This episode of Tamra Davis cooking show is sponsored by Samsung home appliances. Smart Thinking, Simple Living.
Hi, I’m Tamra Davis and thanks to Samsung. I’m going to be showing you how to make a delicious holiday dinner using fresh and local ingredients from the farmers market.
There is an amazing farmers market almost everyday of the week in New York City. Today, I was looking for Brussels sprouts, fennel, acorn squashes, anything seasonal that really makes you feel like you’re eating a delicious holiday dinner.
So, I’m going to make a non-traditional holiday dinner and I’m going to make a vegetarian holiday dinner. The recipes that we’re going to be using today are for four people. The first thing I want to serve is a fennel and orange and walnut salad.
Shred the fennel very thinly using a mandolin or another shredder. Peel the orange and make little sections or slices. Toast the walnuts in a skillet with a tablespoon of maple syrup and a pinch of salt. Heat until the maple syrup caramelizes the walnuts and then set aside.
And I’m not going to clean out this pan. We’re going to cook the Brussels sprouts right in there and it’s going to pick up the flavor of the maple syrup.
Assemble the salad by placing a handful of mixed greens on each plate then add the fennel. Orange slices, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic and top with the candied walnuts.
For the main course, we’re going to make an acorn squash fondue, wild rice, and maple pecan brussel sprouts.
I heard Ruth Reichl from Gourmet Magazine on one of my favorite radio cooking show describing this dish. I thought it sounded fantastic. But when I looked up the recipe, I was shocked by how much cheese and cream cheese. So, I got to work on how I can make this delicious and healthy.
So, the first thing we’re going to do for the acorn squashes, we want to get that in the oven first because they take like an hour, they could take even a little longer so be prepared to give yourself like and hour or an hour and a half to cook these things.
Okay. The first thing we’re going to do is we’re going to cut up some of this bread and we’re going to make like a giant croutons that are going to go on the bottom of it. And it’s best if its day old breads so this will work perfect.
I’m going to get some garlic. I’m keeping this little bowl by my side so if I have any scraps I can just stick it in there. I’m just going to open up these garlic cloves.
Toast them in a large skillet with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.
Don’t put your garlic in first. Garlic cooks really fast and will burn so we’re going to put in one side and then we’re going to flip it and then we’ll put the garlic in.
When you turn it to the other side, add sliced garlic and a pinch of salt.
Whoa man, this smells good. You definitely want the garlic to be toasted because we don’t want to put raw garlic in to the dish.
When both sides are golden, set aside.
Okay. So, in order to do this, the first thing you want to do is cut off a bottom so that it can stand up. See? Without doing that, you’re not going to be able to stand it up.
Then, cut the, tops off just about 1 inch below the stem.
Just like that. So, just enough to know. I’m still able to dig inside here and I’m going to dig out the center.
Scoop out the seeds of the acorn squash using a spoon.
So, you want to make sure that you get out all the seeds and all the kind of membrane of the squash. So, it’s nice and smooth inside there.
I need to just take this small pat of butter. We’ll do four just like we’re doing and I’m going to just put that inside on the bottom. You and you, right?
So, the bottom with the toasted garlic croutons that you just made in a mixing bowl or in a blender, mix together the shredded cheese.
I’m using the Pecorino Romano Cheese because it’s really flavorful.
Milk.
Use the whole milk. I mean, some people would do cream but I don’t think you need so much fat.
Stock.
Half a cup of this.
And the eggs. And add a pinch of salt and pepper.
You don’t want to put too much salt in because the Pecorino cheese has a lot of salt in it already.
Then pour this into the acorn cavity and put the top back on.
Put it back on.
Place in a baking dish and bake it 425 degrees for about 45 to 60 minutes.
Timer, 1-0-00 timer.
It’s done when the fork slides easily into the top meat of the squash.
You realize this even really is efficient because in my home stove it totally took and hour and this one only took like 45 minutes to cook those.
Top with toasted pine nuts.
To make the maple pecan brussel sprouts, we’re going to shred the Brussels sprouts. You can use a hand, cut them, very thinly or use a mandolin to shred them. You want to keep the stems off of them so just really want to shred the top pass.
In a large skillet, toast pecans in about one to two tablespoons of maple syrup. Stir the pecans to coat them in a maple syrup and toast them until they’re golden. Add a pinch of salt and set aside.
After you’re done slicing the brussels sprouts, soak them in a big bowl of water so whatever sand or dirt that might have been on them rest to the bottom. Lift the brussel sprouts out of the water and put these into the pan and add a tablespoon of butter. Simmer the brussel sprouts for about five minutes and then add the pecans and dried cranberries.
Cook until the brussel sprouts are wilted but not overcooked. You can add a little bit more butter if you like and a pinch of salt and pepper. I also serve this with wild rice.
The wild rice mixture is very easy. I use three cups of water and one and a half cups of wild rice. Bring the water to a boil and then add the rice.
And I have to say, this cook really quick the water. So, that’s one thing about these induction stoves is they cook really fast.
Return to a boil, stir, add a little salt, then cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until all the liquid is gone for about 30 minutes.
The point is as that you eat it, you kind of scrape off part of the squash. So, you’re eating the squash. You don’t need the skin necessarily but you can eat the squash along with the inside.
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