sunday wrapup

Thanksgiving floral arrangements - not too Martha, but TH requested less green and more autumn this year. My own vases from SB Evans, London.

We spent part of today under cloudy dull skies planting bulbs, we made a good dent in our collection, we only have another 150 or so to go, which I know TH will plant the majority of on Thanksgiving as is tradition. We had a great gathering last night, the food was sumptious, the conversation lively. Now the dishes are all put away, the chairs as well, and as the evening starts we are ready for hazelnut tortellini with a mushroom ragout and an arugula/fennel salad for dinner. Yes, there still may be a bit of chocolate cake for dessert. ;)

The turkey carcass is in the stockpot burbling away. We will make a turkey wild rice soup sometime this week, or maybe later. We made a pumpkin black bean soup that we haven't much put a dent in yet. I wonder if the flight attendants will heat it up for me this week? (NOT).

TH will deal with the goose carcass as well. The best part of any fowl meal is the making of the stock afterwards -- leftover mushrooms, carrots, limp celery, parsely and onions all go into the pot and three hours later, we have a golden base that can be used for a myriad of recipes.

I have a friend who does a very lovely and rich broth with two birds, leaving her with chicken meat that she can add to any recipe and a dense, thick and flavorful broth to use in her amazing repetoire of recipes.

I will leave you with a nice recipe that uses stock and other goodies from this time of year. Please don't overseason that carcass (brining is not always the answer) and remember your Thankgiving Feast a few weeks down the line.

Winter Squash Risotto from Martha Rose Schulman
Serves 4 generously - 6 not so generously

6 to 7 cups chicken stock, as needed
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter, or 1 tablespoon each
1 small or 1/2 medium onion (I like yellow onions)
1 pound winter squash (about 1/2 of a good-size butternut, for example), such as butternut, banana or hubbard, peeled, seeded and finely diced (cheat, if you are in a hurry and use TJ's already chopped up and peeled butternut, I'm going to use the rest of the hubbard I grew)
2 large garlic cloves, minced
Salt
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (1/4 cup) - I used shaved
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Have the stock simmering on low heat in a saucepan.

Heat the oil or butter over medium heat in a large, heavy nonstick frying pan and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until the onion begins to soften, about 3 minutes, and add the squash, garlic, and about 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until the squash begins to soften, about 5-7 minutes, and add the rice. Cook, stirring, until the grains of rice are separate and beginning to crackle.
Stir in the wine and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. The wine should bubble, but not too quickly. You want some of the flavor to cook into the rice before it evaporates. When the wine has just about evaporated, stir in a ladleful or two of the simmering stock, enough to just cover the rice and squash. The stock should bubble slowly. Cook, stirring often, until it is just about absorbed. Add another ladleful of the stock and continue to cook in this fashion, not too fast and not too slowly, adding more stock when the rice is almost dry, for 20 to 25 minutes.

Taste a bit of the rice. Is it cooked through? It should taste chewy but not hard in the middle. Definitely not soft like steamed rice. If it is still hard in the middle, you need to add another ladleful of stock and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Now is the time to ascertain if there is enough salt. Add if necesary.

Add another small ladleful of stock to the rice, stir somemore. Remove from heat and add nutmeg and parmesan. Add freshly ground pepper, taste one last time and adjust salt. The rice should be creamy. Add parmesan and parsely. Stir for a couple of seconds, and serve.

Adapted from Martha Rose Schulman
http://www.martha-rose-shulman.com/recipes/squash_risotto.html