Starters and Nibbles

Spicy Crock-Pot Apple Butter – Serve with cheddar or brie (or any cheese that is cheddar-or-brie-like) and crackers. Can be made several days in advance. Uses the crock-pot, which frees up your stovetop and oven. Would also be a nice sauce with turkey. And a nice host(-ess) gift.

Spicy Crock-Pot Apple Butter

Chicken Liver Mousse – Quick and easy to make. Can be made several days in advance. Serve with toast squares, crackers, or sliced baguette.

Chicken Liver Mousse on a crunchy little toast square

Manchego Cheese, Quince, and Walnut Crostini – Make the quince jam (or buy it) in advance. Toast the bread in advance. Easy to assemble.

Manchego, Quince, and Walnut Crostini

First Course

Easy Golden Beet Soup with Buttery Croutons - Serve as a first course. Beets can be roasted several days in advance. Soup can be made and refrigerated 1-2 days in advance (without the croutons, of course). Swirl a bit of heavy cream or yogurt on top for an elegant little touch. When I make a large meal like Thanksgiving dinner, I serve creamy soups like this in teacups – it’s just the right amount of soup so your guests aren’t stuffed before the main course.

Golden Beet Soup with Buttery Croutons

Quick Breads

Bacon Muffins – quick and easy to bake. Can be made 1 day in advance.

Bacon Muffins

Irish Soda Bread with Brown Butter, Rosemary, and Black Pepper – Quickbread (no yeast) – takes only a few minutes to mix. Can be made 1-2 days in advance.

Irish Soda Bread with Brown Butter, Rosemary, and Black Pepper

Cheddar-Sage Biscuits – Can be made 1 day in advance and re-heated. Sage goes nicely with turkey.

Cheddar Sage Biscuits

Sides

Broccoli Raab with Pecans – can be made 1-2 day in advance and re-heated.

Broccoli Raab with Pecans

Mashed Potatoes - can be made several hours in advance. Hold in a metal bowl over simmering water. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to prevent drying. Add more cream or milk before serving if the potatoes have dried out a bit.

Mashed Potatoes

Cranberry Sauce with Bourbon – can be made up to a week in advance. Made in the oven so it frees up your stovetop. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Cranberry Sauce with Bourbon

Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower – can be made several hours in advance. Pop back in the oven for a few minutes to re-heat. Grate some Parmesan over the cauliflower for a little more richness.

Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower

Kale and Ricotta Salata Salad – believe it or not, this salad can be made several days in advance. Unlike lettuce, the kale is hearty enough to not get slimy under the weight of the vinaigrette. Flavors actually get better if made a day in advance. Can be served cold or at room temperature.

Raw lacitano kale for Kale and Ricotta Salata Salad

Dessert

Apple Pie with Boiled Cider – pie can be made one day in advance. I usually serve apple pie with this Calvados Ice Cream (it’s heaven). You can omit the boiled cider to save time. Add a bit more sugar to compensate.

Apple Pie with Boiled Cider

Bourbon Milkshakes – can’t really be made in advance, but really easy to make using store-bought ingredients. And a perfect ending to your fabulous Thanksgiving meal. Give yourself a round of (bourbon-y) applause!

Bourbon Milkshake

Gooseberry Margaritas

I like margaritas. A lot. But I’ve come to detest commercial sweet and sour mix, because it is super high fructose corn syrupy. And that just doesn’t taste good. So, aside from making my own sweet and sour mix (easy to do, btw), I like to think about seasonal fruit that can be used in place of the lime juice. Similar to the rhubarb mojitos I made in Spring when rhubarb was at its delicious peak (I like pink drinks, OK??), I thought gooseberries would be a nice replacement for the lime juice in traditional margaritas because they are a little bit sweet and a little bit sour. Actually, this drink is like a cross between a strawberry margarita and a traditional margarita. In other words, delectable. Cayenne-salted rims add just a bit of heat to the palate – but we over here at Brooklyn Farmhouse really like it spicy, so the cayenne salt is entirely optional.

