I'll be your detonator

[rikibeth]

Thanksgiving was a modified success. I got the prep done very smoothly in the morning -- leeks and onions for the soup minced and put in a ziplock bag, potatoes diced ditto, vegetables cut up and tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary and the roasting pan put in the fridge, onions and celery minced and sauteed and mixed with the stuffing cubes and broth and put in a casserole dish in the fridge, gravy made and stored for reheating. It took pretty much exactly the length of Danger Days plus the bonus EP, and the Broadway soundtrack of American Idiot. I cleaned as I went, and had time for a nice plate of pate, bread, cheese, and crackers, and a glass of wine, before we went to the 2:30 showing of Harry Potter.

Movie was pretty much what I expected. Still too much faffing about in the woods. Not enough Snape. Wonder if Jamie Campbell Bower's going to have any LINES as Grindewald in the next half. The actor playing Scabious the head Snatcher was pretty much exactly my sort of dandy highwayman and I would like one of those for Christmas, please.

Got home, put the oven on to pre-heat, started the soup, stuck in the vegetables, TRIED to time it so the vegetables and stuffing were ready at the same time, but, well, not so much. The vegetables took longer than I expected. But we had the soup to start with, and once the vegetables were roasted, they were very nice. Except, of course, that the kid didn't like them much. eternaleponine may have more food issues than the kid, but she likes suitably roasted brussels sprouts and cauliflower (asks for more, even) and the kid finds them too bitter and gross. There are obviously some weird genetic switches in effect, because the kid cheerfully drinks coffee and it sends eternaleponine into a full-body shudder even when laced with mocha fudge sauce, but the kid can't abide brassicas and eternaleponine couldn't taste their isolated bitter component on a paper strip at the Museum of Science. Oddly enough, I COULD taste it, but I just happen to like it. There were also carrots and potatoes in the vegetables, but the kid found it unsatisfying.


The stuffing was also not really a success. Texture was fine. Flavor -- I thought it was okay if uninspired, but both of them complained about a slightly bitter note, which I suspect was marjoram as part of the seasoning blend Pepperidge Farm used in their cubes. Clearly, next time I make stuffing, I'll have to use PLAIN bread cubes and do the seasoning entirely myself.

My vegetarian gravy was delicious, but I'm the only one who likes gravy anyway.

The pie was the worst disappointment. The pumpkin pie was fine. The rum chiffon pie? Separated. Clearly, the 1:1 substitution of agar for gelatin was inadequate. I ate some ANYWAY, scooping out some crust, some chocolate custard, and the part of the chiffon that HAD set, but I wound up throwing most of it away. I'm going to buy another bag of gingersnaps and TRY AGAIN this weekend, dammit. I WILL make that pie work!

Still. I have a kid who made honor roll even while involved in TWO drama productions (one school, one community), a best friend who, for all her quirks, is someone I couldn't imagine living without, and a loving and supportive family who didn't even get upset that I didn't travel to be with them this year. And all of you, friendslist. So I have a lot to be thankful for.

Comments

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

somewhere I have my Aunt Lisbeth's cdressing recipe, which is infinitelt superior to any other. Even people who live wheat bread stuffing/dressing find it tastilicious.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I am sure it's delicious, but I'm dealing with a picky vegetarian with sensory issues. Who really wants something that tastes like Stove Top. Just without the actual chicken broth. So I was trying to duplicate it as faithfully as I could. Now I know not to rely on Pepperidge Farms' default seasoning to work. I *do* know that I can use Bell's Seasoning Mix in other cooked foods and have it be acceptable, so that may be my starting point on the next batch, with extra fresh herbs added.

[auspeople.livejournal.com]

Would vegetarian oxo cubes do the trick? Not sure about the exact ingredients, but I've used them for veggie broth in the past and they taste a lot like the chicken ones that I heart.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

The broth is not the problem. I use Imagine Organics No-Chicken Broth, which is obviously created by wizards because it's vegan but absolutely chicken-y tasting. It's the herbs. I have to get them JUST RIGHT or else it "tastes funny."

[eternaleponine.livejournal.com]

I haz a you.

