Turkey Day 2010

I love Thanksgiving.  For me, it marks the beginning of the holiday season and the time to officially stop hanging on to summer (I live in Texas – it’s usually sweltering when we go out for Halloween) and change the air fresheners in the house from Breezy-Hawaiian-Something-or-Other to Cinnamon-Clove-Cosiness.  There’s nothing I love more than those ridiculously strong-scented cinnamon brooms that start popping up around Halloween.

This is also the time of year when people apparently start stressing out over making the traditional holiday spread, centred on a giant dead bird.  I’ve heard all sorts of horror stories from friends who forgot to turn the oven on and ended up with a raw bird or got stuck in traffic making a last minute run to the grocery store and ended up with a tough, dry, slightly burned bird.  While I don’t know anyone personally who has deep fried a turkey and burned their house down…it happens.

Obviously, since we’re living in Texas and it’s my side of the family that is American, we celebrated Veggie style.  Now, before any Beasts out there start lamenting my poor, undernourished B, he doesn’t even like turkey.  However, I wanted him to have something that reminded him of home, so I decided to make him some elements of a traditional Sunday Roast.  The end result (without any of the tons of vegetarian sides) was this:

Unfortunately for my little baby, Thor, he did not manage to get a hold of that cowboy steak, like he did B’s roast beef sandwiches the year before.  Also, I feel that this photo needs and awesome LOLz caption, so I will change the picture to one with the best caption left in the comments section below.

Anyway, every year each person picks what they want to be responsible for, so this year, I let the perennial failures like green bean casserole and steamed asparagus with hollandaise (which never actually made it to the table, as I dropped the platter on the floor, much to the Bean’s delight) go, and focused on some staples and crowd pleasers.  My contribution was:

Tangy Tangerine Cranberry Sauce (recipe below)

Roasted Tatties (recipe below)

Decadent Chocolate Mousse (Made in a blender!)

Pumpkin Cheesecake (recipe below)
Fresh Whipped Cream (recipe below)

The first dish is a spin on a Thanksgiving classic inspired by the abundance of tangerines in our backyard.  It honestly could not be simpler, and while I didn’t take the best picture, there’s nothing that elevates your Thanksgiving dinner like the absence of those telltale rings on canned cranberry sauce.

Tangy Tangerine Cranberry Sauce

1c water

1c sugar

12 oz package fresh whole cranberries

1T tangerine juice

sliced tangerine or tangerine wedges to garnish

Mix sugar and water and bring to a boil.

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Add cranberries and bring back up to a boil.

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Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring to make sure the cranberries don’t stick and the sugar doesn’t burn.

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Add tangerine juice (or any other citrus juice you prefer).

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Simmer for 2 more minutes.

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At this point, you have two choices – if you like whole berry sauce, pour the sauce straight from the pot into a bowl and let cool to room temperature. 

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Top with a twisted slice of tangerine and refrigerate until ready to serve.

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If you prefer jellied cranberry sauce, place a sieve over a bowl, and pour the cranberry sauce (about half a sieve-full at a time) in.  Here’s where you’re going to work off some of that pumpkin pie:

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With the back of a spoon, push the cranberry sauce through the sieve, scraping out the skins and adding more sauce until you’ve separated the whole pot. 

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In the centre of your serving bowl, make a little star-shaped pattern with tangerine wedges.

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Pour the cranberry sauce into the bowl and let cool to room temperature. 

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If you have the time, make this version early in the day (or even the night before) so you can refrigerate for as long as possible.  I think this jellied sauce looks prettiest when it’s solid enough to turn out onto a plate so you get that pretty star pattern and glossy jelly sheen.

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The number one thing to remember is that homemade cranberry sauce is very different from the canned stuff…it’s actually sauce that you will spoon onto your plate rather than cutting like a loaf of bread.  This is a good thing.

Roasted Tatties

These are a staple of any Sunday roast, and – made properly – little fluffy, crunchy bits of heaven.

2 lbs baby red potatoes

½ cup canola oil

Bring a pot of water to a boil (no salt, please!).