Gooseberries remind me so much of summers visiting my grandma and grandpa’s farm in New Jersey; they had a lone gooseberry bush with delicious fruit that I loved to pack into pints to sell at our side-of-the-road stand. The gooseberry bush is gone now, but I think of how happy I was as a kid helping out on the farm every single time I spy a gooseberry at the farmer’s market.

Note: Purple gooseberries are quite a bit sweeter than green gooseberries. If you can only find green gooseberries, you will likely need to increase the sugar in the gooseberry puree recipe. Start with the bare minimum in the recipe, then continue to add sugar by taste. You may or may not need the lime juice, so just taste, taste, taste. You ultimately want a mixture that is sweet and sour – like, um, sweet-and-sour mix.  Use your best judgment.

Ingredients:

For the Gooseberry Puree:
(Makes about 1 cup puree)

1 pint purple gooseberries (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup raw or granulated sugar
1-2 tablespoons water
Juice of half a lime (see note above)

For the Cayenne-Salted Rims (Optional):
(For 4-5 margaritas)

1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or more, to taste)

For Each Gooseberry Margarita:

1 ounce gooseberry puree (1 shot)
1 1/2 ounce tequila
1/2 ounce cointreau or triple sec
Lime Slice
Cayenne Salt (optional)
Ice

Special Equipment: Blender or food processor, fine-meshed sieve, cocktail shaker and strainer

Procedure:

For the Gooseberry Puree:

1. In a blender or food processor, combine the gooseberries, the sugar, the water, and the lime juice. Blend until smooth.
2. Force through a fine-meshed sieve to remove the skins and seeds. Discard skins and seeds. Refrigerate in a squeeze bottle or other container until ready to use.

For the Cayenne-Salted Rims (Optional):

1. Stir together the salt and the cayenne in a shallow plate. Set aside until ready to use.

For Each Gooseberry Margarita:

1. Rub the rim of each glass with a lime slice. Salt the rim with the cayenne salt by inverting the glass into the prepared dish of cayenne salt (these two steps are optional).
2. In a cocktail shaker, combine the gooseberry puree, the tequila, the cointreau or triple sec, and the ice. Shake vigorously for at least 30 seconds.
3. Pour into prepared glasses. Add ice for a gooseberry margarita on the rocks.

Bourbon Milkshake

Brooklyn Farmhouse has had a sweet tooth lately, but I couldn’t resist sharing yet another dessert recipe with you – albeit a rather more grownup dessert. I totally stole this idea from a restaurant in Portland, Maine called Fore Street; after having my first bourbon milkshake there, I wondered why this idea had never crossed my mind before. It’s so deliciously simple and so deliciously boozy. I made my own vanilla ice cream using milk and cream from the fantastic Milk Thistle Farm in Columbia County, NY – seriously, seriously some of the best milk, cream, and yogurt I’ve ever tasted. Ice cream made from their products is undeniably a step above even super-premium commercial ice creams. (Another benefit to making your own ice cream at home: many commercial ice creams have air whipped into them to increase the volume of the product, so you’re sometimes paying as much for air as for ice cream. Very little air is incorporated into homemade ice cream.) If you can find local milk, cream, and eggs in your area, try to use in your ice cream – you’ll notice a big difference in richness, texture, and taste.

I know my dad is a big fan of good bourbon – dare I say that Bourbon Milkshakes would make a fun ending to a Father’s Day dinner? With possibly a bottle of bourbon as an accompanying present? If my dad didn’t live all the way in Washington State, I’d make these for him for Father’s Day.

If you don’t have time (or an ice cream maker) to make your own ice cream, get yourself some good vanilla ice cream and add a half-teaspoon of high-quality vanilla extract to it when you’re blending in the blender, just to kick the flavor up a notch.

