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Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup: Curry Cheese Log

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This is a great recipe for creating something different than your usual cheese log; a spicy, layered, deep taste that has a lot of facets.  It’d probably go well with the right wine – like a Syrah.

I’m also considering cutting it with a little butter/butter substitute, olive oil, or something else to make it into a spread.  Its also a bit hard to coat the roll in stage 9, so I wonder if there might be a better way to do it.

8 oz cream cheese
1 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (may need a bit more)
1 Tbsp dried Basil

  1. Put cream cheese in a microwaveable bowl.
  2. Sprinkle curry powder over cream cheese.
  3. Cover cream cheese and curry powder with blue cheese.
  4. Microwave the bowl with the cheese and curry in 15-second increments until soft enough to blend.
  5. Mix the cheese and curry thoroughly with a no-stick spoon or spatula until finely blended – it’ll take on a pale yellow or orange color.  You might need to microwave it occasionally.
  6. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator.  Keep there for 2 hours at least in order to set.
  7. Mix pecans and basil, spread out on foil.
  8. Roll the cheese and curry mix into a log about an inch thick.
  9. Roll the cheese log in the mixture of pecans and basil until well coated.  You might need to do a bit of work to patch “holes”
  10. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.  Serve on top of crackers or toast.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup: Super Turkey Baste

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Here’s my recipe, derived from a “Taste of Home” recipe from some years back.  It’s pretty much how I make turkey now, and has been for years.

1/4 cup butter
2 cups champagne (or sparkling white wine)
1 cup condensed beef consomme
2 medium onions, diced.

Spices:
2 tsp celery salt
3/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried sage
2 tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp marjoram

1) Combine celery salt, butter, pepper, 1 tbsp of parsley, sage. apply all over turkey.
2) Bake uncovered at 325 for 30 minutes.
3) While cooking combine champagne, onions, 1 TBS parsley, consomme, thyme marjoram.
4) Base with mixture, applying regularly throughout cooking cycle (probably about 3-4 hours), until center of meat is 180.

The turkey comes out juicy and spicy, and any fatty parts are just delicious as the soak the flavor up.  However, all the marinating is going to dilute the drippings so you may not want to use them for gravy (or you may like it, dunno, but it’s going to be more a beef gravy).

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Recipe: Vegetarian Cassoulet

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Cassoulet is a classic french dish of beans, spices, and meats baked slowly.  It’s a real source of pride in France.  The best way I can find to describe it is somewhere between baked beans, chili, and a casserole.

  • 2 Tablespoon Olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp chopped garlic (about 4 cloves)
  • 2 Parsnips peeled, diced.
  • 1 sweet potato, peeled, diced
  • 1 medium onion, diced.
  • About 2 cups water.
  • 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp ground mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp dried marjoram
  • 1 tsp dried rosemary
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 3 cups cooked white beans (about 2 14 oz cans)
  • Parsley or scallions to garnish, optional

 

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. In a shallow pan, sautee parsnips, sweet potato, onion, and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes.
  3. Mix mustard, vinegar, and a little water into a paste.
  4. Take casserole pan, and add 1 cup of water, mustard mix and spices, blend thoroughly.
  5. Add vegetables and beans to mixture in casserole pan.  Stir thoroughly to mix.
  6. Add remaining water until the mix is just barely covered.
  7. Cover pan in foil.
  8. Bake for 45 minutes.
  9. Uncover pan, bake for 15 minutes.
  10. Stir before serving.  Add parsley or scallions when serving if you wish.

How does it look?  Actually very appealing.

And the result?

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