Thanksgiving Adventures: Yams

There are a number of benefits in having a steady female presence in one's life. Among the numerous reasons I'm thankful for the lady in my life is her cooking. Catfish? Whoo boy! Her macaroni & cheese? Ruined me for anyone else's or any brand, for that matter.

So, when she told me that Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without yams, I said sure thing, Babe, let's hit the grocery store and get down to business.

Ingredients:

1 29 Ounce Can of Yams

1/4 Cup of Brown Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 1/2 Teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 Tablespoon Melted Butter

1/4 Cup of Evaporated Milk

Mini Marshmallows

Steps/Analysis:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the yams into an oven safe baking pan or casserole and get mashing. If you don't have a potato masher on hand, a fork works just as well.

Add the remaining wet and dry ingredients, except for the marshmallows, and stir to combine. You'll notice the pumpkin pie spice coming into play again. There's no sense in letting it go to waste, but if you didn't just finish baking a pie, cinnamon and nutmeg are essential.

Next, toss in a handful or two of marshmallows and give them a quick stir as well.

Finally, use the rest of your marshmallows to create a thin top layer. It's okay to see some yams poking through this level of soft, pillowy sweetness, so don't pack them too tight.

That's really all there is to it. Pop those yams into the oven for about 20 minutes or until the marshmallows on top are melty and starting to brown.

Serving/Notes:

Spoon these bad boys onto a plate with some turkey and enjoy.

In all likelihood, you'll have a ton of marshmallows left over because they're generally packaged in pretty big bags. My suggestion? Make some hot chocolate for yourself.

Thanksgiving Adventures: Pumpkin Pie

Let's talk Turkey Day. Since I'm currently living about 6 1/2 hours away from family and am at the whim of my graduate school's academic calendar, it was up to me to make Thanksgiving happen this year.



It wasn't all bad, though. My lady and I hunkered down in the kitchen and kept up a steady intake of beer and wine to aid in the cooking process. In fact, everything turned out really well and a real-deal, grown-up Thanksgiving was had.



Don't believe me? Check out the photographic evidence below.



Yum. Makes me hungry all over again just looking at it.

Clearly, this spread is just too much to catalog in a single blog post, so I'm going to parcel it out over the next week or two. Start taking notes for next year, folks. I'm starting this series of posts off with dessert, because I'm an adult and can have dessert first if I want to, damn it!

Here is my pumpkin pie.

Ingredients:
1 Frozen Pie Crust (Deep)
1 15 Ounce Can of Pumpkin
1 12 Ounce Can of Evaporated Milk
3/4 Cup of Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
3/4 Teaspoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 Eggs



Steps/Analysis: Start off by preheating your oven to 425 degrees.

Next, in a small bowl, mix the sugar, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Pumpkin pie spice, for those of you who don't know (which included me until just a couple days before Thanksgiving), is a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. It smells like the holiday season in a canister--it's a beautiful thing.








In the largest bowl you own, crack and beat the two eggs. Slowly stir in the canned pumpkin and the mixed dry ingredients.

Work in the evaporated milk in small installments, thoroughly incorporating each one before adding in the next. Take your time with it because this is your pie filling, for better or worse.

Pour the filling into the pie crust. Hopefully, you trusted me and bought the deep variety. Otherwise, you'll have half a bowl of pumpkin soup to deal with.

Carefully slide the pie into the oven and set your timer for 15 minutes. Once that goes off, you'll want to back down the oven temperature to 350 degrees and let it bake for another 40-50 minutes.

I say 40-50 minutes, but, really, the only way to know when the pumpkin pie is done is if you can insert a knife into its center and pull it out clean as a whistle. When you've attained that state, let the pie cool for at least 2 hours before serving.

Serving/Notes:

I actually baked this pie the day before Thanksgiving in preparation for the big day. I cooled the pie, as noted above, then covered it with aluminum foil and popped it in the refrigerator. I think this is probably the way to go to guarantee solid, un-runny pie contents.

When you are ready to serve, there's only one way to go: topped off with loads of whipped cream. Otherwise, enjoy the cool, creamy, pumpkin-y finish to your meal.

Leftover Corner: Spaghetti and Meatballs to Italian Burrito

I don't quite know what got into me this week. I've had a lone tortilla in the refrigerator for a while now, quietly mocking me and my lack of beans, rice, or any other Mexican fare, so that might have something to do with it.

Maybe I felt like channeling my inner child and playing with my food. Maybe I've lost my marbles. You be the judge.

I humbly present, for your approval, the Italian Burrito.

Ingredients:

1 Large Tortilla

Leftover Tomato Sauce

2 Leftover Meat Balls

1 Small Handful of Spaghetti

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Steps/Analysis:

First, get a pot of water boiling over High heat. Salt the water and add the spaghetti. Try to remember that cooked pasta always looks like more than when it was stiff and dry. This is going to be crucial when you try to fit it into a tortilla.

As the spaghetti cooks, break out your leftovers! Cut up two meatballs into bite-size pieces and set them aside.

If you have a George Foreman grill, as I do, or a panini press, you'll want to warm it up now. If not, you'll have to experiment with a pan on the stove top as we go along.

Now that I think about it, the oven might work as well, on very low heat.

At any rate, once your pasta is done, drain it as thoroughly as possible and return it to the pot. It's residual heat is going to help dry the pasta as well, which is very important to the integrity of the tortilla.

Add a few spoonfuls of leftover sauce to the pasta and stir to coat.