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Pour oil into a baking sheet or any pan with a lip and heat in oven at 400° F.

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Peel the potatoes and add to boiling water.

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This next bit is rather inexact, and will take practice:

You want to cook the potatoes so that the outer layer is a bit translucent, but the inside is still solid.

Basically, when you remove the potatoes from the water, you’re going to drain them and then shake the colander about to fluff up the outer layer.  Boil them too long, and when you shake them, they’ll turn to mashed potatoes.  Capice?

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Gently spoon fluffed up potatoes into the hot oil (get those mushed bits too – they’ll be wonderfully crisp) and spoon the hot oil over the potatoes, coating evenly.

Keep “basting” the potatoes every few minutes, gently turning them so that all sides get evenly brown.

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When they are golden brown, remove from the oven and transfer to a paper towel-lined platter.

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Sprinkle with salt, and smother with gravy, if you are so inclined.

Okay, I know I promised all of the dessert recipes as well, but I went out Black Friday shopping this morning, and am utterly exhausted.  I promise I will post the recipes later, but for now, I need a nap!  


Here are some pictures of what's to come...

Simple Savory Summer Tomato Pies - Mmmmmm!

I feel a bit like the snake from Robin Hood (the animated version) after saying that, but these pies really were simple, savory, summery and scrumptious!  


I'd been turning over the idea of a savory tomato pie in my head for days, and since I actually had a Saturday off (!!!), the Bean (my little sister) and I headed to the farmer's market to pick up some goods.  Before we even left the house, I was salivating at the thought of juicy fruits, fresh veggies, and artisan dairy products.  When we pulled in, I asked the Bean if it was around the back (it's held in the parking lot of a high school football stadium), and she said, "No.  It's over there," and pointed to a tiny corner of the parking lot.  My heart immediately sank:  I'm used to the sprawling Hollywood Farmer's Market or Jan Power's Farmer's Market (not far from the Brisbane city centre) or the Borough Market in London.  Those markets, if you are familiar with them, are absolutely incredible, and if you are in the Los Angeles, Brisbane or London area, GO!


I honestly expected a lot more from hippy dippy Austin.  The pathetic farmer's market (NO heirloom tomatoes or really tomatoes of any kind in the middle of summer) with about 15 stalls made me inquire as to how one becomes a vendor.  Certainly there were a few stalls where I felt, "Seriously?  I/mum/the Bean do that, but better!"  Imagine my surprise when the staff at the information booth told me they were "full".  I kid you not.  Why 15-20 vendors is the limit escapes me, since the variety is not particularly spectacular, and space is certainly not at a premium.  And, for the record, Texas French Breads and Sweetish Hill bakery should not be vendors here.  Besides the fact that is takes all of the artisan out of the farmer's market, I read the rules, and once a business grosses over a certain amount, they are - supposedly - meant to be phased out to make room for the smaller guys.  I'm pretty sure both of these businesses are making more than the whole of the independent stalls combined at their storefronts.  


However, grave disappointment aside (three full loops in under 20 minutes!) we did stumble upon some delectable goat's cheese that was locally made by Swede Farm.  It was just the right amount of tart where you can feel your glands pucker when you eat it, but it doesn't cause you to gag or tears to stream down your face.  I could have sat there and eaten the whole 8 ounces if I didn't know I would pay for it later.  While all of the flavours were lovely, the Texas Spicy was, by far, my favorite.  I'm a big fan, and even bigger consumer of fresh goat's cheese, and this one blew me away.  Soft and creamy with a kick that left you craving more.  Perfection.  If it didn't work out to $20 a pound, I would have bought much more.


After we got home, the Bean and I headed back out to our local grocery store (which is fairly hoity toity and does a lot more organic stuff than it's locations in other neighbourhoods) and picked up some heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and other ingredients to round out the basically nothing we got at the farmer's market.  Once we arrived home for the night, the Bean Ninja'd up a pina colada for me, margaritas for both of us, and mixed herself a Bloody Mary.  B made me a TVR (tequila, vodka, Redbull), but since vodka is still not my thing, the Bean ended up drinking that one.


