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With the weather what it is here…one day hot, one day, snow…I’d love to take off for New Year’s to some Wilmington NC real estate…not gonna happen this year. So we will stay at home and make the best of it.

For New Year’s Eve dinner, we are having another Shaw’s *Get Inspired* recipe, for pepper crusted steaks.  As a side dish, I want to make a recipe I saw on the Katie Brown Workshop, which is potatoes stuffed with Gorgonzola.  The recipe can be found on this page.  Who knew I’d ever use a Katie Brown recipe, but this one looks yummie!

For New Year’s Day, we have to have a dish called Hoppin’ John…which consists mostly of black-eyed peas and rice.  According to southern tradition, serve Hoppin’ John with a dish of greens, and you will have luck and prosperity in the New Year.  We also serve a roast chicken or duck with the Hoppin’ John and greens (usually spinach for us).

What are you planning for New Year’s Eve/Day?

Today was a lazy day; we pretty much just sat and watched TV most of the day.  And what did we watch?  PBS, of course.  We don’t have cable, in fact, the more we see of cable when we travel and stay in hotels that have it, the less we want it.

The last time we went away for a weekend, the cable at the hotel had about 80 channels.  About half of it was infomercials, and most of the rest was more stuff we had no desire to watch.  I just can’t justify the expense to get the few cable channels that we DO want to watch.

I’d rather send some of that money towards supporting WGBH, our local PBS station, than throwing it at the evil Comcast.  For a fraction of what it costs to pay for cable in a year, I was able to send a donation to renew our membership, and get some nifty *thank you* gifts, as well.

Today there was a pledge drive show featuring Lidia Bastianich, who has been a mainstay of the PBS cooking shows for years now.  I’ve always loved her shows.  I decided t renew our membership during the show, and now I’ll be getting two of her cookbooks that I don’t have yet…”Lidia’s Family Table” and “Lidia’s Italy”.

Yeah, I know I could have gotten these books for a lot less from Amazon, but that’s not the point.  The point is that now that we have six different PBS channels (thanks to the digital TV converter boxes), we’re getting so much more out of PBS, that it’s worth it to send them some money to keep things going.  The amount we sent, as I said, is a fraction of what we would have paid in a year for cable if we had it.  It’s also a drop in the bucket compared to our other expenses, such as Mike’s student loans, our car payments, and our auto insurance bills.

Comcast likes to tell people that the easiest way to prepare for the DTV transition is to sign up for cable, which involves a monthly bill. If you fall upon hard times and can’t pay that bill, Comcast shuts off your cable service. After February 17, 2009, that would mean NO TV at all.

But with the converter boxes, and perhaps a new antenna installed correctly, you will get free TV with many more channels than before, including more PBS. And nobody can ever shut it off. PBS does not require people to become members and donate money in order to watch. It is free for all to watch, but they do need donations in order to stay afloat. They used to get more money from the government, but not anymore…and that is good in a way. When they take money from the government, then they have a say as to what PBS can and can’t do. Better to get money from individuals and corporations who like what PBS is doing.

With the economy being what it is, no doubt that donations have dropped. So they really need people who can still afford it to pick up the slack and help out.  If you enjoy PBS, be it the kids’ shows, the cooking shows, the news programs, whatever, please consider going to the website of your local station and making a pledge today.

I sound just like one of those pledge drive people, don’t I?  But I really believe in it.

So I made a pledge today, renewed my membership, and will be getting a couple of nice books.  But, more importantly, I wanted to help support the station, and keep it going so that people who can’t afford to donate can still enjoy it.

You have probably heard of green bean casserole…the version made with canned soup and those crunchy onions from a can.  Well, leave it to Chris Kimball and his team of test cooks at America’s Test Kitchen to take this recipe and vastly improve upon it.

Sure, the original recipe, which can be found at CampbellsKitchens.com, is pretty easy to make, as well as inexpensive.  But the version that ATK came up with is much, much better.  Yeah, the ingredients cost a bit more, and yeah, it’s more work, but oh, so worth it.  Also, Mike can’t eat any kind of Campbell’s soups, he’s allergic to some chemical in them.  So CampbellsKitchens.com is not a website I look to for recipes.

But the folks at Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen are reliable recipe sources for me.  I have all of the companion books from the TV series except for 2009, and have been subscribing to the magazine for years.  They don’t just give recipes, they tell and show you what works, what doesn’t, and why.

This green bean casserole recipe is from the 2003 season of ATK, the book is pictured above.  You can purchase books and DVD sets for all of the show’s seasons HERE.  The TV show is on PBS, please check your lkocal listings to see if it’s carried in your market, and when.

I made this for our Christmas dinner, and as I said, well worth the extra expense and work.  I was a little surprised that they still used the dreaded canned onions, but they explained that frying up your own onions was too time-consuming.  What they did was combine the canned onions with fresh breadcrumbs, a little butter, salt & pepper.  This really did improve upon the canned onions, giving them a much fresher taste.

Fresh green beans are a must here. Canned and frozen ones will make this dish too soggy. You want the beans to be cooked but still crisp.

Although this is a bit more work than the Campbell’s version, it can be assembled ahead of time.  It only takes about 15 minutes to heat through and brown…but if you refrigerated it, you might want to let it come to room temp first, and heat it a little longer.  Then you can pop it in the oven after the ham or turkey comes out, and is resting.

