The Bitten Word

Thanksgiving 2016: Celery Root Bisque with Walnut-Parsley Gremolata

Food & Wine (November 2016) 

Hi, Bittens. Forgive us if we're a little sluggish this morning. Yesterday, we hosted our annual Fakesgiving dinner! Twenty-three of our friends came over for a huge meal to help us test-drive some dishes for Thanksgiving.

Cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for 25 people in our small apartment is always a bit tricky. We started prepping five days in advance, cooking whatever we could ahead of time. Zach's sister Cassidy arrived bright and early yesterday morning to act as sous chef for the day, just as she has ever since we started Fakesgiving. (Seriously, we couldn't do it without her.)

Folks started arriving around 3. We shooed them into the backyard (thank goodness for a sunny day) and busied them with snacks and punch while we finished cooking the rest of the food.

Then, we stalled.

And kept stalling.

In other words, we served soup.

Chilled Pea Soup with Spicy Crab

Food Network Magazine (April 2016) 

 

 

It's kind of funny the dishes and flavors you associate with certain times of year. Oh sure, cranberries make you think of Thanksgiving. And maybe a ham brings Easter to mind. (And thanks to Starbucks, pumpkin-spice flavor now pretty much evokes everything from August until New Year's).

But we always associate chilled pea soup with the first weeks of April.

Why? Because every year, we go to this amazing fundraiser for the organization that Clay works for, No Kid Hungry. The fundraiser is called Taste of the Nation. It's awesome -- a gathering of nearly 100 of the best restaurants, wineries and bars from around the area. It's a truly overwhelming smorgasbord of amazing foods. (The organization does similar events all over the country -- you should totally go if there's one near you.) Plus: gif booths. 

Anyway, the event in here in D.C. is always the first week of April. And because it's early spring and chefs are eager to showcase seasonal dishes, there are always -- without fail -- a few different places that settle on some version of a chilled pea soup.

This year we counted four. Three of 'em with crab on top. We are, after all, Chesapeake adjacent. 

We're not complaining -- it's a lovely cold soup, and the crab combo can be quite delicious.

So when we flipped open the latest Food Network Magazine and saw this Chilled Pea Soup with Spicy Crab, we decided to make this Taste of the Nation staple at home.

White Chicken Chili

Food Network Magazine (January/February 2016)

Hey, maybe you heard we had a little snow last weekend here in DC. With windy, violent snowfall of between 24 and 36 inches over a 36-hour period, it was no weather for being outside.

In fact, it was the perfect weather for being inside, with this White Chicken Chili.

Growing up, we both had a chicken chili from time to time. But the dish always seemed to make an appearance in snowy weather. In Zach's house, especially, the hint of snow was treated as a call to arms for his mom to start cooking certain comfort foods -- cinnamon rolls, hot cocoa, chicken-and-dumplings. And, often, a white chicken chili.

White chili is a great alternative to traditional red-beans-and-beef-and-tomato chili. It's lighter, with a brighter heat. It's a "zing!" to red chili's "blam!"

This particular recipe from Food Network Magazine is a good basic blueprint, but it could use some upgrades if it's going to become a winter classic in your kitchen. Here's what we recommend. 

Thanksgiving 2015: Peanut Soup

Martha Stewart Living (November 2015)

When Zach was a kid, he spent several summers with family in Virginia. One highlight was always a visit to Colonial Williamsburg. (We're all on the same page about the fact that Zach was a huge nerd as a kid, right? Good.)

Colonial Willamsburg, for anyone who might not know, is a full-scale working village that recreates the town of Williamsburg during the century in the run-up to the American Revolution. Today it bills itself as "America's largest outdoor history museum."

As a kid, Zach's favorite things about Williamsburg included the tri-corner hats, the stockades and the shoe cobbler's workshop.

And one other thing: the peanut soup.

The 2015 Thanksgiving Index: All This Year's Food Magazine Recipes in One Handy Place

220 Thanksgiving Recipes from 10 Leading Food Magazines

Yesterday, we were all about the trends, sharing what's in and what's out for this year's Thanksgiving feast.

Today, it's all about the recipes. Below, we've categorized all 220 recipes from the 10 magazines we're tracking this year.

Of course, the November issues of these magazines feature many more recipes than this -- in order to make this list, the recipe had to be part of an explicit feature about Thanksgiving. (If a recipe doesn't have a hyperlink, it means it isn't yet available online.) 

Explore the list and share your thoughts: What sounds amazing? What sounds too wacky for your table? What might you try for this year's feast? Let us know in the comments -- and happy cooking! 

