My grandmothers bread dressing for turkey

Gram’s Bread Dressing for Turkey

I can’t even think of Thanksgiving dinner at home with the whole clan without thinking of having second and third helpings of Gram’s dressing with gravy. It was always the highlight of Thanksgiving Dinner for me.

It was a ritual for Gram every Thanksgiving morning toasting bread for the dressing. It didn’t involve me so I didn’t pay much attention to it. Now that I host Thanksgiving dinner each year, it is a ritual that I can now call my own.

2 to 3 loaves of bread toasted, torn and soaked in warm chicken stock

2 stalks of celery with leaves, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

3 shallots, minced

2 tsp. poultry seasoning

1 tsp. white pepper

1 tsp finely minced sage leaves

1 tsp. salt

4 tbs. butter

2 eggs

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation

Lightly toast the bread slices to golden brown. Tear the bread into pieces and soak in warm chicken stock. Squeeze the liquid out of the bread and add to a bowl. You want six to eight cups of squeezed out bread.

Melt the butter and sauté the onions, shallots and celery. If you like, add a little olive oil to the skillet, it can’t hurt. Stir without burning, until the onions and celery have softened. Add the walnuts, poultry seasoning, pepper, salt and minced sage. Stir and add to the bowl with the bread. 

Add the two eggs to the bowl and mix well. Add the dressing to a buttered baking pan. Pour a little chicken stock over the dressing and bake, covered, at 350º for around an hour or more. Sprinkle with a little more chicken stock half way through the baking to keep it moist.

Serving

Now, I really shouldn’t have to say how to serve this, but I’ll do it anyways. You serve a large pile of Gram’s bread dressing next to a generous portion of sliced turkey. Now add a mound of mashed rutabaga and drown all of that in a flood of giblet gravy. Add some green beans and cranberries, fresh bread and butter and a glass of wine.

Roast Turkey

Roast Turkey

Thanksgiving dinner has always been my favorite family holiday dinner. We’d all gather and eat too much food, drink too much wine and tell too many stories, at too loud of a volume. 

Dad would always anchor the table by the mirror and the rest of us would all squeeze in as best we could. Uncle Joe would express absurdities and Aunt Ginny was ... well ... Aunt Ginny was Aunt Ginny! She gets more entertaining with each Miller Lite. Pass the gravy!

1 onion

1 stick of butter at room temp

3 tbs. fresh parsley chopped + 3 whole sprigs

1 tbs. chopped sage + 3 whole sprigs

1 tbs. thyme

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground white pepper

1 18 lb. turkey

3-4 cups chicken broth

1 cup dry white wine

flour for gravy

Preparation

Place the giblets in a small saucepan and cover with water. Cut the onion in half and add it to the pan. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for an hour. Remove the giblets, let them cool and chop them. Save them for the gravy. Allow the broth to cool and save it for the gravy as well.

Pre heat the oven to 325º. Place the turkey on a rack in a roasting pan. Sprinkle the cavity with salt and pepper. Place about 3 tbs. of butter under the skin over the breast meat. Place the whole parsley sprigs and sage sprigs in the cavity along with 4 shallot halves. Tuck the wing tips under and tie the legs together. Rub about 4 tbs. of butter all over the turkey. Cover the breast area with foil. 

Roast the turkey for 30 minutes and then baste it with 1/2 cup of the broth. Roast the turkey for another 1-1/2 hours, basting every 30 minutes with more chicken broth. Remove the foil. Continue to roast until golden brown and a thermometer reads 180º when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh. Total time between 4 to 5 hours. Transfer the turkey to a platter and tent it loosely with foil. Let it rest at least 20 minutes.

For the gravy, place the roasting pan on the stove over medium high heat. With a wooden spoon, stir to loosen up anything that stuck to the pan. Add the chopped giblets, the thyme, chopped sage and chopped parsley. Stir until everything is sizzling. 

Start adding flour to the sizzling fat. Add enough flour to make a thin paste slurry. Stir and cook the flour mixture for five minutes. Add the giblet broth and the wine and stir. Start adding chicken broth, a little at a time, to thin out the gravy. Once the gravy is the right thickness, let it boil for another minute to make sure it isn’t too thick. Pour it into gravy bowls.

