Kathleen McGivney

Thanksgiving dinner with a twist

Spiced pear and apple crumble with vanilla ice cream, originally uploaded by kmcgivney.

As I mentioned in my last post, our original Thanksgiving plans to escape the country and its litany of Black Friday advertisements were thwarted by my sinuses, so we decided to stay home and make ourselves a little mini-feast. Since it was just the two of us, and one of us is a vegetarian, we didn't want to make a turkey, so instead I made chicken and Atom made something called Match, which is a meat alternative product that is meant to look, taste, and cook like meat. We also made vegan pumpkin bread, gougeres, roasted brussels sprouts, sweet potato & roasted garlic mash, and spiced pear and apple crumble.

I'll be posting a couple of the other recipes later this week. Photos of the whole dinner and the recipe for the spiced pear and apple crumble are after the jump.

Fig crostini with Stilton and honeycomb

Fig crostini w/Stilton & honeycomb, originally uploaded by kmcgivney.

It's been a while since my Break Your Resolutions party, and I just realized I'd neglected to post the recipe for the most delicious - and most challenging - appetizer at the party. Behold, fig crostini with Stilton cheese, honeycomb, port wine reduction, and honey.

I got the idea for this crostini from this recipe, but adapted it heavily - no puff pastry, no walnut crunch, no second baking step. The main thing I used from the original recipe was the cooking technique for the figs, which was fairly straightforward and turned out absolutely delicious.

This was the favorite at the party. One guest shouted, "ohmigod, the figs, the figs!" I'd probably tweak it a little next time and use a softer bread, but otherwise it was great - the flavors worked very well together.

Recipe after the jump.

Cooking adventures

Fusilli with sauteed swiss chard and burrata, originally uploaded by kmcgivney.

My husband and I have decided to start cooking more at home. In NYC, where we live, it's easy to get take-out or go out to eat every night - there are literally four good restaurants within one block of our building, and countless good restaurants in our area that deliver. We love food, and after going to Italy for our honeymoon and eating so much incredible food there, we decided that we should learn to cook more of it ourselves. We tried a new recipe tonight - one I got from epicurious and modified - and I'm going to document it here, along with lessons learned and what we'll do differently next time. I hope to have a lot more of these posts going forward!

Appetizer: Burrata crostini
Main course: Truffle-infused fusilli with sauteed swiss chard and burrata
Wine pairing: Spanish white - Cuevas de Castilla Conclass Rueda 07

We based our meal around burrata, a fresh Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream. The outer shell is pure mozzarella and the inside is a mixture of mozzarella and cream. It gives it a lovely soft and creamy texture (similar to ricotta on the inside), and we thought it would be perfect for a pasta topping.

For our appetizer, we thinly sliced a baguette, put small dollops of burrata on top, and sprinkled a bit of Italian sea salt on it. It was quite delicious, though next time we will use smaller pieces of burrata and season the baguette slices with a little olive oil and basil and toast them for a crisper crostini.

For the entree, we cooked fusilli, boiling it in water seasoned with truffle salt instead of regular salt. While that was cooking, we sauteed some chopped swiss chard leaves in a mixture of equal parts butter and olive oil, seasoned with a little garlic and an herb mix of basil, bay, marjoram, rosemary, sage, and thyme.

When the pasta was finished, we strained it and tossed it in a little olive oil. Then we stirred in the swiss chard and mixed it in with the pasta. After we put it on the plate, we topped off the steaming pasta with a healthy dollop of burrata, and sprinkled a little of the herb mixture and sea salt on top. It was also really good, though next time, we'll season the water for the pasta with equal parts regular salt and truffle salt, as the truffle flavor and aroma was a little strong, and we'll only use the burrata in one dish, as it's a lot of creamy, delicious cheese for one sitting.

Photo of the appetizer and full recipe after the jump.

Update: I tried making the crostini again as a snack, and brushed the bread with olive oil and sprinkled it with a mix of organic Italian herbs, then topped with burrata and a little sea salt again. The results were even tastier and I've added another photo after the jump.