Brunch is a puzzle. People arrive starving and over-caffeinated, having put off breakfast in anticipation, and making due with extra coffee instead. Brunch has to satisfy the taste for breakfast, but also rise to the task of lunch. On a personal note, I don’t want to have to wake up at dawn to start prepping for it, especially on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I was already feeling as though I’d been lost for the previous 10 days in a Fantasia/Ground Hog Day scenario: no matter how much I cleaned up, the kitchen remained a mess. (Recall Mickey schlepping bucket after bucket of water only to be faced with an insurmountable tide…) Brunch. I want to impress, but I also want to sleep in. The answer: The Soufflé.

Just look at them, hot and steaming and practically glowing. I challenge anyone to stifle the involuntary moan of pleasure you will positively need to emit at the sight and smell of these emerging from the oven. And they are so easy. Really. Easier and far more impressive than an omelette or quiche. And though I do love a good frittata, the souffle is like a frittata with a push-up bra. One is Fruit-of-the-Loom…the other, Victoria’s Secret.

I used Gruyere, a mild and nutty cheese, but you could employ almost any kind of cheese…Cheddar, Swiss, Gouda, Brie, Feta…and add savory items such as crisped bacon, smoked salmon, sauteéd mushrooms, spinach or minced vegetables. I kept it simple with the Gruyere and some shredded Parmesan on the bottom of the buttered ramekins to provide a solid, cheesey base.

Then it’s a simple matter of separating eggs, making a roux and beschamel (melting butter, adding flour, then adding milk), mixing the cheese with the yolks and the beschamel, whipping egg whites, gently combining the whole mixture, and filling up the ramekins.

The entire prep time is under 25 minutes and you can even do some of it ahead, (the part before incorporating the whipped whites), and pull it all together and bake 20 minutes before your guests arrive. You want to pull these out of the oven with an audience…a hungry, oohing and aaahing audience ready to sit down immediately and eat. Sounds like brunch to me!

Serving note: These would go nicely with a lightly dressed mixed green salad, maple-apple sausage and crunchy warm rolls and butter. And this is not just for brunch…in a slightly larger ramekin, with a side of soup or salad or both you have a great, warming, lovely dinner with these too.

Basic Soufflés
adapted from Grace Parisi, Food & Wine

INGREDIENTS

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus additional for greasing ramekins
1/2 cup shredded/grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne, or a good pinch
6 large eggs, separated
8 oz coarsely shredded Gruyere cheese (about 2 packed cups)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

PROCEDURE

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400° and brush seven 1-cup ramekins with butter. Lightly coat the ramekins with 2 tablespoons of the Parmigiano-Reggiano and set them on a sturdy baking sheet.

2. In a medium saucepan, melt the 4 tablespoons of butter. Whisk in the flour and cook over moderate heat for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and cook over moderately low heat until smooth and very thick, about 2 minutes. Stir in the salt and cayenne. Off the heat, whisk in the egg yolks. Let cool slightly. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the Gruyère.

3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar at medium-high speed until frothy. Increase the speed to high and beat until firm peaks form. With a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the soufflé base until no streaks of white remain.

4. Spoon the soufflé mixture into the ramekins, filling them to 1/2 inch below the rim. Run your thumb inside the rim of each ramekin to help the soufflés rise evenly. Sprinkle the remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano on top and bake in the bottom third of the oven until the soufflés are puffed, firm in the center (not runny)  and golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

MAKE AHEAD

The recipe can be prepared through Step 2 and refrigerated overnight. Remove from fridge and allow to warm up for at least 20 minutes before proceeding. Whip whites and gently fold into yolk mixture just before you want to bake them…you don’t want to lose any of that beautiful “loft” from the whipped whites by letting them sit around too long. Resist opening the oven to peek at them, let them bake for the full 20 minutes, (unless your oven runs really hot)  or peek only through the window, as opening the oven may result in them dropping…

