The LA Blade’s intrepid Washington D.C.-based White House correspondent snarks his way through another delicious weekly recipe while dishing tea on other subjects

WASHINGTON – This week has been hectic after the massive Thanksgiving dinner and of course the endless parade of leftovers. So a break for everyone and here’s a recipe adapted from Melissa Clark’s Double Apple Pie via NYT Cooking:

1. In a food processor, pulse 2.5 cups all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Add 20 tablespoons cold unsalted butter and pulse. Add ¼ cup ice water and then one tablespoon at a time until you’ve added ½ cup, pulsing after each addition
2. Gather dough into a ball. Remove a third of the dough and form into a disk. Form remaining dough into a disk. Cover both tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour
3. Roll out larger disk into a circle and transfer to a 9” pie plate. Crimp edges and prick bottom with a fork. Refrigerate for another 30 minutes or longer 
4. Heat oven to 400° F. Line pie plate with foil and add pie weights (or dried beans or dried rice). Bake for 15 minutes, remove weights, and bake another 5 minutes 
5. Toss together 3 pounds apples – cored, peeled, and thinly sliced – with ½ cup white granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca, 1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, a pinch of ground cloves, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice, and 3 tablespoons apple butter. Transfer apple mixture to crust
6. Roll out second dough disk. Transfer to top your pie plate. Cut to vent, brush with milk, and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar 
7. Bake for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350°, and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes longer 
8. Cool, cut, serve

The LA Blade’s intrepid Washington D.C.-based White House correspondent snarks his way through another delicious weekly recipe while dishing tea on other subjects

WASHINGTON – Lessons learned from hosting my first Thanksgiving:

Kane’s Cuisine: Thanksgiving feast shopping & food prep

• Narrow down the menu: Even after doing as much advance prep as possible, I tapped out after making turkey, three sides, three sauces/toppings, and a dessert – which means I had to scrap the apple cranberry goat cheese salad and the curried butternut squash soup 
• I need to buy a serving tray, gravy boat, tablecloth + runner, napkins, and napkin rings
• Delegate tasks to others: There was no reason why I had to be the one to also set the table while the straight people in my house were watching football 
• Everyone needs something acidic at the table
• Give the turkey an extra day in that buttermilk brine 

Pictured are: 

• Samin Nosrat’s buttermilk brined roast turkey
• Alison Roman’s brown butter gravy (without the soy sauce and vinegar)
• Alison Roman’s honey cranberry sauce with grated ginger, lemon zest, lemon juice
• Robin Broadfoot’s fall vegetable ratatouille
• Samin Nosrat’s fried sage salsa verde 
• Alison Roman’s buttered stuffing with celery and leeks
• My mashed potatoes: 4-pounds farmers market potatoes, peeled and cooked in a pot of generously salted water until fork-tender, drained and mashed with a potato masher along with 2 cups unsalted Kerrygold butter (top with chives)
• Canned cranberry sauce

Cranberry upside-down cake by Alice Waters: 

1. Preheat oven to 350° F
2. Add ½ stick unsalted butter and ¾ cup light brown sugar to a 9” round cake pan
3. Bake for ~7 minutes, stir, and continue baking for about 5 minutes, until sugar has just begun to caramelize
4. Remove pan and allow to cool
5. In a bowl, toss together 9 ounces fresh cranberries and ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice 
6. Spread them in your cake pan, sprinkling with remaining orange juice 
7. Separately, whisk together 1.5 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt
8. In a stand mixer, cream 1 stick butter and 1 cup white granulated sugar until pale, light, and fluffy. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and beat in 2 egg yolks, one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed
9. Add flour mixture alternatively with ½ cup whole milk, ending with dry ingredients. Scrape batter into another bowl and rinse out your stand mixer 
10. Fit the mixer with your whisk attachment and whip 2-3 egg whites with ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar until it can hold a peak. Fold into your batter with a spatula, a third at a time
11. Spoon batter into your cake pan and spread it evenly over your cranberries, baking until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto a cake plate

The LA Blade’s intrepid Washington D.C.-based White House correspondent snarks his way through another delicious weekly recipe while dishing tea on other subjects

WASHINGTON – Four days out, I thought I would give you a peek behind the curtain to see my Thanksgiving prep. Within reason, of course. I’m not showing you the inside of my pantry. That’s between me and God. 

I’m afraid you won’t find much by way of “do-ahead” advice, here. Cranberry sauce will keep in the fridge for a week and the base of Samin Nosrat’s green curry butternut squash soup (see: last week’s column) will, hopefully, be just as good thawed and reheated, but otherwise I’m doing all the work on Wednesday – Thursday. 

I also wanted to shout-out some of my favorite merchants at Eastern Market, where I’ve done the bulk of my shopping for ingredients: H30 Farm, Paik Produce, Agora Farms, Dunham’s Produce, and Knopps Farm.

