If you're looking for an alternative to turkey for Thanksgiving dinner - or just on the hunt for some festive autumn entr脙漏e ideas - check out today's three recipes.
I enjoy flavouring cranberry sauce in all sorts of ways. In my first recipe, I did so Asian-style by making a sweet-and-sour creation accented with five-spice powder, an aromatic mix containing Szechuan peppercorns, star anise, cloves, cinnamon and fennel seeds.
I didn't serve that sauce with turkey; I served it with salmon fillets that I simply baked topped with a little butter and orange juice.
The sauce and the fish were a fine combination that you could serve with rice and a simple, but colourful, mix of stir-fried vegetables.
The next recipe features a rack of pork - a pork loin roast with the rib bones still attached.
When it's cooked, you carve the meat in between each bone into ample, chop-like servings, with each containing one of those succulent, meat-coated rib bones.
Before roasting the meat, I slathered it with a mustard and sage mixture.
Apples are in season and go well with pork, so, after the roast cooked a while, I surrounded it with pieces of apple tossed with a touch of spice.
When the pork is cooked and sliced, and the apples hot and tender, you combine the two on the plate and drizzle them with a jus spiked with apple cider.
It's a lovely autumn dish you could serve with small boiled or steamed mini potatoes tossed with butter and parsley, and a green vegetable, such as green beans or zucchini.
My third recipe is a meat-free one that involves rolling flaky phyllo pastry into single-serving parcels filled with a rich-tasting spinach, yam and feta mixture.
There is a bit of preparation required to make the phyllo parcels.
You'll need to cook, drain and chop spinach; bake, peel and cut a yam; make the filling; layer the phyllo; and then make the parcels.
However, I think the tasty end result is worth the effort and there is good news.
The phyllo parcels can be made a few hours before needed, covered and refrigerated until ready to bake and serve.
Once baked, the hot and flaky phyllo parcels are served with cool tzatziki sauce for dipping.
Try serving this dish with a green salad adorned with a fine mix of sliced raw vegetables.
WINE PAIRINGS FOR TODAY'S RECIPES
While at my neighbourhood wine store (Wine Guys at 2579 Cadboro Bay Rd.), I asked the manager and wine guru, Ame De Paoli, what sa国际传媒 wines would pair well with today's recipes.
She made some fabulous suggestions.
For the roast pork and apples, she suggested Poplar Grove 2009 Chardonnay.
"This wine will work well here because of its similar baked apple flavours," De Paoli said.
"It also has good crisp acidity to cleanse the palate and is partially barrel fermented, so it's lush, but clean."
If you wanted to serve red wine with the pork, she suggested See Ya Later Ranch 2010 Pinot Noir, noting the weight and taste of the wine will pair well with the meat.
For the spinach and yam phyllo parcels, she suggested Ex Nihilo 2009 Pinot Gris.
"This wine is on the lighter side, but it also has wonderful lemony notes," De Paoli said.
"With so many flavours in the phyllo parcels, it will reset the palate so you are able to taste each individual ingredient."
Another wine she thought would work with the phyllo parcels is Le Petit Paille 2011 Sauvignon Blanc.
The wine has herbal flavours that will pair well with the spinach and bright, crisp acidity for the oils from the cheese in the filling.
For the salmon with sweet and sour five-spice cranberry sauce, she suggested Cassini Ma Ma Mia 2011 Pinot Grigio.
"Pinot Grigio and salmon is a classic match. This one is a little bit richer with sweet fruit flavours that will stand up to the five-spice but not overpower the dish," De Paoli said.
If you wanted to serve red wine with the salmon, she said to try Lake Breeze 7 Poplars Pinot Noir.
"Opposites attract, as will this wine and salmon.
"It has medium weight and is fairly fruit forward and will stand up to such strong flavours," De Paoli said.
ROAST SALMON WITH SWEET AND SOUR FIVE-SPICE CRANBERRY SAUCE
Rich and flaky salmon served with an intriguing, sweet-and sour-tasting cranberry sauce.
Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: About 35 minutes Makes: 8 servings
For the sauce:
1/3 cup packed golden brown sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp five-spice powder (see Note)
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 (300 gram) bag fresh or frozen cranberries
Place all ingredients, except cranberries, into a medium-sized pot and whisk to combine. Mix in cranberries. Set pot over medium, to medium-high heat. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook until the cranberries begin to just fall apart, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Transfer to a tightsealing container. Sauce can be made a day before needed.