We spent the evening concocting three different tomato pies (or tarts, whichever you'd like to call them):  Vegan for the Bean, topped with fresh mozzarella for B and mum, and topped with goat's cheese for me (no one else is willing to even give it a shot - their loss!).  I was surprised by just how well the Bean's vegan tart crust held together, and was actually quite glad for the variety, since I know there are plenty of different tastes and diets out there.  

After assembling our pies, things were looking quite promising!

The Bean's Vegan Tomato & Onion Pie

Tomato Pie with Fresh Mozzarella

Tomato & Spicy Goat's Cheese Pie

Next up was into the oven, and on to finishing our drinks!  The Bean decided to whip up a side salad made of - you guessed it - beans!  It was a deliciously creamy (but somehow vegan) combination of Great Northern beans, onions, parsley, grapeseed oil (you can use any kind, she actually only ended up using grapeseed because she thought it was a bottle of extra virgin olive oil!), white wine vinegar and Dijon mustard.  Honestly, her salad was sinfully delicious and a fantastic alternative to the traditional fatty potato salad that you have to worry about killing your picnic or BBQ guests if it's not properly chilled the whole time.  Play around with the ratios until you get the taste you want.  We prefer a strong vinegar/mustard taste, so are probably a bit heavier than you might be with those seasonings.

By the time that was done, the first of the pies was just about ready to come out of the oven.  The Bean's vegan pie was the first to go in, and therefore the first to come out.  While it looked delicious, we soon found out that the bottom wasn't fully cooked.  Just before the Bean was about to scoop out all the filling to bake the crust, we decided to brainstorm a bit before destroying the gorgeous pie:

1. Her pie had been cooked in a cheap aluminum pan that I reasoned hadn't held the heat as well as our ceramic ones.
2. While she advised me to poke fork holes in the bottom of mine, she'd forgotten to do so to hers.
3. Her pie, to avoid being burned through the thinner aluminum, had been baked on the top shelf, and probably just needed some time on the bottom.

The Bean's Vegan Tomato & Onion Pie Fresh Out of the Oven!

As the other pies came out (and hers went back in), I noticed that the tomatoes had released a lot of liquid.  However, the crust, even with liquid pooling around it, still seemed crisp so I poured the excess juice off.  In retrospect, I really wish I'd poured the liquid into a jar rather than down the sink, as I have a sneaky feeling it would have been an incredible salad dressing.  

Other pies hot out of the oven!

Tomato & Fresh, Bubbly Mozzarella!

An up-close shot of all the delicious layers of tomato-y goodness.
Plus, the Bean's white bean salad.

My goat's cheese and tomato pie - a lovely golden brown!

Another up-close shot of layer upon layer of the taste of summer!

Not a bad result for a spur of the moment dinner choice!  What do you think?  Is this something you'd make or does a pie of strictly tomatoes seem intimidating?  I made steak and Guinness pies for B as well, but that's a whole other post.  I think we're going to attack a range of jaffle style pies tomorrow, so I'll save pics of the steak and Guinness pies for that post!

Back to My West Hollywood Stomping Grounds...in Downtown Austin?

Yes! It's true! Austin is now the proud home of it's very own zpizza! I don't know how long this place has been here since I only moved back to Austin from LA a few months ago, but as I was longingly gazing at the Rusticas and other amazing pies on the website, I stumbled across the "Locations" tab, and was shocked to find a zpizza right in my own backyard!

Naturally, I dragged hubby downtown, and I was practically drooling by the time we found parking and got inside.

*Side Note: Parking here sucks. A lot. Plan on making circles for about 15 minutes if you're going on a Saturday evening like we did. There are a few new bars and restaurants on this little strip, and they were packed.*

Once inside, I was shocked. It was empty! Apparently no one else was aware of the zpizza's deliciousness. I was divided in how this made me feel. On the one hand, I thought, "Mmmmm! More zpizza all for me!" on the other hand, I realized that a complete lack of patronage might mean that after a few months like this, there would, ironically, not only NOT be more zpizza for me, but none at all - for me or anyone else...