Well, I did it. Ten posts in ten days for Thanksgiving. I don’t know why I did it, but like a lot of things I do in my life, I guess I did it for the rush I get when I bite off a little more than I can chew, than start furiously chewing. I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie, I think I’ve said that before. Not the sky diving type, but more like the “I think I wanna do stand up comedy” type. I cower at physical risks, (hate flying, clutch the handrail when I go down stairs).  I’m not a daredevil, but can hang with the Hemingways when it comes to taking on a creative, intellectual or emotional challenge. I have loved this project because it had my heart in my throat for the past week and a half…and gave me a sense of purpose each day to get the job I set out to do done. And I left this sweet reward for last because I knew I’d feel, by the end of this effort, like I deserved it!

As I messed up my kitchen again for the 10th day in a row, this time with butter and confections sugar….

…that I creamed in the mixer, then added cocoa powder and flour to form a creamy dough….

…that ended up at a beautifully baked pie shell…(and a mini one so I could taste…make that so my husband could taste without cutting into the finished pie, which I’m saving for tomorrow)…

…that got filled with creamy, buttery caramel…

and then when cooled, got a decadent layer of chocolate ganache….

So that it finally looked like this…

…and I thought…I am so thankful. When the pie was done, and the kitchen cleaned, and I had finished the photos, it hit me that I am so plainly and utterly grateful to be alive and to have the opportunity create this feast for my family’s Thanksgiving, and for you all. I’m humbled to feel my torn and healed heart in my throat, nervously, but healthily pounding and will undoubtedly spend the rest of my life ( a long, long life, I hope) taking on equally foolish and delicious challenges just so I can hear that glorious sound. Happy Thanksgiving!

Chocolate Caramel Tart
Adapted from Marlow & Sons Restaurant, NY via The New Comfort Food, edited by James Oseland

SERVES 8

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CRUST

1 1⁄2 cups flour
1⁄4 cup plus
1 tbsp. dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
1⁄4 tsp. kosher salt
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed and softened
1⁄2 cup plus 2 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
2 egg yolks, preferably at room temperature
1⁄2 tsp. vanilla extract

FOR THE CARAMEL

1 1⁄2 cups sugar
3 tbsp. light corn syrup
or Lyle’s golden syrup or brown rice syrup
1⁄4 tsp. kosher salt
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
6 tbsp. heavy cream
1 tbsp. crème fraîche

FOR THE GANACHE

1⁄2 cup heavy cream
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Gray sea salt for garnish

PROCEDURE

1. Make the crust: Heat oven to 350˚. Combine flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Using a handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until mixture is pale and fluffy; mix in yolks and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Transfer dough to a 9″ fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and press dough evenly into bottom and sides of pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Prick the tart shell all over with a fork and bake until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool.

2. Make the caramel: In a 1-qt. saucepan, whisk together sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 6 tbsp. water and bring to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer inserted into the syrup reads 340°. Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter, cream, and crème fraîche (the mixture will bubble up) until smooth. Pour caramel into cooled tart shell and let cool slightly; refrigerate until firm, 4–5 hours.

3. Make the ganache: Bring cream to a boil in a 1-qt. saucepan over medium heat. Put chocolate into a medium bowl and pour in hot cream; let sit for 1 minute, then stir slowly with a rubber spatula until smooth. Pour ganache evenly over tart and refrigerate until set, 4–5 hours. Serve chilled.

I will admit right now that I did not want to make this dish. I did not grow up eating it, and had no nostalgic attachment. In fact, because my immigrant French and German parents had little enough knowledge of American culture when I was young, our Thanksgiving table was not the tableau of classic dishes I came to know and love later on, but more of a melange of European and North African fare revolving around a turkey stuffed with wild rice.  Even so, over the years, when this dish showed up on tables I’d been invited to, or it arrived as a contribution from a well-meaning guest, it’s frozen beans, processed, condensed-soup sauce and canned fried onions left me wondering why it was a perennial favorite. Perhaps it’s not a favorite after all, but just a habit, an obligation, like the relatives you don’t want to invite for Thanksgiving, but have to, despite their bad breath and bad manners.

