CHARLESTON WEDDINGS MAGAZINE // CHARLESTON FASHION WEEK // CHARLESTON MAGAZINE CLUB // CHARLESTON GRIT

Newsletters // Subscribe // Join The Club






November 2009

Food + Drink: Thanksgiving Recipes

Hominy Grill chef Robert Stehling celebrates the holiday harvest family-style

Hot Pepper Jelly

Ingredients 
  • 6 dried ancho chiles, rehydrated
  • 1/2 cup chipotle chiles (canned in adobo sauce)
  • 6 cups sugar
  • 2 cups apple cider vinegar
  • 1 box Certo (liquid fruit pectin)
Directions 

Discard stems and seeds from ancho chiles. Purée in a food processor (should yield about one and a half cups). Strain through a coarse sieve over a large bowl. Purée chipotles with adobo sauce, then strain over ancho purée. Mix well.

In a stainless steel pot, combine sugar and vinegar. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling for five minutes. Add chile purée and simmer for one minute. Add Certo and cook one more minute. Pour into heatproof jars, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Grilled Turkey with Bacon Stuffing

(Serves 8 with Leftovers)

Ingredients 
  • 10-12 lb. turkey (reserve gizzards, heart, and liver for dirty rice)
  • 1/2 lb. bacon, diced
  • 2 cups carrots, diced
  • 2 cups celery, diced
  • 2 cups onion, diced
  • 1 Tbs. garlic, chopped
  • 1 Tbs. fresh thyme
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • Caul fat (tripe)
Directions 

Cut turkey into quarters, removing the breasts from the cage and the legs and thighbones from the leg quarters. Render bacon three-quarters of the way crisp on low heat. Leave some fat in pan (reserve some for the mustard greens). Raise heat and slowly sauté vegetables with bacon and fat until they are tender. Season with garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper.

Fold back the tenderloin on breasts and make a small incision in thick part to form shallow pocket. Smear a quarter of stuffing in each opening. Fold tenderloin back to close. Divide remaining stuffing between thighs, filling cavity left by bone. Wrap meat with caul fat. Grill over indirect heat for about 45 minutes. Allow meat to rest for five minutes before slicing.

Cabbage & Fried Apples

Serves
8
Ingredients 
  • 5 apples, peeled and sliced
  • 2 Tbs. cooking oil
  • 2 shallots, diced
  • 3/4 head cabbage
  • 1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
  • Fresh thyme, to taste
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions 

In a cast-iron skillet, brown apples in oil on one side. Add shallots and cabbage and sauté until tender. Finish with vinegar, thyme, salt, and pepper.

Dirty Rice

Serves
8
Ingredients 
  • Gizzards, heart, and liver from turkey
  • 1/2 lb. sausage
  • 2 cups onion, diced
  • 1 cup celery, diced
  • 1 cup green bell pepper, diced
  • 1 cup red bell pepper, diced
  • 1 Tbs. garlic, chopped
  • 1 cup eggplant, skinned and diced
  • 2 cups long-grain white rice
  • Peanut oil, as needed
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 3 cups turkey stock
  • 1 cup tomato purée, divided
  • 1/4 tsp. dried basil
  • 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
  • 1 pinch red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
Directions 

Preheat oven to 375°F. Finely dice gizzards, heart, and liver, then combine with sausage in skillet on high heat until meat begins to pop. In a separate skillet, brown onion, celery, and peppers until tender. Add garlic and continue cooking for two minutes, then add eggplant and cook until tender. Layer vegetables on bottom of a skillet.

In a separate skillet, sauté rice, adding peanut oil as needed, until lightly brown. Then layer rice over vegetables and top with meat.

In a saucepan, reduce wine to a quarter cup. Add stock, half of the tomato purée, herbs, and spices. Bring to a boil, then gently pour over rice. Deglaze pan with remaining tomato purée, then add to rice. Cover skillet tightly with foil and bake for one hour.

Creamed Mustard Greens

Serves
8
Ingredients 
  • 1 small smoked ham hock, sides slashed
  • 1 Tbs. bacon fat
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 lbs. mustard greens, washed and trimmed
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 1 pinch red pepper flakes
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions 

Brown hock in bacon fat in a large pot, then add onion and sauté until golden brown. Add garlic and reduce heat. Fold in mustard greens gradually. Water from washing will wilt greens slowly. When almost wilted, just cover with chicken stock and add red pepper flakes. Bring to a simmer and cook for an hour or more. Add cream and continue cooking until greens are very soft. Season with salt and pepper.

Sweet Potato Pone

Serves
8
Ingredients 
  • 2 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes
  • 1/4 cup softened butter, plus more for cooking
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 3/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. white pepper
  • 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
Directions 

Preheat oven to 400°F. Peel and grate sweet potatoes. Cream softened butter and brown sugar in a bowl. Add cinnamon, orange juice, zest, salt, pepper, and ginger and stir to combine. Fold in potatoes. Heat a nonstick skillet to medium high and swirl butter to quickly coat pan. Butter should bubble but not brown. Pack sweet potato mixture into skillet in an even layer and cook until hot around edges, about two minutes. Place skillet in oven. After 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350°F and cook for 45 minutes. Do not allow cake to brown.

Test with a thin knife. If it slices smoothly, pone is done. Let cool 10 minutes. Invert onto a cutting board and slice like a pizza. Don’t worry if cake sticks a little to the pan—use a spatula to scrape it off and place on pone.

Carrot Cake

Ingredients 

For the filling:

  • 1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans, toasted
  • 2 Tbs. melted butter
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar

For the batter:

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups soybean oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tbs. vanilla
  • 3 cups carrots, shredded

For Cream Cheese Icing:

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 Tbs. vanilla
Directions 

For the filling:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix filling ingredients and divide among three cake pans. For batter, beat sugar, oil, and eggs until creamy. Combine dry ingredients and add to egg mixture. Stir in vanilla and carrots. Pour batter over filling. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool and ice cake.

For Cream Cheese Icing:
Combine butter and cream cheese, then slowly add powdered sugar. Stir in vanilla.

Buttermilk Pie

Serves
8

A perfect holiday treat: Hominy Grill chef Robert Stehling’s Buttermilk Pie.
This recipe first appeared in the November 2009 issue.

Ingredients 
  • 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs, separated
  • 3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
  • 1 (9-inch) deep-dish pie shell, baked according to instructions
Directions 

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, combine butter and sugar until sugar is completely incorporated. Add egg yolks and mix well to combine. Add flour, lemon juice, nutmeg and salt. With the mixer running, slowly add buttermilk. Mix well and set aside. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until they form soft peaks. Pour a small amount of the buttermilk mixture into the whites. Fold gently to combine. Gently fold egg white mixture into remaining buttermilk mixture until just combined. Pour custard into pie shell. Bake on the center rack until filling is lightly browned and barely moves when the pie is jiggled, about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

WNC GS grit weddings WR