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November 14, 2003/Cheshvan 19 5764, Vol. 56, No. 8
Basting with wine or vermouth?
Why not? It's better than buttah!
LINDA MOREL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
I have a guilty pleasure that is both fat-free and legal.
Every November, I gobble up cooking magazines, especially photos of seasoned turkeys surrounded by glistening vegetables and antique breakfronts displaying fruit fantasy desserts.
Although Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday, the one that unites people of all faiths, traditional Thanksgiving fare is not user-friendly to Jews who follow the laws of kashrut. Butter is the biggest culprit: the ingredient found in the majority of recipes and the one that clashes with the large dome of a turkey on the harvest table.
Most recipes suggest basting the bird with butter, bathing yams in butter and whipping mashed potatoes with butter - and milk. The flakiest piecrusts depend on butter, too.
I first realized that observant Jews are sometimes leery of Thanksgiving through Kurt, the darling gentleman whose jewelry store my husband, David, and I once frequented. On Jewish holidays David, a liquor importer, gave him bottles of kosher wine from Israel. Kurt was forever grateful, and as we chatted I often noticed warmth in his eyes and cold blue numbers tattooed on his forearm. Auschwitz had claimed two years of his youth.
One November in the 1980s, I brought Kurt a broken watch to fix. He said it would be ready on Thursday.
"But that's Thanksgiving," I explained.
"I forgot," he said, smiling. "My family doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving."
I asked what he had against America's favorite holiday.
"The food," he said. "It's not how we eat."
I wondered if he was referring to the sugar overkill, to soft mounds of melted marshmallows sweetening candied yams, but I suspected he was talking about butterfat flanking the turkey. It saddened me that he missed the pumpkin fest that I looked forward to all year.
While Kurt comes from a Polish village, I am a fourth-generation American who had grown up during the fifties in a wooded suburb of Manhattan.
There were no synagogues in town. My parents worked hard at shedding their Jewish identity and assimilating with their neighbors. Yet they raised me to treat older people - especially Holocaust survivors - with respect, which is why I hesitated to challenge a man as old as my father. Without sharing my feelings about the holiday, I did as Kurt suggested and picked up my watch the day after Thanksgiving. The following fall, he suffered a stroke and I never saw him again.
Looking back, I wonder why I didn't offer him the Thanksgiving recipes I'd been honing for years.
These recipes are not simply margarine knockoffs of buttery dishes featured on glossy magazine pages, but call for ingredients finer than oleo. Although I did not grow up in a kosher home, my mother favored margarine, which as a child I viewed with suspicion because of its shiny plastic appearance. I was not surprised decades later when news broke that hydrogenated vegetable oil is an artery clogger equal to butter. It was time to seek substitutes for fat.
In my quest, I began basting turkeys with white wine, or better still, with the complex essences of dry vermouth. This yields a bird that is crisp on the outside yet moist and tender on the inside. It goes without saying that kosher turkeys are the freshest tasting birds on the market. Their skin is sufficiently fatty and doesn't require additional greasing. Should the skin brown too quickly, simply tent it with aluminum foil. But I have to admit that whenever I tackle a turkey, its roasting time varies as greatly as the arrival of Jewish holidays - either late or early, never on time. I've learned to hurry up or slow down side dish preparation.
I find the simple bouillon cube to be a lifesaver. When it comes to stuffing, a marriage of broth and bread is superior to its oily competition. The best stuffing arises from homemade or bakery-bought bread. Stuffing composed of challah is lighter than air. Check your freezer for stray slices because a conglomeration of different breads spawns prize-winning results.
Broth, plus the creamy texture of roasted garlic, creates fluffy, deeply flavored mashed potatoes. Be careful, though, to avoid overbeating potatoes; their starch quickly turns gluey.
My candied yams are a dish that is truly inspired. Their rich syrup derives from a medley of fat-free ingredients. People continually request the recipe. My cranberry pear cake is both sweet and tart. The secret to this moist cake is safflower oil, which is light and nearly transparent. A dash of brandy brings out the best of its seasonal fruit.
Thanksgiving dinner is the ultimate lineup of comfort foods. Gathering with family and friends for this late autumn festivity is an opportunity to appreciate this country's bounty, honor our American heritage, and share a fabulous meal, all Jewish sentiments at heart.
Talking Turkey
(meat)
(Consult a butcher or package directions for the appropriate oven temperatures and roasting time per pound for your turkey.)
- Non-stick vegetable spray
- 1 kosher turkey, any size
- Garlic salt to taste
- Paprika for sprinkling
- 1 cup white wine or vermouth, plus more as needed
- 2 handfuls of raw cranberries, optional
- Coat roasting pan and rack with cooking spray.
- Rinse turkey and cavity. Pat dry.
