Homemade Tomato Ketchup, adapted from The River Cottage Meat Book
3 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes, roughly chopped
4 onions, sliced
1 large red bell pepper, seeds and white membrane removed, chopped
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
a piece of cinnamon stick
1 1/2 teaspoons whole allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons whole cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons whole mace
1 1/2 teaspoons celery seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove, peeled and bruised
paprika or cayenne pepper to taste, optional
salt

Put the tomatoes, onions, and red pepper in a large, heavy pan and simmer over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until they are very soft. Push them through a coarse-meshed sieve and return to the pot with the sugar, vinegar, and mustard. Tie the cinnamon, allspice, cloves, mace, and celery seeds, black peppercorns, bay leaf, and garlic in a square of cheesecloth and drop them into the stew.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a slow simmer. Cook, allowing the mixture to bubble gently, stirring often and carefully for 20 to 40 minutes until the ketchup is thick and pulpy. Taste a couple of times while it is still cooking and remove the spice bag if the flavour becomes too strong.

Season the ketchup with salt and paprika or cayenne, if using, then leave to cool. Pour the ketchup through a funnel into suitable bottles and seal. Stored in the fridge, this ketchup will keep for a month. If you bottle it in sterilized jars while still warm, the ketchup should keep for a year.

Jose Andres, a Spanish chef with outposts in DC and LA, has offered what he calls “the modern way” to make pan con tomate. Instead of rubbing the tomato directly on the bread, you pass it through a grater, then mix the resulting liquid with salt, pepper and some olive oil, and spoon it onto the toast. I think one really great aspect of this method is that it’s not totally dependent on having the most perfectly ripe tomatoes. Because you’re pushing them through the grater, they liquefy a bit and deliver quite a bit more taste than if you rubbed an out of season Roma tomato on toast. Still, it’s worth finding some decent tomatoes so you get a good flavor. This recipe makes enough tapas for 4 people at 37 cents per serving.

Pan Con Tomate, The Modern Way, from Jose Andres’ Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America
2 large ripe tomatoes
4 slices rustic sourdough bread, toasted
extra virgin olive oil to taste
salt to taste

Cut the tomatoes in half. Place a fine grater over a large mixing bowl and rub the open face of the tomatoes onto the grater until all the flesh is grated. Discard the tomato skins. Add a liberal amount of olive oil to the grated tomatoes and season with salt to taste. Mix everything together.

Spoon the tomato-olive oil mixture over the toast to serve. This tomato bread goes really well with a few slices of Manchego cheese.

Keeping this in mind, we have come up with a few turkey recipes that use up all of those leftovers. And believe me, we cooked a 13 pound turkey for two people so we had TONS of leftover meat.

First up is a recipe for Turkey Stock, which is a great way to use the carcass of the bird instead of just throwing it into the rubbish bin. Plus homemade turkey stock is so much better than any canned or cube stock that you buy at the grocery store. We made a huge vat of stock and then divided it among smaller containers which we froze so we can use them later as a chicken stock substitute. This recipe makes enough for 10 cups of stock at 24 cents per cup.

Turkey Stock, adapted from Gourmet, November 2004
1 turkey carcass
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 medium yellow onions, left unpeeled, then trimmed and halved
3 celery stalks, cut into 2-inch lengths
3 carrots, quartered
6 fresh parsley stems, without leaves
1 bay leaf
10 black peppercorns
5 quarts cold water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Take the turkey carcass and break it down into thighs, drumsticks, wings, and the back bone. Halve the turkey wings at the joints, and then crack the wing bones in several places with the knife. Don’t worry about picking the carcass clean of every last piece of meat since this is what helps make a flavourful stock.

Heat up 1/4 cup of oil in a heavy stock pot over a medium heat and then throw in the turkey bones and let them brown. Once they are browned, remove the bones from the pot and set them aside for a few minutes.

Add the onions to the stock pot, cut side down, and cook them until they are golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove them from the pot and let them rest with the bones. Then cook the celery and carrots until golden, about 3 minutes.

Add the turkey bones, onions, and remaining ingredients to the pot and bring to a boil over a high heat. Reduce the heat and let the stock gently simmer, partially covered, for 3 hours. Be sure to skim the top of the stock to remove any foam that may build up during this cooking process.

Once the stock is cooked, remove the pot from the heat and let the stock cool uncovered until it is room temperature. Pour the cool stock through a large fine-mesh sieve and throw away the solids.

