Mole Poblano

This makes enough mole for about a 10-12 pound turkey, or two chickens. It's a great use of leftover thanksgiving turkey. Play around with the chilies and the spices until you find something you like. The mole can be made ahead and frozen or stored in the fridge.

Serving: You can slice up cooked turkey/chicken and ladle the mole over it, or cut turkey/chicken into pieces and submerge it directly in the mole – whatever works best for how you’re serving it. Mole poblano is traditionally served with tamales on the side, but we did little corn tortillas and rice and beans.

Dried chilies:
6 New Mexican Chilies, or pasillas or guajillos (New Mexican are a little hotter)
8 Ancho Chilis
3 Chipotle Chilies
2 Tblsp corn oil

Spices:
¼ tsp Coriander Seed
¼ tsp Anise Seed
1 Tblsp Chili Seeds
7 Tblsp Sesame Seeds
4 Whole Cloves
10 Peppercorns
½ inch Cinnamon Stick (or ½ tsp ground cinnamon)

2 Tblsp corn oil
2 Tblsp raisins
20 raw almonds
¼ cup shelled Pumpkin Seeds
1 corn tortilla or a handful of tortilla chips, shredded coarsely
1 slice stale bread, shredded coarsely

6 tomatillos, de-husked and minced coarsely
3 cloves of garlic
2 Tblsp corn oil
1.5 oz Mexican chocolate
5-6 cups of chicken or turkey broth

One cooked 10-12 pound turkey or 2 chickens

1. Break the chilies into large flat pieces and shake out the stems and seeds. Keep the seeds but discard cores and stems. Heat oil fairly hot and fry the chilies a few pieces at a time on both sides until aromatic. This should take about 30 seconds – don’t overcook or the chilies will get bitter. Soak in about a cup or two of water to cover for at least 3 hours, or overnight. Drain and puree in a blender with as little of the soaking water as you can get away with. Pour from blender into a bowl or other container and reserve.

2. Dry toast coriander, anise, chili seeds, and sesame seeds in a large heavy pot until they become aromatic and darken just slightly, as you would to make curry. Cool them and grind them all together in a spice mill or blender along with cloves, peppercorns, and cinnamon stick. Leave in the blender.

3. Heat 2 Tblsp of oil in your large heavy pot and sauté raisins, almonds, pumpkin seeds, tortilla, and bread until raisins puff up a little and the almonds and bread brown – about 3 minutes. Add this mixture to the spice mixture in the blender, add the tomatillos and garlic, and blend until smooth.

4. Heat 2 Tblsp of oil in your large heavy pot. Add chili mixture and spice/seed/bread mixture, and sauté gently for about 5 minutes. Add the chocolate and stir in until it melts. Stir in broth until it gets to the consistency you want – I like it sort of porridge-like. Continue to cook gently until it bubbles (it's more like a burp).

Turkey Baste A La Lefty

Combine:
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup of orange juice
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1/4 cup of bourbon

Makes a very dark skin and tasty gravy.

Thanksgiving leftover turkey pot pie

This recipe assumes that you've got not only leftover turkey after Thanksgiving, but also leftover green beans, which we always seem to have. If you don't, snap fresh some green beans in half and blanche in boiling water for 4-5 minutes. This is a great way to use up those dried up carrots and potatoes and other nameless root vegetables that have been rattling around in the bottom of your crisper.

Crust:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

3/4-1 cup ice water

Mix flour and salt. Cut in butter until pea-sized pieces. Stir in water enough to hold dough to together. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate until ready to cover the filling.

Filling:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 cups carrot, 1/4" dice

1 cup onion, diced

2 cups mushrooms, diced

1 tsp crumbled sage

1 tsp thyme

salt and pepper to taste (~ 1 tsp each)

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup white wine

1 tablespoon lemon juice

4 cups chicken broth

3 cups cooked turkey, diced

2 cups potatoes, peeled and 1/4 dice

2 cups cooked green beans

Saute carrot, onion, mushrooms and herbs in the butter until softened, about 15 minutes. Stir in flour and stir to coat, about 1 minute. Deglaze with wine and lemon juice. Add broth, stir, and add turkey and remaining vegetables. Simmer about 10-15 minutes, until thickened. Pour into a casserole that will hold at least 2 quarts (I like the filling to be somewhat shallow, to have a bigger crust-to-filling ratio.)

Roll out the crust and cover filling with it, allowing it to rest on top of the filling. Trim and crimp the edges around the edge of the casserole, and poke a couple of air vents into the top of the crust. Bake at 425 for 20-30 minutes, will begin to bubble so you probably want to put a piece of tin foil under the pan to keep the bottom of your oven clean.

Note: if you are afraid of making pastry crust (you know who you are), this is also good covered with biscuit dough.

Bengali Green Beans with Mustard Seed and Almonds

1 pound green beans, broken into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon kalonji (nigella) seeds
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1/4 medium onion, peeled and sliced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
salt to taste

Garnish:
3 Tablespoons blanched slivered almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped

Fill a large pot with enough water to cover the beans and bring to a boil. Add the beans and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Boil for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the kalonji and mustard seeds, stir until they begin to pop, about 30 seconds. Add the onion and saute until it begins to brown, about 3-4 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Add the cayenne and turmeric, stir a few times, add the green beans and lemon juice. Stir and cook until the beans are heated through, about 2 minutes. Stir in the black pepper and salt to taste.
Serve garnished with almonds.

Spicy Turmeric Pickled Cucumbers

1 clean quart jar
About a pound of fresh pickling cucumbers, sliced thinly
1 medium-sized onion, halved and sliced thinly
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, deseeded and minced
1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp sugar
2 cups water
1/2 c white vinegar

Mix the vegetables and turmeric in a bowl. Pack as much of the mixture into the jar as you can, to within an inch of the top. Heat the water and vinegar and salt and sugar in a saucepan until boiling, pour over vegetables in the jar until it's all covered and liquid is about 1/2 inch from the top of the jar. Screw lid on tight and refrigerate for about 10 days before eating. If you have extra that didn't fit in the jar, just add a little of the pickling liquid to the rest of the vegetables in a plastic container and let it marinate -- still good.

Note: this is not canning, it's more marinating, so you need to keep it refrigerated and eat it within a couple of weeks. Very nice hors d'oeuvre or as a garnish to bloody marys. Feel free to play with the seasonings -- the flavors are pretty intense with very little of any spice.

Guacamole a la Lefty

Meat of 2 large, ripe Haas avocados

1 fresh jalapeno, seeded and minced

1 large clove of garlic, minced

1/4 c spreadable goat cheese

Juice of half a lime

pinch of salt

Mash all ingredients in a bowl. If you can't find spreadable goat cheese, mash regular goat cheese with a little sour cream until it's the consistency of peanut butter. Makes 1 1/2-2 cups of guacamole, about enough for 4 people.

Four-cabbage slaw

4 cups regular green cabbage, shredded
2 cups savoy cabbage, shredded
2 cups napa, shredded
2 cups red cabbage, shredded fine
2 carrots, grated
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp caraway seeds, or to taste
1 cup or more mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all, adding mayonnaise until it gets to the consistency you like it. This makes a LOT of slaw for a big cookout -- you will need a very big bowl. I mix the vegetables in a paella pan with my hands before I put it all in the bowl.