Butternut squash
Bob Wheaton, chef at Olde Irish Alehouse
2 pounds of squash
1/4 stick butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
Pinch of salt and pepper
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Cranberries with Scotch
Bob Demarais, manager at Brickhouse Cafe
12-ounce package of fresh cranberries
1 cup Scotch whiskey
1 cup sugar
Zest from half a lemon, half a lime, half an orange and half a lemon
Mix together the cranberries, Scotch, sugar and zest, and boil the mixture until the cranberries start popping. Stir the mixture until the cranberries stop popping, and then let it cool and thicken.
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Green bean casserole
Jay Walker, chef at Isabella
Baked onion
2 onions, thinly sliced
¼ cup of flour
2 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs or Italian
1 salt preferably Kosher, table salt is too strong
Non-stick cooking spray
For beans and sauce:
Salt
1 pound fresh green beans, rinsed, trimmed and cut in half
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 ounces mushrooms, Sliced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons of flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half
First things first to start lets get a pot of heavily salted water on the stove and lets pre heat our oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the ends off of each onion, peel the skin, cut the onions into rings and put in the fridge for 5 minutes. This will help the onions sweat and the flour and breadcrumbs will stick to the onions better. While the onions are in the fridge mix the flour, salt and bread crumbs in a bowl. Next spray our cooking sheet or sheet tray with non-stick spray to ensure that nothing will stick. Take the onions out of the fridge and add a few rings at a time tossing in the flour mixture, add onions gradually until all the onions rings are mixed in. Place them evenly across the sheet pan and bake them in the over for about 20-30 min but please watch carefully, they will burn.
For the sauce and bean mixture:
Cut off the tips of the washed green beans and then cut in half. Add the beans to a pot of water we put on the stove earlier. But WAIT, as a chef we heavily salt our water like the ocean, this helps keep the color of the beans as well as flavor. Taste your water! Blanch the beans for about 3-5 minutes. While the beans are in the water grab a bowl with ice and fill it with water to shock the beans when they come out of the water. This will prevent further cooking and soggy beans. Next, slice all your mushrooms however you desire, put a heavy pan with butter on the stove and add your mushrooms. Wait until the butter is just about to smoke, this will sear your mushrooms and will greatly enhance the flavor. Let the moisture in the mushrooms cook out for about 5 minutes. Mushrooms hold about 99 percent water depending on what you use. Then add your garlic and nutmeg and continue to cook until the pan is dry and your mushrooms are fully cooked down. Salt and pepper your mushrooms to taste and yes, you have to taste them. Next we can take the flour and sift it through our mushrooms instead of just adding the flour to the mushrooms. This will prevent clumps and this is important because the flour and the butter we added before will act as a thickener. It is important to cook for at least one more minute to allow the flour to cook, if not you will taste the chalky flour and that's not good. Next we will add our chicken stock and we almost want to bring this to a boil because it will ensure that the flour and butter we call a roux in french cooking will act as a thickener. If you don't you might end up with a runny sauce and that is also no good. Add your cream and turn down the heat to med-low. Warning: don’t crank up the heat. Instead cook slow and low to prevent your cream from curdling. Let your sauce and mushrooms reduce until it is to your desired thickness. Reduce heat to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, grab a casserole dish of your fancy and in the same pot you made your mushroom sauce in, add the beans and mix through. Take ¼ of the baked onions and mix them in as well. Transfer everything into a casserole dish and add the rest of your onions as the topping. Put the casserole dish in the oven and cook until the sauce bubbles and there you have it: green bean casserole.
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Candied Sweet Potatoes
Tassy Alessio, owner of Lynne and Vicki’s Variety
4 pounds of sweet potatoes, quartered
1-1/4 cups margarine
1-1/4 cups brown sugar
3 cups mini marshmallows, divided
Ground Cinnamon to taste
Ground nutmeg to taste
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add potatoes and boil until slightly underdone, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool, and peel. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine margarine, brown sugar, 2 cups marshmallows, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook , stirring occasionally until melted. Stir potatoes into marshmallow sauce. While siring mash about half the potatoes, and break the others into bite sized chunks. Transfer to prepared dish. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cover top evenly with remaining marshmallows. Return to oven and bake until marshmallows are golden brown.
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Mashed Parsnips
Steve Allegro, Halfway Cafe
3 pounds of parsnips, wash, peel, cut into chunks.
Put in pan covered with lightly salted water. Bring to boil, simmer until tender.
Drain well. Mash and add:
2 cups warm milk, or more for desired consistency
1 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Salt & pepper to taste