Get your tortilla out and prepare it with a thin layer of mozzarella cheese. Next, situate the spaghetti in the tortilla's center. Arrange the meatballs on top and spoon on a little more tomato sauce. Sprinkle a little more cheese over everything.

Wrap the tortilla as well as you can. Unfortunately, I cooked a little too much spaghetti and could not tuck in my ends--as you'll see in my pictures. That means I had to be a little more careful in placing it on the Foreman.

Serving/Notes:

Because my wrapping was a little untidy, I attached this beast with a fork and knife at first. Surprisingly, though, as I ate, I found that it was possible to pick the Italian Burrito up and eat it as I had originally intended.

My goodness, the tortilla is a marvelous thing, isn't it?

As far as taste is concerned, this isn't all that different from eating spaghetti and meatballs in the more conventional way. It is, however, a lot more fun, I think. In that respect, this was a worthwhile little experiment.

Turkey Meatballs

What's the point of having tomato sauce if you don't know how to make meatballs? Seriously. Pasta's nice, but you need a little protein to go with your carbs, don't you?

It's surprisingly easy to make a good meatball. You really only need three ingredients, so there's no reason not to make them. Well, besides the icky feeling of raw meat squishing between your fingers, but to that, I say, "grow up."

Alright? Alright. Let's make some meatballs.

Ingredients:

1 lb of Ground Turkey

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup of Bread Crumbs (Italian Seasoning flavored, preferably)

Olive Oil

Steps/Analysis:

First thing's first: you'll probably want to get a pot of tomato sauce on the stove. If it's my homemade recipe from last week, awesome. If it's store-bought, well, I'll just turn my head while your crack open the jar. Put the sauce on Low heat and let it start to simmer.

Next, you're going to need a really big bowl. Really big. Trust me.

When you've found your massive bowl, dump in the ground turkey. Follow that up with the eggs and bread crumbs.

Now, it's time to get your hands dirty. Get in touch with your inner, mud-pie-making child and mix everything up really well. The more consistent the mixture, the better.

At this point, you should get a pan on the stove and let it warm up over Medium heat. You'll also want a relatively large plate on which to deposit your meatballs.

Gather up a small handful of meat and roll between your palms into a nice, little globe and set it aside on the plate. Repeat this process until you're out of meat. Depending on the size of your balls, you'll probably get 14-18 by the time you're done.

Add a little olive oil to the pan and carefully shift your meatballs from plate to pan. Don't overcrowd the pan. You may need to do this in more than one batch.

As the meatballs start to brown, roll them over with a spoon. Keep doing this until the entire surface is just a little crispy and the meatballs are cooked through the center, or at least most of the way there.

Move the meatballs into the simmering sauce and let the pot sit on the stove for about an hour or so. That'll give all the flavors a chance to meld and mellow and let the meatballs finish cooking, on the off chance that they're a little underdone.

Serving/Notes:

I was really pleased with this first attempt at meatballs. They were firm and flavorful and starting them off in the pan gives them a little crunch that they wouldn't have otherwise.

If you pair this recipe up with my updated tomato sauce, you'll have leftovers for weeks too, which is nice. Either that, or you can have a big pasta-and-meatball party!

Tomato Sauce v2.0

Those of you who read about my "Rustic Tomato Sauce" some time ago will remember that it quickly became an exercise in improvisation. I didn't really give myself enough time to properly simmer and misjudged my ingredient list. That's not to say that I was disappointed with the result, though; it's just not quite what I had in mind when I set out to make a sauce.

Thankfully, I just don't know when to quit. This week, I present my new and improved Tomato Sauce, version 2.0!

Ingredients:

2 28-oz Cans of Crushed Tomatoes
1 12-oz Can of Tomato Paste

1 Onion

1 Bell Pepper

Oregano

Red Pepper Flakes

Olive Oil

Steps/Analysis:

You should know ahead of time that Tomato Sauce v2.0 is not a quick recipe. Ideally, you should set aside 3-4 hours in order to cook everything low and slow and really marry the flavors. It might be best to tackle this on a weekend.

Don't fret, though, this is an easy recipe that will require minimal attention once you get things going. Stay with me!

First, set a large pot over Medium-High heat and dice the onion and bell pepper. Just like the beginning of my last tomato sauce recipe, you're going to saute the crap out of these in enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pot.

At this point, you should also add the red pepper flakes. I did not use an exact measurement for this step. I like a lot of heat, so I threw in a lot of flakes. Use your best judgment.

Once your vegetables have broken down to the point where they are translucent, turn down the heat to Low or Medium-Low. Open up both cans of crushed tomatoes and the tomato paste and add everything to the pot.

Carefully.

Tomato sauce tends to splash, so don't wear white.

You should also add the oregano now. Again, I did not use a precise measurement. I just added oregano until it looked like "enough." Scientific, I know.

Stir up the pot in order to incorporate everything. Cover with a lid and allow to simmer for about 3 hours, or until dinner time.

Check on the pot every once in a while to make sure it's not bubbling over, but, otherwise, that's it!

Serving/Notes:

This iteration of my tomato sauce has a lot more of the saucy qualities I was looking for: a rich, almost sweet flavor and a smoother consistency that sticks more easily to pasta. I'm very happy with the result.

Other than that? Come on, people. There's nothing too mysterious about tomato sauce. Serve it over your pasta of choice and... hey! What are those meaty... ball-looking... things in the picture? Could there be a meatball recipe posted in the near future?!