Serving

Turkey should be piled on the plate, both white and dark meat, next to the dressing, rutabagas, potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes and cranberries. Pass the gravy!

Don’t forget the fresh, homemade bread with butter. For the wine, I like Montepulciano dʼAbruzzo. For dessert, you want both pumpkin and apple pie. Ring the dinner bell.

Spaghetti with lamb meatballs

Spaghetti With Lamb Meatballs

How often do you eat spaghetti with meatballs? Spaghetti and meatballs has got to be one of life’s simple pleasures. It is, for me, the essence of comfort food. I probably didn’t have to write up a separate recipe for meatballs made with lamb, but it gives me a good excuse to make spaghetti and meatballs (I have to test the recipe, don’t I).

Sauce

Olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced

4 oz. shiitake mushrooms, sliced

2 cups of red wine

Cajun seasoning

2 28 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes

2 branches of rosemary

1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil (or 1 tsp. dry)

1 tsp. Tabasco

Meatballs

1-1/2 lb. ground lamb

4 cloves of garlic, smashed and finely minced

1 shallot, finely minced

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/4 cup bread crumbs

2 eggs

Salt, white pepper and cajun seasoning

1/4 cup minced parsley

Preparation

In a large braising pan, or large sauce pot, heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom. Add the onion and stir until the onion softens.  Sprinkle it with cajun seasoning. Add the garlic and shiitake mushrooms. Stir and cook until the mushrooms are mostly cooked, about three minutes.

Add the red wine and bring it to a boil. Let it simmer until it is reduced by half. Add the crushed tomatoes, rosemary, basil and Tabasco. Let it simmer gently, stirring often while you make the meatballs.

Place the ground lamb, garlic, shallot, parmesan, bread crumbs, eggs and parsley in a bowl. Give it a good sprinkling of salt, pepper and cajun seasoning. Using a wooden spoon, stir until everything is evenly mixed. Use your hands and shape the meat into small meatballs and place them on a plate. When they are all shaped, gently slide them into the simmering sauce. Stir gently being careful to not break them up. Let them simmer in the sauce for twenty minutes, over just enough heat to keep the sauce at a simmer. Stir often.

Serving

Cook a pound of spaghetti and drain it. Place a large mound of spaghetti on a plate and smother it in meatballs and sauce. Next give it a good shower of grated parmesan. Along with your spaghetti, you want a crisp salad, homemade bread with butter and a bottle of Chianti.

Bacon and provolone omelet

Bacon And Provolone Omelet 

Is it just me, or does bacon today have less flavor than bacon thirty years ago? I don’t know. Maybe it just has less salt than back then.  It could be the government pressuring the producers to use less salt. Whatever the cause, it ticks me off when I cook up some bacon and it is bland.

It is one thing to try to reduce your sodium level individually, but for goodness sake, don’t take the flavor out of our food. You’ll never have ‘healthy’ bacon. Bacon is a treat, full of fat and salt. If you trying to keep your blood pressure under control, don’t eat it so often. Or, you can do what I do and say, “Hey Doc, give me a bigger pill!”

3 eggs

1/4 cup buttermilk

4 slices of bacon

1 shallot, sliced razor thin

3 oz. provolone cheese, sliced

Fresh ground black pepper

Preparation

Beat the eggs together with the buttermilk in a bowl. Cook the bacon until crisp. Reserve the bacon and the bacon fat. Slice the cheese and the shallots and have them ready. Preheat the broiler.

Heat an oven proof, non-stick skillet. Add enough bacon fat to coat the bottom. Add the shallots to the hot fat and stir for about half a minute then add the eggs.  As the bottom of the eggs start to set, crumble two slices of bacon into the eggs and cover the eggs with the cheese. Give the eggs a heavy sprinkle of fresh ground black pepper.

Once the bottom of the eggs have set, place the skillet under the hot broiler. Broil until the top of the eggs and cheese are nicely browned. Remove the skillet and place the eggs on a plate.

Serving

To serve this omelet, place the remaining two slices of bacon on the plate next to the eggs. Now add two slices of homemade bread, toasted and buttered. Pour a steaming cup of French Roast coffee and a large tumbler of orange juice. On a different plate, place a large wedge of coffee cake and your breakfast is ready.

