Spank You Very Much
The last two years, I have hosted Thanksgiving at my house. And I loved it. I loved the planning and the cleaning and the decorating and the cooking and the eating and the drinking and the company and the feeling of This is Nice and I Did It.
This year, we're going elsewhere for Thanksgiving dinner. I keep waiting to feel a little pang or twinge that tells me I wish I were in hostess mode this time around. Thus far, I remain pang-free and twingeless.
I've had a student teacher for the last three months. Accepting the role of "cooperating teacher" is risky business. It can mean a ton of work and tricky negotiation of constructive criticism and supportive guidance especially for someone who has difficulty self-editing like a certain someone whose name rhymes with smell fed toastess. I did this once before and holy jeeby creezy it was a nightmare. It's a little hard to be enthusiastic about a future English teacher who ends sentences with "at" so frequently that your lower level ninth grade students begin to correct her.
This time, however, St. John Baptiste de la Salle or some other pagan god more likely because, hey, it's me involved here smiled upon me and send me WonderGirl. Best. New. Teacher. Ever. And today is her last day. Which means that I now have to do my actual job for the first time in months. Yikes. My poor students are entirely shellshocked that they have to put up with me for the rest of the year. I think I'm in denial, because here I sit writing out recipes for pumpkin pie and creamed onions and I was just handed a knee-high stack of essays to mark up.
It's easy to identify what I'm grateful for this year. Her. WonderGirl. Except for the fact that she was so damn good that she's raised the bar for me and I'm going to have to bust a move or six to live up to the standard that she's set for these kids.
Not hosting Thanksgiving is feeling like my last hurrah of sloth. I haven't had to do much teaching work, WonderGirl needed minimal guidance and really the only taxing part of working with her was coming up with original superlatives to describe her and to use in feedback. I'm not even baking the usual 8 pies that I bake and bring when we're going out for Thanksgiving.
I am, however, making the side dish that my grandmother used to make when my mother was growing up. How do you say you're not going to crank out some creamed onions for your mother who is practically raising your kids when she's not going to Costco to shop for you or sending her cleaning people to your house to freaking SWEEP something for the love of god? You don't. You just make the creamed onions.
Here's how:
And yeah, I know. Creamed Onions. Sounds gross. But let me point out that the primary ingredients are butter and cream. Enough said.
Blanch and peel 2 lbs pearl onions, if you are foolhardy enough to have bought fresh pearl onions when you can just as easily buy them frozen and already peeled. Seriously. You'll lose your everloving mind trying to peel these little suckers. Buy the frozen. Skip the blanching.
Put onions and 1 tsp salt in a pot and cover with 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered about 20 minutes (less if they are frozen. Like, WAY less) until they are tender. Drain and transfer to a BUTTERED (did I lie??) baking dish.
Put oven rack in the middle, whatever- does anyone pay attention to recipe instructions like that? Preheat oven to 350.
Melt one TB BUTTER in a saucepan and add 1 TB flour, stir for about a minute. Whisk in 1 cup HEAVY CREAM (or half and half, but let's be real, if you're going to use half and half, you might as well use heavy cream. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes.
Stir in 1/4 tsp salt (why bother), 1/4 tsp black pepper (I'd use more), and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg. The recipe from Gourmet from which I'mstealing borrowing says "freshly grated nutmeg," but life is far too short to grate your own nutmeg, freshly or otherwise.
Pour the sauce over the onions.
Melt 2 TB BUTTER in a nonstick skillet and add 1 1/2 coarse white bread crumbs, and cook, stirring until golden - this should only take a few minutes.
Sprinkle the crumbs over onions and bake until the sauce is bubbly, probably 30 minutes or so.
In honor of WonderGirl, I also give you the best chicken pot pie recipe in the world, despite the fact that it comes from Martha Stewart and contains instructions like "grow an organic garden full of fresh herbs, perform a Wiccan fertility festival in honor of the herbs, and then harvest them during the full moon whilst wearing a caftan and a hat made from the feathers of one of your prized Madagascar Chickens." I edited it so you could spare yourself the absurd detail. WonderGirl loves her some chicken pot pie, and if you have turkey leftovers, there is no reason under the sun, unless Martha hears about it in which case RUN and HIDE, it couldn't be turkey pot pie.
Chicken Pot Pie
Put a 3 or 4 pound chicken in a pot with 4 cups homemade stock, 1/2 of a large yellow onion, 2 dried bay leaves, 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, one cut up piece of celery and a few thyme sprigs. Boil it, reduce heat, simmer for an hour.
Next, strain the stock and pick the meat off the chicken and set to the side.
OR - you could buy a package of chicken breasts, shove them in a pot with a can of chicken broth and that other stuff and boil it and simmer it and cut it up when it's done in about an hour. I will not tell Martha.
While the chicken is cooking, combine 1 cup flour, 1/4 tsp salt and 1 TB thyme leaves . Add 10 tablespoons chilled butter, cut up, and pulse until it's the texture of coarse meal. Add 1 egg yolk and 3 TB ice water and mix it all up. Ball it up, flatten it a bit, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for an hour.
