Author Archives: Lee White

A Cornucopia of Lee’s Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes

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Editor’s Note: We are publishing several of the late Lee White’s Thanksgiving recipes today both to honor her memory and once again share her culinary wisdom with our readers.

Let’s start with Lee’s favorite recipe for cooking a turkey.

Turkey

1 14- to 16-pound turkey
salt
1 stick butter
½ (one-half) cup good white wine

Gravy

¼ (one-quarter) cup all-purpose flour
cold water
Gravy Master (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Remove giblets from turkey (I don’t use them; instead, I boiled them for the kitties, less bones). Rinse and dry turkey inside and out. Rub salt inside cavity of bird. Fill cavity with cold stuffing made the night before or early morning. Place bird in a rack (or upside glass pie pan) atop a large, heavy-duty roasting pan. Place in a 350-degree oven.

Add butter and wine in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes. Open oven, pour wine-butter over turkey and close oven. Every half hour baste liquid over turkey. Bake until turkey is done (when the thermometer plunged into the thickest part of the thigh registered 175 to 180 degrees, 10 to 12 minutes per pound if not stuffed or 12 to 15 minutes stuffed).

Turn off the oven, remove turkey from the oven, Place the turkey on a platter and spooned the Stuffing into a bowl; cover each with aluminum foil and return both to still-warm oven. (Extra stuffing can be heated in a casserole dish; it is not as tasty but if you spoon some juice on the dish before heating, it’s pretty good.)

Remove grease from roasting pan. and place the pan on the stove. Turn heat to medium. In a large jar, add all-purpose flour and about 2 cups of water. Screw jar cover and shake. When the brown bits are hot, add flour-water mixture and, over medium-high heat, whisk constantly. If you need more water, add some. Once the gravy is ready, add and stir in Gravy Master to taste (optional). Add salt and pepper to taste.

CRANBERRY, GRAPE AND APPLE SAUCE 

From Cooking Light, November 2018
Serves 12

Cooking spray
2 cups seedless black grapes (about 10 ounces)
1 and three-quarter cups chopped Honeycrisp apple (or Gala or ????)
2 tablespoons chopped scallop
1 cup fresh or frozen whole cranberries
1 and one half tablespoons unsalted butter
3 and one-half teaspoons pure maple syrup
One-eighth teaspoon kosher salt
One-quarter 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 because 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. Saute 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.)

OLD-FASHIONED SPICE CAKE

Adapted from Linnea Rufo of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Yield: serves 10 to 12 people

1 cup sugar
one-half cup (1 stick) butter
one-half cup currants or raisins or dried cherries (optional)
one-half cup candied ginger, chopped
2 eggs
2 tablespoons molasses
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
one-quarter teaspoon cloves
one-half teaspoon ginger
one-teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease a 10-inch tube pan.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt. Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.

Pour batter into prepared tube pan. Set on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes, or until cake pulls away from sides of pan and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool cake in the pan, set on a rack, for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan and spread on icing at once, while cake is still warm.

Espresso Icing

1 and one-half cups of confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon of espresso (use a teaspoon or so of cold coffee)
1 tablespoon milk

Whisk icing ingredients together.

TURKEY HASH SALAD

From Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, The New Basics Cookbook (Workman, New York, 1989)
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

5 teaspoons Dijon mustard
one-half cup red wine vinegar
1 cup light olive oil (or other good vegetable oil)
12 small red potatoes
one-half teaspoon kosher or sea salt
2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
12 large cloves garlic
8 ounces bacon cut into one-half-inch pieces
one-half cup finely chopped red onion
one-quarter cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 cups coarsely shredded cook turkey
1 bunch arugula, rinsed, trimmed and patted dry
2 bunches watercress, rinsed, trimmed and patted dry

Whisk mustard and vinegar together in a small bowl. Slowly pour in three-quarters of the oil, whisking constantly. Set the vinaigrette aside.

Prick the potatoes all over with the tines of a fork. Combine remaining one-quarter oil, salt and 1 teaspoon of the pepper in a bowl. Add potatoes and toss until well coated with the mixture. Place the potatoes in a shallow roasting pan and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour, turning occasionally.

Remove potatoes from the oven and allow them to cool. Then cut them into one-half-inch slices and place in a large bowl.

Place the garlic cloves in a small saucepan. Cover with water, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain, allow to cool. Then peel.

