The Twelve Weeks of Christmas: Week 9

The Twelve Weeks of Christmas: Week 9

Miracle on 34th Street

This week I made my recipes early so my family and I could try them out on Thanksgiving. It's the first time this season that I've been able to share these recipes with people for the first-tasting. I chose Miracle on 34th Street because it begins on Thanksgiving and has an important "meet cute" dealing with the Thanksgiving meal. I was unable to track down the scene online, but I immediately thought of it for this project!

I made three sides, two of which were from recipes to test, and one was my own take on something I tried a couple weeks ago. Luckily, they all turned out pretty good! My family enjoyed getting to try them all and even my sister, the picky eater, tried them all, even if she didn't eat a lot of it!

First up was this recipe that I made on Monday in my spare time while working from home. Cranberry sauce is a good recipe to make several days ahead and save you the time closer to Thanksgiving to work on the more complicated recipes. This was pretty simple to make.

Here are all the ingredients, minus the thickener, getting ready to cook on the stove!

Cranberries really are so pretty, aren't they? Here is the mixture, sugar melted, and the thickener added.

It takes a little time for it all to cook down just right, and to start thickening, but it will, just be patient!

Here it is, done, and just needing to sit for a bit to cool down.

And here it is, ready to be chilled in the fridge. You can see how much it thickens up and solidifies. This makes a LOT of cranberry sauce, so you could easily cut this recipe in half, if you wanted and still have plenty to use!

I found this to be very tasty, but a bit too sweet for my tastes. I would cut the amount of sugar in half next time and try it that way. You can always add more, but you can't take away. This was really easy to make, and if you've never made cranberry sauce from scratch, this is a great one to try.

Next up was a green bean casserole recipe. I have a few of these and thought this was a great time to try one out. I wasn't able to track down the source so I'll go ahead and type it out for you.

New Green Bean Casserole

3lb. green beans, trimmed and cut in half

4 large shallots, divided

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 1/2 cups course fresh breadcrumbs

1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped

Salt/Pepper

3 cups milk

3 Tbsp. butter

1/4 cup flour

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.) Heat covered, 8 qt. saucepot of salted water to boiling on high. Add beans and cook, uncovered, 6 minutes or until bright green and just tender. Drain well and transfer to shallow 3-qt. glass or ceramic baking dish.

3.) Meanwhile, finely chop 2 shallots. Thinly slice remaining shallots; set aside. In 12" skillet, heat oil on medium until hot. Add chopped shallots and cook 4-7 minutes or until browned and tender, stirring occasionally. Add breadcrumbs and cook 2 minutes or until dry and golden, stirring. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Stir in the thyme, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper.

4.) Microwave milk on High for 4 minutes or until milk is warm.

5.) Meanwhile, in same 12" skillet, melt butter on medium. Add sliced shallots and cook 5 minutes or until golden brown and tender, stirring occasionally. Add flour and cook 2 minutes, stirring. Gradually pour milk into flour mixture in slow, steady stream, stirring constantly; heat to boiling, stirring. Stir 2 minutes longer or until thickened(mixture should have the consistency of heavy cream.) Stir in nutmeg, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper.

6.) Pour sauce over green beans; gently stir until green beans are evenly coated. Stir Parmesan cheese into bread crumb mixture; spread evenly over green bean mixture in casserole.

7.) Bake casserole 30 minutes or until breadcrumbs are golden brown and sauce is bubbling.

Makes 12 servings

I cut this recipe down to 1/3 because we were only 4 people and had no need of a full recipe. It worked just fine. I was going to prep some of this the day before but ended up doing all of it the day of and it worked out well. Sometimes if you prep green beans too soon, the ends can dry out.

Blanching the beans.

Half the shallot is chopped and the other half is sliced.

Sauteing the chopped shallots for the topping.

Added the breadcrumbs. I used panko for this.

In the same pan, I wiped out first, sauteing the sliced shallots in butter.

Cooked till golden and adding the flour to make the roux.

And slowly adding the milk to mix. I did it in bits and stirred as I went so the roux mixed in as I cooked.

All the milk is now mixed in.

And cooked until thickened.

Getting the rest of the casserole assembled. Mixing the sauce into the beans, getting the Parmesan ready to add to the breadcrumbs and sprinkle on top.

All mixed!

All topped and ready to bake!

And right out of the oven. I think it was too much topping for the amount of green beans so next time I'd use at least half of that.

This tasted really good, and I thought it was a nice take on the classic green bean casserole. It is mushroom-free for people who don't like mushrooms. The shallots are an inspired choice, as I think they are a highly underappreciated aromatic. Please use shallots more, if you're not too familiar with them. You won't be disappointed.

Last up was my own version of a recipe I tried a few weeks ago. It doesn't have a name, but it's mashed, roasted acorn squash.

So, cut open acorn squash and remove the seeds. This roasts on a sheet pan, so it's a pretty simple cooking process.

Here is the olive oil with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, granulated garlic, crushed rosemary, and dried thyme. I didn't measure anything, but I definitely should have doubled all the seasonings.

Spoon the oil over the squash and leave it upright on the sheetpan. Roast it in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes to an hour until softened.

Here's the final product. Just scoop the flesh into a bowl and mix well. Top with crumbled feta cheese and toasted pine nuts. That's it, it's that easy! I thought this was great, but the seasoning didn't taste strong enough so I would definitely use a LOT. My whole family liked this one, so I could easily see it becoming part of the annual Thanksgiving dinner from now on.

So, all my recipes turned out great, and my family enjoyed them all! It was fun trying these out and this is one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving, blending the tried-and-true with the brand-new. Definitely give these a try if you want to try something new next Thanksgiving!