The Bitten Word

Thanksgiving 2015: Sparkling Celery Gimlets

Martha Stewart Living (November 2015)

Each year we've had a Fakesgiving, we've kicked off the festivities with a cocktail. Typically, we go for a punch. Our reasoning is this: When guests are arrived, we are typically frantic with last minute cooking. After all, cooking 20 dishes for more than 20 guests is no easy task, and there are only so many things that one can do ahead. Serving a special cocktail is a way to keep everybody happy while the two of us run around like crazy people finishing the meal.

But this year, things were different. We were calm. We were cool. We were collected. And by the time guests arrived, we were largely done with the cooking. A Fakesgiving miracle! (Well, a Fakesgiving miracle made possible by Zach's sister Cassidy, who played sous chef again this year.) 

So rather than sweating it out in the kitchen, we were standing in our living room, talking to guests like we didn't have a care in the world. 

And we were sipping Sparkling Celery Gimlets. 

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) 

 

 

Chicken-and-Squash Curry

Martha Stewart Living (October 2015)

Even though we didn't write about it this year, we had a decent season in our little backyard garden.

Early in the year, we had a really nice crop of lettuces and other leafy greens. We had tons of cherry tomatoes -- almost every day throughout July and August, we tromped out to the garden and grabbed a handful of those sweet little tomatoes and threw them into whatever we were cooking for dinner that night. And we had lots of nice fresh herbs -- almost more basil than we knew what to do with.

But there was one thing this year that was a bit of a surprise: squash.

Okay, it wasn't really a "surprise" per se. We put a lot of effort into growing and fertilizing the squash. But the surprising part? The squash came out pure white.

We posted this on Instagram at the end of August, but we're still just as flummoxed.

We thought we'd planted good ol' yellow summer squash, but, well, we must not have. 

The other big surprise about the squash was just how much we got. After a couple of fruitless (vegetableless?) years trying to grow squash, we wound up with four or five big gourds like the one in that photo. We sautéed one or two, which worked great. (In taste and texture, this mystery squash ended up somewhere between a summer squash an a winter squash -- firmer and crisper than a yellow summer squash, but not as firm and creamy-tasting as a butternut.)

Anyway. 

When we saw a special feature all on squash recipes in the new issue of Martha Stewart Living, it seemed like a great way to use the rest of our bumper crop.

Broiled Salmon with Asparagus and Shiitake Mushrooms

Martha Stewart Living (June 2015)

You've likely noticed, if you follow us on Instagram, that we’re both on the road a lot of these days.

Clay was recently in Los Angeles and Chicago. Zach was in San Francisco last week. We both went to Kentucky. And then we were in New York City together this past weekend. It’s been fun, but it’s also been a lot of time away from our kitchen.

When we're traveling, we love to eat. A lot. So when we're home, we've been trying to eat more healthfully. So while on the road it’s Zuni's Roast Chicken For Two (For One) and decadent breakfasts. At home it’s lunches and dinners featuring lean proteins and lots of vegetables. 

This Broiled Salmon with Asparagus and Shiitake Mushrooms is exactly the kind of thing we’re looking for these days for a weeknight meal: healthy, light and easy.

Thanksgiving 2014: Cornmeal-Crème Fraîche Spoon Bread

Martha Stewart Living (November 2014)

As a general rule, we're not huge advocates of Thanksgiving dishes that need to be made at the very last minute.

We are plan-ahead, make-ahead, stash-ahead, heat-up-at-the-least-minute-or-maybe-actually-just-serve-at-room-temperature Thanksgiving hosts, especially when it comes to feeding a crowd. 

But rules are made to be broken.

And this Cornmeal-Crème Fraîche Spoon Bread is worth breaking all the rules.

Thanksgiving 2014: Chocolate Mousse Pie with Phyllo Crust

Martha Stewart Living (November 2014)

When Martha Stewart Living's November issue hit newsstands last month, there was Drama with a capital "D" in the online food world.

In the issue, Martha (supposedly, depending on which headlines you read) "mocks," "disses," "takes another dig at," "shades," "attempts to murder" (okay we made that last one up) Gwyneth Paltrow in a feature about Thanksgiving pie. Why all the shade? Because the headline of the feature, which was focuse on pairing different flavors, was "Conscious Coupling," a reference to Gwyneth's announcement earlier this year that she and husband Chris Martin were "consciously uncoupling," AKA getting a divorce.