Inner emotional conflict was quickly crushed - or drowned - by the drool running down my face as I looked at the spinning warming display of individual slices. I thought, as a lady, I should show some restraint, so I wiped my mouth, swallowed the lump in my throat, and ordered a Mediterranean Rustica. B ordered an American with jalapeños, a couple of beers (he had Blue Moon), and then, to my horror and envy, said, "And give me a couple of those pepperoni slices for while I wait."

What?! I'm dying here and he, who was put off by the idea of zpizza for the very same reasons I love it (in his mind, organic = douchey), was going to chow down while I waited 15 minutes for our food? Must be nice to be a guy and not have to worry about being ladylike...

As we sat and waited, I found myself defending my old haunt: No! The one I used to go to wasn't like this. It was Southern California - we sat at tables on the sidewalk. (The inside of this zpizza was very cavernous and had these dinky little McDonald's two person tables that only served to highlight just how empty the place was.) While we waited, I felt increasingly like I was in a fish bowl. It was dark by now, and people were crowded outside waiting for valets to retrieve their vehicles. A few times the odd drunk girl would press her face up against the glass, peering into this oddly bright and mostly empty storefront before eventually squealing, "It's a PIZZA place! Oh my god, I'm so hungry! Let's get PIZZA!" Thankfully (because patronage be damned, I did NOT want to deal with drunk people), they were ushered into their awaiting vehicles by slightly more sober boyfriends or impatient valets.

When the food was finally ready, I started to dig in. As I was grabbing a slice of my Rustica, I noticed B staring down at his pie. It was undercooked (You know when instead of a cohesive layer of cheese you can see that the shreds are still shreds and haven't really melted all the way? Hate that!) and conspicuously devoid of jalapeños. I took it back to the counter and told the guy he'd forgotten them. He nonchalantly told me they were out, and that's why there weren't any on there. So I asked him to bake it longer, and he said that he couldn't since it had already been cut. I was starting to get frustrated, so I asked him for a refund on the jalapeños (it might just be a couple of dollars, but I'm not paying for toppings that we didn't get), and if he could just pop the whole pan back in so that the cheese could finish melting, which he did, albeit grudgingly.

I returned to my food, and as I picked up a slice, all of the toppings made a mad dash for the table. I took a bite, and everything just sort of...gooshed. Let me tell you, there is nothing appetizing about pizza (or any of its relatives, like the Rustica) gooshing when you bite into it. Sauce went everywhere, toppings were on the pan, and my fingers were covered in, well, gush. B looked at my miserable face and asked, "What's wrong?" I sighed and turned my eyes to the pan in front of me, my mouth too full of sauce and wet crust to talk, and my fingers too messy to even wipe my mouth off with.

What had happened? The place that had been my big work lunch treat back in LA (I was a college student and everything in LA is expensive!) was, to put it bluntly, a massive disappointment. B kept asking me if I wanted to get something else, but I couldn't. I was crushed. Somehow the meal that satiated me on those blissful SoCal afternoons just didn't translate out here - and it wasn't just the lack of abundant sunshine that made it so. Everything was undercooked and overloaded with sauce and cheese. I plowed through it out of pure hunger (this seems to be a trend, huh?) and Irish upbringing - you don't waste food - but just ended up feeling sick.

B enjoyed his pizza well enough, but only ate a bit of it because the wait between his first two slices and our food actually being ready had given his appestat time to kick in, and he was full. When he forgot his leftovers in Malaga next door (where we went for drinks), we didn't go back. I don't like to waste food, but I'm not a glutton for punishment either....

The Ranking

(all rankings are out of 5)

• Food: ☆☆
• Maybe we went on a bad night, but consistency of quality is important too.

• Atmosphere: ☆
• zpizza will remain a lunch spot for me, if I come back. This is not the sort of place you go to dinner, and, to be honest, it's not that convenient for me to pop in for lunch, so this might be the end of my love affair with zpizza...Unless, of course, I move back to LA!