Now measure the stock. If there is more than 10 cups, boil the stock until it is reduced, or if there is less than 10 cups, add a bit more water to make up the difference.

Let the stock stand for a few minutes until the fat rises to the top and then skim that off and throw it away. You can either use the stock right away, or freeze it for up to 3 months in an airtight container.

Braised and Glazed Brussels Sprouts, ffrom Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything
3 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil
1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed
1/2 cup or more stock, white wine, or water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the butter, Brussels sprouts, and stock in a deep skillet with a tight-fitting lid. Season everything with salt and pepper, and bring the stock to a boil. Once the liquid is boiling, cover and adjust the heat so the mixture simmers. Cook it until the sprouts are just tender, around 5 to 10 minutes, checking once or twice to see if additional liquid needs to be added to the skillet.

Take the lid off of the skillet and raise the heat to boil off the remaining liquid until the sprouts become glazed and eventually browned. Resist the urge to stir them frequently; just let them sizzle in the pan until they are golden and crisp, then shake the pan and loosen them to roll them over. Don’t worry if some sides are more well done than others, they all still taste good in the end. Finish the dish with some salt and pepper and serve the Brussels sprouts either hot or at room temperature.

Other Recession Recipes Veggie Side Dishes:
Roasted Baby Carrots
Roasted Acorn Squash with Chile Vinaigrette
Whole Baked Cauliflower with Tomato and Olive Sauce
Grilled Asparagus with Fresh Dried Chili Oil
Steamed Eggplant
Grilled Zucchini with Mint and Red Chili

I’ve been known to spend hours making turkey. My favorite recipe is to smoke a turkey (which takes about 8-10 hours), but only after soaking it in brine for 3-5 days. This recipe, though, is the other end of the spectrum: brine it for a day, then cook it in the oven for a few hours. It’s pretty easy — usually the hardest part is finding a container big enough to brine the turkey in — and turns out a moist, delicious bird that’s almost as good as the smoked ones I used to make. This recipe makes enough to brine a turkey that feeds 12 at 49 cents per serving, plus the cost of your turkey.

Apple Cider-Brined Turkey, adapted from Cooking Light, November 2004
For the Brine:
8 cups apple cider
2/3 cup kosher salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon black peppercorns, coarsely crushed
1 tablespoon whole allspice, coarsely crushed
8 1/8-inch thick slices peeled fresh ginger
6 whole cloves
2 bay leaves

For the Turkey:
1 12-pound fresh or frozen turkey, thawed
2 oranges, quartered
6 cups ice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and divided
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To prepare the brine, combine all of the ingredients for the brine in a large saucepan and bring it to a boil. Cook the brine for 5 minutes or until the sugar and salt fully dissolve. Let the brine cool completely.

Remove the giblets and neck from the cavity of the turkey, and rinse the turkey with cold water and then pat it dry. Trim off any excess fat and stuff the body cavity with the orange quarters. Place the turkey inside a double layer of large oven bags, or trash bags if you don’t have any, and put the bagged turkey inside a large stockpot.

Add the cooled brine with the ice to the turkey in the bag. Tie the bag with some twist ties, and let the turkey brine in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. During the brining process, be sure to turn the turkey occasionally so all parts of the bird get to soak up the brine.

When you are ready to cook the turkey, preheat the oven to 500¬?.

Remove the turkey from the bags, and discard the brine, orange quarters, and bags. Rinse the turkey with cold water and pat it dry. Lift the wing tips up and over the back, and tuck them under the turkey. Tie the legs together with kitchen string, or leave the plastic tag on the legs so you can easily handle the turkey.

Arrange the turkey, breast side down, on the roasting rack. Brush the back of the turkey with 1 tablespoon of melted butter, and season generously with salt and pepper.

Bake the turkey at 500¬? for 30 minutes. After that initial cooking, reduce oven temperature to 350¬?.

Remove the turkey from the oven. Carefully turn the turkey over using tongs so it is breast side up. Brush the turkey breast with 1 tablespoon of butter; and season with more salt and pepper.

Bake the turkey at 350¬? for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into the meaty part of thigh registers at 170¬?. When taking the temperature of the turkey, make sure to not touch the bone as that can throw off the reading. In case the legs of the turkey start to brown too fast, place some foil over the legs to shield them from the heat.

Once the turkey is cooked, remove the bird from oven and let it stand for 20 minutes before serving as the centerpiece of your Thanksgiving dinner.

