mashed potatoes with garlic and chives

Every year we have the same little tussle in our house around the holidays. Mom and Dad -- in their efforts to preserve, save, and protect -- insist that all holiday lights must be turned off when the last person goes to bed. I, however, relish the opportunity to fall asleep in the comforting glow of a Christmas tree. So this is where we butt heads, and the almost ritualistic annual scenario goes something like this: Mom and Dad go to bed. I fall asleep on the sofa next to one of the trees. Mom/Dad shuffles into the room at 3 a.m., turns off the tree, and grumbles something in my direction about sleeping in my own bed. I get up and either turn the tree back on or actually go to bed.

Now, I can see where the turning off of the lights makes perfect sense with our real tree, which is lit with big, multicolored bulbs. Dry tree + hot bulbs = no good. But that's only one tree. All the other trees are lit with tiny, twinkly LEDs, and who has ever heard of one of those spontaneously igniting some artificial greenery and burning down a home? Am I wrong in my belief that it's highly unlikely one of the little sparkly lights will set our home ablaze? No more likely than any other home disaster caused by water pipes, gas lines, etc.?

Mashed potatoes, beloved though they are, are often left off the holiday table because they demand last-minute preparation. However, if you can rope a couple of holiday guests into peeling potatoes for you (trust me, they'll be happy to be given a task), the recipe below should be last-minute manageable even as you wrestle with the roast beast. And the ultra-creamy results are sure to be appreciated by all.

A few pictures of our holiday beast (not so much roasted), just for fun:

Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes with Garlic and Chives
A recipe from Williams-Sonoma Entertaining: Thanksgiving Entertaining
Serves 10-12

5 pounds large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
Salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
12 large cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup minced fresh chives
Freshly ground pepper

Put the potatoes in a large pot and add water to cover. Salt the water, bring to a boil over medium heat, and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer, stirring once or twice, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, about 30 minutes. Drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.

While the potatoes are cooking, in a small saucepan over low heat, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter. Add the garlic and sauté just until it turns opaque, 1-2 minutes. Do not let it brown. Set aside.

Pour the milk into a small saucepan. Place over medium-low heat and gently bring to a simmer. Set aside and keep warm.

Return the potatoes to the pot and place over low heat. Mash thoroughly with a potato masher.* Using a wooden spoon, gradually stir in 3/4 cup of the hot milk, the remaining 4 tablespoons butter, the sautéed garlic, and the chives. Add the remaining milk and, if necessary, the reserved cooking liquid, adding just enough for the desired consistency. Stir until light and fluffy. Do not overmix or the potatoes will turn gummy. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

* I used an electric mixer for this step.

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egg nog cupcakes

Just a quick post today because Mom and I are about to leave for a little road trip to my second favorite place in the whole world -- Notre Dame! Most alumni make their annual pilgrimage back to the University during football season. Not me, though. Don't get me wrong -- I love Notre Dame football weekends -- but my favorite time to visit is when classes are finished, the students have gone home, and the casual visitors are few and far between. Perhaps that seems odd since all of these things are part and parcel of a bustling college campus. But when the campus empties out and I can wander down the quad without a single other person in sight, I can pretend that the Notre Dame of today is still my Notre Dame. Nothing has changed. I haven't gotten older. And I still feel right at home.

So here's the thing about egg nog cupcakes. They taste strikingly similar to a spice cake. And why shouldn't they? Spice cake = some sort of milk + vanilla + spices. Egg nog = some sort of milk/cream + vanilla + spices. Still good, though, and still worth making for a holiday treat. The pastry cream really makes the cupcake seem egg noggy, mostly due to its texture I think. One word of caution, though: these cupcakes inflate quite a bit in the oven and then shrink back a little as they cool, so don't make them in paper souffle cups (or you'll end up trying to hide the shrinkage with frosting, as I did).

Egg Nog Cupcakes
Yields 24 cupcakes

Cupcakes
A recipe by Cheryl at The Cupcake Bakeshop
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temp
3 eggs, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup eggnog
1/4 cup bourbon/dark rum (all of one or a mix)
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon each baking powder and soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Egg Nog Pastry Cream
A recipe by Cheryl at The Cupcake Bakeshop
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup eggnog
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon dark rum
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting
Adapted from a recipe by Cheryl at The Cupcake Bakeshop
1 cup butter, room temperature
6-8 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup egg nog

To Make the Cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium-size bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy.Beat in the eggs one at a time until blended.

