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A Busy but Pleasant Week

This was a very busy but very pleasant week.

First was a lovely retirement party. Betty Anne, who is retiring, and I have worked together for quite a few years creating a couple of food series at our local library. She and her staff made the series such fun that I hope we will do it every May.

Then there was cookbook time. I had lunch with Rose Levy Beranbaum, food writer extraordinaire, was is on a tour to promote her new book, Rose’s Baking Basics: 100 Essential Recipes, with More Than 600 Step-by-Step Photos. Then I headed over to Madison and R.J. Julia Booksellers to listen to Dorie Greenspan, who has a home nearby, to talk about her newest book, Everyday Corie: The Way I Cook. I think this may be the best of her many best cookbooks and one of the best I have read by anyone in the last five years.

I had dinner that night with Madison friends at Elizabeth’s Café, a new one for me. The food was delicious and the service professional and lovely.

Thanksgiving will be here soon. I will go to a Thanksgiving Eve meat loaf party, have Thanksgiving with family in Newburyport, and then drive back to Connecticut have another turkey dinner the next day in Durham. For the celebration with my family, I will make the turkey stuffing, and a new side, so here is something old and something new; neither is blue, but one is borrowed.

Lee White of Old Lyme has been a food editor and restaurant reviewer for more than 25 years. You can email her at leeawhite@aol.com.

Roasted Grape, Apple, and Cranberry Sauce

From Cooking Light, November 2018

Serves 12

Cooking spray

2 cups seedless black grapes (about 10 ounces)

1 ¾ cups chopped Honeycrisp apple (or Gala)

2 tablespoons chopped shallot

1 cup fresh or frozen whole cranberries

1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter

3 ½ teaspoons pure maple syrup

⅛ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or sprigs (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly coat a rimmed baking sheet with spray. Place grapes, apple, and shallot on prepared baking sheet and lightly coat with cooking spray. Bake until shallots begin to soften, about 5 minutes.

Add cranberries to baking sheet. Bake at 425 degrees until cranberries burst, apple is tender, and grape skins are beginning to burst, about 20 more minutes. Remove from oven and transfer mixture to a medium bowl. Stir in butter, maple syrup, and salt. Cool completely, about one hour. Sprinkle with thyme, if desired.

Stuffing

I make the stuffing at least the day ahead. It should be cold when you put it in the turkey, which is also cold. This is probably more stuffing you will use. You can put the rest in a casserole and bake for Thanksgiving, or freeze it for another turkey or chicken dinner.

I large Pepperidge Farms herb-seasoned stuffing mix

6 to 8 tablespoons butter

1 cup onions, minced

1 cup celery, minced

1 small can of diced mushrooms

1 cup walnuts, chopped (I chop it with my hands because

I don’t want it chopped fine)

salt and pepper, to taste

Bell’s seasoning, to taste

Make Pepperidge Farms stuffing according to package instructions.

In a skillet, add butter and melt over medium heat. Add onions, celery, mushrooms, and walnuts. Sauté for about 10 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and Bell’s seasoning to taste. Add to stuffing mix and stir. Refrigerate until cold (I often put the stuffing in a large plastic bag and put it in the porch, since I rarely have much space in my refrigerator.)