Jo made her own english muffins from scratch, which are far and away better than any store-bought kind.  The eggs were poached.  The hollandaise sauce was from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and instead of ham we used facon (fake bacon).  Delish!

Last fall, I distinctly remember a conversation in our DC back office where disdain was expressed by several people for “cultural Thanksgivings” because well, why don’t they just “leave tradition alone”?  In my little intern corner, I steamed a little bit from what I knew was a casual, passing remark – if pressed, I’m sure they would acknowledge they meant no harm –  but to me, in my version of America – land of immigrants – traditions held in your family and in my family and in all families were all part of a greater, grander American tradition. Some may not be part of the mainstream, and some may not be regarded as “All-American,” but they are American nonetheless.

Whew. Anyway, I cherished this past Thanksgiving away from home because it meant that, for the first time, my friends and I were wholly responsible for the planning and production of Thanksgiving dinner. How grown up. Our menu included roasted chicken (ok, I admit it – I don’t really like turkey, and afterward, you are eating turkey sandwiches for days), mashed red potatoes and gravy, stuffing, and roasted asparagus. Per my special request and insistence, we also made Vietnamese egg rolls, also known as cha gio.

Just to clarify, Vietnamese egg rolls are different from Chinese egg rolls, Filipino lumpia, and other types of Asian egg rolls. In my humble, potentially racist, totally biased opinion, they are superior to other types. Vietnamese egg rolls are fried, several-bite-sized, crunchy rolls of goodness. They are not spring rolls, which are made with clear rice paper and are not fried. They are not summer rolls, which is a term that should not exist and which I’d never heard of until I went to Cheesecake Factory. If you are not offended so far and would like to actually know how to make these, please proceed.

Warning: This fails to meet my criteria for easy-to-make food, just in that some of the ingredients are not easy to find, and there is a lot of preparation involved. However, as perilous and challenging as the journey may be, the rewards are great.

Ingredients
1 package deep-fried spring roll wrapper*
1 small section bean thread vermicelli* (sold individually or in packages (which are just bundles of individual sections – you will need one section))
1 cup dried mushrooms, soaked and sliced, or 1 cup tree/wood ear fungus/mushroom, soaked*
1 lb ground pork
1 large onion, minced or grated
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 or 2 carrots, peeled and grated
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp sugar, to taste
1 tsp salt, to taste
1 tsp pepper, to taste
2 tbsp fish sauce or nuoc mam (optional)

* Denotes ingredients easiest to find in Asian supermarkets.

Steps
1. MIXING IT ALL. Cut off mushroom stems and slice thinly. After rehydrating vermicelli, cut into two-inch segments. Mix all ingredients (except for the wrappers, of course) thoroughly. To check for taste, you can microwave a chunk for about 30 seconds so that you’re not tasting raw pork. If adding fish sauce, note this will make the mixture more salty, so adjust salt proportions accordingly.

2. WRAPPING IT UP. This is probably the hardest part for those not experienced in roll wrapping. I unfortunately don’t have a picture of this process, but I will say, (1) have the wrapper facing you like a diamond, (2) place a little bit of filling horizontally and just off-center in the wrapper, (3) fold the edge of the wrapper that is parallel and closest to the filling and place it so that it slightly pinches the mixture, (4) fold the sides of the wrapper in, and (5) finish by rolling it toward the other end of the wrapper. If there is too much filling, the wrapper will break. This will take practice, so do not fret if you don’t get the first few right.

3. FRYING TIME. This is best fried either in a deep fryer or in a wok. No worries if you have neither, you just have to make sure it fries evenly on all sides. Fill the pan with several inches of either canola or sunflower oil because they’re tasteless and healthier than vegetable or corn oil. Do not use olive oil because it has a different heating point and is less effective for deep frying. It’s best if you put enough oil in that it covers the roll. Put in 2 tbsp white vinegar because it helps make the egg rolls crispy. Heat to medium-high and make sure it cooks evenly on all sides.

before

and after!

And there you have it. I had to look at some recipes online and talk to my aunt – she makes the best egg rolls and is advanced enough to have her own deep fryer. You can eat it with fish sauce and hot chili, or just plain. Enjoy!

