Goose is so easy to make, I don't know why more people don't make it especially at Christmas, when it makes you feel so totally gentile. But, here's one caveat: a huge goose feeds a surprisingly small number of people.
You know how you occasionally meet a fat person who says, I'm not really fat but my bones are big? Well that person is lying, but if they were a goose they wouldn't be.
The stuffing is divine.
It's already in full swing. Thanksgiving turkey mania. You know what I'm
talking about. The endless, frenzied debate over how to cook the
perfect turkey. With all the food magazines, cooking shows and turkey
hotlines available, I know you'll find more information than you ever
wanted on the bird.
That's why I'm posting about Thanksgiving side dishes: They're much less controversial. You can't brine sweet potatoes or deep fry cranberry sauce. At least, I don't think you can.
Last
year I shared four Thanksgiving side dishes with a twist: Perennial
favorites like sweet potatoes and string beans got a makeover. They
looked fabulous. But we can't make the same veggies this year. Well,
except for the String Beans with Prosciutto, Pine Nuts, and Lemon. I have to make those again. Don't worry though. I've got a few new ones for you that won't disappoint.
Let's start with Festive Stuffed Acorn Squash. A robustly sweet
and tangy filling of shallots, cranberries, prunes and pecans is nestled
inside of a hot roasted acorn squash half.
For the holidays, old favorites are entitled to special love. Case in point, apple pie. Nothing is more American and no dessert is more satisfying than apple pie, hot from the oven, topped with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Delicious as it is, special occasions call for special ingredients.
Whisky's smoky sweetness seems like a perfect companion for apple pie's richly comforting wholesomeness.
My mother made apple pie for Thanksgiving and Chanukah. Her recipe was the essence of simplicity. One of those dishes that intuitively adheres to the principle of "let the ingredients speak for themselves."
At a time when farmers markets didn't exist in cities, my mom would pack my sister and myself into her Dodge and we'd head out to the farms in the areas surrounding Banning, California, the small town on the way to Palm Springs where we lived during my high school years.
When I worked in a gourmet retail store as a teenager, I got a chance to try many delectable things. I sampled high quality chocolates imported from Europe, pistachios from Iran, Alice Medrich's mammoth truffles, and panforte made by Margaret Fox of Cafe Beaujolais. I'll never forget those heavy round thick loaves, wrapped in dark red or green cellophane. Thin chewy slices served with or tea or alongside cheese seemed so sophisticated. It was definitely the best fruitcake I ever tasted.
My parents made panforte too and last year I realized it would be the perfect thing to make with a surplus of candied lemon peel. My recipe uses rice flour instead of wheat flour, which means it is gluten free! If you have nuts in your freezer, and they weren't bought this season, they are probably from last season and now is a good time to finish them off.
Europeans do it better. Not the wine, beer, and cheese, which are all great, but the holidays and vacations. A holiday in Europe occupies at least two
weeks. Summer vacation is six to eight. With that much time off from
work, one’s internal clock resets. The mind and body slow down to take
in the pleasures of the moment.