Norman's Greek Salad

Norman’s Greek Salad

Do you eat salad with your meals? I always like to have a salad with my dinner. I like blue cheese, Caesar and even a simple vinegar and oil dressing. When I’m out at a restaurant however, the salad I order most often is the Greek salad. I love the mix of feta cheese, kalamata olives, pickled peppers, tomatoes, anchovies and red onions.

My version is a truly authentic Greek salad. How do I know this? Very simple. If I were a Greek who was making salad for dinner, this is how I’d make it, so therefore it has to be authentic. 

Salad dressing

Juice of 1 large lemon

1/4 tsp. cajun seasoning

2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

1 small garlic clove, smashed and finely minced

≈1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil - the best you can afford

Salad

1/2 head of lettuce, broken up

1 tomato, cut into wedges

1/2 bell pepper cut into strips

1 small red onion, sliced real thin

1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives

1 cup broken feta cheese

6 pickled peppers

6 anchovy fillets

1 small cucumber, sliced very thin (optional)

Fresh ground black pepper

In one of those salad dressing bottles (that come with packet salad dressing mixes) add the lemon juice (without the seeds). Now add the cajun seasoning, oregano, black pepper and garlic. Now on the oil, it depends on how much juice you got out of your lemon and how strong it is. A general rule of thumb is about three parts oil to one part lemon juice. Shake it up real good and taste it. If you need any more lemon juice or olive oil, add it. Also taste it for salt and pepper.

Wash the lettuce and let it drain real good. In a large salad bowl, add the lettuce and all of the other salad ingredients. Hey! Don’t leave the anchovies out! They are needed for a Greek salad. Mix to distribute the vegetables evenly.

Serving

When it is time to serve the salad, shake the dressing real well. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss it to coat everything with the dressing. Immediately serve it on salad plates.

Greek salad goes real well with lamb. How about lamb steaks broiled in a tomato sauce which are served with pasta and smothered in the tomato sauce. That sounds good right? You also need freshly baked bread and good olive oil for dipping. Broiled asparagus helps too. Now open a bottle of Barolo wine and ring the dinner bell!

Frittata with potatoes and provolone

Frittata With Potatoes and Provolone

It is a shame that I skip breakfast so much. I really enjoy a big breakfast. During the week, I never seem to have time. If I get anything at all, it is usually a couple pieces of toast with butter. Often, not even that, as I hurry to rush out the door. 

Before the flood, when I lived alone, I would always plan on having a big breakfast on weekends. Unfortunately, the day would be half over before I realized I haven’t gotten around to fixing breakfast (this might be another situation where I need to be supervised). Squeeky and Camper insist that I give them their breakfast, but couldn’t care less whether I eat breakfast or not).

I remember one weekend when I forgot breakfast on Saturday. By the time I thought about it, it was afternoon and I was on my way to the grocery store. On that Sunday, however, I remembered. After I finished my newsletter, I pulled out the skillet, a potato, an onion, and started cooking. This is what I had.

Olive oil

1 small potato, sliced very thin

1 small onion, sliced very thin

Fresh ground black pepper

2 eggs, slightly beaten

Cajun seasoning

2 slices of provolone cheese

Preparation

Preheat the broiler. Heat an oven proof skillet over medium heat. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the thinly sliced potato and cook, covered, until the potato just starts to brown. Add the thinly sliced onion, stir and cook until the onion softens. Stir to evenly distribute the potatoes and onions in the pan.

Add the eggs to the potatoes and shake the skillet to distribute the eggs evenly. Give the eggs a good heavy sprinkling of black pepper and cajun seasoning. As the bottom of the eggs begin to set, cover the potato egg mixture with provolone cheese and place the skillet under the hot broiler.

Broil the eggs until the cheese is nicely browned. Turn the Frittata (eggs, for those of you in Yorkville) over onto a plate. Give it a light dusting of cajun seasoning. 