My guests are arriving on Wednesday, at which time I will go back to Eastern Market for more bread and fresh salad greens – and to visit my favorite protein purveyor, Canales Quality Meats, to pick up some skirt steak to cook that evening. 

Speaking of meat, as mentioned in last week’s column my turkey is arriving on Wednesday from D’Artagnan. 

I had a bit of buyer’s remorse after seeing how much cheaper the birds are at even upscale grocers like Wegman’s but was comforted by none other than ALISON ROMAN HERSELF. See our exchange below on her newsletter Q&A: 

And here, dear reader, is each item on my menu (minus the turkey and a cranberry-apple-goat cheese salad that I added just now): 

Fall vegetable ratatouille 

Toasted sage salsa verde 

Mashed potatoes with tons of butter & truffles from Provence

Turkey gravy with browned butter

Homemade cranberry sauce with honey, ginger, and orange zest 

Alison Roman’s buttered stuffing with celery and leeks

Samin Nosrat’s green curry butternut squash soup

The LA Blade’s intrepid Washington D.C.-based White House correspondent snarks his way through another delicious weekly recipe while dishing tea on other subjects

WASHINGTON – My husband and I will be hosting Thanksgiving this year, which means I relinquished my control freak tendencies by agreeing to allow my guests to bring dessert. 

Unless it’s pumpkin pie. If I see a pumpkin pie on my table, it will be going in the trash where it belongs. 

Anyway, here is one of the dishes I will be serving: A butternut squash soup, which is brightened up with a Thai-inspired green curry, coconut milk, fish sauce, and a topping that’s a spin on miang kham, a crunchy snack full of peanuts, coconuts, and chilis. (Recipe courtesy of Samin Nosrat.) 

My reason for highlighting this dish? If you’re going to offer a soup for Thanksgiving, it had better have some texture, acidity, and color. You need something to offset your mashed potatoes and turkey. 

Thanksgiving is my Super Bowl. It’s weeks away, but I’ve already pre-ordered my bird from D’Artagnan and finalized my menu, which will include the following along with the soup:

• Samin Nosrat’s 48-hour buttermilk brine roast turkey
• Turkey gravy
• Fall vegetable ratatouille with toasted sage salsa verde 
• Mashed potatoes with tons of butter 
• Homemade cranberry sauce with orange zest 
• Alison Roman’s buttered stuffing with celery and leeks 

…and now, for the soup: 

1. Heat oven to 300° F
2. Melt 4 tablespoons coconut oil in a Dutch oven 
3. Add 3-6 diced shallots, depending on their size, a 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced, and a stalk of lemongrass, cut into 3-inch pieces
4. Season with salt and cook for about 18 minutes 
5. Add 2 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into ½ to 1-inch cubes
6. Add 2 cans coconut milk, 6-8 tablespoons green curry paste, 3 tablespoons fish sauce, and 3 cups stock
7. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, cooking for 25 mintues
8. In a medium mixing bowl, combine ¾ cup shelled peanuts, roughly chopped, ¾ cup unsweetened coconut flakes, 2 tablespoons fish sauce, 8 small dried chilis, thinly sliced, 1 tablespoon neutral oil, 1 tablespoon minced lemongrass, and 1 teaspoon sugar
9. Spread mixture onto a baking sheet in an even layer, and bake for 18-20 minutes, stirring every few minutes after the first 10. Be careful not to burn. Transfer mixture to a bowl and set aside
10. Remove lemongrass stalks from your Dutch oven. Use an immersion blender, regular blender, or food processor to puree your soup until totally smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings

Serve with crunchy topping and garnish with Thai basil

The LA Blade’s intrepid Washington D.C.-based White House correspondent snarks his way through another delicious weekly recipe while dishing tea on other subjects

WASHINGTON – Everyone is ordering them. And you know what? They’re delicious. Be a basic bitch. Embrace it. Serve them at your party. Sometimes foods and drinks are trendy and popular for a reason.

1. Chill martini glass in the freezer for at least a half hour. Wet the rim and then dunk it into
   a container of turbinado sugar
2. In a cocktail shaker, combine a handful of ice and one ounce each of vodka, Baileys
   Irish Cream, and Kahlúa
3. Add 2 ounces of espresso, brought to room temperature
4. Shake well and pour into glass

The LA Blade’s intrepid Washington D.C.-based White House correspondent snarks his way through another delicious weekly recipe while dishing tea on other subjects

WASHINGTON – Unlike crisps and crumbles, cobblers have a biscuit-style topping covering the cooked fruit. Arranged in this fashion, the dessert allegedly looks like a cobbled road, hence the name. 

