Wednesday, November 22, 2006

What I'm Bringing

We're celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow at Husband's aunt and uncle's house in the next state over. I actually like having holidays there - well, I like having THANKSGIVING there; Auntie L is an excellent cook and Uncle T and his grown son love football. Of course, this annoys his sister, my MIL, to no end, but we're learning to live around that. Check back tomorrow for a funny story about Thanksgiving and t.v.

In today's installment, I'm going to share a recipe that my mom gave to me several Thanksgivings ago. I’ve modified it a bit, and she modified it before she gave it to me, and it’s truly one of the yummiest things on our Thanksgiving table. It is deceivingly simple in its preparation; don't let the "easy" fool you - this is some serious culinary mojo:

In a large saucepan, melt a stick of butter, then pour in about a cup or so of bread crumbs (store bought actually works best in this application). Stir them around over medium heat until they’re nice and toasty, then dump them out into a plate for later use.

Return the pan to the heat and melt another stick of butter (hey, I said there was mojo. Real mojo requires butter, and lots of it!), then toss in three or four chopped onions. Allow them to swim around in the butter and cook to a lovely, sublime softness - no browning, or you’ll wreck it! Once you’ve reached the magic translucent state, sprinkle over a half a cup or so of flour and cook that until it’s darkened a bit and smells slightly nutty - again, no browning!

Once the flour is cooked, slowly whisk in two cups of your choice of whole milk, half-and-half, heavy cream or a combination of these (two cups total if you’re combining. I do a cup each of milk and half-and-half; Mom goes all out with the heavy cream). Work that around until it begins to thicken, then pour the whole of it into a casserole dish, cover with the toasty crumbs, and pop it into a 350° oven until it bubbles - about 20 minutes or so.

You can make the whole thing ahead of time, too; just let it all cool, cover with foil and stash it in the fridge. You’ll have to add some to the oven time, and you may want to consider leaving the crumbs off until just before you reheat it, in case you need to add more milk/half/cream to the party.

I hope you all have a wonderful, safe, satisfying Thanksgiving.

7 Comments:

Blogger vanx said...

What? A recipe with no habanera peppers? Can I put the peppers in?

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Mrs. C. and family.

6:46 PM  
Blogger Mrs. Chili said...

HA! Well, Vanx, since Mom modified the recipe (she added a whole lot more butter than originally called for) and then *I* modified it some more (I removed the jar of pearl onions from the recipe), I see absolutely no reason whatsoever why you shouldn't feel free to personalize it to suit your needs!

Happy Eating!

7:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

jkdzgsYes,grasshopper.You have learned the lessons well. Recipes are "not rules actually.They're more like guidelines!" I got pies as my contribution to dinner. Pumpkin- combined 2 recipes and used grated candied ginger because I was out of the regular stuff. Pecan-have experimented with 5 or more recipes before I found husbands favorite. Chocolate cream- Lined the pie shell with a layer of chocolate fudge before pouring in the filling. And because I'm not crazy about any of those(these were requested by the host)I made a coconut cream (NOT with pudding mix) and put almond slivers and mini chips on the top.
So-o-o Vanx,as mrs.chili said "personalize"!!!!

8:42 PM  
Blogger Jennifer said...

Wow! Happy ThanksGiving Day! I wish I could cook. I am bringing the chips! Zachary food and well I will do the dishes I am sure. Cinderella is not at the ball..

6:52 AM  
Blogger Mrs. Chili said...

See? Told ya! MY mom's a trailblazer; I learned at the feet of a master!

8:08 AM  
Blogger gerry rosser said...

And a happy thansgiving toy you!
Thanks for the Thanksgiving story.

10:39 AM  
Blogger Kizz said...

A recipe much like this has been the cause of many a ... er ...fragrant car ride after holiday meals in my family. :)

2:31 PM  

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