There are a few ways to look at this:

You might be the sort of person who believes Martha Stewart herself is using Martha Stewart Living as her personal burn book, angrily scratching through the writers' commentary about pie and instead scrawling scathing things about Gwenyth into the margins. ("Drop this nonsense about the virtues of pie -- I WANT GOOP TO FEEL PAIN." ~ MS) 

Or you might be the sort who dismisses this whole supposed controversy as a play on words (and a slightly lame one at that), because you can't get over how drop-dead gorgeous all the pies are in the feature, so you sit, paralyzed looking at them, thinking you will never taste pie that beautiful, because no one has ever made pie so stunning. 

Or there's the way we wanted to look at it: We just went ahead and made one of Martha's pies.

The entire feature is full of pies we would eat in a heartbeat. After much deliberation, we selected this Chocolate Mousse Pie with Phyllo Crust.

Maple Flan

Martha Stewart Living (October 2014)

We're always pleasantly surprised when people ask us if The Bitten Word is our full-time job. 

No, the truth is we both have day jobs. And they're day jobs that we love. But once in a while, those day jobs actually overlap with The Bitten Word.

Case in point: this past weekend. Clay works with a wonderful nonprofit devoted to ending childhood hunger in America. This weekend was the New York City Wine & Food Festival, and Clay's organization is one of the two beneficiaries of all the funds raised by the event. So Clay was in New York for several days working the event. One of his jobs was to introduce food personalities who were doing chef demos. (Zach tagged along for the free food and wine. He's no fool.)

Anyway, on Saturday afternoon, Clay got to introduce to the stage ... Ms. Martha Stewart! (Have you heard of her?)

Even better? He got to mingle with her in the green room backstage. Okay, maybe "mingle" is too strong a word. But they get to exchange a few words before the event began. Martha was super busy, and they only really had a chance to exchange a couple pleasantries and talk about the festival.

But it's just as well that's all the time they had together: If they'd talked for even a little bit longer, it's likely that Clay would have blurted out five exuberant, slightly embarrassing words:

"We loved your Maple Flan!" 

 

Pressure Cooker Lamb Curry

Martha Stewart Living (September 2014)

 

We love our pressure cooker. Well, correction: We love the idea of our pressure cooker. We've used it on occasion -- for things like short ribs, chicken stock, even a Pork Vindaloo. 

But we don't take nearly enough advantage of our pressure cooker. It's such a terrific shortcut to deep flavors and quickly make delicious dishes. Every time we do use it, we vow to utilize it more often in the future.

That's what got us excited about this Pressure Cooker Lamb Curry -- that, and, here on the cusp of Fall in our nation's capital, it seems like the perfect dish to make on a cool evening. 

Walnut Brownie Cookies

Martha Stewart Living (May 2014)

We've all been there.

You've been invited to a dinner -- or a cookout, or a party, or a bat mitzvah or whatever -- and you need to take a dish. That's when the internal debate starts. Buy something? Make something? Buy something and pretend like you made something?

Personally, we're fans of the "oh we've got to make something but we've waited 'til the last minute what can we make with what's in the cupboards???" approach.

All that stops now, with this recipe for Walnut Brownie Cookies. This is your new go-to dessert recipe for summer gatherings.

These cookies won't only make you a good guest. They'll make you insanely popular, funnier and better looking*.

Rhubarb & Beets

Martha Stewart Living (May 2014) 

We can totally picture the pitch meeting for this recipe at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia HQ: 

 

MARTHA STEWART (let's pretend she actually attends these things), to table of editors: What's next? Okay, the May issue. 

EDITOR 1: Right. Well, I've been really wanting to do something highlighting spring pea tendrils.

MARTHA: No.

EDITOR 1: Well, I was just thinking, you know, it's spring, it's warm, they'd be--

MARTHA: No. Who else?

EDITOR 2: Uh, I had thought maybe we could do a seasonal feature on, um, fava beans?

MARTHA: Fava beans? What is this, 2009? Why is no one prepared for this meeting?

EDITOR 3, [meekly]: Um, I did have one, um, idea--

MARTHA: Who's speaking?

EDITOR 3: I, um .. I am?

MARTHA: And? We're all waiting.

EDITOR 3: What about rhubarb---

MARTHA, [witheringly]: Rhubarb?

EDITOR 3: Yes. But ... um .. savory? 

MARTHA pauses. The table is silent.

EDITOR 3:  And ... roasted?

MARTHA looks at EDITOR 3. As they lock eyes, the faintest hint of a smile crosses MARTHA's face.

MARTHA: Roasted rhubarb. Okay then. Well, I'm glad someone showed up with an actual idea. Now. Who's next?

 

At least that's how it went in our heads. (We totally know how magazines work.)

Point being, savory roasted rhubarb is a fresh take on a spring staple, and we we eager to try it out for ourselves.