In a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup, mix together eggnog, bourbon, and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture to the batter in three additions, alternating with the egg nog mixture and beginning and ending with the flour. Fill your cupcake containers of choice 2/3 full and bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack before filling or frosting as desired.

To Make the Pastry Cream Filling:
Place flour in a heavy sauce pan, gradually whisk in eggnog until blended and smooth. Add egg yolks, one at a time, whisking until just combined after each addition.

Cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, removing from the heat occasionally to avoid lumps, until thickened. If necessary, strain through a metal sieve to remove lumps.

Remove from heat, stir in butter, rum, and vanilla. Transfer pastry cream to a bowl. Cover surface with plastic wrap to prevent a film from forming on the surface. Refrigerate until ready to use.

[To fill the cupcakes like I did, cut a cone shape out of the top of the cupcake, add about a teaspoon of the filling, and replace the cone "hat."]

To Make the Frosting:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium-high speed until creamy. Add half of the sifted sugar, the vanilla, and the egg nog. Beat until combined. Gradually add the remaining sugar until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.

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roasted dry-brined turkey

Mmm...turkey. It's a shame my family only make it once a year. The Athlete insists that if we had turkey more often, Thanksgiving wouldn't be as special. I disagree -- I think Thanksgiving would be just as special, and we'd all be happier if we had more turkey. More is better, right? Isn't that the American way? Anyway, here is the recipe I used for our Thanksgiving turkey this year. In previous years, I used a Williams-Sonoma recipe that was perfectly fantastic. It certainly set the bar high, but this year's Martha recipe didn't disappoint.You have to start 2 days ahead of time, but the advance salt rub makes the turkey oh, so tender. (If you have even the tiniest cut on your hand, this process will seem torturous, so wear latex gloves.)

P.S. See those giant forks sticking out of our turkey below? Those are roast lifters. If you're going to attempt to roast any large piece of meat or poultry, do yourself a favor and pick up a pair. You'll be glad you did when your turkey is resting comfortably on a platter instead of the floor. (If you're obsessive like me, you'll get All-Clad lifters to match your All-Clad roasting pan, but it's not actually necessary.)

Roasted Dry-Brined Turkey
A recipe from Martha Stewart Living, November 2008
Serves 10-12

Kosher salt
14 dried bay leaves, 10 crushed and 4 left whole
1 whole fresh turkey (22 to 24 pounds), giblets and neck reserved for stuffing or gravy
6 ounces unsalted butter, softened
1 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
1 cup water, plus more if needed

Combine 2/3 cup salt and crushed bay leaves in a small bowl. Rinse inside and outside of turkey, and pat dry with paper towels. Rub 2 tablespoons of the salt mixture on each leg portion, 1 1/2 teaspoons on each wing, 2 tablespoons on each breast, and the remaining salt mixture inside the cavity. Place turkey in a large oven bag and seal tightly, removing any trapped air. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate for 48 hours.

Remove turkey from bag and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Combine 1 stick butter, the wine, and whole bay leaves in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and then remove from heat.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F with rack in the lowest position. Rinse inside and outside of turkey and pat dry with paper towels. Place turkey, breast side up, on a rack in a roasting pan. Tuck wings under turkey. (If the wings won't stay tucked, secure them with kitchen string.) Season cavity with salt and pepper. Tie legs together with kitchen string. Rub remaining 1/2 stick butter on turkey and season with salt and pepper. Pour water into roasting pan.

Place turkey, legs first, into oven. Roast for 30 minutes, then baste with butter-wine mixture. Reduce temperature to 350 and roast, basting with butter-wine mixture every 30 minutes, for 2 1/2 hours.* (Add more water to roasting pan if necessary to prevent pan drippings from burning.) Rotate pan, and roast until skin is golden brown and thickest part of thigh (avoiding bone registers 165 on an instant-read thermometer, 30-45 minutes more. Transfer turkey to a rimmed baking sheet, reserving pan juices and roasting pan for gravy making, and let rest for 30 minutes before carving.

* You may need to cover the turkey with a sheet of foil if it develops that nice, golden roasted color early on in the cooking.

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