Recipe from Scott Campbell, adapted by Florence Fabricant, New York Times Cooking, and then by me: 

1. Preheat oven to 350° F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and butter a 9 X 13 baking dish
2. In a food processor, briefly whirl 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons baking powder, and a teaspoon salt. Dice 2 sticks unsalted butter and pulse it until mixture becomes uniformly crumbly. In a measuring cup, mix a quarter cup white granulated sugar with one cup half-and-half until dissolved. Pour into the food processor and pulse until just combined. Do not overmix
3. Scoop the dough into eight mounds on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with an additional 1-2 tablespoons of sugar, and bake 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned
4. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine 1.5 cups brown sugar with 3 12-ounce containers of berries. I used a 2:1 ratio of strawberries to blackberries. Spread evenly in your baking dish
5. Slide each biscuit topping off your parchment, and place on the berries, spacing them evenly

Bake for another 30 minutes, allow to cool for 30 minutes, and serve with mint and vanilla ice cream

The LA Blade’s intrepid Washington D.C.-based White House correspondent snarks his way through another delicious weekly recipe while dishing tea on other subjects

WASHINGTON – It’s peak pear season, my friends. Unfortunately, the bag of bartletts from your local Whole Foods or farmer’s market may nevertheless be disappointing. 

In “Salt Fat Acid Heat” (which, by the way, is a must-read), chef and food writer Samin Nosrat includes the following passage from John McPhee’s 1966 book “Oranges.”

“Ground fruit – the orange that one can reach and pick from the ground – is not as sweet as fruit that grows high on the tree. Outside fruit is sweeter than inside fruit. Oranges grown on the south side of a tree are sweeter than oranges grown on the east or west side, and oranges grown on the north side are the least sweet of the lot.

“Beyond this, there are differentiations of quality inside a single orange. Individual segments vary from one another in their content of acid and sugar … When [orange pickers] eat an orange … they eat the [sweeter] blossom half and throw the rest of the orange away.”

“These kinds of natural variations mean you can’t know whether your orange is as acidic, ripe, or sweet as the one the recipe tester used in some distant kitchen,” Nosrat writes. Her message here is for home cooks to “taste as you go” and “trust your instincts” rather than follow a formula that may not work as well for you as it did for someone else. 

My purpose, however, is to share a fantastic recipe for less-than-stellar pears. Because let’s be honest: in rare cases, the fruit can be delicious, but most of the time they suck. (In this respect they are unlike other produce, including oranges.) 

So, pick up some pears while they’re in season, with the knowledge that even if they are hard, dry, mealy textured, and insipidly flavored, you can transform them into a delicious dessert with a poach in this saffron ginger syrup. Cooking is amazing, right? 

Recipe from David Tanis, New York Times Cooking: 

1. Peel 6 Bartlett, D’Anjou, or Comice pears, slightly underripe, leaving stems intact
2. In a small (~10-inch) skillet, add 2 cups dry white wine, 1 cup granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon crumbled saffron, and 2 thick slices of fresh ginger. Stir and bring to a boil
3. Add pears, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes. Turn the pears occasionally if they are not fully submerged
4. Allow to cool and refrigerate the pears with their syrup overnight or for up to several days
5. Remove the fruit and simmer the syrup down to a thick glaze, about 15 minutes on medium-high heat*
6. Pour over pears to serve with vanilla ice cream or crème fraiche

*Author’s note: I did not set a timer and was not watching closely, so my syrup reduced to the point that it essentially turned into a hard sticky caramel stuck to the bottom of my pan. So pay close attention! 

Unlike with oranges, however, pears are often so bad they’re practically inedible. And good ones are rare.

The LA Blade’s intrepid Washington D.C.-based White House correspondent snarks his way through another delicious weekly recipe while dishing tea on other subjects

WASHINGTON – I have made so many roast chickens. This version is simply as good as it gets. 

1. Remove wingtips of 3.5-4.5-pound whole chicken using kitchen shears. Season bird generously with kosher salt and allow to rest for 30 minutes 
2. Stir 2 tablespoons kosher salt into 2 cups buttermilk to dissolve. Transfer chicken to gallon-sized resealable plastic bag and pour in the buttermilk. Seal, working to expel as much air as possible for maximum marinading
3. Refrigerate for 24 hours or longer, turning the bag periodically 
4. Pull chicken out to allow to come to room temperature about 1-2 hours before you plan to cook it
5. Wipe away as much buttermilk as you can and tie the legs with butcher’s twine. Heat oven to 425° F
6. Put chicken in a cast iron skillet or shallow roasting pan, with the legs facing the bottom right corner of your oven and the breasts pointing toward the center 
7. Roast for 20 minutes, reduce heat to 400° F, and continue roasting for 10 minutes 
8. Optional: As your chicken cooks, cut an onion into wedges and peel a handful of carrots. Toss them in a bowl with 3 tablespoons olive oil and season generously with salt. Scatter them around the chicken in your skillet
9. Rotate skillet so the chicken legs are facing the back right corner of your oven. Cook for another 30 minutes, tenting with foil if it starts to get too brown

The LA Blade’s intrepid Washington D.C.-based White House correspondent snarks his way through another delicious weekly recipe while dishing tea on other subjects

WASHINGTON – One cold November night in 2020, I saw Alison Roman’s recipe for this spiced chickpea stew and thought “with all these five-star reviews, it’s gotta be pretty good.” 