Serving

Along with the Frittata, you want to have homemade bread, toasted and buttered. Don’t forget several slices of crisp bacon to go with your eggs. You also want a large tumbler of orange juice, along with some good dark roast coffee. For dessert, why not a big wedge of fruit pie, along with more coffee. Weekends are so much better with breakfast, I wish I would stop forgetting to make it!

Norman's mixed fruit pie

Norman’s Mixed Fruit Pie

I don’t know why it is so hard to find frozen sour cherries these days. Ten years ago, almost every grocery had them in the freezer. Now, I only know of one store that still carries them (Meijer) and that isn’t near my home. Darn, I had a taste for cherry pie too.

Oh, well. I went to my local grocery and checked out their frozen fruit. They didn’t have much. They had blueberries, but you would need to take out a mortgage to afford those! I settled on a 12 oz. bag of frozen mixed fruit (Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries). To that I added an apple and a plum to get enough to make a pie with. This is how I made it.

12 oz. frozen mixed berries

1 granny smith apple, peeled and diced

1 red plum, peeled and diced

1 cup of orange juice

1 lemon’s zest

1 lemon’s juice

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of corn starch

2/3 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 nutmeg grated

Tajin Seasoning (optional)

2 pie crusts (either homemade or Pillsbury)

Preparation

Heat a skillet that is a little larger than your pie plate. Add the orange juice, the berries, the apple and the plum. Stir and add the lemon zest and lemon juice. Add the sugar, corn starch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Now sprinkle a little Tajin seasoning over the fruit mixture. Don’t worry if you can’t find the Tajin, the pie will be fine without it.

Bring the berry mixture to a boil and stir well to mix it. Turn off the heat. Place the bottom crust in your pie plate and make sure the edge of the crust is over the edge of the plate. Fill the pie with the berry mixture and place the top crust over the pie. Roll up and crimp the edges. Made a large center hole and several smaller vent holes in the top of the pie. Place the pie plate on a baking pan in case it bubbles over. Bake at 370º for about an hour, or until the crust is nice and brown and the pie is bubbling.

Serving

I like this fruit pie after a big meal of roast chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, dinner rolls and a salad. With that, I’d have a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. Once dinner is done, I’d serve a large wedge of this pie with a big scoop of ice cream. I’d have coffee with my pie and a Serbian Plum Brandy to settle the stomach. 

Tortellini in a three meat sauce

Tortellini In A Three Meat Sauce

The worst thing I can do after work is to stop in the grocery to pick up something for dinner when I’m hungry. Let’s just say that I buy more than I need for dinner. 

One day a while back was an example. I needed some canned tomatoes to make a pasta. Next thing I know, I’m buying ground beef, ground pork and ground veal. Oh yes, those mushrooms look good. Look, they have cheese filled tortellini, have to get that too. Before I know it I’m in the parking lot with two filled grocery bags. I need to be supervised.

Well, this is the meal I made that night. Yes, one type of meat would have been sufficient, but they all looked so good. In fact, the sauce was good too. After dinner I was stuffed and had just enough left over sauce to make a three meat pizza the next night. 

Olive oil

3/4 lb. ground beef

3/4 lb. ground pork

3/4 lb. ground veal

5 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced

Salt and fresh ground black pepper

1/4 lb. sliced mushrooms

1 cup white wine (or chicken broth)

Ground chipolte 

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. Marjoram

1 28 oz. can of Italian tomatoes

1 tsp. Louisiana hot sauce

10 oz. cheese filled tortellini

Preparation

Heat a large skillet and add just enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the ground meat and break up. Allow it to cook until it looses half the pink color. Add the garlic and mushrooms, stir and continue to cook until the meat is cooked through. While it is cooking add a good sprinkle of ground chipolte, the marjoram, basil, a sprinkle of salt and lots of black pepper.

Add in the white wine (or chicken broth) and bring it to a boil. Let it simmer, uncovered, stirring often, until most of the liquid has been cooked off. Add the canned tomatoes and break the tomatoes up with a knife and fork. Add the Louisiana hot sauce and stir. Simmer, uncovered for twenty minutes to allow it to thicken. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper. Set aside while you cook the tortellini.