Ingredients:

For the Vanilla Ice Cream:
(Makes 1 quart)

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean, split
1 cup raw sugar or granulated sugar, divided
6 egg yolks
1 tablespoon liquor of choice (I used Liquor 43, a vanilla-flavored liquor; rum or bourbon would be nice) (optional)

For the Bourbon Milkshakes:
(Makes 4-5 small milkshakes)

3 ounces of bourbon (3 shots)
1 quart vanilla ice cream
1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract (if using store-bought vanilla ice cream)
Splash of milk (optional)

Special Equipment: ice cream maker, blender

Procedure:

For the Vanilla Ice Cream:

1. Combine the cream and milk in a medium heavy saucepot. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the pot and add the bean. Add half of the sugar (1/2 cup) to the pot and stir briefly to combine.
2. Turn the heat to medium and bring the milk-cream mixture to a boil. Remove from heat and let steep for 20 minutes.
3. Return the milk-cream mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat.
4. Ready an ice bath: add a generous amount of ice to a large bowl. Add cold water to the ice, and place another large bowl on top of the ice bath. Have a fine-mesh strainer ready to go.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until the sugar starts to dissolve and the mixture lightens in color.
6. Temper the egg mixture by adding a small ladleful of the hot milk-cream mixture to the egg mixture, whisking quickly to combine. Add more of the hot milk-cream mixture to the egg mixture, a ladleful at a time, whisking constantly, until you’ve used about 1/3 of the milk-cream mixture.
7. Add the egg mixture to the remaining milk-cream mixture in your saucepot. Heat the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a wooden spoon. (Do not boil!)
8. Immediately pour the mixture through your waiting fine-mesh strainer into the bowl over the ice bath. Stir the mixture to cool it down. Cool the mixture completely. (Discard the vanilla bean, or rinse thoroughly and use for vanilla sugar.)
9. Stir in the optional tablespoon of liquor.
10. Freeze the mixture according to your ice cream-maker’s instructions, then freeze completely until very firm.

For the Bourbon Milkshakes:

1. Combine the bourbon and ice cream in a blender. Blend until smooth. If mixture is too thick, add a splash of milk.
2. Serve in small old-fashioned (lowball) glasses or wine glasses.

Rhubarb Mojito

It’s Spring! Rhubarb is here! Yay Rhubarb!

OK, sorry. Did I mention I love rhubarb? And have you ever noticed what a weird word “rhubarb” is?

After a day of rhubarb experimentation in my kitchen that resulted in rhubarb pudding (my husband: “tastes like baby food”), I decided to drown my culinary sorrows with these rhubarb mojitos. (My friend Jessie once made me a rhubarb cocktail and I’ve never forgotten it, so she’s really the inspiration for this drink, rhubarb cooking disasters aside.) I use the word “mojito” loosely – really, what I’m referring to is a sweet-tart cocktail with rum and mint. Mojito-esque. Use the strained, stewed rhubarb itself to top vanilla ice cream. Or make yourself some rhubarb ice cream! (Rhubarb pudding, not so good.) A grating of orange peel or the addition of a vanilla bean along with the stewing water would not be entirely out of place, even in a mojito-like cocktail. (Actually, that flavor combination would be really delicious with bourbon or whiskey – rhubarb whiskey sour?)

Ingredients:

For the Rhubarb Syrup:

3 pounds rhubarb, sliced thin
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups water

For each Rhubarb Mojito:

4 tablespoons rhubarb syrup
1 ounce white rum
5-6 large mint leaves, torn
Seltzer or club soda
Ice
Lime for garnish (you can’t eat rhubarb raw, otherwise it would make an interesting garnish)

Procedure:

For the Rhubarb Syrup:

1. In a medium, heavy pot, combine the rhubarb, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, and water. Bring to a brief boil, then turn down the heat to medium-low and simmer until the rhubarb is soft.
2. Strain the fruit (actually, I think it’s a vegetable) and set aside for another use.  You should be left with a runny, not-yet-syrupy liquid.
3. Clean the pot and add the strained liquid. Boil over medium high heat until reduced to a thick syrup. Cool completely.

For the Rhubarb Mojito:

1. Add rhubarb syrup and mint to each glass (I used a small highball-type glass). Add 1 ounce of white rum. Stir to mix.
2. Top with seltzer or club soda, add ice, and top with a wedge of lime for garnish.
3. Drink.