My cooking journey began with this stew. Yours can, too. 

1. Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium. Add 1 onion, diced, 4 cloves garlic, smashed, and about 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 3-5 minutes
2. Add 1.5 teaspoons ground turmeric, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently for 8-10 minutes. Remove 1 cup and set aside for garnish 
3. Crush about half the remaining chickpeas, slightly, with a wooden spoon. Add 2 cups full fat coconut milk, along with 2 cups homemade chicken or vegetable stock. Season with salt and pepper 
4. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, cooking for about 30 minutes or until reduced to your liking 
5. Add 1 bunch Swiss chard, cooking to wilt for another 3 minutes

Divide among bowls and garnish with mint leaves. Serve with crème fraiche and pita bread

The LA Blade’s intrepid Washington D.C.-based White House correspondent snarks his way through another delicious weekly recipe while dishing tea on other subjects

WASHINGTON – As I was looking for the recipe featured in this week’s column, I got some interesting results when I mistakenly hit “return” after typing only the first word of my Google search query (“plum”). 

Turns out, in the U.K., a man who speaks with an accent typical of the English upper classes is often said to “have a plum in his mouth”? Of course, here in the States, instead of that we have Hilaria Baldwin. And Meredith Marks in the latest episode of RHOSLC. 

And according to Urban Dictionary, “plum” is also used by Brits to describe the painful constriction of a man’s external genitalia, often with a rubber band, for purposes of performing a sex act that I cannot describe with words that are printable in this news outlet.

Perhaps we should broaden the latter definition to include “putting the squeeze” on someone in a non-sexual manner, as our House Speaker is now experiencing at the hands of his Republican colleagues in the chamber? 

Anyway, for our purposes, the plums we’re talking about are the stone fruits whose abundance and peak ripeness mark the onset of autumn. 

I could not possibly gas up this torte recipe better than the description provided by New York Times Cooking, which I’ve excerpted below:  

The Times published Marian Burros’s recipe for Plum Torte every September from 1983 until 1989, when the editors determined that enough was enough. The recipe was to be printed for the last time that year. “To counter anticipated protests,” Ms. Burros wrote a few years later, “the recipe was printed in larger type than usual with a broken-line border around it to encourage clipping.” It didn’t help. The paper was flooded with angry letters. 

1. Heat oven to 350° F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan (or similarly sized cake pan with high sides) with unsalted butter
2. Halve ~12 ripe plums, cutting slightly off-center to avoid blunting your knife with the pits, and then use a small paring knife to cut them out and discard 
3. Cream a half cup softened unsalted butter together with 1 cup granulated sugar using a stand mixer, a hand-held electric mixer, or by hand with a whisk if you’re a masochist and need to be a hero 
4. Add 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, a heaping half teaspoon kosher salt*, and 2 eggs, beating or whisking until well combined 
5. Scrape the batter into your pan. Distribute your plum halves over top, skin side up, and sprinkle with the juice of half a lemon, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and granulated sugar (roughly a tablespoon, depending on how sweet your plums are)
6. Bake for 1 hour. Top with confectioner’s sugar and serve with ice cream or whipped cream if desired 

*The recipe calls for a pinch, but I firmly believe most desserts make insufficient use of salt and its flavor enhancing properties, including in this case.

Bonus recipe: From Melissa Clark, a fabulous and easy weeknight dinner of roasted chicken thighs with peaches, basil, and ginger. And as I discovered, the dish works as beautifully with plums as it does with peaches. 

Apologies that my husband was not available to take pictures of this one, but you can use your imagination or see what it’s supposed to look like at NYT Cooking:

1. Heat oven to 400°
2. Halve plums (or peaches!), remove their pits, and slice the fruit into quarter to half-inch wedges
3. Arrange or evenly scatter the following on a 9 by 13-inch sheet pan: 1 pound chicken thighs,* seasoned with salt and cut into 1-inch strips; 2-4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed; 1 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, 2-3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger, 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons dry sherry or dry vermouth, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and a half teaspoon black pepper
4. Roast for about 20 minutes
5. Top with an additional 1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil and follow Melissa’s advice: “Sauce will be thin, so serve with crusty bread for sopping or over rice.”

*Use boneless skinless thighs, or de-bone them and leave the skin on with the expectation that you’ll have to pour off excess rendered chicken fat that will accumulate after roasting