Serving

This meat sauce goes good with cheese filled tortellini, but will also work with flower shaped Campanelle pasta. Either way, you want to smother the pasta with lots of sauce. Have lots of grated parmesan cheese and hot sauce available. Now add a salad and homemade bread. Open a bottle of Italian red wine and you are set to dine.

Norman's grumpy marinara

Norman’s Grumpy Marinara

People claim that as I get grumpier, I end up cooking hotter food. In particular, I’ve been accused of this with my jambalaya. Now, of course, this is nonsense. I’m never grumpy. My bright, sparkling personality is my most attractive feature, is it not? How anyone can accuse me of grumpiness is beyond me. Google ‘lovable’, and my picture comes up.

Even when I’m in my brightest, cheeriest moods, however, I sometimes like a little spicy food. In my opinion, jambalaya should have enough heat to give you a good slap in the face. Marinara isn’t usually spicy, but sometimes I like it that way. If I’m having a dinner of sausage and peppers with a side of spaghetti marinara, I like a little kick in the spaghetti. That’s when this sauce comes in handy.

olive oil
3 jalapeños minced
2 bunches of green onions sliced razor thin

2 cloves of garlic smashed and minced
8 oz. shiitake mushrooms, sliced

Cajun seasoning
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil

Salt and pepper
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine.

Louisiana Hot Sauce
1 lb. spaghetti cooked al dente

Preparation

Heat a large skillet. Pour in a nice layer of olive oil. Add the jalapeños and onions and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add the sliced mushrooms to the skillet. Add the cajun seasoning, oregano, basil and a good sprinkling of salt and pepper. Cover and let the mushrooms and onions sweat out.

Add the white wine, and simmer to reduce. Then add the crushed tomatoes. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring often. Taste for salt and pepper. Now taste and decide how much Louisiana Hot Sauce to add. Go ahead, don’t be wimpy. Add more than that. 

Serving

Serve this sauce over the spaghetti and sprinkle it with lots of fresh grated pecorino romano cheese. Place a pile of sautéed spinach on the plate. Now put a heaping portion of sausage and peppers on the plate. Hit both of those with more of the pecorino. For an appetizer, how about a bowl of yellow pea soup and some fresh baked bread. Finally, open a good Montepulciano DʼAbruzzo and you’re set to eat.

Green beans with almonds

Green Beans With Almonds

How do you cook green beans? I cook them a lot of different ways, but this is one of my favorites. The butter, the almonds and the cheese combine in a way that I like. I make them this way a lot.

I can also assure you that this recipe is very forgiving. I remember one day, a year or so ago, when I was making a batch of these beans to have with my pork chops. The pork chops were in white wine under the broiler and the beans on the stove when my phone rang. Call me a grouch, but I always hate when the phone rings while I’m trying to cook. Grouch or not, I answered the phone.

It was my neighbor and she was worried. Her son was being discharged from the hospital and she got held up at work and stuck in traffic. No way she could get there in time. She asked if I could pick him up from the hospital. I said ok and turned off the stove and the broiler and drove to the hospital. It took about a half hour for him to be wheeled down to the door. Once he was in the car, I drove him home.

Back in my kitchen, I worried that my dinner was ruined, but it wasn’t. I turned the heat on the beans, re-lit the broiler and warmed up the rice in the microwave. The wine kept the pork chops moist, the rice was fine and, believe it or not, the beans were perfect. I don’t recommend stopping for an hour when the beans are half cooked, but if you do, you won’t ruin them.

1/2 stick butter

1 shallot sliced thin

Olive oil

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Fresh Ground White Pepper

1 lb. Green Beans

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preparation

Heat a large skillet and melt the butter. Add the sliced almonds and shake the skillet to let them cook gently (without browning the butter) for about five minutes. Add the shallots and shake the skillet until the shallots start to soften.

Add the green beans and cover the skillet. Every few minutes, give the beans a sir and cook until they are all soft and hot. Add plenty of fresh ground white pepper and sprinkle on the parmesan cheese. Serve immediately. 

Serving

I like to start out with a big salad along with homemade bread. Then I’ll served a giant pork chop broiled in white wine next to rice and spoon some of the cooking liquid over both. Now I add a giant pile of these green beans with almonds. Next open a bottle of Pinot Noir and your dinner is served.