 

TURKEYS

Porchetta-Style Roast Turkey Breast (Bon Appétit)
Barbecue Spice–Brined Grilled Turkey (Bon Appétit)
Glazed and Lacquered Roast Turkey (Bon Appétit)
Two-Hour Turkey with Gravy (Cook's Country)
Applewood-Smoked Turkey  (Cooking Light)
Brown Sugar–Cured Turkey with Apple-Bourbon Gravy  (Cooking Light)
Rosemary-Orange Roast Turkey  (Cooking Light)
Citrus-Herb Roast Turkey & Gravy (Fine Cooking)
Chipotle-Butter Turkey (Food & Wine)
Citrus-and-Butter Turkey (Food & Wine)
Porchetta-Spiced Turkey with Pan Gravy (Food & Wine)
Roast Turkey with Polenta Stuffing (Food & Wine)
Soy-and-Sesame Turkey (Food & Wine)
Maple-Whiskey Turkey (Food Network)
Classic Roast Turkey (Food Network)
Lemon-Pepper Turkey with Bacon Gravy (Food Network)
Southwestern Turkey with Chipotle Gravy (Food Network) 
Herbed Turkey (Martha Stewart Living)
Molasses-and-Cider-Glazed Turkey (Martha Stewart Living)
Tamarind-Glazed Roast Turkey (Saveur)
Slow Smoked and Spice-Brined Turkey (Saveur)
Dry-Brined-and-Marinated Smoked Turkey (Southern Living) 

 

GRAVY

Gravy-Braised Turkey Legs with Cipolline Onions (Bon Appétit)
Classic Turkey Gravy with Thyme (Bon Appétit)
Maple-Whiskey Gravy (Food Network)
Classic Gravy (Food Network) 
Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy  (Cooking Light)
Make-Ahead Gravy (Southern Living) 

 

 

Moroccan Lamb Stew with Mint Tea and Apricots

Fine Cooking (February/March 2015)

Thank you so much to all of you who have left comments or sent emails about our 7th Blogiversary post. You guys are the absolute best!  We've had the most amazing time reading through all your sweet thoughts about The Bitten Word. 

One thing that especially struck us was how many people commented on our musings about how one day we'll probably stop writing this blog. Don't worry: we're not going anywhere.

And how could we, when we've got dishes like this Moroccan Lamb Stew that we need to talk about with you?

Spanish Chorizo, Kale and Cranberry Bean Soup

Food Network Magazine (January 2015)

It's that time of year when we look into our pantry and think, "Who in the world bought all this stuff?" You see, our cupboards right now are a bit like the island of misfit toys. 

There are six kinds of mustard. Three kinds of anchovies. Seven (!) kinds of nuts. And so. much. orzo. Someone needs a Cupboard Cleanout. 

Though we love digging into our cupboard and making a complete meal out of it, we found this week that there are perils to doing that. Sometimes, the stuff in your pantry is just too old.

Case in point? We planned to make this Spanish Chorizo, Kale and Cranberry Bean Soup, a Bobby Flay recipe from the current issue of Food Network Magazine. We thought it sounded delicious, and we were especially happy because it would be a good excuse to use some beans we already had on hand.

We love this soup, but using "vintage" beans was a big mistake.

Thanksgiving 2014: Curried Carrot and Apple Soup

Food & Wine (November 2014)

Last weekend we hosted our annual Fakesgiving dinner. It was our biggest one yet: 24 diners (packed into our tiny apartment!), 20 dishes (the most ever!), for 10 hours (we kid you not: The first guests arrived at 2:30 p.m. and the last ones left at 12:30 a.m.). 

We started things off with this soup. But truth be told, we're not sure soup or salad really belongs at the Thanksgiving table. What say you, Bittens?

In our view, Thanksgiving is already a big meal. There are copious dishes, mounds of stuffing, meat galore. An early or extra soup or salad course seems superfluous.

But we can see reasons for doing it. Perhaps you're having a very fancy Thanksgiving meal for a small group, where everyone is wearing a monocle while eating foie gras-laced turkey. 

Or, you can use a soup or salad the way we do: as a stalling tactic. Sometimes on Thanksgiving you just need to buy yourself a bit of time while that turkey comes up to temperature and you juggle dishes through your oven in an attempt to get everything hot. We know; we've been there. 

So if you're going to go the soup route, we think you'll do well by serving this Curred Carrot and Apple Soup at your big meal. 

Sesame-Ginger Broccoli Soup

Vegetarian Times (February 2014) 

It's Valentine's Day, and, sadly, for those of you with a sweet tooth, we have no chocolate on offer.

We do, however, have broccoli -- obviously the most romantic of all the cruciferous vegetables. (Take that, bok choy!)

More germane to this recipe, this is a snowy Valentine's in our nation's capital. It's been a cold, wet, snowy winter so far. And that's had us in soup mode. Which is partly why we wanted to make this Sesame-Ginger Broccoli Soup from Vegetarian Times. 

Baked Winter Squash Soup

The New Basics

Back in July, we got a note from Margie, a reader who's been with us since nearly the beginning.

For years we've traded emails back and forth, with recipe recommendations and tips and such. 

Margie doesn't live far from us, and this year she had a little gardening adventure, planting Marina del Chioggia squash.

Turns out Margie's squash were extremely productive. So at the end of August, Margie asked if we'd like to have one. Would we? Of course! Margie's daughter kindly dropped off a big ol' winter squash on our doorstep so we could play around with it. 

Big is the operative word here. Here's a look at the squash itself. Want to guess how much it weighs?