Thanksgiving Sides and Dessert Class with Sur La Table
I am having so much fun teaching our virtual cooking classes with Sur La Table. The next one is on Thursday, December 10th at 4pm ET - I'll show you how to make some of my favorite holiday bites and refreshments. Sign up by clicking anywhere on the highlighted link.
Yesterday, I hosted another fun LIVE cooking class for Sur La Table with our own Culinary Director and host of "Kitchen Conundrums," Thomas Joseph. During the two-hour Zoom session, I showed the class how to make three delicious side dishes - Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans with Crispy Shallots & Lemon, and Pink Lady Apple Crisp with Oats and Warm Spices. All these recipes were offered through Martha & Marley Spoon. I also made Cornbread Turkeys and a gorgeous Five-Spice Pumpkin Pie with Phyllo Crust. Plus, I answered questions, and shared some of my favorite cooking tips.
Enjoy these photos.
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- This year, our Martha & Marley Spoon Thanksgiving kit offerings included three popular favorites – my mom’s mashed potatoes, an easy-to-prepare green beans and shallots, and a delectable apple crisp. Martha & Marley Spoon includes all the ingredients, so it saves time, and takes all the guesswork out of preparing the most important meal of the year. I was so happy to make these dishes for the Sur La Table Cooking Class – they’re three of my favorites too.
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- But first, I showed some other great sides including how to make Cornbread Turkeys. Here I am mixing the dry ingredients for the cornbread turkey batter – the recipe is on my web site at marthastewart.com.
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- The wet ingredients call for eggs, melted butter, and buttermilk.
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- The flour, cornmeal, salt, pepper, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cheese are all combined in a large bowl.
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- I love these five-cup turkey molds. They are from Nordic Ware. They can be used for cornbread, cranberry sauce, or even cake.
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- The batter is divided evenly between the prepared turkey molds before it is transferred to the oven to bake.
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- Meanwhile, Thomas prepares the apples for our Pink Lady Apple Crisp with Oats & Warm Spices. He peels, quarters, and cores the apples and then cuts them into wedges.
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- The apple wedges are tossed and combined with sugar and a warm spice blend.
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- The topping is flour, oats, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and butter. The topping is formed into clumps, placed into the freezer to form and then sprinkled on top of the apples into an even layer.
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- One of my tips is to place a sheet of parchment paper on top of the crisp and then the aluminum foil. I never let the foil touch my food directly. Given aluminum’s reactivity, any acids can cause different types of aluminum to possibly dissolve into the food.
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- With every order from Martha & Marley Spoon, all the ingredients come pre-packaged and pre-portioned for two or four people. My Green Beans with Shallots & Lemon side is so easy to make and I love the crispy golden shallots, with a simple squeeze of lemon.
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- First, all the ends of the green beans are trimmed.
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- Next, I cut thinly slice the shallot lengthwise. Then the pieces are placed into a skillet with oil.
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- And then they’re cooked until golden brown. Here I am placing them onto a paper towel to drain.
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- Next, I season them with salt and cut wedges of lemon to serve. I don’t like to squeeze lemon over the beans because the acid can alter the bold green color of the beans, but serving guests with their own lemon wedge allows them to add the juice themselves.
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- Next, the Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes – Big Martha’s famous recipe.
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- The potatoes are cut into one-and-a-half inch pieces, placed into a medium pot with a half-tablespoon of salt. Then they are boiled over medium heat and simmered until tender. They’re drained and then cooked over medium heat until they are dry and breaking apart.
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- I like to put all the potatoes through a ricer. A potato ricer is a kitchen implement used to process potatoes or other food by forcing it through a sheet of small holes, which are typically about the diameter of a grain of rice.
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- The potatoes are mixed with hot milk, butter, and my mom’s secret ingredient, cream cheese. These are my favorite mashed potatoes!
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- For the Five-Spice Pumpkin Pie with Phyllo Crust, I start with a springform cake pan. Here i am pointing out the spring feature, which allows one to remove the pan from the pie without damaging the phyllo crust.
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- This deep dish pumpkin pie is so beautiful and easy to make. The dramatic crust is made with about eight sheets of phyllo dough or enough so that the pan is completely covered from all angles.
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- I place each sheet into the pan brushing each one with butter until the phyllo is arranged in overlapping layers all around the bottom and sides of the pan.
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- I trim any extra phyllo dough from the outside of the pan.
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- And then Thomas puts it into the oven at 400-degrees Fahrenheit. This is cooked until the crust is crisp and golden.
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- Look at the gorgeous crust – it’s perfect.
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- I mix together the filling made with eggs, pumpkin, milk, syrup, vanilla, flour, salt, sugar and five-spice powder.
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- The mixture is poured into the crust and then baked until the custard is set in the center.
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- The pie is done and topped with fresh whipped cream. It was the first thing we tasted. Don’t you love starting with dessert, too?
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- Here is our Pink Lady Apple Crisp – this crisp just fills the kitchen with the aroma of apples, brown sugar and warm spices. Serve this with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
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- The Green Beans with Crispy Shallots and Lemon are sure to go quickly.
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- And look at the mashed potatoes. One can leave the skins on, but I prefer this smooth, creamy version.
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- And here are the Cornbread Turkeys – perfectly formed from my molds – I use these molds every year.
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- I love using them so much, I made these cranberry sauce turkeys too. I hope you caught the class yesterday, but if you didn’t make it, be sure to join our next class on December 10th. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
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