ATK/Cook’s also reviews and rates kitchen stuff.  Guess what casserole pan they recommend for this and other dishes?  A plain old basic Pyrex pan, which is inexpensive and available in just about any supermarket.  But you probably have one right in your own kitchen.

Much Improved Green Bean Casserole

4 slices good sandwich bread, with crusts, torn into quarters (I found this a good way to use up *heel* ends that nobody seems to want to eat)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 (6 oz) can fried onions
———-
Salt
2 pounds fresh green beans, ends trimmed, and cut into 2-inch pieces
1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, minced
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or put through a garlic press (about 1 tablespoon in all)
12 ounces white button mushrooms, wiped clean, stems trimmed, and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
12 ounces cremini mushrooms (sometimes sold as “Baby Bellas”), wiped clean, stems trimmed, and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth (you could certainly use homemade if you have it, but a good quality canned brand is fine. I prefer Swanson’s, which comes in a resealable box.)
2 cups heavy cream
———-
1. Make the topping. Put the bread pieces, softened 2 tablespoons butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper into a food processor. Pulse until it resembles coarse crumbs. Dump it into a large bowl, and mix in the fried onions. Set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

3. Cook the beans. In a large pot, set 4 quarts of water to boil, with 2 tablespoons salt. Have ready a large bowl of ice water, this will stop the beans from overcooking after the are drained. Cook the beans for 4-5 minutes, drain, and immediately put them into the ice water. Drain again and place them on a sheet pan lined with paper towels. Set aside.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the porcini mushrooms. Put them in a microwave-safe container and cover with 1/2 cup hot water. Cover container with plastic wrap, slit it a couple of times with a knife, and microwave on HIGH for30 seconds. Remove and let sit for 5 minutes, this re-hydrates the mushrooms. Use a fork to remove the ‘shrooms from the liquid, and chop them finely. Strain the soaking liquid through a paper towel lined sieve, and reserve.

5. Make the sauce. Melt the 6 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, button and cremini mushrooms, cook for about 2 minutes. Add the porcini and their soaking liquid, thyme, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes, until mushrooms are softened. Add flour and cook for 1 minutes. Stir in chicken broth and reduce heat to medium. Stir in the cream, and simmer gently for about 15 minutes; the sauce should have the consistency of a dense soup.

6. Assemble the casserole. Arrange the green beans in the casserole dish, and then pour the mushroom/cream mixture over them. Mix well so that the beans are all coated. Then sprinkle the fried onion/breadcrumb topping over all. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve ASAP. This serves 8-10 people.

Enjoy!

Sir Elton John invites you all to Step Into Christmas…the admission’s free!

Today is the last day of my *23 Days of Christmas* project, and I will be posting songs on all of my blogs today.  Go and check them out!

For Christmas dinner, we are having the ham that I posted the recipe for here.  I am also going to try a green bean casserole recipe from one of my America’s Test Kitchen cookbooks.  It uses fresh green beans and fresh mushrooms, not any condensed soup.  Mike is allergic to Campbell’s soups, anyway.  The recipe does use those canned fried onions, but it uses fresh bread crumbs to make them taste less *fake*.  We shall see how it goes once we try it!

I’m also going to make Julia Child’s creamy potato gratin.  And a dessert that I’ve made before and did not screw up, Alton Brown’s creme brulee.

Enjoy the holiday music, and here’s wishing you and yours a merry Christmas!

I think we will have a ham again this year.  Still not sure about the sides, though.  But I still have time to decide.

Ham has the advantage of being easy, especially if you buy one of those spiral-sliced hams. They come fully-cooked, all you have to do is re-heat and them glaze them.  Some hams come with a package of a powdered glaze mix, at my house, that goes right into the trash. I opened one up to check it out once, it smelled nasty. So I prefer to make my own glaze.

Here is one of my favorite recipes:

Ham with Apple-Mustard Glaze

1/2 cup (6 ounces) apple jelly
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon bourbon (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
———-
1 (7-9 pounds) shank portion spiral-sliced ham
For garnish, if desired: pineapple slices

To make the glaze: Melt the jelly in a saucepan or in the microwave. Remove from heat, and whisk in mustard, bourbon (if using), lemon juice, and cloves. Set aside, let cool to room temp.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the ham in a roasting pan, cut side down (to keep the slices from fanning apart in the oven). Baking time is 8 minutes per pound of ham, about an hour, more or less.

Remove the ham from the oven, and raise the oven temp to 450 degrees F. Brush the ham with the glaze, and return to the oven for 5-7 minutes, or until nice and glazed. Remove, let stand for 10 minutes. To serve, place the ham on its side on a serving platter, fan out the slices, and garnish with pineapple slices if desired. Serves 12 with leftovers.

In other news, I have tried unsuccessfully to burn all of my “23 Days of Christmas” songs to CD…but my CD burner has not been cooperating. I’d love to be able to play them during our holiday dinner. So I will create a new playlist on my iPod and put them all there. I have one of those speaker things that you can hook up to MP3 players, so everyone can listen.

I still wish I could get the stoopid CD burner on this computer to work, though. Wanted to make one for Mike to enjoy in the car!