Grandpa's Birthday Dinner

My grandfather turned 88 on November 24th. You know what he said? "I feel so damn good it makes me feel bad!" He still takes roadtrips from Buffalo, NY to the DC area, or to Mobile, AL, or to central FL. He volunteers to help the elderly in his community, built houses for Habitat for Humanity for the 25+ years AFTER he retired from Union Carbide. He took care of my grandma at home with gentleness and compassion and gave everyone who witnessed his love for her a lesson in "til death to us part."

So for his birthday this year, I wanted to make him a fantastic meal with some of his favourites, and I wanted to do it all by myself and it was going to be perfect. I decided to bake him his favourite cake and then another one for him to try out. My grandmother always said I did everything to excess... I mean really. I'm delusional. Did I mention I'd be doing all of this in my mom's kitchen? Yeah... my mom and I love each other dearly but we can't cook in the same kitchen. Suffice it to say, my plans for grandpa to have a perfect birthday dinner didn't exactly fall into place... I did get all the food cooked and the cakes baked, but people did have to wait about an hour from the time dinner was supposed to be served. I didn't get to decorate the cake as I'd have liked either... and I was running around a bit like a crazy person. But! Grandpa enjoyed his dinner, loved his cake and that's all that matters. 

The menu:

- pork loin stuffed with apples, cranberries, corn bread, pecans all mixed together with a little maple syrup.

My dad had to filet the loins and my mom stuffed and tied them, it's something I'd never done before and didn't want to use this occasion to experiment. So I guess I can't really take credit for this particular dish except finding a recipe to base it off of and creating the stuffing mixture. 

- salmon baked in a foil packet with lemon and homemade herb butter (I didn't get a picture unfortunately... it was tasty though)

- broccoli and bacon quiche recipe found here. I used cheddar cheese not swiss though.

 - mushroom risotto made with Israeli cous cous. 

Skillet Biscuits

Risotto takes attention. I've only ever made it with Israeli cous cous for this very reason. It cooks more quickly and it's not as hard to screw up the texture. For this risotto I used white wine, porcini mushroom liquid, and chicken stock. My mom had reconstituted some dried porcinis for Thanksgiving stuffing and she saved the liquid for me. It's quite strong, so I only needed a little to add some depth of flavour here. Start by sauteeing the mushrooms in half olive oil half butter, set them aside and throw in the cous cous and a little more olive oil and stir to coat. Half a cup of white wine goes in next stirring constantly until it's absorbed, then half a cup of the porcini liquid. Stir again until the liquid is absorbed, then chicken stock half a cup at a time, and one more half cup of porcini liquid until the cous cous is cooked. Throw the mushrooms back in, season with salt and pepper and you're ready to eat.  

- Skillet biscuits

Some thing my dad, grandpa and I all have in common. I.Love.Biscuits. Skillet biscuits are one of the best things ever. 

1 c flour

1 T baking powder

1 T sugar

1 t salt

8 T unsalted butter

3/4 c buttermilk (or sour milk)

Sift together dry ingredients, add the cubed butter and work it into the flour mixture with your hands until it resembles corn meal. Make a well and add the buttermilk, mix by hand until a sticky dough forms and DO NOT OVERMIX. Overmixing results in the demise of fluffy biscuits. Roll out gently to 1/4 inch thick and cut into rounds. I don't have a biscuit cutter, so I use a wine glass. Gather your scraps together for a second batch of biscuits, but only do it once. After working the dough this much any further biscuits will be tough. Put the biscuits in a greased skillet (bacon grease works best) and bake 12-14 minutes @ 400. 

- German chocolate cake. 

I don't particularly like coconut, and we all know about my aversion to nuts in baked goods, so I had never tried a German chocolate cake before, so it makes sense that this was the first time I'd ever baked one. But I have a confession... this was pretty tasty. I think I've been misjudging German chocolate cake all these years. Recipe found here. For the record, my parents didn't have 9" rounds and all I had to work with was an 8X3" and a 10X3" so that's why the cake looks like that. I also only had time to dirty ice it and didn't get a chance to decorate. 

- Pumpkin Spice cake with bourbon glaze

2 c flour

2 t baking powder

2 t cinnamon

2 t pumpkin pie spice

1 t nutmeg

1 t salt

4 eggs

1 2/3 c sugar

1 c vegetable oil

1 can pumpkin pie filling

Sift dry ingredients together. Beat eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin together. Add dry ingredients to the wet and mix. Bake in a well greased bundt pan at 350 25-30 minutes. The bourbon glaze was a few tablespoons of Maker's Mark mixed with some powdered sugar until I got glaze consistency which I poured over the cake right after I turned it out. This works better for breakfast than for dessert, but it was still tasty. 

My Thanksgiving Appetizer Contribution

So a little backstory about Thanksgiving... For as long as I can remember, we've gone to Buffalo for Thanksgiving. The whole family gathers, it's the one time of year we all see each other at the same time, in the same place. It's better than Christmas because we all focus on each other, making good food, spending time with each other, and no presents to interfere. My grandmother used to do much of the cooking, and my grandfather had turkey duty.