Homemade Candied Ginger

A trifecta of ginger deliciousness! Actually, the candied ginger is a byproduct of the ginger syrup (or is ginger syrup the byproduct of candied ginger??): you can’t create one without the other.  I had a bit of a hankering for homemade ginger ale, because it’s so much spicier than store bought and I felt like something a little tingly. Oh, but I can think of so many other ways to use ginger syrup…on pancakes, in cocktails, in ice cream…and, of course, candied ginger is good in lots of baked goods (scones? cookies? muffins?) and as a sweet nibble.

Slice your ginger into very, very thin disks if you want a more chewy candied ginger. Because I was looking for a more al dente candied ginger, like the kind you find packaged in grocery stores, I chopped my ginger into small-ish (about 1/2-inch) squares. Just note that it will take quite a bit longer to soften ginger cut into chunks than ginger sliced into thin disks. If you can find young ginger, which has a much thinner skin and is often a bit pink in color, definitely use it instead of regular (read: old) ginger. Older ginger, like the kind I used, tends to be more fibrous, so you won’t have the creamier interior consistency that you will get if you can get your hands on young ginger.

Homemade Ginger Ale

Ingredients:

For the Candied Ginger and Ginger Syrup:

1/2 pound ginger (8 oz.), about 2 large knobs, peeled
2 cups granulated sugar, plus 1/4 cup extra for coating the ginger pieces
2 cups water

For the Ginger Ale:

Seltzer or sparkling water
Ginger syrup (recipe above)
Lime slices (optional)

Procedure:

1. Slice or chop the ginger (as discussed above).
2. In a medium heavy saucepan, combine the sugar and the water over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Add the ginger pieces.
3. Simmer over medium heat for 1 hour if you’ve sliced your ginger very thin, and at least twice that if you’ve cut your ginger into larger chunks. (Check on them occasionally to make sure they aren’t drying out and that the water isn’t evaporating too quickly.)
4. Meanwhile, line a small sheet pan with wax or parchment paper, or with tinfoil. Spread the remaining 1/4 cup sugar on the lined sheet pan.
5. When the ginger is done (it will be soft), remove with a slotted spoon to the prepared sheet pan. Toss the ginger pieces in the sugar and spread them out. Let dry for several hours, or overnight. Let the ginger syrup cool, then refrigerate. If you want a thicker ginger syrup, continue to cook over medium-low heat until it reaches the consistency you want.
6. To make homemade ginger ale: add 3-4 generous tablespoons (or more, to taste) of ginger syrup to a large pint glass. Top with seltzer or other sparkling water. (I also like to add a bit of lime. Uh, and a bit of rum.) Garnish with candied ginger, if desired.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups ginger syrup and approximately a cup of candied ginger.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

A cup of pomegranate champagne punch

Ingredients:
3 cups pineapple juice
2 1/2 cups pomegranate juice
2 1/2 cups rum
1/2 cup triple sec or grand marnier
4 bottles of dry (brut) champagne
1 cup mint leaves (packed), washed and dried
2 lemons, thinly sliced
Seeds from 1 pomegranate, divided
Ice block

Special Equipment: Bundt pan or other decorative pan (for ice block), punch bowl or other large container for serving

Serves: 24

Procedure:

For the Ice Block:

1. Fill a small Bundt pan or other decorative container with filtered water. (I used a container that held about 6 cups.) Make sure that your finished ice block will fit into your punch bowl.
2. Float half of the pomegranate seeds and half of the mint leaves in the container.
3. Carefully transfer to the freezer and freeze overnight, or until solid.

For the Punch:

1. Combine pineapple juice, pomegranate juice, rum and triple sec in a large punch bowl. Add the champagne, remaining mint leaves, remaining pomegranate seeds, and lemon slices.
2. Stir gently and serve.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

Procedure

1. Make simple syrup by combining the sugar and water in a medium heavy saucepan over medium heat. Swirl the pan from time to time until the sugar is completely dissolved. Cool.
2. Add lemon and lime juice to the cooled syrup. Refrigerate.

Makes a heck of a lot of drinks.