Thanksgiving in Process

Tomorrow when the Pumpkin Cheese Cake is taken out of the pan, the gingersnap crust will be revealed in all its tastiness. The cake will have a topping of melted mini-marshmellows and sour cream, the yin and yang. I was feeling playful. And it even sounds good. The veggies are in the fridge ready for their topping and baking.

We forgot about the 2nd cheesecake and ate our fill at dinner (leftover stuffed pork tenderloin), so are waiting for digestion to occur such that some appetite for the cheesecake will appear. Dumb, huh?

Kitchen is full of good smells and the counters are heaped with Brussels Sprouts and Cauliflower, which is next to cook. I did the topping already. See links to recipes at the bottom of the blog.
Note: Do not substitute something "lighter" for the heavy cream or you'll have a runny mess. In fact, maybe cut down on the cream a tad.

I'll take a photo of the Pumpkin Cheesecake. It looks so good, and there was enough filling for a 2nd cake in a pie plate hurriedly lined with graham cracker crumbs.

I would like to speak up in favor of southern cornbread which has no white flour and no sugar and is made with buttermilk and stone ground corn meal. You need an oven-proof skillet and about 10 minutes to put it together and a few minutes to bake.

Please don't stuff your turkey with the overly-sweetened Yankee cornbread. Yuck! You'll get cavities and your taste buds will atrophy.

Here is the recipe which I found on the net with a long google search. It's the same one I've been using since God was a boy.

Grapeshot

Southern Style Cornbread (no Sugar Or Flour) Ingredients
2 cups cornmeal
2 large eggs beaten
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups buttermilk (no substitutions)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons bacon drippings veg. oil or melted butter
Instructions for Southern Style Cornbread (no Sugar Or Flour)
Heat oven to 450. Grease a well-seasoned 9 inch cast iron skillet with 2 tablespoons oil or bacon drippings. Leave oil in bottom of pan. Place pan in oven to heat. Combine ingredients using the muffin method and mix well. Pour into hot skillet. Batter will sizzle. Bake at 450 for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

For a crispier bottom crust, sprinkle a little cornmeal into pan before adding batter. Serves 6 to 8 Muffin method: Combine dry ingredients, mix. Combine wet ingredients, mix. Add wet to dry and mix.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with a really cool topping
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/10/pumpkin-cheesecake-with-marshmallowsour-cream-from-bon-appetit.html

Eat Your Veggies Casserole with tons of cream and cheese, so much, in fact, that you won't even realize you are eating your veggies:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/10/cauliflower-brussels-sprout-gratin-pine-nut-bread-crumb-topping-recipe.html

Blue Corn Blues

Here in New England we have three great money-saving institutions: Filene's Basement, Building 19 and the Ocean State Job Lot.

We're only a few miles away from a Job Lot, and we do a lot of shopping there. The selection is random but the prices can't be beat if you are a Shopper with a capital S.

We particularly like the foods section. Dark chcocolate, super cheap! Unsalted cashews galore! The finest jams and jellies, odd shaped pasta from the old country, and lately, a whole range of "Health Food" flours and cereals.

I make true Southern cornbread, none of this Yankee stuff loaded with sugar. Cornbread from the South is (or was) made without flour, with stone ground cornmeal, baking soda, powder, buttermilk, eggs and shortening (your choice). I always bought stone ground flour from the gift shop of the old inn (Wayside Tavern) in Sudbury, a good Yankee institution.

Now, we like blue corn chips and blue corn tortillas, so why not blue corn cornbread? I bought stone ground organic blue corn meal at the job lot. It took a lot of imagination to think oneself into blue corn bread, but last night the occasion arose. The problem was, another Yankee dilmena--it's getting hard to find buttermilk in the grocery stores. Ye gods, they have coffee, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, soy, chocolate soy, rice, vanilla rice, everykind of milk with and without fat, so what's with the buttermilk? Obviously NOT a Yankee thing. Didn't your mama teach you to drink buttermilk?

About a year ago I discovered dry buttermilk (just add water) and bought some of that. It was O.K., but not like the real McCoy. Used it up, bought another brand which was lurking in the cabinet. Yikes! The dry buttermilk was REALLY dry, as it dessicated, rock hard, bone dry.
I tried to grind it up, but the particle size was still huge.

I used my good old girl Southern recipe, and mixed it up. Big problemo, the batter was way too liquid. In went some more blue corn meal.

I baked it in the cast iron skillet in a hot hot oven as per the recipe. Smelled O.K., looked O.K. (except for the bizarro color) tasted O.K.--could have used more fat and salt but no big deal.

Next time I'll use real buttermilk, if I have to drive to Atlanta to find some. We finished the soup from the turkey and ate some more blue corn bread for lunch today. Put enough butter on it, and it tastes very fine.

Life is strange.

Grapeshot