Melt 5 TB butter in a big sauté pan. Add a bunch of cut up red potatoes (1/2 pieces) and some pearl onions (use some from the bag of frozen ones you bought to make the creamed onions) and stir for 5 minutes until the potatoes start to turn a little golden. Add some 1/4 inch slices of leeks, some 1/4 inch pieces of carrot, some mushrooms if your family will eat them unlike mine who say things like, 'WHAT ARE THESE SLIMY THINGS??" and I add peas even though Martha makes no mention of peas.
Stir for another five minutes or so, then add 5 TB flour and stir it up. Stir in 2 cups of the chicken stock from before and 1 cup of milk. Simmer, stirring constantly, this isn't so bad b/c it thickens up really quickly. Add the chicken, some lemon zest if you want, but who really cares, some more thyme leaves, some S and P, and pour it all into a casserole dish.
Roll out the dough until it's about 1/4 inch thick, cover the casserole dish with it, tucking in the edges. Brush the top with an egg yolk and cream blend. Bake for 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
Almost as great as WonderGirl herself.
Happy Thanksgiving, and a special little thanks to all the new fun people (her and her) and fun people I already knew (her and her andher and her and her) who went out on Monday night to say "Hey" to DaddyScratches.
This year, we're going elsewhere for Thanksgiving dinner. I keep waiting to feel a little pang or twinge that tells me I wish I were in hostess mode this time around. Thus far, I remain pang-free and twingeless.
I've had a student teacher for the last three months. Accepting the role of "cooperating teacher" is risky business. It can mean a ton of work and tricky negotiation of constructive criticism and supportive guidance especially for someone who has difficulty self-editing like a certain someone whose name rhymes with smell fed toastess. I did this once before and holy jeeby creezy it was a nightmare. It's a little hard to be enthusiastic about a future English teacher who ends sentences with "at" so frequently that your lower level ninth grade students begin to correct her.
This time, however, St. John Baptiste de la Salle or some other pagan god more likely because, hey, it's me involved here smiled upon me and send me WonderGirl. Best. New. Teacher. Ever. And today is her last day. Which means that I now have to do my actual job for the first time in months. Yikes. My poor students are entirely shellshocked that they have to put up with me for the rest of the year. I think I'm in denial, because here I sit writing out recipes for pumpkin pie and creamed onions and I was just handed a knee-high stack of essays to mark up.
It's easy to identify what I'm grateful for this year. Her. WonderGirl. Except for the fact that she was so damn good that she's raised the bar for me and I'm going to have to bust a move or six to live up to the standard that she's set for these kids.
Not hosting Thanksgiving is feeling like my last hurrah of sloth. I haven't had to do much teaching work, WonderGirl needed minimal guidance and really the only taxing part of working with her was coming up with original superlatives to describe her and to use in feedback. I'm not even baking the usual 8 pies that I bake and bring when we're going out for Thanksgiving.
I am, however, making the side dish that my grandmother used to make when my mother was growing up. How do you say you're not going to crank out some creamed onions for your mother who is practically raising your kids when she's not going to Costco to shop for you or sending her cleaning people to your house to freaking SWEEP something for the love of god? You don't. You just make the creamed onions.
Here's how:
And yeah, I know. Creamed Onions. Sounds gross. But let me point out that the primary ingredients are butter and cream. Enough said.
Blanch and peel 2 lbs pearl onions, if you are foolhardy enough to have bought fresh pearl onions when you can just as easily buy them frozen and already peeled. Seriously. You'll lose your everloving mind trying to peel these little suckers. Buy the frozen. Skip the blanching.
Put onions and 1 tsp salt in a pot and cover with 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered about 20 minutes (less if they are frozen. Like, WAY less) until they are tender. Drain and transfer to a BUTTERED (did I lie??) baking dish.
Put oven rack in the middle, whatever- does anyone pay attention to recipe instructions like that? Preheat oven to 350.
Melt one TB BUTTER in a saucepan and add 1 TB flour, stir for about a minute. Whisk in 1 cup HEAVY CREAM (or half and half, but let's be real, if you're going to use half and half, you might as well use heavy cream. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes.
Stir in 1/4 tsp salt (why bother), 1/4 tsp black pepper (I'd use more), and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg. The recipe from Gourmet from which I'm
Pour the sauce over the onions.
Melt 2 TB BUTTER in a nonstick skillet and add 1 1/2 coarse white bread crumbs, and cook, stirring until golden - this should only take a few minutes.
Sprinkle the crumbs over onions and bake until the sauce is bubbly, probably 30 minutes or so.
In honor of WonderGirl, I also give you the best chicken pot pie recipe in the world, despite the fact that it comes from Martha Stewart and contains instructions like "grow an organic garden full of fresh herbs, perform a Wiccan fertility festival in honor of the herbs, and then harvest them during the full moon whilst wearing a caftan and a hat made from the feathers of one of your prized Madagascar Chickens." I edited it so you could spare yourself the absurd detail. WonderGirl loves her some chicken pot pie, and if you have turkey leftovers, there is no reason under the sun, unless Martha hears about it in which case RUN and HIDE, it couldn't be turkey pot pie.
