Tasting Journal

My Thanksgiving, Part 2

We ate the night away at Stephanie’s house this year! Our big feast included the usual: mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, stuffing, turkey… We also had juicy roast beef, cranberry relish, potatoes au gratin, yellow Asian rice with chicken, ground beef spring rolls, sofrito succotash, and cassava-bread stuffing with longaniza, four different types of pies, and Thiep, a Cambodian dessert made with sweet rice, coconut and seseme seeds.

OTHER NOTES:

Our turkey was purchased from Safeway, and was sadly falling apart when we took it out of the oven. It seemed a little pale, and didn’t have that nice golden brown color that it usually does every other year. However, it was very moist, and everyone enjoyed it, even Valina who normally hates turkey.

My mom made two different types of stuffing this year: her usual apple and sausage stuffing, and something different called “Cassava-bread stuffing with longaniza”. Cassava bread is a flat unleavened bread made from yuca, and longaniza is a Spanish pork sausage seasoned with paprika, cinnamon, aniseed, garlic, and vinegar. It was a nice combination, and all the spices gave the dish a little kick.

I love corn. We had corn. We also had something called “Sofrito Succotash”, a Latin-inspired corn and bean side dish. Now this was something different… a good different, definitely not lacking in the flavor department. It actually went well with the cassava bread and longaniza stuffing; however I don't think it went all that well with everything else...

Asian yellow rice with chicken… I’m not sure if that is the real name for this dish because it seems rather plain to me. The star ingredient in this is fish sauce. Trust me, it’s good. Without it, the dish would taste just as plain as its name. Turmeric, a spice that is part of the ginger family, gives the rice its yellow color.

Aunt Tevy made ground beef spring rolls… okay, so I’m not sure if that’s really what they’re called, but that’s essentially what they are… These were a huge hit at dinner. They only lasted about 10 minutes… I’ll have some more info posted about these rolls soon!!

See recipes here...

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