The Apartment Farm

Four people + one 20 pound turkey = a copious amount of leftovers! We ate maybe a third of it, and that was still a lot. So what do we do the rest of it? Today for lunch, I made a turkey bechamel pasta that was pretty good. All I did was prepared some rigatoni, then when that was done, I created a simple roux with a few tablespoons of butter and flour. I could’ve addeded sauteed shallots or garlic for extra flavor if I wanted, but I left them out. To the roux, I added a cup of chicken stock and half a cup of soymilk plus a tablespoon of herbs de provence and some freshly ground pepper, and simmered until it thickened. I removed it from the heat, stirred in a slice of breast meat that I shredded with my hands and the pasta. Stirred to coat and ate it up! It was pretty good, and you could use any herbs you want – plain thyme or rosemary would be good as well.

If you want something a little different, there’s always turkey noodle soup, turkey quesadillas, turkey hash with salsa and poached eggs, turkey panini, turkey stir fry… you can put turkey in just about everything! And if you can’t eat it all in a day or two, just freeze it. And don’t forget to make turkey stock with the carcass!

I’ve got the menu, the shopping list and the prep work all planned out, so now I can think about setting the table. Last year I did a table with a very organic feeling – a white cloth with gourds and milk glass. While I’ll keep the milk glass serving pieces and use my Blue Willow china table service, I’d like to do a table that’s a little more elegant and richer in color this year.

I’m going to set the table with a burgundy-colored damask tablecloth with matching napkins, and use the silver candlesticks from our wedding, with mid-height beeswax taper candles. I don’t typically like to do formal floral arrangements on dinner tables, but I do like centerpieces. I have a dozen glittered faux gourds (half in light orange and half in a dark reddish-orange) that I’ll arrange down the center of the table. I also have two small whittled wood Pilgrims and I’ll add them in between the gourds. The place settings will be my Blue Willow china.

We were supposed to have a larger group this year, but as it turns out only my mother in law and grandfather in law will be joining us. On the plus side, I don’t have to rearrange the dining table – it can stay as it is in front of the window. We have a modest dining table that seats four, but there’s never enough room to include all of the food on the table when serving it family style, so I’ll set up a buffet. The most logical spot is on the sofa table that sits behind our couch. There is plenty of room on that table for the turkey and the six side dishes I’ll be making. I think there’s enough room on the dining table for the five appetizers, but I’ll probably put those on the buffet table as well. The desserts will be arranged on a side table we have sitting in between the chair and the sofa.

All in all, I think the table will look classy and glitzy. And the food and good company – that’s what I’m looking forward to the most!

Mmmm, it’s getting cold outside. The leaves are crunchy under the feet and the breeze is crisp. After a brisk walk by the lake, an afternoon raking leaves or a cold commute home after waiting for the train, sometimes you need something warming to heat you back up from the inside out. And what’s better than a spicy, tasty adult libation? Not much! Here are a few good recipes to try with some great fall ingredients and warming liquors.

Brandy Cider

Put one ounce of brandy into a brandy snifter over ice and top with cider.

Cider Cup

Combine 2 ½ ounces of cider, ¼ teaspoon of sugar, ½ ounce each of brandy, pineapple juice, sweet sherry, and lemon juice in a 10 ounce highball glass. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then top up with soda water and sprinkle with nutmeg. Serve with a straw.

Irish Coffee

Mix 1 ounce Irish whisky and sugar to taste in a mug. Top with hot coffee and cream.

Good old-fashioned Glogg (Scandinavian spiced red wine, served warm) is great too. And if you’re chilled through to your bones, a shot of dark rum or whiskey certainly won’t hurt you!

Thanksgiving is the most serious meal I plan and serve each year. Last year was the first time we hosted it for my husband’s parents and grandfather. They will be joining us again this year, and we’ve extended the invitation to a few of his aunts and uncles, but we’re still waiting on rsvp’s from them. Likely it will be just the five of us again, which is fine because we’re a lively fun crowd, and it certainly is a crowd in our small apartment. I really wanted to do something different this year – I had my heart set on pheasant until I priced it. One bird costs about $30 right now, and I’d need four to serve five people with second helpings. $120 on one element of a meal is a little more (okay, a lot more) than I wanted to spend. So the stand-in for the menu so far is good old turkey, but I’m still keeping my ears and eyes tuned to other options. Other than wanting to swap out the turkey, the rest of my meal plan is traditional as always. Some things never change, and in the right circumstance, that’s a wonderful thing.

Appetizers

Pork rillettes (a potted pork spread for bread)

Toasted French bread

Cornichons (tiny dilled pickles)

Assorted olives

Pickled asparagus

To Drink: Prosecco or Chateau Ste. Michelle Brut sparkling white wine (if I can get it – I’ve only had it once at a restaurant)

Main Course

Herbed butter roasted turkey

Wilted kale with shallots and bacon

Brussels sprouts with Dijon vinaigrette

Mashed potatoes

Chestnut stuffing

Cranberry sauce

Roasted sweet potatoes

To Drink: Chateau Ste. Michelle Indian Wells Cabernet Sauvignon, chardonnay (I haven’t decided which winery yet – I think the Chateau Ste. Michelle is too strong for this meal) and which ever wines our guests bring (bringing wine is the standard practice for any gathering in our family).

