent. You can continue to sautee gently until the onion caramelizes if you like.

Cut washed and trimmed summer squash into slices, about 1/2 inch, and cut into quarters if squashes are large. I like to use at least part zucchini for this dish - green or yellow. Pattypans and straightnecks or crooknecks also work. Start with the largest, firmest squash. Place in the skillet with the onion and sprinkle with a little salt to draw out some liquid. Cover while preparing additional squashes. Continue adding squash with salt and pepper to taste until you have a skilletful, or as much as you want. Cover, stir occasionally until the flesh of the squash starts to lose its white color, If you add tomatoes too soon, the squash may squeak on your teeth when you eat it.

Add a few peeled, diced tomatoes and/or a small can (about 8 oz.) of tomato sauce. For a big electric skillet full of squash, you can use a can (about 15 ounces) of stewed tomatoes, diced tomatoes or tomatoes with Mexican or Italian seasonings. Add a little tomato sauce if you want the liquid to be thicker. Or use two cans of tomato sauce. Stir and simmer until raw tomatoes are done or until canned tomatoes are heated through.

Adjust seasoning. If you like, add some crumbled bacon or diced ham. You can also top it with cheddar cheese, a little Parmesan or other cheese of your choice.   Cover skillet until cheese melts.

We usually skip the meat and top the squash with cheese. You may want to serve this dish in bowls if you make it with tomatoes rather than tomato sauce, because it will have considerable liquid. If you make it with tomato sauce, it's less invasive on a plate with other foods.

Nice for dinner, maybe with some Pinto beans for a real Okie experience.  Also great for breakfast with buttered toast. Reminds me of my Grandma's stewed tomato, toast and cheese breakfasts on the farm. For a fancier presentation, spoon into individual oven-proof ramekins or casseroles, top with cheese and buttered bread or cracker crumbs and run under the broiler. If the weather's not too hot to turn on the oven.

For a Potluck
With a big electric skillet, you can feed a lot of people. Just increase the amounts of ingredients and use a bigger onion, or two onions.  This recipe and Spanish Green Beans (below) are very popular at potlucks.  You can make the bean dish in winter, when fresh squash is hard to come by.

Other Recommendations
You could also use Lagenaria gourds in this recipe - pared and seeded if large. These Italian gourds have some advantages over squash in the garden - they have no spines on their stems, have velvety leaves and are less susceptible to common squash diseases and pests. They are vining, and would be dramatic on an overhead trellis with the long fruits hanging down. One year I planted them with Trombocino summer squashes (also useful in the recipe above). These vining summer squashes are related to butternuts (C. moschata) and the plants are also free from spines. They tend to continue producing fruits after common summer squashes have given up. Their flavor and texture is different from the more common C. pepo summer squashes.

If you like this recipe, you might like another Okie dish, okra with onions and stewed tomatoes, or this recipe for "Spanish" Green Beans.

Rice Pilaf for a Crowd (corn-free)

Whether or not you are allergic to corn, this original Near East rice pilaf is a good choice for feeding a crowd. While it is one of the few prepared foods that doesn't contain corn products, it does contain wheat (pasta).

People love it - even KIDS. They served it for breakfast at our stake's girl's camp one year. But get the restaurant-size box from Smart & Final, Sam's Club or Costco. Makes 18 one-cup servings. The small boxes are much more expensive per serving.

Uses a cube (1/2 cup) of butter (more than a teaspoon per serving). That's one thing that makes it good. Add one large or two small grated carrots, some finely diced scallion tops and/or parsley partway through cooking if you want to add some color. Throw on top of rice mixture and stir in when fluffing rice after cooking. Some diced fresh or dried bell pepper will give a different flavor - nice with diced chicken or ham added.

To enhance the flavor further, brown the butter slightly in your heavy kettle before adding the water. To use oil instead of butter, consider caramelizing a big diced onion in the oil or in a mixture of oil and butter. Or sautee some mushrooms in part of the oil. Veggies should be added on top of the rice while cooking. Or lightly mix some diced, cooked meat into the prepared pilaf for a main dish, maybe with some cooked, frozen peas.

To make a substitute for HOLIDAY DRESSING, saute 2 or 3 big diced onions in oil or oil and butter until translucent, adding a generous amount of diced celery part way through cooking. Add minced celery leaves, parsley and a little minced fresh sage, dried sage or poultry seasoning. Season with fresh-ground black pepper. Use chicken or vegetable broth in place of part of the water (watch that you don't get your mixture too salty - the pilaf mix contains plenty of salt). Some of the new boxed "natural" brands of broth contain no corn products and come in reduced-sodium versions. Pile veggies on top of rice while cooking so they don't burn, like they might if they touched the bottom of the pan.

If you're serving more than 18 people, you can stretch the mix by adding 2 cups of "converted" (parboiled) rice. Add an extra 4 cups water and celery salt/salt to taste or add 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth. Add converted rice to the boiling water/broth when you add the contents of the box. Or, cook brown rice separately according to package directions (it takes longer than white rice) and mix in when you fluff the pilaf. Add some veggies or caramelized onion as above.

For a FRIED RICE facsimile for a crowd, add 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce OR 1/3 cup shredded, peeled minced fresh ginger to water for the pilaf. Omit butter and add 1/4 cup oil. Stir-fry vegetables such as diced onion, carrot, celery, squash mushrooms, julienne water chestnuts or jicama and frozen peas in 1/4 cup oil. Add diced cooked chicken or ham if desired. When rice is cooked, lightly mix in stir-fried veggies and meat plus two or three bunches of finely sliced raw scallions and, if desired, egg scrambled, seasoned and cooked in a thin layer, then shredded. To stretch recipe, add parboiled or brown rice as above, using part soy sauce or chicken broth in place of part of the added water.