Ingredients, for 8 servings
9 uncooked lasagna noodles
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (14.5 oz) can vegetable broth
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 (14 oz) can marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry TIP: Let spinach thaw and drain completely, so lasagna isn’t overly watery.
1 (28 oz) jar tomato pasta sauce
3 cups shredded mozzarella sauce
1 (4 oz) package feta, crumbled

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray or olive oil.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook into al dente. Drain. Note: I used the pre-cooked lasagna noodles to save myself a step.
3. With medium-heat, add olive oil to saute onion and garlic for three minutes, or until onion is tender-crisp. Stir in broth and rosemary. Stir in artichoke hearts and spinach; reduce heat, cover and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in pasta sauce.
4. Here is where the layering begins. To get a few good layers in, spread a quarter of the mixture in the bottom of the greased baking dish; top with a layer of cooked noodles. Sprinkle a quarter of the mozzarella on top of noodles. Repeat, ending with a layer of artichoke mixture and mozzarella on top. Sprinkle crumbled feta on top.
5. Bake covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover, and then bake for 15 more minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.

lots and lots of melted cheese

It also meets my two cooking criteria: (1) it is easy, and (2) it is tasty.  Note that I did not include “healthy” into my standards, though I think the general lack of oil and butter is a good sign here.

Ingredients
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 chili pepper (use with caution)
1 lb chicken
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 red bell pepper
20 basil leaves (no more, no less)
1/2 tsp cornstarch

Directions
Heat some oil and throw in the garlic and chili pepper for about 30 seconds, until it starts to sizzle. Add chicken and cook on medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Toss in the fish sauce, sugar, and soy sauce and cook for 1 minute. Add oyster sauce and 1 tbsp of water for 30 seconds. Put in red bell pepper and basil leaves, and stir fry for 2 minutes. Dissolve cornstarch in water and add. Remove from heat after a minute.

don't forget the basil!!

Everything happens so quickly, but if you do it right, the chicken is very moist and tender. Serve with rice, and enjoy! And one last thing: for some reason, whenever I make this, I always forget the basil in the Thai Basil Chicken, so DON’T DO THAT!

serve with rice. i apologize for the quality of this picture.

Expect to see a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies and Chicken Piccata.  Yum.

Recipe – makes 1 large a-pizza

• pizza dough, unbaked*
• smoked gouda, grated or sliced thinly**
• 1/2 jar of spicy red pepper tomato sauce
• 1 onion, sliced and caramelized
• 7oz can [containing 2 to 3] chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped finely
• fire-roasted red peppers, sliced – optional
• fresh basil, roughly cut
• olive oil

Preheat oven to 500 F.

Heat olive oil in pan to medium-high heat and add onions.  Stir occasionally, until onions have begun browning.  Lower heat and stir frequently until golden brown or desired color is reached, about 10-15 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool.

Chop chipotle peppers finely and mix with tomato sauce.

Punch out the dough onto a cookie sheet lined with foil and lightly coated with olive oil.  We happen to have a circular one, but I imagine a rectangular sheet would work fine.  The olive oil will prevent the pizza from sticking to the foil.

Once you have your shape, spread sauce mix evenly over dough.  Add onions and peppers if you have them.  Add cheese to cover.  Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes until crust is golden brown, checking at 7 minutes.  Add basil when right out of the oven.

Notes

* We have a lovely Italian deli down the street called Vace that makes homemade pasta and sauces.  We stopped by to pick up premade pizza dough, and it was a little over a pound of dough and cost us 3 bucks!  It baked so well and tasted amazing.  I imagine if you don’t have a place like this in your ‘hood, you could probably make the dough yourself or pick up a premade shell.

** Okay, so we saw that Matchbox’s version called for smoked gouda on the pizza, and I recall the smoked gouda being ooey and gooey.  I don’t know how that could have been possible though, because as the Google and the Interwebs will tell you, Gouda won’t melt.  Or will it?  For some reason, the night we made the pizza, I was able to find at least a few websites explaining that gouda wouldn’t melt.  Whereas today, I can find none that tell me that, and only websites that tell me how easily it melts!

We didn’t grate the gouda, we cut slices and spread them over the entire pizza.  However, the gouda didn’t “melt” as I mentioned.  It kind of got rubbery, but it tasted just as good.  If we tried it next time, I’d try it grated to see if it melted easier.