Saute bacon in a heavy skillet until crisp. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain, reserving the fat.

Add garlic cloves to bacon fat in the skillet and cook over low heat for 2 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon. Discard the fat.

Add red onion, parsley, remaining teaspoon of black pepper and the vinaigrette to the potatoes. Toss gently.

Add turkey, bacon and garlic cloves. Gently fold all ingredients together.

Arrange the arugula and watercress on a large serving platter and place the salad on top. Serve immediately.

About the author: Lee White wrote about restaurants and cooking for almost 50 years. Her columns and recipes were extensively published in LymeLine.com, Shore Publishing & Times newspapers, the Worcester (Mass.) Magazine, The Day, Norwich Bulletin, and Hartford Courant.

A la Carte: Chicken Provencal is One of Lee’s ‘Favorite Dishes’

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Editor’s Note: While Lee White is taking a short break, we are republishing some of her previous columns. This one is from September 2021.

Lee White

By the time you read this, I will have flown home from La Mirada, California, having visited with my Darcy, her husband and their greyhound, Whitney.

Darcy was planning many of her meals ahead of time: I was to arrive at Long Beach airport, in mid-afternoon on Sept. 2.

She had hoped we could drive to Palm Springs, but I reminded her it would be Labor Day weekend and driving in Los Angeles that weekend could be more annoying than doing the same on Labor Day weekend on the Connecticut shoreline.

Instead, she will probably have other plans for us, although I mostly love running on the wave pool at the local community center. I have also added three novels on my Kindle in case the weather is uncooperative. She also plans we will watch the Anthony Bourdain documentary.

This will be the first plane travel I will have done since before the pandemic. Darcy reminded me to bring extra masks, although she is not sure if masks are mandated indoors in California. In any case, I have had my third vaccine and feel fairly safe.

And I am to eat in someone else’s house for the first time after almost 18 months — I’m especially happy that it’s Darcy’s house.

On the other hand, I am thinking what my first dinner home will be. I looked in the freezer. Lots of chicken. All I have to buy is mushrooms. And this is one of my favorite dishes. 

Chicken Provencal
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma catalog, June, 2002
Serves 4

1 chicken, 3-4 pounds, cut up into 8 pieces (I used skinless boneless since that was all in had)
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
½ pound cremini mushrooms, quartered (I used a lot more)
2 cups white wine
1 ½ tablespoons chicken demiglace (More Than Bouillon is my favorite)
3 fresh thyme sprigs
½ pound Yukon gold potatoes, cut into ½ -inch pieces (I used more)
1 pint cherry tomatoes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put flour onto a flat plate, add salt and pepper, and mix.  Add chicken and toss to coat evenly.

In a large stock pot (I use a Le Creuset Dutch oven), add oil and warm  over medium high heat.

Working in batches, brown chicken 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Transfer to a large plate.

Add onion and mushrooms to pan; cook until just golden and mushrooms start to brown, about 4 to 8 minutes. Off the heat, add wine and demiglace; set pan over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to get the brown bits (fond) into the braising liquid, about 5 minutes. 

Return chicken to pan, add thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook 2 minutes.

Transfer pan to preheated oven and bake 25 minutes. Add potatoes to pan and stir to combine.

I then covered the pan, Continue baking until chicken is falling off the bone, about 35 minutes more.

Remove pan from oven, add tomatoes, stir gently and let stand 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately. This dish is even better on the second or third day. Always heat in a microwave so is doesn’t dry  m

About the author: Lee White has been writing about restaurants and cooking since 1976 and has been extensively published in the Worcester (Mass.) Magazine, The Day, Norwich Bulletin, and Hartford Courant. She currently writes Nibbles and a cooking column called A La Carte for LymeLine.com and the Shore Publishing and the Times newspapers, both of which are owned by The Day. She was a resident of Old Lyme for many years but now lives in Groton, Conn. Contact Lee at leeawhite@aol.com.

A la Carte: Pears, Pie and Autumn Make a Perfect Mix

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Lee White

Editor’s Note: While Lee White is taking a short break, we are republishing some of her previous columns. This one is from September 2019.

Many years ago we moved from Massachusetts to Connecticut, having found an old house with land in Canterbury.That beautiful old house took years to make it gorgeous (thanks to my husband, who worked nights and weekends inside and outside that 1750 center-chimney colonial).