Thanksgiving tradition picture with the bird,

Since my grandmother's passing, my mom and aunts have taken up the apron and my dad shares turkey duty with grandma. We split the work, one of us plans and executes Thanksgiving day appetizers and desserts, Grandpa's birthday dinner which is always within a day or two of Thanksgiving, day before Thanksgiving dinner, and leftover duty. Hubs had his first encounter with our hard core Buffalo Thanksgiving last year and luckily survived his food coma. This year however, hubs and I decreed that we were not traveling anywhere for Thanksgiving, as our original due date for baby John was Nov 30. He came on Oct 27, so although we were unable to travel I was able to help with the cooking. It ended up being my parents and grandmother who live down the street, my siblings came home, and my grandfather and one aunt from Buffalo came down. And us of course. We had Thanksgiving light, and my mom took Thanksgiving dinner and I did appetizers, desserts and grandpa's birthday dinner.

Monkey Bread

Now, when my family cooks we cook for serious, and it takes quite some time. Because of this, we implemented Thanksgiving day munchies (same applies for Christmas) so that we could have controlled amounts of tasty food for everyone without spoiling appetites for the actual meal. I started my munchies early after Mass with Monkey Bread -- a perfect bite to go with some coffee and provide a sugar rush to get us through football helping Mom cook, clean, set the table etc.

 Later on, I brought out sausage stuffed mushrooms, stuffed sweet potatoes, and brie and pear tartlets. The brie and pear tartlets are just cubed d'anjou pears tossed in brown sugar, topped with a slice of brie and a dab of honey, baked in home made pie crust in mini muffin tins at 400 until the crust is done and the brie is bubbly. Just enough to get everyone through their drinks the day and to the dinner table.

My Thanksgiving Dessert Contribution

So the desserts I made for Thanksgiving:

Mini Dutch Apple Pies

A muffin tin recipe made up on the spot:

- diced Granny Smith apples tossed in cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg, and butter
- home made pie crust
- oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon streusel streudel ...Dutch apple pie topping
Pop them in the oven at 350 until the apples are cooked and the topping is browned and bubbly

Mini Pumpkin Pies
Based off a recipe I found here except I used home made pie crust and mine were bigger because they were standard muffin size.

Now I don't like pumpkin pie... I don't like pie in general. But these were awesome.

Mini Pecan Pies

Pie filling:
- 5 T unsalted butter
- 1 c brown sugar
- 3/4 c light corn syrup
- 1/2 t salt
- 1 bag whole pecans
- 2 T bourbon
- 2 t vanilla
- 3 eggs lightly beaten
- cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves

Candy the pecans in the butter and spices, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Again, home made pie crust and a muffin tin, bake at 350 until set. They're not as elegant as the normal sized pecan pies, but the trick to excellent pecan pies is still the same: caramelize the pecans.

Last dessert on my menu was chocolate pots de creme:

I loosely based my recipe off of Alex Guarnaschelli's, and don't take that to mean I think my recipe is better than hers. I just didn't have things like almond extract in my pantry at the time, and these are so rich my dad asked that this time around instead of making them in tea cups I use mini ramekins. The ingredients list I've used twice now is as follows:

1 c whole milk
1 c half and half
1 T strong coffee
1 t vanilla
1 c chocolate
6 eggs
1/2 c cocoa
1/3 c sugar
1 c coffee tied into a cheesecloth

When I was making the custard I threw the coffee filled cheesecloth into the pot along with the dairy etc. to make a stronger coffee presence as it sets off the chocolate so well. I only had to bake for 20 minutes because my portions were smaller and I chilled them overnight. Super rich, very thick, extremely chocolaty and oh so tasty. Mmmmm chocolate...

And my last offering for dessert was a beverage -- eggnog, amaretto, coffee ice cubes, sprinkle of nutmeg. I personally hate the way melting ice makes my drinks taste, and there's no better combination than eggnog and coffee, so bam -- coffee ice cubes. I've tried this both with amaretto and with Baileys, and by far the Baileys is better than the amaretto.

Thanksgiving Dessert Sneak Peak

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, but we're still all running around kind of crazy. Grandpa's birthday is tomorrow and I'm still prepping and cooking and baking and will be doing so all day tomorrow as well. I thought I'd post a dessert teaser from last night until I get the chance to really write about the whole day and the cooking etc.

I was in charge of appetizers and desserts again this year and from left to right I made mini Dutch apple pies, mini pumpkin pies, chocolate pots de creme and mini pecan pies. The drink was eggnog and amaretto with coffee ice cubes. Yummy! Mini desserts keep better than whole pies with pieces taken out of them. This also enables people to have one of everything as the portions are smaller controlled. When you slice pie there's a tendency to slice a big piece and this way everything is muffin sized.

When I get the chance to actually write about Thanksgiving, I'll share the appetizers I made too: sausage stuffed mushrooms, stuffed sweet potatoes, brie and pear tartlets with honey and homemade pie crust, and monkey bread.

For now I'm working on tomorrow's feast: German chocolate cake, stuffed glazed pork loin, baked salmon with herb butter, asparagus, broccoli, salad, and a small chocolate cake to celebrate my youngest son being with us for one month tomorrow. The cakes will be made, the pork loin stuffed, glazes and herb butter made, and general mis en place. I hope everyone had a wonder Thanksgiving filled with family, friends and fabulous food!