Also, we didn’t take pictures like we normally do because once it was out of the oven we ate the sucker right up.  It was so so delicious.  It’s going to be very spicy though, and it’ll make you sweat.  You’ve been warned.

Jo and I ate dondurma while we were in Istanbul a few weeks ago.  It was like nothing I have ever eaten, and for me, it certainly lived up to the hype.  You can read all sorts of articles and reviews about it, and most of them will describe a similar awe in its texture and dissimilarity to Western ice cream.  It comes in flavors similar to what you’d find in a supermarket, but its consistency is what makes it so special.  Describing it doesn’t do it justice, but to understand it, just take a look at this picture:

donduuuuuuuurma.

It’s stretchy and chewy.  It’s key ingredients are salep, which is derived from orchid roots, and mastic resin, which is derived from pistachio plants.  It has different polymers blah blah blah science blah i dont know blah it’s YUMMY (this article does a better job at showing how cool dondurma is).  Unfortunately, because salep comes from orchids, it has hurt the strength of wild orchid populations, and it is illegal to export to other countries.  BOOO.  I WANT SALEP.  Oh well, so I can’t ever make dondurma at home in the US.  I guess I’ll just have to dream about it and a return trip to Istanbul…

you'll be in my dreams tonight.

Recipe – Makes a shit ton of this, so I’d scale it back considerably unless you plan on serving it to many people or freezing the rest (oh and I love how I keep making this ‘serving size’ note longer and longer

• 1 cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
• 2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
• 4 plum tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced–this recipe comes out really garlicky, so scale back if you want it milder
• 23 ounces tomato juice (3 cups)
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

You know, 3 cups of juice doesn’t seem like a lot of gazpacho… maybe everytime I’ve made this I’ve doubled the recipe, and THAT’S why there’s always so much.  Oh well, can’t remember!

I’d recommend doing all of the prep work first.  So once all of your veggies are washed, cored and seeded, cut them into approx one inch cubes.  Keep each veggie separately from the others, and put each into a food processor or blender.  Pulse until roughly processed, do not overprocess (warns the Barefoot Contessa).  The gazpacho will come out sorta chunky, so if you want it smoother I don’t see why you couldn’t process more.  Why hate?

bell peppers, pre-gazpacho.

After each one is processed, combine in a large bowl with all other ingredients and mix.  Chill before serving.  The longer the soup chills, the more the flavors intensify and attack your body with deliciousness.  Serve with a hunk of french bread.

Roasting a chicken sounds daunting–at least it did to me–but it’s really as simple as can be.  The chicken you can buy in the store are really very automated, and there’s really nothing very domestic about it anymore.  Seriously, stick it in an oven and it’s done.  Crazy.  Also, it was the best chicken I’ve ever had in my life.  Try it, if you’ve never tried it.  You’ll be dumbstruck like me.

So because neither Jo nor I had done this before, we decided to go for a small to medium sized chicken.  I think it ended up being 11 pounds or something, but I’d recommend getting something even smaller–six to eight, maybe–unless you’re cooking for a lot of people or plan on eating a lot of chicken in the days to come.

Jo and I had delicious leftovers for a little over a week, and we cooked them into various things (fajitas, open-faced sandwiches, served with mashed potatoes and gravy, etc).  So you can be creative with your leftovers.

Recipe – makes an ENTIRE CHICKEN

• 1 whole chicken, between 6-8 lbs and preferably with a meat thermometer included
• 1/2 a lemon, inserted
• 1/2 an onion, inserted
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp thyme, sprinkled onto the chicken–optional

over-exposed.

So the chicken we bought was pre-salted and included a meat thermometer.  There are instructions on the packaging, but essentially:  remove the giblets package and insert the lemon, onion, and bay leaf.  Stick the entire stuffed chicken, breast side up, into a 9×13 casserole dish or roasting pan if you have it.  The packaging may recommend covering the chicken with foil for the first 30 minutes, but we didn’t do that and it was fine and the chicken was still very, very moist.  It can be in the oven anywhere to 1.5-3 hours, so be sure to check on it every half hour or so and baste it in its own juices.  Okay, it shouldn’t take three hours for a small chicken, but I added potatoes in the bottom tray to roast with the chicken, and it took longer to cook. Once done, carve chicken.  You can save the giblets, bones, and fat juices to make a chicken stock, but that’s icky.

hey there, chicky chicky

NOM NOM NOM.