[pameladean]

Veganizing stuff is hard. I've had several holidays that had to be retroactively declared as "experimental," or the guests designated guinea pigs rather than guests. That said, it sounds as if everybody was nourished and there was some edible dessert. We've had almost two separate menus from time to time, but that is a LOT of work.

P.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

This household is ovo-lacto (with occasional well-segregated meat things for me, like cans of tuna or a package of pate) so I don't have to make things VEGAN, just vegetarian. It's the sensory issues that are really tricky to work around!

[auspeople.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a lovely celebration. And I still want that soup recipe. *begs*

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Okay. Transcribing out of "From Julia Child's Kitchen."

3 Tbsp butter
3 cups sliced or minced leeks (white part only), or onions, or a combination of both
3 Tbsp flour
2 quarts hot water, or 4 to 6 cups water plus milk added at end of cooking
1 Tbsp salt; pepper to taste
Optional: A cup or so of tender green part of the leeks, sliced or minced
4 cups (about 1 1/2 pounds) potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped or neatly diced -- in this latter case use "boiling" potatoes that keep their shape
1/3 to 1/2 cup heavy cream or sour cream, and/or 2 to 3 Tbsp butter
2 to 3 Tbsp minced fresh parsley and/or chives

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[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

The soup base: Melt butter over moderate heat in 3-to-4-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan, stir in the leeks and/or onions, cover pan, and cook slowly for 5 minutes without browning. Then blend in the flour, and stir over moderate heat for 2 minutes to cook the flour without browning it either. Remove from heat, let cool a moment, and gradually beat in a cup or so of hot water. Blend thoroughly with the flour and vegetables, then stir in the rest of the water. (If you want to use milk, add it at the end of cooking -- it will curdle if you add it now.) Stir in the salt and pepper, optional green of leek, and the potatoes. Bring to a boil, and simmer partially covered for about 40 minutes, until vegetables are thoroughly tender.

For a peasant-type soup, mash the vegetables in the pan with a mixing fork or potato masher. For a smoother texture, put through medium blade on a food mill. (This was written before immersion blenders -R) If, rather than slicing the vegetables, you mince the leeks nicely, and tailor the potatoes into neat 3/8" dice, you are then empowered and entitled to call the soup by a new name - Potage Bonne Femme. (The usual is Potage Parmentier.)

Continued in next comment

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Soup base may be completed hours or even a day ahead to this point: when cool, cover and refrigerate; reheat to simmer before proceeding.

Final enrichments. To serve the soup as is, stir in the milk if you are using it, bring to the simmer, and blend in as much of the cream as you wish. Taste carefully, adding more salt and pepper as needed. Off heat, and by tablespoons if you wish, stir in the butter. Decorate each serving with a spoonful more cream, again if you wish to, and a sprinkling of herbs.

I generally just use the water and milk and no extra butter, and a simple grind of black pepper on the top, and always Bonne Femme because the others prefer it to puree. I added some cream for Thanksgiving. If I'd had parsley I'd have put it on mine but the others don't care for it.

Tater soup, om nom nom.

[auspeople.livejournal.com]

I love you!

[head-shrinker.livejournal.com]

Anyone else think the head snatched needed to be Davey Havok? Just sayin' :-)

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

I found this recipe on Yahoo! by typing in "vegetarian Stove Top Stuffing": http://www.organicgrocerydeals.com/forums/vegetarian/2150-vegetarian-stovetop-stuffing.html

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

Tasting the bitterness in vegetables (I think it might be just cruciferous veg issue.) is totally a genetic/enzyme thing. (Thanks Neil Degrasse-Tyson and Nova Science Now on PBS!). I know there are recipes out there designed to roast brussel sprouts with maple syrup. However I don't know how much of different that actual makes for people with bitterness taste issues.

Since I'm absolutely no cook, and I can see chiffon pies supposedly rely on the gelatin for stability, I could try quizzing my chef friend for ideas about agar or possibly vegetarian gelatin (which often uses fish, however). He's a good resource for that kind of food stuff.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I was using agar! I just didn't get the substitution ratio right. Hence, TRYING AGAIN.

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I know, I caught that one (I wouldn't have known about agar in the first place). I was just thinking that my friend might have an interesting idea or two. I'm sorry if that came across wrong.