mary eats

Hope you are enjoying the holidays with friends, family, and mugs of spiked egg nog
xoxo

Mary

Petite panettone

fruit studded so rich yet light

Forget calories

Seattle’s cold chill has me looking for any excuse to turn on my oven, and this morning (a bone chilling 18 degrees out), was no exception.

Slowly, I’m returning to cooking projects. This summer I whole heartedly wanted to craft blue ribbon pies with flaky crusts to die for, but waiting till the hottest day of the year to cook a blueberry pie stopped that fantasy in its tracks and instead I turned to jams.

Now, rather than concentrating on one specific item that I would be eating over and over again and no doubt get sick of quite quickly, I am focusing on cuisines. Last month I rocked out 31 days of Thai Food, and from it fine tuned my technique for Panang curry and came away with killer recipes for papaya salad and jack fruit curry, which I promise to share with you soon.

This month I have my eyes set on India. Just about a week in I’ve wrestled up Chicken Curry, Chicken Vindaloo, and a disastrous Potato and Pea Dosa. Tempted this morning to bag it and reach for a blueberry muffin, I set the oven to broil (as I don’t have a toaster), and crafted this humble little Indian Breakfast Sandwich- and ate a blueberry muffin. Proof that a refrigerator full of condiments is nothing to be ashamed of, but a toolbox for layering flavors. Breakfast sandwiches are ridiculously simple and need only to consist of bread and an egg, or tofu, From there, with a refrigerator full of savory and sweet jams, chile pastes, chutneys, hot sauces, aioli, you name it, you could build a nice little mobile food truck business from it.

Indian Breakfast Sandwich
Serves 1 sleepy early morning riser

1 egg, scrambled in a hug of butter
1 half piece garlic naan, cut in half again and broiled till browned on the edges
a slap of vegenaise (because it is better than mayo, I swear)
and a glop of mango chutney

Assemble and eat!

Over the years, what I’ve learned about Thanksgiving dinner is, that my interest lies in leftovers. Rather than get crafty with indigenous grain stuffing or made from scratch pumpkin soup served in a hallowed out pumpkin, I far more look forward to the sum of leftovers begging to be played with in the following days. Not because I don’t want to shower my family and friends with delectable treats from my kitchen, no- I just know that two makers on the rocks and several glasses of wine in, my soft focus vision and bleeding heart will be aimed at the company I’m in, not what is on my plate.

But the day after Thanksgiving, sober- with the exception of a good luck egg nog, that is when my creative turkey juices flow and perverse thoughts of food slip into my head. The things you can do to a turkey! This year, in addition making a pretty run of the mill stock,- oh, let me tell you this, that if you live in 550 square feet and you have stock on the stove it is absolutely, without a doubt, impossible to nap, as every time you just start to fall asleep, a waft of turkey goodness fills you nostrils and sends a rumble to your belly. What sent me into the food coma in the first place, were my Thanksgiving spring rolls, as pictured below. That is one complete turkey dinner neatly wrapped in spring roll, deep fried, and served with gravy dipping sauce.

Part inspired by Food and Wine’s Leftover Challenge to Momofuku chef David Chang, and some deep fried pumpkin pie wontons I made a few years ago.

The recipe?

1 package Spring Roll wrappers

1 egg, beaten

All the leftovers you have: Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and cranberry sauce

Canola oil.

Place enough canola oil in a large deep frying pan so that you have a good inch or so, and heat over medium heat. While the oil is coming to temperature, assemble spring rolls.

Place one wrapper in front of you, rotated so that one of the four corners points at you. Place a small amount of the mashed potatoes in the center of the wrapper in a log shape. Build upon that with the stuffing, turkey, and whatever else, careful not to stuff them too full or to get too close to the edge.

Fold the bottom corner of the spring roll up over the filling and roll over away from you once. Fold the two sides in over the bundle. Using your finger, brush the egg mixture over along the top edge, and roll the bundle forward to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers and leftovers.

For great step by step instructions for how to roll spring rolls click here, or for video instruction, here.

Place two or three spring rolls in the frying pan and cook until golden. Watch for hot spots. If the rolls begin to brown too quickly, carefully, with tongs, lift rolls from the oil and set aside until oil cools down. Don’t crowd the pan as that will cause the oil temperature to drop. Fry up all the rolls and drain either on a plate lined with paper towels or a cooling rack set inside a baking sheet.

On to the dipping sauce! Slowly reheat the gravy, adding a bit more stock or seasonings as you see fit.

Other leftover ideas? I did wrestle up a thanksgiving omelet, filled with turkey and cranberry sauce. Yours?