Chicken Pot Pie
Put a 3 or 4 pound chicken in a pot with 4 cups homemade stock, 1/2 of a large yellow onion, 2 dried bay leaves, 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, one cut up piece of celery and a few thyme sprigs. Boil it, reduce heat, simmer for an hour.
Next, strain the stock and pick the meat off the chicken and set to the side.
OR - you could buy a package of chicken breasts, shove them in a pot with a can of chicken broth and that other stuff and boil it and simmer it and cut it up when it's done in about an hour. I will not tell Martha.
While the chicken is cooking, combine 1 cup flour, 1/4 tsp salt and 1 TB thyme leaves . Add 10 tablespoons chilled butter, cut up, and pulse until it's the texture of coarse meal. Add 1 egg yolk and 3 TB ice water and mix it all up. Ball it up, flatten it a bit, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for an hour.
Melt 5 TB butter in a big sauté pan. Add a bunch of cut up red potatoes (1/2 pieces) and some pearl onions (use some from the bag of frozen ones you bought to make the creamed onions) and stir for 5 minutes until the potatoes start to turn a little golden. Add some 1/4 inch slices of leeks, some 1/4 inch pieces of carrot, some mushrooms if your family will eat them unlike mine who say things like, 'WHAT ARE THESE SLIMY THINGS??" and I add peas even though Martha makes no mention of peas.
Stir for another five minutes or so, then add 5 TB flour and stir it up. Stir in 2 cups of the chicken stock from before and 1 cup of milk. Simmer, stirring constantly, this isn't so bad b/c it thickens up really quickly. Add the chicken, some lemon zest if you want, but who really cares, some more thyme leaves, some S and P, and pour it all into a casserole dish.
Roll out the dough until it's about 1/4 inch thick, cover the casserole dish with it, tucking in the edges. Brush the top with an egg yolk and cream blend. Bake for 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
Almost as great as WonderGirl herself.
Happy Thanksgiving, and a special little thanks to all the new fun people (her and her) and fun people I already knew (her and her andher and her and her) who went out on Monday night to say "Hey" to DaddyScratches.
Posted by Well Read Hostess at 11/25/2009 9:44 AM 
Categories: Mama Like,Holidays,Home is Where the Mess Is,In the Kitchen
Tags: thanskgiving Sarah Josepha Hale pumpkin pie creamed onions
Categories: Mama Like,Holidays,Home is Where the Mess Is,In the Kitchen
Tags: thanskgiving Sarah Josepha Hale pumpkin pie creamed onions
I'm sure you'll miss wonder girl! But hey! Your students like you, really!
As for the creamed onions, I have a recipe that I was going to try tonight but yours sounds better. Because it has CREAM. Mine? Milk. Not as good.
Happy Turkey Day to you.
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As I was reading the first part of the chicken pot pie recipe I was saying in my head "I'll just got some boneless skinless chicken breasts and use the canned chicken stock.
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I love your recipe commentary. I will not tell Martha if, instead of making your own pastry, you buy the refrigerated, roll-em-out crusts, bcause they're always on sale and damn if they aren't pretty tasty. It'll be our little secret.
Also? I have to tell you, don't underestimate the fun of freshly grated nutmeg. Just don't grate your knuckles while you're trying to grate that little nubbin of a nut.
I've never hosted Thanksgiving and am all too happy to let the elder relatives continue to dirty their kitchens. They promise one day I will have to do it. Till then, I'm all eat and burp and watch football. So enjoy!
Last thing and then I'm done - I am unable to leave a comment when I visit from within Facebook. Had to copy this, then come to the actual site (instead of viewed thru F
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The chicken pot pie sounds really good (if only I cooked darn it). It was great to see you on Monday, but I hope we get a chance to really talk the next time. Have a wonderful relaxing holiday!
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We call ours 'interns' cause they have to do a million and one things that we don't want to do (like teach English).
This year, for Thanksgiving at my school, I invited my boyfriend, and told him that the invitation came with one caveat. He has to bring a pecan pie that he makes.
Sound like a bad idea? In my former life, this would have been awful. But in this life where interns teach the classes I don't want to, it works peachy because my boyfriend is not only a chef, he's a FRENCH CHEF.
My mouth waters just thinking about him...I mean his cooking...him cooking...I'm not good at English. It's a good thing I have an intern...
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I hate onions, but will eat a gallon of creamed onions.
Creamed carrots too. Sounds weird, but it's not.
And once you know how to cream veggies, you can cream them all, cut up (I prefer to pull apart) some chicket, and pour it over buttermilk biscuits and mashed potatoes.
Seriously.
It's a hometown favorite and if I still lived here (I"m here now for TG) I'd be 700 pounds because you can get it everywhere and anywhere and it is the bizzy
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So all you ladies are now the "Bossy Blog Posse"?" Do you have to all get down on your knees in a circle and bow to her as she taps her favs on the head? Is there a viewing gallery for this event?
Oh, yes. I'm goin' there.
And I'm going to start a sentence with a conjunction and end the next one with a preposition. Because walking right on the razor's edge of English is where I live at.
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