I have to tell you something that really surprised me. When you make this dish from all fresh ingredients, like shitakes, and snappy green beans…

…and thinly sliced crisp onions that you dust with a little flour and flash fry to a golden brown…

…and soak the shitakes and some dried porcini in hot chicken stock or your homemade turkey stock…

…make a simple buttery roux…

…add the stock, then a little cream, and the mushrooms to create a velvety, richly nuanced sauce….

… add it to the beans and some of the fried onions, then top the whole thing off with more fried onions, you end up with a dish that explains why, somewhere along the line, (when people were still making it from real ingredients and it wasn’t part of a cream soup advertising campaign), it became a cherished Thanksgiving tradition. It’s worth making, and worth inviting to your table every year for Thanksgiving…and for any hearty fall/winter meal in between too.

PS. If you love mushrooms like I do…Just make the mushroom sauce part of this recipe alone, it is fantastic! I wanted to drink it! Think about pouring it over egg noodles to accompany a beef or pork roast, or pasta with shaved parmesan, or as a sauce for a seared filet mignon, or as a puddle to put seared scallops on top of, as the liquid aspect of a pot pie, as a base to bake scalloped potatoes or fennel in, as a base to make a great soup from (just add more stock and it’s done!)….I could go on…

Fresh Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Onions

SERVES 6 – 8

INGREDIENTS

3 cups low sodium chicken stock (or homemade turkey, or chicken stock)
1/2 oz. fresh shiitake mushrooms, wiped off and stemmed
1 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
Kosher salt, to taste
2 lbs. green beans, cut into 2″ pieces
High heat stable vegetable oil for frying
1 1/4 cups flour
2 small yellow onions, thinly sliced
5 tbsp. butter
1/3 cup heavy cream or half and half
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

PROCEDURE

1. Bring stock to a boil in a small pot. Remove from heat; add dried and fresh mushrooms. Cover; let soak for 20 minutes. Strain and set aside mushrooms, chopping the dried porcini into smaller pieces; reserve broth and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil. Take a large bowl, fill it half-way with ice, and add enough cold water for the ice to be moving around freely. Add green beans to the boiling water; cook until well-blanched but not too tender (they will cook further in the casserole and you don’t want them to be limp), 4-5 minutes. Drain beans and immediately submerge in ice bath to stop the cooking process and preserve their bright green color. Once the beans are chilled through, (a minute of two), drain them and pat dry.

3. Put 1 cup flour into a bowl. Working in batches, toss onions in flour; shake off excess and hold aside. Pour oil into a large pot to a depth of 2″. Heat over medium-high heat until oil registers 350° on a deep-fry thermometer. If you don’t have a thermometer, than wait until the oil is very wavy and test it with a small piece of the dredged onion. If the oil rapidly “boils” around the onion, then it’s ready, if the onion sinks and only has a small amount of bubbles around it the oil is not hot enough. Once the oil seems hot enough, regulate the temperature of your heat downward to maintain the heat, but not get the oil to hot.

4. Fry the onions until golden brown, 2-3 minutes, fishing them out of the oil with a slotted spoon. Transfer to a paper towel–lined plate and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

5. Heat oven to 375°. Grease an 8″ × 8″ casserole with 1 tbsp. butter; set aside. Melt remaining butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in remaining flour; cook for 3-4 minutes, whisking often. Pour in reserved broth while whisking; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened, 7-10 minutes. Whisk in cream and add mushrooms and cook for 1-2 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. In a large bowl, combine beans, half the fried onions, and the mushroom sauce. Transfer to casserole dish. Top with remaining onions; bake until onions crisp up and the casserole is heated through and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately. (If making ahead, do not bake. Wrap the dish tightly with plastic wrap and hold until the day of. Remove from fridge two hours before dinner to bring to room temperature. Remove plastic wrap. Bake as per instructions.)

