More Easy Glam for a Thanksgiving Harvest Celebration

Another typical way to honor corn in the early New England style: pudding! But with southwest flavors!!

Corn Pudding

Serves 8-10

½ c all purpose flour                       

10-12 ears corn, husked

1 Poblano pepper, roasted with seeds removed                

6 lg eggs at room temperature        

2 c half and half                               

1 tbsp light brown sugar                 

1-2 tsp ground chipotle chili powder, depending on how much spice you like

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tsp ground nutmeg

4 tbsp soft butter, cut in bits

Butter a pie or baking dish 2½” deep and 10” round. Preheat oven to 350º.

Scraping upwards with a small, sharp knife, cut the corn kernels into a bowl. Using the back of the knife scrap downward to catch remaining kernels and corn milk. Put the corn in a food processor with eggs, half and half, flour, salt, pepper, chili powder and sugar. Process 3-4 seconds to blend. Dice the roasted Poblano pepper and stir it in. Pour mixture into baking dish. Sprinkle top with nutmeg and butter bits.

   Place baking dish in a large baking pan, put into the hot oven and fill the bottom pan with water halfway up the sides of the pudding container. Bake 1 hour or until a tester comes out clean. Serve hot.

RUTABAGA TIMBALES

Rutabagas may not be all-American but they have become part of the Thanksgiving tradition so here's a glamorous way to serve them. This recipe is from my book How to Fix a Leek and Other Food From the Farmers' Market 

makes 6

1 lb rutabagas, peeled            

2 shallots (cloves), minced      

2 tbsp butter                             

1/8 tsp ground cloves               

¾ c light cream

1/8 tsp ground cardamom

1 star anise

¼ tsp salt

4 eggs

¼ c ricotta or soft cream cheese

Dice the rutabaga and cook it with a star anise in boiling water until very tender. Drain well. Remove star anise. Preheat oven to 400º and butter 6 ramekins or Pyrex dishes, 6 oz size. Boil about 2 cups of water. In a small sauté pan, melt butter and sauté shallots 2 minutes until soft. Puree the rutabaga. Add shallots, spices, cream, cheese, salt and lastly eggs and process until smooth. Ladle or pour rutabaga mixture into the buttered dishes, put the dishes into a large baking pan and pour the boiling water into the bottom of that pan; it should come at least 1/3 up the ramekin’s sides. Bake 25 minutes, or until center is puffy and firm. (Check with a cake tester.)  Remove from pan and let cool 10 minutes. Then carefully knock the bottom and sides of each dish to loosen the timbales. Shaking each slightly, invert them onto a serving plate and lift the dish away.

Sunchoke Soufflés

 If you don't put rutabagas into ramekins, you can try these sunchokes, which ARE all-American. They are the root of the sunflower that grows in the eastern United States and were mistakenly named by the early explorers "Jerusalem artichokes."

Makes 8 medium ramekins

½ lb sunchokes, scrubbed clean, cut into a small dice
1 bay leaf (optional)
12 walnuts
1 ¾ c whole cow or goat’s milk
1 tsp honey
2 tbsp butter, plus extra for greasing
2 tbsp flour, plus extra for dusting
1/3 c mature cheddar, grated
5 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
1 tsp wholegrain mustard

In a small lidded saucepan, simmer the sunchokes, bay leaf and four walnuts in the milk and honey 15 minutes, until chokes are tender. Ladle the mixture into a blender or processor and blend into a smooth puree.

In a small saucepan melt butter over a low heat, add the flour and stir to form a paste. Cook gently 2 minutes, stirring continually. Stir in the sunchoke puree, bring back to simmer and cook gently 2 minutes. Stir in the cheddar and mustard, then remove from heat. Let this cool 2 minutes, then stir in the egg yolks one by one.

Grease 8 ramekins with butter, dust the sides and base evenly with the flour, knocking off any excess. Put the prepared ramekins in the fridge until you need them.

Preheat the oven to 400º. Whisk the egg whites in a very dry bowl to form soft peaks. Stir half of the whites into the sunchoke mixture to loosen it. Then fold in the rest carefully with a large metal spoon. The air you don’t lose will make the soufflé rise!

 When you are ready to eat, fill the prepared ramekins with the mixture almost, but not quite, to the top. Place a walnut on top of each. Place them on baking sheet in the hot oven for about 12 minutes. When they have risen and have a golden top they are cooked. Serve immediately.

The Gluten Free Dessert that Beats All! In other words, everybody's favorite.
MOCHA FUDGE CAKE
This may not have gluten bu

serves up to 16 (it is very rich)

1 cup strong coffee

1 lb semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 c sugar

2 c unsalted butter

8 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 250º

Butter a round 9 x 3 cake pan with removable bottom and line the foil, pushing foil over the sides of the pan. Butter foil.

In large saucepan, combine coffee, chocolate, sugar and butter. While stirring, cook over medium heat until the chocolate is just melted and it is only warm.

Remove from heat and gradually whisk in the eggs.

Pour this batter into the prepared pan and bake1 ½ hours. The center might seem uncooked but it will harden up. Let cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

1 ½ cups heavy cream

¼ c powdered sugar

½ tsp vanilla

Before serving, trim the edges to level the cake, and invert it onto a serving platter. Remove foil.

Whip the cream, sugar and vanilla until heavy peaks form and it is thick enough to spread. Ice the cake.  Garnish with shaved chocolate to serve.