- Turn turkey, breast-side down and drizzle 1/2 cup wine. Sprinkle with seasonings.
- Place turkey, breast-side up on rack and drizzle with 1/2 cup wine and sprinkle with seasonings. Stuff turkey.
- Insert a meat thermometer in thickest part of breast. Roast as directed, basting every 20 minutes.
- When ready, cool 20 minutes before slicing. Place on a platter and garnish with cranberries.
Cornucopia
Stuffing
(for 15-25 pound birds)
(meat)
- 3 chicken bouillon cubes
- 3 Tbsp. olive oil
- 8 celery stalks, diced
- 12-oz pkg. mushrooms, sliced
- 2 onions, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. of dried rosemary, sage, and thyme
- 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced
- 2 one-pound loaves of any bread, cubed (including crusts)
- Non-stick vegetable spray
- Place bouillon cubes in 1-1/2 quarts boiling water. Stir and reserve.
- Place oil in a large pot on a medium flame. Saute celery, mushrooms, onions, and garlic, until wilted. Add herbs and apples.
- Add bread, stirring well. Slowly add broth until stuffing holds together, but is not soggy. Discard remaining broth. Cool to room temperature.
- Stuff turkey and truss with skewers. If stuffing remains, coat an ovenproof casserole with cooking spray and place it inside. Bake casserole at 350øF for 20 minutes or until stuffing bubbles.
Yield: 12 servings
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
(meat or pareve)
- Garlic
- No-stick vegetable spray
- 1 head of garlic
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- Preheat oven to 350øF. Coat a 1-1/2 cup ovenproof casserole with cooking spray.
- Slice off top (pointy side) of garlic head, exposing the tips of cloves. Pour 1 Tbsp. water into casserole and place garlic inside flat, (nubby) side down. Drizzle oil over exposed cloves.
- Cover casserole with aluminum foil. Prick foil twice with tip of a knife. Roast for one hour, checking water level every 20 minutes and adding more if necessary. Garlic is ready when brown and soft.
- Cool to room temperature. Using fingers, squeeze creamy garlic from each clove into a bowl and reserve.
Broth
- 2 bouillon cubes
- Dice a carrot, celery stalk and small onion
- Place ingredients in a pot with 1 quart of water. Boil for 20 minutes until broth reduces. Cool to room temper-ature. Strain vegetables out.
Potatoes
- 4 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 6 chunks
- Salt
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- Non-stick spray
- In a large pot, immerse potatoes in water. Add 1 Tbsp. salt. Boil for 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft when a fork is inserted into their centers. Drain potatoes in a colander.
- Using metal blade in a food processor, in batches place potatoes, roasted garlic, salt to taste and olive oil. Pulse blade, slowly adding broth until potatoes become fluffy. Do not over beat. Discard remaining broth. Remove to a casserole coated with cooking spray. Serve immediately.
Yield: 6 servings
Candied Yams
(pareve)
- 3 yams
- Non-stick vegetable spray
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup orange marmalade
- 6 oz. can pineapple juice
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 bag of marshmallows or
- 1-1/2 cups slivered almonds
- Preheat oven to 350øF. Peel yams and rinse under water. Pat dry. Cut them in half vertically and then horizontally to create 4 boat-shaped pieces.
- Coat a 11" x 7" ovenproof casserole with cooking spray. Arrange yams inside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, blend oil, honey, marmalade, juice, and cinnamon. Pour evenly over yams. Place casserole in oven, turning yams every 15 minutes. Bake for 75 minutes or until yams are soft in center when tested with a knife.
- Remove casserole and turn on broiler. Dot yams with marshmallows or almonds. Place under broiler and watch constantly until topping browns. Serve immediately.
Yield: 12 pieces
Cranberry
Pear Cake
(pareve)
- 5 pears, skinned, cored, and sliced thin
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- Non-stick vegetable spray
- 3 eggs
- 1-1/2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup safflower oil
- 3-1/2 Tbsp. cranberry juice
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 2-1/2 cups flour
- Dash of salt
- 2 tsp. brandy
- In a large bowl, mix first four ingredients by hand.
- Preheat oven to 350øF. Coat a 9" x 12" glass baking pan with cooking spray.
- Beat eggs. Add sugar, mixing until frothy.
- Add oil and juice, mixing well, followed by baking powder, flour and salt. Add brandy. Beat on high for one minute until ingredients are completely combined. Batter is sticky and dry.
- Pour half of batter into baking pan, spreading to cover. Spoon fruit mixture evenly on top of batter. With a spatula, gently spread remaining batter over fruit, stretching it thin to cover as much fruit as possible. With forefinger, push exposed cranberries beneath batter.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until top browns and feels firm. Cool for two hours before cutting.
Yield: 24 squares.
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