Okay, so it was 89 degrees when I snuck out at lunch Wednesday to buy some yarn to get me through the long weekend. By the time we woke up Thanksgiving the temperature had dropped 51 degrees, I’m serious. I was so thrilled to have a gray, rainy, chilly weekend!
We had about 13 people for dinner and had the chiminea stoked out back and a DVD of this crackling fire inside. . . Texas toasty.
I did get quite a bit gift knitting done.
from scouring Getty for images of "old folks being happy and active", for the project I am working on. I am sooo excited that I have absolutely no freelance work this weekend! I don’t know the last weekend I didn’t have to work on.
Egad, my grammar, Oh this reminds me of a joke . . .
A lost man is walking in Harvard Square and stops a very professorial looking man and aks him, "Excuse me Sir, where’s the library at?"
The other man says to him, "Here at Harvard we don’t end our sentences in a preposition."
The lost man then says, "Oh, I’m sorry, where’s the library at Asshole?"
I have given up on knitting Gretel, just way too much undivided attention needed to knit it and undivided attention is something I very much lack these days. I did however finish my scarf for my scarf exchange, yay! I bought some beautiful Noro Kochoran to knit something for K.
Yesterday I wore flip-flops to go shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. When I got home I had to turn on the AC before I could unload the groceries. Seriously, I have kinda sorta gotten used to the no snow thing for the holidays but puhleeze crank down the sun so a gal can feel warm and buzzy from the holiday spirit and not not just plain hot. I’m a knitter people, I wanna wear my hand knits. Okay, I’m feeling a bit better now. But first I must take off my cardigan and tilt up my blinds because the sun is blinding me.
I have a clear hands down favorite in the stuffing department, it’s from The Silver Palate Cookbook I think I have had this copy for near 20 years.
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups finely chopped yellow onions
3 tart apples (I use Granny Smith), cored and chunked; do not peel
1 pound lightly seasoned bulk sausage (breakfast sausage with sage is best)
3 cups coarsely crumbled corn bread
3 cups coarsely crumbled whole-wheat bread
3 cups coarsely crumbled white bread (I toast a baguette)
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried sage
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1 1/2 cups shelled pecan halves
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. Melt half of the butter in a skillet over medium
heat. Add the chopped onions and cook, partially covered, until tender
and lightly colored, about 25 minutes, Transfer the onions and butter
to a large mixing bowl.
3. Melt the remaining butter in the same skillet.
Add the apple chunks and cook over high heat until lightly colored but
not mushy. Transfer the apples and butter to the mixing bowl.
4. Crumble the sausage into the skillet and cook
over medium heat,stirring, until lightly browned. With a slotted spoon,
transfer t1he sausage to the mixing bowl and reserve the rendered fat.
5. Add the remaining ingredients to the ingredients
in the mixing bowl and combine gently. Cool completely before stuffing
the bird; refrigerate if not used promptly.
6. If you do not wish actually to stuff the turkey, spoon it
into a casserole. Cover the casserole and set into a large pan. Pour
hot water around the casserole to come halfway up the sides, Bake for
30 to 45 minutes, basting occasionally with the cooking juices from
the bird or with the reserved sausage fat if necessary. I f you want your stuffing a bit crispy on top (as I do) remove lid and bake a while longer or stick under broiler for a few minutes.
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (or more) sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
7 cups fresh wild or regular blueberries (32 ounces) or 32 ounces frozen wild or
regular blueberries (do not thaw)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Topping
2/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
4 ounces marzipan or almond paste, broken into 1/3-inch pieces (about 3/4 cup loosely packed)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
Whipped cream or ice cream
Roll out pie crust disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Turn crust edges under and crimp decoratively, forming crust edge 1/4 inch above sides of pie dish. Refrigerate while preparing filling and topping.
For filling:
Whisk 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar and cornstarch in heavy large saucepan to blend. Stir in blueberries and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until mixture bubbles and thickens, frequently stirring gently, about 13 minutes. Chill filling until cool, about 1 hour. If more sweetness is desired, stir in sugar by tablespoonfuls.
For topping:
Combine first 4 ingredients in processor; blend until mixture begins to clump together. Transfer to bowl; chill 30 minutes. Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Spread blueberry filling evenly in unbaked crust. Sprinkle topping evenly over. Place pie on rimmed baking sheet and bake until crust and topping are golden and filling bubbles thickly, about 50 minutes. Transfer pie to rack and cool completely. DO AHEAD Can be made 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.
Serve pie with whipped cream or ice cream.
The reality
Just use your favorite homemade or store bought crust, I say this only because the crust is not the star of this pie. I used frozen wild blueberries which were so yummy and I ate them by the frozen handful. I bought four 10 ounce bags because I was afraid I’d be short. I did not adjust cornstarch or anything and consistency was great. If my pie pan had been deeper all the filling would have fit nicely, but I had about a cup left over.
Okay, now the real dilemma. I live in a small farming community of about 8,000. Marzipan is NOT at the top of everyone’s shopping list therefore not available at my local HEB. So . . . I tossed some almonds, alot of almond extract and some white and brown sugar to the topping mixture. May have been less sweet but was still great. I gotta tell you the salt in the topping is key. You definitely know it’s there (in agood way) and it rounds out the topping nicely.
This being Texas, pie must be topped with Bluebell Homemade Vanilla How can you not love a company who’s trucks read, “We eat all we can, and we sell the rest“?
FYI . . . I am about 6 rows away from completing the toe on the The Punishment Sock. I know now that if I didn’t knit them simulataneously (and use spell check for that matter) simultaneously I would NEVER, oh and I do mean NEVER, knit a second sock in my life. Don’t care how cold my other foot is. Second Sock Syndrome is too nancy a diagnosis… I propose a motion to call the second sock simply the The Punishment Sock.
Bean & Noodle 