You are thinking, really? A pear? A poached pear? That’s what you want to propose as a Thanksgiving dessert? Not only am I proposing it, I will predict that you will move this dessert into your personal dessert hall of fame, you will make it and serve it over and over because it is do-in-your-sleep simple, make-ahead friendly, palate-explodingly delicous with it’s red wine reduced to a syrup that is body-paint worthy, and it’s marcapone cream that puts regular old whipped cream in the forgettable category forever. It is festive and gorgeous with it’s pinot stained pears and Jackson Pollack drizzle. This dessert is simply orgasmic, elegant and everything you want a good fruit tart to be but without the heaviness of a crust.

Start with firm pears, so they can hold up to the poaching and not fall apart. These are rosy Anjou, but any kind of pear will do…just not too ripe.

Use a melon baller or teaspoon to carefully scoop out the core and create a little bowl for the marscapone cream.

In a stock pot, mix up some simple magic. Pour in the whole bottle of red wine, then fill the bottle with water and pour that in too, along with sugar, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and vanilla bean. That’s it. And the pears.

Still not impressed? Still not a believer that this will turn into one of your favorite desserts ever and make your house smell like the waiting room for heaven would? Well, 30-40 minutes later the homely old pears look like this…all dressed up in their burgundy best.

And you’ve already mixed up the Marscapone cream, of course, not wanting to waste any time.

And the vanilla and sugar and cream disappear into the marscapone and make it velvety. You will lick the spoon and swoon.

I put a dollup of this on the plate and lightly place the pear into it, for practical reasons, so it won’t slide around the plate, and for impractical reasons too, so I can get the Marscapone cream going both ways on each bite. The red wine poaching liquid is set back on the heat and reduced 1/8 of it’s total volume, into a syrupy delight, which you get to artistically and madly drizzle over the entire thing. You will lick this spoon, too…and say, OMG.

Red Wine Poached Pears with Vanilla Marscapone Cream

Serves 4 (if each guest has a whole pear) or 8 (if each guest has a half).

4 firm Bosc, Anjou or Comice pears (do not use ripe or soft pears)
1 bottle red wine (pinot noir or other fruity red wine, good quality but not expensive)
1 vanilla bean, whole or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract for poaching liquid plus
½ teaspoon vanilla extract for Marscapone Cream
2 cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves
2 cups sugar
1 8 oz. container of Marscapone cheese
¼  cup heavy cream or half and half
¼  cup powdered sugar (confectioners)
2 tablespoons butter

PROCEDURE

1. Peel pears in long strokes to avoid creating a choppy surface to the peeled pair. Cut the pear in half lengthwise. Use a melon baller or small scoop or spoon to scoop out the seeds and core. You are creating a small “bowl” in the pear half that will later hold the marscapone cream.

2. In a large saucepan, bring wine and an equal amount of cold water to a simmer. Split vanilla bean lengthwise and add to wine and water mixture. Add cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and sugar, to taste. Add pears to liquid and simmer for about 20-35 minutes or until tender but not too soft. Remove the pears from the liquid and cool. (If making ahead, hold pears in poaching liquid, removing the cinnamon, vanilla and bay leaf. Cool the liquid and pears down to below 70 degrees, then store in airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Remove pears from liquid and bring to room temperature, then proceed with the rest of the procedure to finish the dish.)

3. Remove the cinnamon, bay leaves and vanilla bean from the wine mixture. Continue to simmer and reduce the liquid until you are left with only ¼ the original volume and the liquid left is a thickened syrupy consistency. Be sure not to over-reduce or burn the syrup.

4. While the wine mixture is reducing, combine in a small bowl the mascarpone cheese, heavy cream, pinch cinnamon, vanilla extract and powdered sugar until smooth.

5. Add butter to reduced wine syrup and stir until combined. To serve, place a small dollup of the marscapone cream on a dessert dish. Place a poached pear half on top of the dollup which acts as a “glue” to keep it from sliding on the plate. Then fill the “bowl” of the pear with a generous amount of marscapone cream. Spoon or drizzle pear with red wine syrup. Serve. (Optional: drizzle with Chocolate Ganache also…see recipe attached.)