For the fish and to serve
8 (5-to 6-oz.) salmon fillets
2 Tbsp orange juice
2 Tbsp butter, melted
? salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
8 mint sprigs
Preheat oven to 425 F. Set salmon on a parchment paperlined baking sheet. Drizzle each piece of fish with a little orange juice and butter. Season fish with salt and pepper. Bake 15 minutes, or until just cooked through. Set the fish on individual plates, or present on a platter. Serve with the cranberry sauce and garnish with mint sprigs.
Note: Five-spice powder is sold in the bottled herb and spice aisle of most supermarkets.
ROAST RACK OF PORK WITH SAGE, MUSTARD, APPLES AND CIDER JUS
Pork and apples are always a wonderful combination. A rack of pork is a pork loin roast with the rib bones still attached. It's sold or could be ordered at some supermarkets and butcher shops.
Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 90 minutes Makes: 6 servings
1 (6-bone) rack of pork (about 3 lbs.)
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp chopped fresh sage
? salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 medium red apples, such as Fuji, Honey Crisp or Royal Gala (see Note)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Celebrity chef David Rocco loves cooking with fresh, seasonal ingredients.
Here are two easy side dishes, plus a delectable, moist cake he has created that would be perfect to grace your Thanksgiving Day table.
GREEN BEAN SALAD (INSALATA DI FAGIOLINI)
Green beans are a versatile vegetable. They hold their integrity when cooked and will absorb and enhance the flavours of whatever you mix with them. Rocco recommends making this salad in advance to give the beans a chance to absorb all the flavours. You can also use lemon juice in place of the vinegar.
2 lb green beans, trimmed
5 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
8 fresh mint leaves, chopped
2 cloves garlic, trimmed, very finely diced
? Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar (optional)
Cut off tips of beans, then boil for 3 to 5 minutes until slightly soft but still a bit crunchy. Drain well, pat dry and place in a mixing bowl. Add olive oil, mint, garlic, salt, pepper and red-wine vinegar, if using. Toss gently so the dressing coats the beans.
Makes 4 servings.
POTATO CAKE (GATEAU DI PATATE)
Rocco says this potato gateau - mashed potatoes with an edge - is a favourite dish.
"Not only is it like a giant serving of mashed potatoes, it has a baked crust - like a giant potato croquette without the work. I also look at this dish as a way of using up ingredients in the fridge that have seen better days, like the poorly wrapped cheeses, deli meats, etc.," he writes in his cookbook Made in Italy. This dish tastes delicious warm or at room temperature.
6 potatoes, peeled
4 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 cup diced pancetta and/or salami
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 large egg
1/2 cup freshly grated pecorino cheese
1/2 cup cubed Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
? Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup breadcrumbs, divided
Heat oven to 400 F.
Boil potatoes until fork-tender, then drain and let cool. In a saucepan, heat half the olive oil.
Add pancetta and onion. Cook until onion is golden and pancetta is crisp.
In a mixing bowl, mash potatoes. For a creamier texture, you can use a potato ricer.
Add egg, cooked onion and pancetta, all the cheeses and salt and pepper.
Mix well until all ingredients are evenly combined.
Grease a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with remaining olive oil and spread half the breadcrumbs over the bottom of the dish. Pour in potato mixture and spread it evenly like a cake batter.
Sprinkle remaining breadcrumbs on top. Bake for 20 minutes or until breadcrumbs are golden brown.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
APPLE YOGURT CAKE (TORTA DI MELE DELLE ROCCETTES)
This easy cake is a perfect seasonal treat using fresh apples. The yogurt makes it super moist. Rocco's four-year-old twin daughters, Emma and Giorgia (a.k.a. the Roccettes), are absolutely in love with it.
1 1/3 cups flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
7 oz butter, melted
2 eggs
1/2 cup yogurt
2 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
? Zest of 1 lemon
1/3 cup sugar, for topping
Heat oven to 350 F. Butter an 8-inch baking pan.
In a bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon and salt.
In a separate bowl, beat 1/2 cup sugar and melted butter with a hand mixer until light and airy. Add eggs one at a time, beating for a few minutes after each addition.
Reduce speed of hand mixer and mix in one-third of the flour mixture. Then mix in half the yogurt.
Repeat until ingredients are mixed together. Stir in sliced apples and lemon zest.
Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing it with a spatula. Sprinkle 1/3 cup sugar on top.
Bake for about 40 minutes until top is golden and a fork or tester poked into it comes out clean.
Recipes source: Made in Italy by David Rocco (HarperCollins, 2011).
