From the Sidelines

Imagine a morning in late November. A coming of winter morning more than twenty years ago. Consider the kitchen of a spreading old house in a country town. A great black stove is its main feature; but there is also a big round table and a fireplace with two rocking chairs placed in front of it. Just today the fireplace commenced its seasonal roar.

A woman with shorn white hair is standing at the kitchen window. She is wearing tennis shoes and a shapeless gray sweater over a summery calico dress. She is small and sprightly, like a bantam hen; but, due to a long youthful illness, her shoulders are pitifully hunched. Her face is remarkable—not unlike Lincoln's, craggy like that, and tinted by sun and wind; but it is delicate too, finely boned, and her eyes are sherry-colored and timid. "Oh my," she exclaims, her breath smoking the windowpane, "it's fruitcake weather!"

The above is the start of Capote's A Christmas Memory, a story to make you hum.

I decided on mostly sides for our Thanksgiving dinner. This is the final menu.

corn casserole

cider-glazed carrots

green beans with sage and pancetta

roasted turkey

read all about it rolls

southwestern cornbread stuffing

mashed potatoes

cranberry sauce

gravy

all-in-one holiday bundt cake

tollhouse pie

pumpkin pie

apple pie

We decided there was not a dud in the bunch. I strongly recommend the carrots, beans, and stuffing. The holiday bundt cake was wonderful and a brilliant solution for non-pie people (like moi). I think I was done eating by then but will enjoy it more in a few days. I've linked two recipes above and here are the remaining two.

Southwestern Corn Bread Stuffing
The All-New Good Housekeeping Cookbook

2 C yellow cornmeal
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 C buttermilk
1/2 C butter (1 stick), melted and cooled
1 can (14 3/4 oz) cream-style corn
2 cans (4 to 4 1/2 oz each) chopped mild green chiles
8 oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (2 C)
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 C chicken broth

Prepare corn bread: Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Grease 13" x 9" baking pan or deep oven-safe 12-inch skillet.

In large bowl, with spoon, mix cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in buttermilk, melted butter, corn, chiles, cheese, and eggs and mix until thoroughly blended. Pour batter into baking pan.

Bake corn bread until top is browned and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 60 to 65 minutes. Cool corn bread in pan on wire rack. (The cornbread can be used after cooling to make stuffing, but it will make a firmer stuffing if allowed to stale slightly. If desired, cover and reserve corn bread up to 2 days.

Prepare stuffing: Crumble corn bread into large bowl. Drizzle with broth; toss to mix well. Use to stuff 12- to 16-pound turkey, or serve in baking dish alongside poultry or ham: Spoon stuffing into greased 13" by 9" baking dish; cover with foil and bake in preheated 325 degree F oven until heated through, about 45 minutes. Makes about 11 cups stuffing.


All-in-One Holiday Bundt Cake
Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan

2 C flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 t grated fresh ginger (or 1 t ground ginger)
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 C sugar
1/2 C (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 t pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 C canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 large apple, peeled, cored, and finely chopped
1 C cranberries, halved or coarsely chopped
1 C pecans, coarsely chopped

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9- to 10-inch (12-cup) Bundt pan. Don't place the pan on a baking sheet—you want the oven's heat to circulate freely through the Bundt's inner tube.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and ground ginger, if you're using it (not the grated ginger).

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and both sugars together at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the pumpkin, chopped apple, and grated ginger, if you're using it—don't be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Still on low speed, add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. With a rubber spatula, stir in the cranberries and pecans. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the rubber spatula.

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding, then cool to room temperature on the rack.

Just before bringing the cake to the table, dust it with confectioners' sugar.

Playing around
Maple Syrup Icing
To make a maple-flavored icing for the cake, sift 6 T confectioners' sugar into a bowl. Stir in 2 T maple syrup. Add more maple syrup little by little, until you have an icing that runs nicely off the tip of the spoon—you might need another 1/2 T syrup to get the right consistency. Put the cooled cake on a sheet of wax paper and drizzle the icing from the tip of the spoon over it. Let the icing set for a few minutes before serving.