Thanksgiving in the Southwest - Part 1

Last Thanksgiving, the thought of making my traditional Thanksgiving menu seemed unexciting and filled me with a sense of dread. In addition, with house guests and many meals needing to be made, filling my fridge space with an entire turkey seemed inconvenient and counterproductive. Instead, I threw caution to the wind and made an entire Southwestern Thanksgiving menu courtesy of Canyon Cafe: Bringing the Southwest Experience Home. (One of my favorite cookbooks ever!)

This incredibly unforgettable menu is as follows:

• Sunburst Squash Soup - a velvety squash soup enhanced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cumin.
• Warm Green Bean and Mushroom Salad with Roasted Garlic Bleu Cheese Vinaigrette - delicious on its own, but didn't seem cohesive with the rest of the meal. I recommend making Toasted-Pecan Green Beans as a side instead.
• Stuffed Turkey Rolls with Poblano Cornbread-Chorizo Stuffing and Pecan Mole Sauce - turkey tenderloins marinated in a white wine-Dijon marinade rolled around a fantastic chorizo-poblano stuffing and served with a simple yet delicious pecan mole sauce.
• Cranberry-Jalapeno Chutney - an exciting chutney with cranberries, jalapenos, and ginger.
• Smashed Candied Sweet Potatoes - roasted sweet potatoes seasoned with chile powder and honey.
• Pumpkin Creme Brulee - a decadent pumpkin creme brulee served with fresh raspberries.

My guests and I were so enchanted by the menu that I am doing it again this year (minus the green bean salad)! Check back for the rest of these wonderful recipes for a Thanksgiving that is anything but boring!

Sunburst Squash Soup

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 pound yellow onions, diced

3 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons salt (or to taste)

1 1/2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock

1 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons butter

Your favorite green and red bottle hot sauces (I use El Yucateco brand.)

Directions:

Heat the oil in a soup pot and saute onions until translucent. Do not brown, Add squash cubes and spices, toss to coat. Add stock, bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook just until tender. Strain and reserve stock.

In a food processor or with a hand mixer, puree soup with enough stock to make a medium-thick soup. Return to soup pot. Add cream and stir to heat well. Add butter and adjust seasonings if necessary. Keep on low-do not allow to boil from this point. If it gets too hot the soup may separate.

Serve dotted with your favorite green and red bottled hot sauces pulled out from the center to form a sunburst.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

I know we've all seen these books by Jack Canfield. In fact, there are some titles you may have never heard of, such as: Chicken Soup for the Soul: NASCAR, Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul (forward by Paula Abdul), and the beloved classic, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Menopause. Really? Well, no need to let your mascara run...make this instead: Chicken Tortilla Soup. This is a delicious, heartfelt soup made from the simplest of ingredients to create a truly soul-satisfying meal in a bowl.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the soup:

1 tablespoon canola oil

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons tomato paste

4 chicken thighs (skin removed)

Kosher salt

8 cups low-sodium chicken broth, store-bought or homemade

12, 2-inch stems fresh cilantro (save the leaves for the garnish)

1 1/2 cup fresh tomato, seeded and diced

1 cup corn kernels (fresh, canned, or frozen-thawed)

1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained

For the garnish:

2 ripe avocados, diced and tossed with a squeeze of lime juice

1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco (this is the best if you can find it), feta, or ricotta salata cheese

4 dollops of sour cream

1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Lime wedges for serving

For the crispy tortilla strips: (If you're too lazy, you can buy them, but it's better to make them!)

6, 6-inch fresh corn tortillas

1/2-1 cup canola oil for frying

Directions:

For the soup:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until softened but not browned, about 3 minutes.  Add the chili powder and tomato paste and stir with a wooden spoon to mix and cook briefly; take care not to let the chili powder scorch.

Season the chicken thighs lightly with salt and nestle them in the tomato-chili paste, turning them once so they're entirely coated.  Add about 1 cup of the broth and adjust the heat to a simmer.  Cover and cook the chicken, turning once, until it's extremely tender when pierced with a knife, 30 to 40 minutes.  Add a little more broth if the pan starts to dry out. (It probably won't.)  When the chicken is done, remove it from the pan, let it cool a bit, and then cut or shred it into bite-size pieces, discarding the bones, bits of fat, or gristle.   Set the chicken aside.

If there is any visible grease in the pan, spoon it off, like so:

Add the remaining broth and the cilantro stems and stir. Simmer, uncovered, until the broth is reduced by about one third, 20 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the tortilla strips.

For the crispy tortilla strips:

Cut the tortillas into 1/4-inch-wide strips.  Line a plate with paper towels.  In a small high-sided saucepan, heat about 1-inch of the oil over medium heat.  When it reaches 375 degrees, or when a strip of tortilla sizzles immediately when dipped in the oil, add 6 to 8 tortilla strips.  Fry until the strips aren't bubbling much and are pale brown, about 1 minute.  Using tongs, transfer to the paper towels to drain.  Repeat with the remaining tortilla strips.

To serve:

Divide the shredded chicken, tomato, corn, and black beans into 4 large soup bowls. (I just add the chicken, tomato, corn, and black beans into the soup to make sure they are warm!)  Reheat the broth, if necessary, so it's piping hot and pour into each bowl. Garnish with the avocado, cheese, sour cream, chopped cilantro, the crispy tortilla strips, and a lime wedge to squeeze over the soup at the table. This is chicken soup for the soul!

Adapted from Martha Holmberg's recipe from Fine Cooking.

Aztec Chocolate Skulls

The cacao tree, which yields the berries, or "beans," that are the basis of chocolate, first appeared somewhere between Mexico and South America; but, the processing and culinary use of cacao was first developed in what is now Mexico. Mexican chocolate (which also refers to the foamy drink) is the round, flat disks of cinnamon-scented chocolate. The word "cacao" can be traced back to the Olmec inhabitants of Tabasco, Chiapas, Veracruz, and parts of Central America, and was passed on to the lowland Maya who succeeded them in this territory. The Maya, who flourished for eight centuries before the Spanish arrived, used their beloved chocolate in rituals such as wedding ceremonies. The Aztecs, who later came to dominate central Mexico, believed that chocolate symbolized power and glory, and used it as part of their rituals by giving the drink to human offerings in order to bless the sacrifice. Creepy! 

With Halloween and Day of the Dead almost here, I wanted to share this delightfully spooky, super easy recipe for "Aztec Chocolate Skulls." I used commercially available silicone skull molds (mine were made by Wilton and designated for ice cubes), Ibarra Mexican chocolate, milk chocolate chips, rice krispies, and edible gold flakes (purchased from Sur la Table). The combination makes an exotically delicious treat, perfect for the Aztec Gods! 

Aztec Chocolate Skulls

Makes 15 skulls, depending on the size of your mold.

Ingredients:

1 disk Ibarra Mexican chocolate

5 ounces milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup rice krispies

Edible gold flakes (optional)

Directions:

Sprinkle the mold with gold flakes, set aside. Bash the disk of Ibarra (still in it's package) against a cutting board, to break it up a bit. (It's hard as a rock!) Open the package, and drop the Ibarra and half the milk chocolate chips into a bowl placed over a pan of simmering water. (See Gadgets, for "No Double Boiler?") 

With a spoon, keep turning and squashing the chunks of Ibarra until it is completely softened and mixed with the milk chocolate. 

Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining milk chocolate until completely melted. Stir in the rice krispies. With a spoon, spoon the chocolate evenly in the mold, pressing down with your fingers.

Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours. Pop them out of their molds and serve! (Best served at room temperature.)

Thanks to Karen Hursh Graber for the background on Mexican chocolate via Mexconnect.