iCook: It's Not Your Normal Holiday

by Britt Allgood

2020 Enough said! It has been a crazy year and it may get even harder. Everybody is feeling the stress. The desire to get back to a normal life, and to see family and friends. Well, for everybody’s health and wellbeing, we need to celebrate - but not with a big group of family and friends

Just days ago, my wife and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving without any guests. I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us - talk about a challenge and a bit of a balancing act. You want some of your favorite holiday dishes like Turkey, Stuffing, the (I know some of you will groan at this one) green bean casserole, homemade rolls, and the ever tempting pumpkin pie. How do you do this without eating leftovers until Christmas? Scale it down or share it.

Scale It Down

Scaling down recipes isn’t hard. Yes, this is where your basic math skills come back to haunt you as fractions or percentages. I can see some of you closing the magazine right now - but it isn’t that bad people! Two important things to remember are how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon. The answer is three. The other is how do you get half an egg? First you beat it, then you split what’s left.

When scaling down a recipe, remember to divide the number you are cooking for by the recommended serving size and you will know how far to scale down the recipe - unless you want to eat green bean casserole every day for a week. If you are cooking for three and the recommended serving size is four, go ahead and make the entire dish and give someone a big helping. But if you are cooking for three and the recommended serving size is eight, the easiest thing to do is cut recipe in half. Better a little extra food than not enough. The main course is the hardest of all. No matter how you try, turkey for two is going to generate some left overs. We had an eleven and a half pound turkey and have enough meat left for at least three more meals. I like to get creative with the extra and make soup, pot pies, tetrazzini or enchiladas. Oh, and there is always a Kentucky hot brown.

Share It

My neighbors and I have been kicking around the idea of a socially distant pot luck for Christmas. The idea is that you split up the work, divide up your dish and leave it on your neighbor’s porch at a designated time. One family does the turkey, one stuffing, one vegetables - well you get the idea. It works and you get a bit more variety. Just make sure that you follow some simple food safety protocols like wearing gloves and a mask during preparation and for delivery.

I’ve always baked around the holidays as many of my long time readers know. This year won’t be any different, but I will be taking all the necessary precautions before leaving little boxes of holiday cheer for my friends and neighbors.

For this issue of PAFM I’m going to share a few recipes with you already scaled down. Most will serve four depending on how big you like your slice of pie. Oh, the cookie recipes shouldn’t be scaled down. Share the extras with those you love.

Happy holidays from our iCook family. Live, Laugh, Love, and Eat well to you all.

Spinach Casserole

1 - 10oz package of frozen chopped spinach

1 - 3oz package of cream cheese, softened ½ stick butter (soft)

1 can artichoke hearts, drained

Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook spinach and drain. Mix with cream cheese and butter. Put artichoke hearts in an 8x8 inch casserole dish and pour spinach mixture over the hearts. Top with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes.

BA’s Best Green Bean Casserole Courtesy of Bon Appetit

Serves 4 to 5

1 pound fresh green beans, ends trimmed

Kosher salt

1 TBSP olive oil divided

1/2 pound cremini (or baby bella) mushrooms, sliced, divided

3 TBSP unsalted butter, divided

2 Large sprigs thyme, fresh

1 TBSP all-purpose flour

2/3 cup whole milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 cloves garlic, finely grated (or substitute 3 TBSP minced garlic)

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Freshly ground black pepper

1/3 to 1/2 cup French-fried Onions (store bought) if you like a lot of them

Working in small batches, blanch the green beans in a large pot of boiling water for about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from boiling water with slotted spoon and transfer to a baking sheet to let cool. Repeat until all the beans have been processed.

NOTE: If you use an ice bath to quench the beans, you may want to increase initial baking time by 10 to 15 minutes as beans may be a little undercooked. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 1/2 TBSP oil to the skillet. Cook half of the mushrooms without stirring until they are brown on one side, about 2 minutes. Toss and continue to cook, tossing occasionally, until browned on both sides, about 3 more minutes. Add 1 TBSP butter to the pan with 1 sprig of the thyme. Continue to cook, tossing occasionally until butter browns and the mushrooms are dark brown and very tender, about 4 more minutes. Season with salt and transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining oil, mushrooms, butter, thyme, and salt. Set aside.

In the large saucepan, melt the remaining 1 TBSP of butter over medium low heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking occasionally, until the roux is golden brown and smells mildly nutty, about 4 to 5 minutes. Whisk in the milk and cream. Increase the heat and bring to a simmer, whisking often until the béchamel sauce is thick and bubbling, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the garlic, Parmesan cheese, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Arrange the green beans and mushrooms in a 1-quart baking dish. Pour sauce over the vegetables (it doesn’t look like enough, but it is). Cover tightly with foil and bake until sauce is bubbling, about 25 to 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake until casserole is lightly browned around the edges, 15 to 20 more minutes. Top with the onions and bake for another 3 to 5 minutes or until the onions start to brown and become fragrant. Let casserole sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

The Legendary Hot Brown

Courtesy of The Brown Hotel, Louisville KY

Serves 2

1 ½ TBSP salted butter

1 ½ TBSP all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups heavy cream (you can use whole milk, but sauce will be thinner)

¼ cup Pecorino-Romano cheese shredded, plus more for garnish

Pinch of fresh ground nutmeg S

alt and Pepper to taste

14oz thickly sliced roasted Turkey breast

4 slices Texas Toast with crusts trimmed (two whole and two cut into four toast points)

4 slices bacon cooked

2 Roma tomatoes, sliced in half

Paprika for garnish Fresh parsley for garnish In a two-quart saucepan, melt the butter and slowly whisk in the flour until combined to form a thick roux. Continue to cook roux for two minutes over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Whisk heavy cream into the roux and cook over medium heat until the cream begins to simmer, about 2-3 minutes. Remove sauce from heat and slowly whisk in Pecorino-Romano cheese until sauce is smooth. Add nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.

Assembling the Hot Brown: place one whole piece of toast in an oven safe dish and cover with 7oz of turkey. Place one half of a Roma tomato on the top and bottom edges of the toast and one toast point on each side. Now cover the entire thing with about half of the Mornay sauce. Sprinkle with additional cheese and place the whole thing under a broiler until the cheese begins to bubble. Remove from broiler and place two pieces of bacon crossed on the top. Garnish with paprika and parsley and serve immediately.

Coconut Macaroons

(my wife’s favorite)

2 egg whites

1/3 cup sugar

2 TBSP all-purpose flour

Dash salt

¼ tsp almond extract

2 cups coconut

Heat oven to 325°F. Grease and lightly flour a cookie sheet. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites lightly. Add sugar, flour, salt and almond extract; blend well. Stir in coconut. Drop dough by tablespoonful 2 inches apart onto greased and floured cookie sheet.

Bake at 325°F for 13 to 17 minutes or until set and lightly browned. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Yields 1 dozen cookies.