The kitchen barely existed when we moved in. It took months before the work was done. I washed dishes in the downstairs tub (I hated paper towels and plastic or paper glasses and cups even 25 year s ago).

I learned what I could make in a microwave (not much).

We were on a budget, so once a week, since I was writing restaurant reviews for The Day, the newspaper paid for us to eat pretty well.

There were few good restaurants within both our budget and 10 miles of our house. One restaurant in Willimantic, long gone and whose name I forgot, had for dessert a two-crust pear pie, the pears nestled in a soft, cream-cheese pillow.

I love pears and pies and autumn, but I never got that recipe. I would love if someone knew what that filling was, but here is a recipe I love.

The crust was Deb Jensen’s, who had a couple of incredibly good restaurants in Stonington until she died a few years ago. I have been using that recipe ever sense she shared it with me. The pear recipe I make with cinnamon or sometimes vanilla, since some people do not like cinnamon.

Deb Jensen’s Perfect Pie Crust

Makes enough for two, two-crust, nine-inch pies (what is not used can be frozen)

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups solid shortening (1 cup Crisco, 3/4 cup unsalted butter)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 cup ice water
1 egg

Combine dry ingredients. Cut shortening into dry ingredients. Add egg to ice water, beat, then add vinegar. Stir into dry ingredients with a fork. Form into four balls, place individually in plastic wrap or small plastic bags and chill. Bring back to room temperature before rolling out.* Dough keeps one month in refrigerator and longer in the freezer.

*My biggest problem with pie crust is the rolling out. I use a floured pastry cloth and a well-floured “mitten” on my rolling pin. When it’s the right size, I roll the crust up on my rolling pin and gently “roll it out” over the pie plate.

Pear Pie Filling

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place a large sheet pan into the oven.

2 and one-half  pounds (about 5 cups) Anjou or Bartlett pears, cored, peeled and cut into one-quarter inch slices
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
One-third cup all-purpose flour
One-half cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon (or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract)
2 tablespoons butter

Toss the pears in a large bowl with lemon juice and allow to macerate for half an hour. Mix the flour, sugar and cinnamon (or vanilla),, then toss with the pears.

Add the pear mixture into the bottom crust, then dot with pieces of butter.

Add the second crust and crimp the edges. Use a knife to put a few vents onto the crust. I also place thin pieces of aluminum foil on the edges of the crust so they don’t blacken before the pie is ready.

Put the pie on the hot sheet pan for 15 minutes.

Then turn oven to 350 degrees, and cook until fruit is bubbling, about 45 minutes more. (I take the foil pieces off around 15 minutes for the pie is ready.

About the author: Lee White has been writing about restaurants and cooking since 1976 and has been extensively published in the Worcester (Mass.) Magazine, The Day, Norwich Bulletin, and Hartford Courant. She currently writes Nibbles and a cooking column called A La Carte for LymeLine.com and the Shore Publishing and the Times newspapers, both of which are owned by The Day. She was a resident of Old Lyme for many years but now lives in Groton, Conn. Contact Lee at leeawhite@aol.com.

A la Carte: Tomatoes Times Two: One Recipe (Tomato Ginger Salad), One Tip

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Lee White

When I received my Food Network Magazine, I was, as always, taken by the cover: The Secret to a Perfect Pesto.

But in the Editor’s Letter, I was even more taken with words: “… In looking back at all the September covers in this magazine, about half of them show some variations of corn, basil and tomatoes. … So why should we question putting the farmers’ market trifecta on there every September?” says editor Maile Carpenter (whose husband, brilliant chef, Wylie Dufresne, “hates tomatoes and passed that rare and terrible trait onto our children.”)

Aha, I thought. When national food editors see no reason to not bet on a full-bore reason, neither will I. For this week and the next two, I will give you two recipes. One will include a recipe for the ingredient du jour (today, tomatoes) and the second a ‘how to’ piece with a way to save each of these this so-local and so-delicious ingredients for many winterish dishes.

So, here we go with tomatoes, and it begins with note from friend Steve Setless, a friend from high school who asks quizzically: ‘If most of us know that tomatoes are a fruit and not a vegetable, and we all know not to put tomatoes in a fruit salad, then do we assume that Bloody Mary is actually a heathy smoothie?!’