Chocolate Ganache Drizzle

5 oz high quality 60% cocao bitter-sweet chocolate chips
1 T. Port Wine or Brandy or other flavored liquor (Amaretto, Grand Marnier, etc.)
2 T. unsalted butter
2 T. heavy cream or half and half, warmed

In a double boiler or a stainless steel bowl over a simmering water bath, combine chocolate, port (or brandy) and butter. Melt over barely simmering water, stirring constantly. Add warmed cream and incorporate into melted chocolate. (Do not add it cold…it will sieze the chocolate. If that happens you can add hot water, slowly to the chocolate, stirring constantly, until it becomes the desired “sauce” consistency.) Allow to cool to room temperature and use squeeze bottle or spoon to drizzle over ….anything!

There are those who might say two different kinds of stuffing on the Thanksgiving table is too much. I’m not one of them. I have a problem with choices, finding it hard to just zero in on one thing when faced with an abundance of possibilities. Large menus make me crazy. I wander around big box stores for hours and end up leaving tense, lightheaded and empty-handed. Mega-sized grocery stores get me mumbling to myself and double backing across the isles to make sure I didn’t choose the wrong plum tomatoes out of 72 varieties of plum tomatoes. I’m a Libra, the scales are my sign’s symbol…I weigh and weigh and deliberate and find it hard to toss alternatives away. So that’s why having two stuffings makes perfect sense to me.

This one with with it’s sourdough crustiness, Italian sausage, and prunes seemed like a good balance for my table, a culinary opposite in many ways of the cornbread, leek, bacon recipe from yesterday. The cornbread stuffing is gluten-free (I used only cornmeal, not flour for my cornbread), and this one is not.

And I like that this stuffing, though not gluten-free, is lighter on the breading, and stuffed with vegetables, including the earthy kale, bringing some greens to an otherwise starch heavy table. You can make this a vegetarian stuffing by using veggie sausage, or just lighter by using turkey sausage instead of the pork. Use spinach instead of kale if you prefer…oh no…I’m getting into the realm of too many choices. Better stop here, or I’ll be starting all over making a third stuffing…and really that would be too much!

Sourdough, Prune and Sausage Stuffing with Greens

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living

Serves 8-10

INGREDIENTS

1 loaf (2 pounds) day-old sourdough bread, bread torn or cut into 1-inch cubes
4 cups homemade turkey stock or store-bought low sodium chicken stock
12 ounces prunes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
2 bunches hearty leafy greens, such as kale, stemmed and coarsely chopped (about 8 cups) or two 10 oz. boxes of frozen greens
2 pounds sweet Italian sausage, casings removed, crumbled (to make this a vegetarian side dish, you may add vegetarian protein like seitan here as a substitute instead, or if you don’t want pork sausage, use turkey or chicken sausage.)
5 celery stalks, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
2 onions, chopped
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

PROCEDURE

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Bake bread on a baking sheet in a single layer until dried but not browned, about 15 minutes. Remove bread, and let cool. Raise oven temperature to 350 degrees.

2. Bring stock to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add prunes, and let soak for 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large high-sided skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook greens until tender, adding salt and pepper to taste, about 10 minutes, and transfer to a plate. Let cool. Wipe out skillet.

4. Heat remaining tablespoon oil in skillet over medium heat. Brown sausage, stirring occasionally, until just cooked through and no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl using a slotted spoon. Add more oil to skillet if needed, and cook celery, carrots, and onions until tender, adding salt and pepper to taste, about 6 minutes.

5. Drain prunes, reserving poaching liquid. Add prunes, bread, greens, and vegetable mixture to bowl with sausage. Gradually add reserved poaching liquid (about 2 1/2 cups), stirring to combine. Stir in parsley and thyme. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Place stuffing in a large baking dish. Dot top with cubed butter. Bake until browned, about 45 minutes. Storage: Stuffing can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Reheat, covered, in a low-temperature oven.