Desserts

Pumpkin pie

Baked apples

Chocolate tarts

To Drink: espresso, brandy or spiced rum.

The season is coming to a close. The markets are over, except one special indoor market, and then six months before the first fresh greens of spring arrive on the scene once again. I like the cyclical nature of this; it helps to keep me grounded on this great blue planet we call home. But I also can’t help but feeling a bubbling panic just beneath the surface – the winter is long and cold – and barren. Running to the grocery store for every little thing is something I no longer find acceptable. And especially not for “vine-ripened” tomatoes in January, flown in from the Yucatan peninsula, or Chile, or where ever it is they grow these things. The other hemisphere, undoubtedly. For the most part, the only things we buy fresh at the store (and we always shoot for our local natural grocer before running off to Whole Foods) are the winter and storage vegetable that we’d have if we didn’t live in the truck-it-everywhere world that we do – potatoes, onions, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, leeks, squash, apples, etc. For tomatoes (a staple item in our diet) we only buy canned after the market closes. I feel the panic of needing a full pantry coming on.

And this year, while still quite modest, I’ve done the most canning and putting up that I’ve ever done. I have 15 pints of blueberry and strawberry jam, four pints of sweet peppers in olive oil, and I finally tackled tomatoes. I bought 7 pounds of beefsteak tomatoes at the last market, and I put up diced tomatoes so I have them for stews and sauces. It’s not much, but it will provide a few good meals (and a few cans of tomatoes I won’t have to buy). It was pretty straight-forward and simple – the very first time I’ve canned tomatoes by myself! Organization is really the key. I ended up with 1 quart and 5 pints. I would’ve done all pints (because that’s about the amount I use in my recipes at a given time) but I only had 5 left, so I just had to make do. The quart jar will be good for when I want to make a double batch of something. Honestly, I was surprised that just 7 pounds went so far. A pound a pint? I guess that’s a good number to estimate for next season.

I also put up 2 pints of mushrooms in oil, 2 pints of garlic-flavored olive oil and five pints of grape jam. The grape jam was a learning experience – I strained out all of the seeds and skins, and it came out quite thin – somewhere in between jam and syrup. I figure we can use it on pancakes and ice cream and such, even if it’s not as thick as it should be. Next season I’ll try to get seedless grapes so I can leave the skins in.

From what I didn’t produce myself, I’ve got 4 five pound jugs of honey in the pantry and a garlic braid (in our garlic crazy household, we’re hoping it will last until February!). We also stocked up a little bit on beef – several roasts, steaks and ground meat. So, the tally is:

Have

- 15 pints of blueberry and strawberry jam

- 4 pints of sweet peppers in olive oil

- 1 quart and 5 pints diced tomatoes in water

- 2 five pound jugs of honey

- 1 garlic braid

- 2 pints of mushrooms in oil

- 5 pints of grape jam

- 2 pints of garlic-flavored olive oil

I’d like to try my hand at making a pancetta and a small crock of sauerkraut. And I’m going to marinate my own olive mix to serve at Thanksgiving.

So, my list is quite different than the one I started the summer with, but I still feel like I accomplished a lot and we’ve got some good stuff to eat over the coming months. I feel warm and fuzzy inside when I look inside my pantry – there’s something great about rows of jewel-toned jars.

15 bean soup is a great fall dish. With a few pints of beer (nut brown ale, perhaps?), some dark rye bread and a bowl of cornichons, its a weekend lunch or filling dinner fit for royalty.  

2 cups of dried 15 bean soup mix (or assorted dry beans including red kidneys, black eyed peas, green lentils, yellow lentils, chickpeas, butter beans, navy beans, split peas, pinto beans, brown lentils, black beans, etc.)

1 ham hock

1 yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (I prefer organic Kimberly Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar)

½ cup chicken stock

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons dry mustard

1 tablespoon coriander seed

1 teaspoon thyme

Freshly cracked black pepper

Sea salt

1.) Cooking with dried beans takes some simple prep – they need about eight hours to soak before cooking. Soak them at room temperature in your covered stockpot overnight (for lunch service) or all day (for dinner service).

2.) First, drain the beans from their soaking water and rinse them well. Add them back to the stock pot and fill with fresh water (to two inches above the beans) and put to a boil. Add the ham hock as well. Let the beans boil for 45 minutes to an hour uncovered. Add back a little water or more chicken stock if too much boils off and the beans start sticking – you want it to have a slightly “soupy” consistency at the end.

3.) Add the remaining ingredients. If you’d like, you can caramelize the onion and garlic in a little oil in a separate sauté pan first. Bring down to a simmer and let the flavors meld for another 15-20 minutes.

That’s it – a pretty easy meal to make. If you like, you can add cubed ham or thick bacon to make it even heartier. And as 15 bean soup lovers know, it’s great when you make it but its even better the next day!