Tomato Ginger Salad
From Food Network Magazine, September, 2002

For the dressing:
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar (light brown will do, though)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons freshly ground ginger

For the salad:
1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, halved
Kosher salt
¼ cup fresh basil
8 inner celery stalks with leaves, thinly sliced
Grilled crusty bread slices, for serving

In a medium bowl, whisk vinegars, sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in olive oil and ginger. Taste for seasoning.

Arrange tomatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet and season with salt. Using a scissors, snip basil into smaller pieces and sprinkle over tomatoes. Transfer to a bowl, then toss tomatoes with dressing and celery, Spoon over grilled bread.

Today’s Tomatoes for Next Winter

I wrote about roasting tomatoes three years ago, but maybe you forgot. Just in case, we have less than a month before delicious tomatoes are merely a memory. The best tomatoes for roasting are the plum, or sauce, tomatoes. And they might be less expensive by mid-September.

Here is what to do:

In a large baking sheet(s) lined with foil (for easy cleanup), place cored tomatoes (cut in half vertically if using plum tomatoes, horizontally if using regular tomatoes) cut side up. Lightly salt and then drizzle with just a little oil. Place sheets in preheated 275 degree oven and roast for around 3 to 4 hours. When cool, place about half a pound of tomatoes into plastic bags for the freezer. Next winter, when you decide to make stews, pasta sauce, meat loaves or side dishes, add some of those summer tomatoes to other recipes and pretend it is still summer.

About the author: Lee White has been writing about restaurants and cooking since 1976 and has been extensively published in the Worcester (Mass.) Magazine, The Day, Norwich Bulletin, and Hartford Courant. She currently writes Nibbles and a cooking column called A La Carte for LymeLine.com and the Shore Publishing and the Times newspapers, both of which are owned by The Day. She was a resident of Old Lyme for many years but now lives in Groton, Conn. Contact Lee at leeawhite@aol.com.

A la Carte: Verdict on Neighbor’s Gift of Stuffed Peppers With Marinara Sauce: “Absolutely Delicious”

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Lee White

My friend Suzanne and her husband Bob are next-door neighbors in our condo complex. Their house was not far away, so I do not know whether they had a big vegetable garden, but I know that I had.

Over the past week or so, we have all been the kindness of friends, who gave use peppers and zucchini and green beans. The zucchini were particularly lovely (“not too large, not too small, just right,” as Goldilocks might say), but I have been a bit under the weather and all my good ideas went elsewhere.

But Suzanne had a very good idea and made stuffed peppers. 

Stuffed peppers are another entrée I’d never had as a child (my mother made stuffed cabbage sometimes), but I had them for the first time maybe in college and have loved them ever since. (Maybe it is because I love stuffed anything, from turkey to cabbage to shrimp). 

Last night Suzanne made me two stuffed peppers. They were absolutely delicious. I haven’t had time to get her recipe, but I have my own. Hers used rice, and I think I like hers better than mine. But, for now, with all the green peppers available, I think you will like this one.

Stuffed Peppers with Marinara Sauce

Yield: serves 2 to 4
Heat oven to 350 degrees

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound chopped beef
½ (one-half) teaspoon dried oregano
½ (one-half) teaspoon dried mustard
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 cup tomato sauce
2 to 4 large green peppers
1 cup water

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic until translucent. Add beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add seasonings, mix and taste. (Remember, green peppers are a bit bland, so season meat well.) Add tomato sauce and mix.

In the meantime, cut top of peppers and remove ribs and seeds. (If you are using small peppers, remove stem and cut horizontally.) Place peppers skin (or bottom) side down in one layer. Add beef mixture. Add 1 cup of water to pan, cover pan and place in oven. Bake for ½ (one-half) hour, remove cover and continue roasting until pepper can be pierced with a fork.

Place a pepper (or more) on each plate, pour some sauce on top and around the bottom, and serve hot.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 sweet onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28-ounce can good-quality whole or diced tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

About the author: Lee White has been writing about restaurants and cooking since 1976 and has been extensively published in the Worcester (Mass.) Magazine, The Day, Norwich Bulletin, and Hartford Courant. She currently writes Nibbles and a cooking column called A La Carte for LymeLine.com and the Shore Publishing and the Times newspapers, both of which are owned by The Day. She was a resident of Old Lyme for many years but now lives in Groton, Conn. Contact Lee at leeawhite@aol.com.