World famous chef, Kevin Gillespie, joined The Wake Up to share a few of his favorite recipes for Thanksgiving...
Brussel Sprouts Gratin
1 . Preheat the oven to 375°F. Rub the inside of a 2-quart casserole
with butter.
2 . Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a 4-quart Dutch oven over
medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, and a pinch of salt and cook until
very soft and translucent, about 15 minutes. Add the cream and bring
the mixture to a simmer. Cut the heat down to low and cook until the cream is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
3 . Meanwhile, thinly slice the Brussels sprouts crosswise on a
mandoline, slicing just until you get to the hard core; reserve the rest of
the sprouts for another use. Or, if you have a 2mm slicing disk for your
food processor, you can carve out the hard core of the Brussels sprouts and then process the sprouts through the feed tube. You should end upwith about 14 cups of thin, coleslaw-like rounds.
4 . Melt another 2 tablespoons of the butter in a small skillet over
medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, just until the
mixture begins to smell toasty, about 2 minutes.
5 . Mix the mustard with 1 tablespoon of water to make a thin paste.
Whisk 2 tablespoons of the flour-butter mixture into the onions along with the mustard paste, nutmeg, and 2 teaspoons salt; crank the heat
up to medium and continue whisking until the mixture comes to a simmer and begins to thicken, about 2 minutes. Cut the heat to low and cook until the sauce loses any floury taste or grainy texture, about
10 minutes.
6 . Fit a food processor with the metal blade, and add the panko, Parme-
san, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon lemon zest, and the remaining 6 table-
spoons butter. Process to a crumbly paste. Spread the crumb mixture
on a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap, top with another sheet, and, using a rolling pin, roll the crust to fit the top of the casserole.
7. Carefully pour the onion sauce into a blender and blend until smooth.
Add the remaining zest from the lemon, all of the lemon’s juice, and 1
teaspoon salt. Blend again until smooth. Pour the sauce back into the
pot and fold in the sliced Brussels sprouts. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer and cook until the sprouts are wilted, about 5 minutes.
8 . Spoon the mixture into the prepared casserole. Remove the top
sheet from the panko crust and invert over the Brussels sprouts.
Remove the other sheet and bake until golden brown and bubbly, about
40 minutes. Serve hot.
PreP ahead / You can make and puree the sauce, slice the
Brussels sprouts, and make and roll out the topping ahead
of time and refrigerate them.
Then just reheat the sauce,fold in the Brussels sprouts, assemble, and bake. Once you assemble the dish, it should be baked right away.
If the Brussels sprouts sit in the sauce for too long before baking, they will lose their delicate flavor and texture.
African Squash Tart with Whipped Eggnog Topping
1 . In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, cream the butter
and sugar. While the processor is running, pour in the eggs, just until
blended. Remove the lid of the processor bowl and evenly distribute the
flour over the top of the mixture. Sprinkle the salt on top of the flour. Pulse to combine and blend just until the mixture comes together, about 20 seconds. The dough will be fairly soft, more like a cookie dough than
a tart or pastry dough. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the dough onto a
large sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap the dough with the plastic wrap, flat-
ten it to a disk, and refrigerate until the dough is firm, about 2 hours.
2 . Spray an 11-inch removable-bottom tart pan with nonstick spray.
3 . Dust a clean, flat work surface generously with flour. Unwrap the
dough, lay it on the work surface, and dust the top with flour. Rub
some flour on your hands and rub the rolling pin with flour. Gently roll
the dough into a 15-inch circle that’s ¼ inch thick all the way across. To make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the work surface, roll it in a single motion from the center to the edge. Turn the dough a quarter turn each
time you roll, adding a little more flour to the work surface or the dough
if it starts sticking. Four turns and it should be evenly rolled all the way around. Set the rolling pin near one edge of the circle and gently roll
toward the center, picking up the dough with the pin. Center and unroll
the dough over the tart pan, gently pressing the dough into the pan and up the sides, but being careful to press but not stretch the dough, which could cause it to shrink when baked. Using a sharp knife, cut around the edge of the tart pan and trim off excess crust. Using a fork, evenly prick the entire bottom of the crust. This docking step will ensure the crust does not puff up while cooking. Refrigerate the tart shell until the dough is firm, about 30 minutes.
4 . Preheat the oven to 375°F.
5 . Bake the crust until golden brown, 20 to 22 minutes. You want
the crust to be a nice deep brown, the color of strong iced tea. It
should be completely cooked and crispy. Place the tart pan on a
cooling rack and cool to room temperature.
6 . Fill the tart shell to the rim of the crust with the cremeux filling.
Cover and refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours. Serve with a dollop
of whipped eggnog... Chill a large mixing bowl and whisk. Or, if you prefer to use an electric mixer, chill the mixer bowl
and whip attachment. Add the cream to the bowl and whisk or whip until it starts to thicken up. Add the egg yolk and powdered sugar to the cream and continue beating until the mixture forms soft peaks when the whisk or
whip is lifted. Add the rum, nutmeg, vanilla, and cinnamon and beat just to combine.
Warm Banana Pudding
1 . Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2 . In a large saucepan, combine the half-and-half, milk, vanilla bean and
½ teaspoon of the vanilla extract and heat over medium-high heat until
bubbles start forming around the edges of the pan, about 4 minutes. Pull
the pan from the heat. Fish out the vanilla bean and use a paring knife to scrape the vanilla beans and pulp from the pod into the milk mixture. Discard the pod.
3 . Separate the egg yolks from the whites using the three-bowl
method: one small bowl to separate the eggs over, one large bowl for
the yolks, and a third bowl to collect all of the whites. Crack one egg at
a time, straining the white into the small separating bowl and placing the yolk in the yolk bowl. If the yolk did not break, transfer the white to the white collection bowl. This method ensures that no broken yolk gets
into the main batch of whites. If you break a yolk, you’ll only lose 1 white
instead of the whole batch. For meringue, it’s imperative to have whites with absolutely no yolk at all or the whites won’t whip up properly.
4 . Add 2 cups of the sugar to the yolks and whisk until
very thick and light yellow, about 1 minute. Pour the flour
into a strainer over the yolk bowl and shake the flour
into the yolks. Whisk the flour and salt into the egg yolks until smooth. Slowly whisk ¾ cup of the milk mixture into the yolk mixture to gradually warm the eggs so they won’t scramble; this is called tempering. Whisk all the
yolk mixture into the milk mixture and return the pan to medium heat. Cook the mixture until it thickens, about 8 minutes, stirring nonstop. There will be some lumps, which is fine. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter, one piece at a time, until it’s all incorporated. Blend the pudding with an immersion blender for 1 minute. Press the pudding through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any remaining lumps.
5 . Slice the pound cake ¼ inch thick and arrange the slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast in the oven until they are lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Flip the slices and toast again until lightly browned, about 4minutes more. Remove the toasted cake from the oven and brush both sides with the coffee.
6 . Spoon about 1½ cups of the pudding into the bottom of a 2-quart deep casserole dish. Layer the pound cake and bananas on top of the pudding and repeat the process, ending with a layer of pudding.
7. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining ½ cup sugar and cream of tartar to combine. Whip the egg whites in a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until they are thick and frothy, about 2 minutes. With the mixer running, slowly add the sugar mixture to the egg whites. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and beat until the mixture holds soft peaks when the whisk is lifted.
8 . Mound the meringue on top of the pudding and spread to completely cover and seal at the edges. Using the back of a spoon, swirl the meringue into peaks. Bake until the peaks are browned, about 5 minutes. The top should be brown while the center of the meringue stays soft and creamy. Let the dish cool for at least 15 minutes. Serve warm.