This feast took us years: We selected some favored recipes from the last 10 ...
01.01.70
If you could plan your dream Thanksgiving menu, what would be on it? That's the question we in the Food section have been pondering this fall. So we decided to print out every holiday recipe we've published over the last 10 years and take a vote.
Some dishes were pretty easy to decide. Noelle Carter's stuffing with cornbread, chorizo and pumpkinseeds, for example, was so splendid it was voted one of the 10 best recipes of 2008. The same was true of Regina Schrambling's marvelous slow-rising pumpkin-thyme dinner rolls from 2002. And, of course, we had to have Judy Rodgers' dry-brined turkey that won 2006's big bird smackdown.
But what would we serve for an appetizer? Roasted pumpkin salad? Spiced pumpkin soup served in roasted mini-pumpkins? Dungeness crab salad with apples and curried mayonnaise? Gougeres? In the end, we decided on something light, crisp and delicious: a persimmon salad with cumin-line vinaigrette from Russ Parsons.
The side dish was equally difficult to decide. Acorn squash roasted and basted with hazelnut butter? Something simple and deeply flavored like braised kale? Or maybe we ought to go more over the top: sweet potato souffle or broccoli casserole. Tough choice, but we finally settled on another dish from Parsons: Brussels sprouts gently braised with bacon and chestnuts.
Source: Sacramento Bee
Move Over Cupcakes, Mini Pies are Stealing the Spotlight
01.01.70
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. and MODESTO, Calif., Nov. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Pies are a tradition at holiday gatherings, a "welcome to the neighborhood" gift and a beloved classic comfort food that never seem to go out of favor. With hundreds of filling possibilities from fruit to chocolate, there is truly a pie for every palate. Pies have certainly been a dessert mainstay, but today they are enjoying a renaissance in a new, more portable form.
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Bumping cupcakes out as the "it" hand-held dessert, mini pies are turning a restaurant trend into a household delight. The National Restaurant Association ranked "bite-size/mini desserts" as the second most popular dessert trend in 2011 following artisan/house-made ice cream. Bakers, chefs and home cooks alike are not only embracing the cutie pie trend but making it their own with everything from traditional flavors such as apple, pumpkin and banana cream to more trendy flavors like salted caramel, peanut butter and chili chocolate pies. Not just limited to sweet, savory minis like chicken and meat pies are just as hard to resist.
Source: Sacramento Bee