• Service: ☆
• The guy was friendly, but didn't bother telling us he was leaving a topping off, and, let's face it, this is a healthful alternative to fast food, but it's still really self-serve.

• Price: $$
• I may no longer be a starving uni student in LA, but at this zpizza, the quality of food still did not justify the cost.

The bottom line?

Here in Austin, I'd still head to Milto's any day of the week, and twice on Sunday. Seriously, the twice on Sunday thing has happened before. Though it might have been a Tuesday...

Late Night Bite at Doc's Backyard

To be upfront with you all, we (my husband, B, and I) really did NOT want to end up here. Not because we dislike Doc's, but because we were really hoping to get out there and try something new. I can tell you right now, that if you get caught up in a Law & Order marathon and end up getting out of the house just after 9 on a Sunday night, your options are rather limited! But anyway...

After calling Hickory Street Bar and Grill, Union Park (whose number was disconnected), Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant, and Cuba Libre, I was frustrated and pulled into Doc's with 25 minutes to spare until the kitchen closed. Normally I don't like to be that customer who comes in at the last minute and expects to sit down and eat a full meal right before closing, but they're open until midnight, and I knew we wouldn't be ordering course after course, so I didn't mind. Apparently, Sunday is also quiz night, so there were plenty of other people still ordering nibbles to keep them at the top of their game.

As a brief aside, unless you're taking part in quiz night, I wouldn't recommend going to Doc's on a Sunday after 8 p.m.. Since it's all one room, it's hard to get away from the shrieking and obnoxious 5 second clips of songs (I turned to my husband and said, "What the hell? Are they going to play the first five seconds of EVERY Beatles song?" just after we arrived, only to realize a few minutes later what was going on.) to enjoy your meal. And why is there always one girl who feels the need to let out a shrill scream every time her team gets an answer right? There seem to be a lot of screamers at Doc's, because every time we've been there (when it's been anything other than dead), there's always a 40-something woman who's clearly hired a babysitter for the night and had one too many tequila shots before hitting the shuffleboard tables. And let me tell you, I've been around plenty of obnoxious drunks, but none of them ever seem to top the older married men and - especially - women who are "cutting loose" for the night.

Okay, so not as brief of an aside as I'd hoped, but back to our meal. The first 10 minutes (remember, we only had about 20 left to order) went something like this:

• 0-1: Arrive at Doc's, note the 10 p.m. kitchen closing time on the door, and think, "We'd better get a move on."
• 1-2: Genuinely surprised (and feeling a little bit better about not leaving the house until 9) that it's so busy for a Sunday night. As I noted earlier, we quickly became annoyed with the whole quiz night thing, which just did not have the same feel as a British pub quiz. We grab a table.
• 2-4: We wait for a server to come by and give us menus, and we really work the "Smile, raise eyebrows and a finger" routine to try and catch one of the girls' attention without interrupting what they're doing. No such luck.
• 4-6: I go to the bar to ask for a menu, where I'm consistently ignored. Finally, I head over to the little computer registers they have right by the kitchen door, and try to get a server's attention. Luckily, I notice some menus by the shuffleboard table, grab two, and return to our table.
• 6-10: We wait. And wait. In an act of desperation - we're talking 10 minutes until they stop taking orders! - I physically put my hand out in front of a waitress (not carrying anything of course, I'm not that big of an ass) and ask, "Can we get some help?" The kicker? She says, "Oh, I thought you all were being helped since you had menus and everything." Sheesh.

So we order. And I'll tell you right now, you should not go to a sports bar and expect to be greeted with a menu that offers a wide variety of healthy/un-fried vegetarian options. I didn't expect it, and neither should you. There's nothing more obnoxious than some trendy vegetarian expecting to go all the same places they went last week (when they still ate meat) and then being shocked and offended that there's not a single vegetarian entree at Beefy's BBQ. But I digress...

