Thanksgiving Feast 2007

Vietnamese Pumpkin Soup
Autumn Salad with shrimps
Dijon Mustard Turkey
Homestyle Gravy
Mushroom Cornbread stuffing
Shanghai Cranberry Sauce
Green bean Casserole
Baked Japanese yam with scallion oil
Japanese Scalloped corn
Chocolate Raspberry pie

Vietnamese Pumpkin Soup

6 cups chicken broth
3 cups pumpkin
1/2 cup boiled peanut
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup coconut milk
salt and white pepper to taste

1) Cook peanut, pumpkin, and onion in chicken stock until nicely soft (20 minutes). Remember to soak peanut for couple hours before cooking, it takes much longer to cook than pumpkin.
2) Use mixer to puree soup.
3) Put back to simmer for a few minutes, add coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper.
Option: Use a large hollowed pumpkin for the soup, warm up in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes before serve.

Autumn Salad with Shrimps
8 cups mixed greens
1 cup shredded carrot
1 cup cooked shrimps
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 can pear
1/4 cup roasted walnut
1/4 cup rasin
5-6 prunes, chopped
French dressing

Top salad greens with shrimps, eggs, nuts, fruits and dressing. Mix well when served.

Dijon Mustard Turkey
1 fresh young turkey, 10 lbs
2 T dijon mustard
2 lemon
1 t paprika
1 T chopped fresh rosemary, oregano and thyme
1 gallon brine

1) Soak turkey in brine for 10 hrs. Make sure you have a big enough container for your turkey and enough brine to cover ans also enough room in you refrigerator for it. If not, use a bag and put in you cooler.
Brine: 4 cups orange juice, 1 cup table salt, 1/2 cup sugar and enough water to cover turkey (about 1 gallon all together). Make sure salt and sugar all dissolved.

2) Rinse the bird throroughly, pat dry and massage the bird with fresh squeezed lemon juice, dijon mustard, chopped fresh rosemary, oregano, thyme. Finish with a coat of papprika.

3) Turn oven to 475 degrees. Cover turkey breast and wings (or you can fold wings back) with foil. Bake for 30 minutes, reduce to 350 degree. Bake for 1 hr 45'. Remove foil. Brush butter or oil on turkey (after basting, if you do). Bake for 30 more minutes.

4) Remove and let turkey stand for 20 minutes before carving. Reserve pan drippings for gravy.

Baked Japanese Yam with Scallion oil

6 Japanese yams
2 T scallion oil
salt and pepper

Bake yams in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. You can prick yams before baking (optional). Make a slit along yam, use a kitchen towel to push the ends to make yam open up. Season scallion oil with salt and pepper, stir in yam with a fork.

Shanghai Cranberry Sauce

4 cups fresh cranberry (1 12 oz bag)
1.5 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 cinamon stick
12 kumquat candies, cut in half
1 T port or cognac

Wash cranberry and place in a sauce pan with sugar, water and cinamon stick. Stir and simmer until cranberry bursts (about 10 minutes). Add kumquat candies and cognac in, stir well. Chill and serve.

Gà Ram Hành

Sauteed Onion Chicken

4-5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T caramel sauce (light)
1 T vegetable oil
1 T Vietnamese coriander leaves, schiffonaded (optional)
Salt, pepper, fish sauce, sugar

1) Wash and cut chicken thigh into strips (or any size and shape you want).
2) Heat 1 T oil over medium high heat, add garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Add chicken and saute for a few minutes. Add onion and cook until liquid is reduced. Add caramel sauce (if you are making it fresh, make it lighter than you normally do). Season with salt, pepper, fish sauce and sugar to your taste.
3) Top with Vietnamese coriander leaves, then serve.

Cải Tây Hầm Tỏi

Stewed Turnip Green

1 turnip green bunch
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup chicken broth or water
1/2 T vegetable oil
1 dried banga mary fish

1) Wash and cut turnip green (2-3 inches). Separate stems and leave.
2) Thinly slice garlic (or crush, mince, any way you want) then put into a pot with chicken broth (or water, I used water) and vegetable oil (you can also skip this). Bring to a boil over medium high heat.
3) Add turnip green stems in to cook (partially cover) for a few minutes. Add leave and cook, turn to cook them evently. When turnip is tender, season them with salt and pepper.
4) Pan fry dried banga mary fish (or any dried fish you have in your pantry) while cooking the turnip green. Cool off, remove bones, shred the meat by hand and serve with stewed turnip green.

Petit Pate Chaud

4 sheets puff pastry
1/2 lb ground pork
1 T pork liver pate
1/2 small onion, minced
1/2 T dry sherry
salt and pepper
2 egg yolks

1) Allow pastry sheets to defrost (40 minutes)
2) Mix ground pork, pate, onion, sherry, salt and pepper (to taste) until smooth paste. In a small cup, beat 2 egg yolks evenly.
3) Use small cookie cutter to cut circular pieces from the soften puff pastry.
4) Use a small spoon to put filling in pastry piece, put another piece of pastry on top. Use the back of a fork to gently press both round pieces of the pastry together around the outer edge. Brush egg yolk on.
5) Turn oven to 350-375 F (should do this 5' before you finish filling up the pate).
6) Place the finished pate on an oven tray lined up with baking paper (or foil).
7) Cook in oven at mid position, 15'.

Notes:
- You can make pastry ring and add around the filling, right at the circular edge to make your pate higher but it's not nessecery.
- You can brush egg york on when pate is cooked and move up on higher rack in the oven to finish it.
- Any kind of filling will do, feel free to create your own. And size does not matter, too. I made these "bite size" for milo to bring to potluck lunch so people have room to enjoy other dishes. I prefer bigger one for breakfast.

Đọt Đậu Sốt Chao

Snow Pea Sprout with fermented Tofu Sauce


1 bag of Snow pea sprout
3 cubes fermented tofu
1/2 T vegetable oil
hot chili sauce
sugar

Remove hard or dead leave, wash sprout throroughly.
Bring water to a boil in a pot, boil sprout, drain.
In a small sauce pan over medium heat, stir fermented tofu, oil and sugar (some water maybe added) until smooth, add hot chili sauce (tou your taste)in.
Dress over boiled sprout.

Cá Chim Chiên Sốt Cay

Crispy Pomfret in Spicy Sauce

Cá Tuyết Hấp Gừng Hành

Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger and Green Onion


1 slice Sea bass (10-12 oz)
1/4 T sake (or white wine)
1 T soy sauce (light)
1/2 T vegetable oil
few drops of sesame oil
1 small piece fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
1 green onion, julienned
salt, pepper and sugar

Clean and place Sea bass in a large shallow bowl. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the fish. Add soy sauce, sake, vegetable oil, some sugar, ginger, green onion (white head only, leave green part for garnishing) into the bowl.
Fill some water in a wok or a skillet that deep enough (or one has a big lid cover) to hold the bowl and some room for the steam, place bowl in, cover. Bring to a boil over medium high heat then reduce to medium heat to let the fish steam for 10-15'.
Turn off heat and remove the fish bowl. Drop some sesame oil in, sprinkle some green onions shreds on top then serve.

Bong Bóng Cá Dồn Thịt

Stuffed Fish Maw