The market is closed for the season, but great local produce is still available. Here are some recipes from the folks at the QAFM for you to enjoy this season. We will return June 7, 2012 and run though October 11th.
We love this recipe at our house at Thanksgiving. It’s easily adapted to suit your taste, add different or more herbs, change out the cherries for apples and raisins, substitute walnuts for pecans!
Photo by Laura Levy
Cherry, Bacon and Pecan Stuffing:
2 slices bacon, minced
8 tbsp butter
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 bunch parsley, minced
4 cups good quality bread crumbs, toasted
1 cup onion, chopped
1 tbsp sage, pref. fresh
1 cup dried fruit such as cherries, cranberries or a mix of other dried or fresh fruit (Apples are good here!)
2 cups turkey stock
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
1 tsp thyme
4 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt, pepper to taste
Sauté bacon in a large cast iron or sauté pan. When the bacon has browned and crisped, add butter and melt. Sauté onion, celery and garlic until translucent, being careful not to burn the garlic.
Meanwhile mix bread crumbs, pecans, herbs and fruit in a large bowl. Toss well and moisten with stock. Add sautéed vegetables and season well with salt and pepper.
Bake in a 350 degree oven in a buttered baking dish covered with aluminum foil for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Stuffing may be used inside of the bird, if used in this way best practices recommending the stuffing be cool before dressing the bird.
My mom made mashed rutabagas with bacon every Thanksgiving and it was one of my favorite dishes.
Rutabagas have an almost sweet flavor to them and countered by their earthiness, they don’t need much else to make them taste delicious. This recipe uses a vegan cashew cream instead of heavy cream to please any vegetarians you have at your Thanksgiving table and cuts down on some of the calories from butter and bacon fat in my mom’s version. Herbs and salt play a major role here, so don’t scrimp. Marjoram has a strong herbal note and is a refreshing alternative to the Thanksgiving standards like rosemary, sage and thyme.
Rutabaga Gratin
Photo by Margaret Cuevas
Cashew cream
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup raw cashews
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
Salt
4 rutabagas (about 2 pounds), cut into about 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
4 teaspoons chopped fresh marjoram
Freshly ground black pepper
Nutmeg
Bread crumbs, homemade and ground coarsely
Prepare the cashew cream first. In a medium-sized glass bowl, pour the boiling water over the
cashews and let sit for at least 15 minutes and up to 30. Stir in the nutritional yeast. Purée the mixture
in a blender on the highest setting for about 3 minutes, until the consistency is smooth and creamy.
Season with salt to taste. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Cover the bottom of an 8-inch-round baking dish with a single layer of rutabaga slices, overlapping their edges and working in a circle. Sprinkle with some salt, some of the chopped herbs, and a few grinds of black pepper. Add another layer and season with salt, herbs, and pepper. Pour in about one third of the cashew cream – enough to cover these two layers.
Continue until the baking dish is full or you run out of rutabaga. Pour in the remaining cashew cream, almost to the rim of the baking dish. Grate nutmeg over the top layer and sprinkle with bread crumbs until covered. Drizzle with a generous dose of olive oil. Place in the oven, in the center of a sheet pan, to catch any cream that spills over. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until rutabagas are just cooked through and bread crumbs are toasty and brown. Serve immediately.