Since it was late (and I already knew exactly what I wanted), we decided to skip appetizers. I LOVE fried pickles, but I tend to feel queasy when I eat a ton of fried stuff, so it was better that we didn't indulge. Like I said, I knew what I was going for, and B was trying to decide, so we ordered a pint of Budweiser (for him) and a Pink Lemonade (Pink lemonade vodka and...you guessed it! Pink lemonade!) for me.

When the waitress came back with our drinks, we ordered. For B: A Lone Star Chicken Sandwich with mayo and the guacamole on the side and a side of French fries. For the Veggie: Mini Tostadas with no meat and guacamole as a substitute, and a bowl of queso as a replacement for the non-veggie rice (they use chicken stock).

I will not eat at a restaurant that insists you pay extra to receive something when you're losing out on something, and luckily for us vegetarians, Doc's does not do that. The server said she'd have to check with her manager, but when all was said and done, there was a $1 charge on the bill to add the queso, and then a $1 credit to remove it. I don't really care how it gets done, so long as I'm not paying extra. I hope that doesn't sound unreasonable, but the $1 here, $1.50 there adds up over time, and why should it when I'm getting no more or less than anyone else paying for the "same" meal?

When the food came out, we dug in. I always feel bad writing a review of a restaurant that I've gone to while:

• a) Starving
• b) Drunk
• c) Both a & b

because I feel like I can't give an honest review (or remember anything to review if situations b or c are in play!). That being said, on this particular night, I was only "a) Starving" since I had to drive, so I can remember the experience , and also that fact that since I was starving, just about anything would have hit the spot. Don't get me wrong - the mini tostadas were not horrible, but I can say with absolute certainty that they were not wolfed down because they were so amazing I just couldn't get enough. The guacamole was...sparse, but luckily hubby gave me the guac he got on the side, which ended up being enough. I had to ask for salsa (there was no sauce or flavoring of any description, which I found weird), but then she also asked if I wanted some chips, which was nice. Unfortunately, Doc's has really heavy, somewhat bland/stale tasting chips, so I ended up avoiding them.

Random, but small annoyances: We had to ask for utensils, and salt, and pepper. I might have been able to overlook this if it didn't happen every time we come here. It seems like whenever it gets slow and/or close to closing, the waitresses decide to fill their time by collecting all of the salt and pepper shakers. Weird. Also, the tostadas come with diced tomatoes on them, and then a heap of pico de gallo on the side. It's too much to have both on, so you're wasting one or the other, which I hate to do. Plus, I prefer the pico, and trying to get the tomatoes off the tostada without losing the lettuce was a feat.

All in all, my dish was what you'd expect from a Mexican dish at a sports bar. You can flavor it up to make it a decent vegetarian meal (add a bit of salsa here, some guacamole and queso there...), but it's nothing special. But hey - at least it wasn't just a conglomeration of different deep fried vegetables, right?

B was also just satisfied with his meal. He ate half of the Lonestar Chicken Sandwich after waiting for utensils so that he could spread on the mayo they didn't put ON the sandwich, and about half of the fries. They were overly greasy, salty and lukewarm when they arrived (and B LOVES a salty chip), and by the time I tried one 5 minutes later, they left that greasy coating on the roof of your mouth and were cold and mealy inside. We ordered another round of drinks - this time a pint of Budweiser for both of us - and went to sit on the patio.

The food at Doc's seems to be inconsistent, as the queso Sunday night was better than normal (read: actually liquid instead of congealed), and my husband's chicken fully cooked (hurrah!), but I can definitely say that we've had worse experiences here. My advice? Come to Doc's for the beer (which is hard to screw up so long as it's served ice cold) and nibbles, but don't make it your destination for a full meal unless you're into food that's neither here nor there flavor-wise.

P.S. In the colder months, the outdoor fire pit is great, and in the summer, I love that they have the fans that also spray a fine mist of water on you. If I had the luxury of being able to afford taxis everywhere, Doc's wouldn't be a bad place to spend a Monday night knocking back cheap pitchers of Budweiser and relaxing on the patio where the screams of the Real Housewives of South Austin playing shuffleboard would at least be muffled if they kept the garage doors down...