Other suggested Thanksgiving recipes:
Back to Basics: Roast Chicken

Turlu Turlu, adapted from Moro: The Cookbook
2 zucchini, trimmed and cut into 1 inch disks
1 eggplant, halved lengthways and each half cut into 4 wedges lengthways
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves
2 green peppers, halved, deseeded and thickly sliced
3 medium carrots, peeled, halved lengthways and each half cut into 3 lengthways
1 medium turnip, cut into 1 inch wedges
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 can chickpeas
2 14-ounce cans of whole tomatoes, drained and chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
6 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 small bunch each of fresh Italian parsley and cilantro, roughly chopped
salt and fresh ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. While the oven is heating up, sprinkle a teaspoon of fine sea salt on the zucchini and eggplant slices, and let them stand for 20 minutes before rinsing under cold water. The salt helps get rid of the excess water in the vegetables so they can roast up nicely.

In a large bowl, toss the eggplant, onion, 2 garlic cloves, peppers, carrots, turnips, and potatoes with the olive oil, allspice, coriander seeds, and a little salt and pepper. Spread the veggie mixture on a large roasting tray in a single layer, so the veggies can roast rather than steam.

Cook the vegetables for 45 minutes in the oven, and gently turn the veggies over every 15 minutes or so to prevent them from burning. After 45 minutes of roasting, add the zucchini disks to the tray and cook for another 15 minutes.

While the veggies are in the oven, make a sweet tomato sauce that will bind the dish together. In a medium saucepan, heat up the olive oil over a medium to high heat. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add the 6 finely sliced garlic cloves and fry until the garlic begins to color. Add the chopped tomatoes and a pinch of salt to balance their acidity. Cook the sauce over a medium heat until most of the liquid that the tomatoes give out has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and then stir in the rinsed chickpeas to heat them up.

To serve the Turlu Turlu, add the roasted vegetables to the tomato-chickpea sauce and then stir everything together with the fresh herbs. Taste, and season with extra salt and pepper if needed.

Peach Jam
2 1/2 pounds peaches—peeled, pitted and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

In a large stainless saucepan, toss the cut peaches with the sugar and let them stand for about an hour until most of the sugar is dissolved. Stir every now and again so all the sugar gets mixed up.

Squeeze the lemon juice over the peaches in the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Cook over a moderate heat, stirring, until the liquid runs off the side of a spoon in thick heavy drops, around 20 to 25 minutes. If any scum rises to the surface of the jam, just skim it off.

Once the jam is thick enough, spoon the jam into 3 1/2-pint jars, leaving about 1/4 inch of space at the top. Close the jars and let the jam cool to room temperature. Store the jam in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Most morning mornings, I put a dollop of peach jam in my Greek yogurt and Kashi for breakfast, and for an extra special treat, I like to use it as a topping for vanilla ice cream too.

Traditionally, or at least in my experience, it’s typically made with cabbage, but this recipe uses bok choy. I’m been informed by a reliable source (aka my Korean friend Heekwon) that bok choy is used a lot to make kimchi in the summer in Korea. He also told me that my kimchi was really good, and that his baby daughter especially liked it

You can make your own large jar of kimchi for around 14 cents per ounce.

Homemade Kimchi, from Nick Sandler and Johnny Acton’s Preserved
2 1/4 pounds bok choy or Chinese cabbage
kosher salt
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
3 hot red chiles, finely chopped
1 small bunch of green onions, chopped
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Separate the bok choy or Chinese cabbage leaves and wash them very well. Chop them up into small pieces and put them in a large bowl.

Dissolve 3 tablespoons of salt into 3 cups of water and pour it over the greens until they are covered. If you need to make more brine, just follow the ratio of 1 tablespoon of salt to 1 cup of water.

Make sure all of the greens are immersed in the brine by weighing them down with a plate and a large bottle of water on top.

Leave the greens in the brine for 8 hours. After they have sat for 8 hours, drain the greens and immerse them in fresh cold water for 10 minutes, then drain them again.

After this, the greens are ready to ferment. Place them in a tall, sterilized glass jar and make the liquor. Start with 2 3/4 cups of water and mix in 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt plus the ginger, garlic, chiles, green onions, sugar, and the fish and soy sauces.

Make sure the salt is completely dissolved in the mixture, then pour the liquor over the greens in the jar, taking care to cover them completely.

Leave the jar in a warm room (above 75 degrees F) for 24 hours. Then the kimchi is ready to eat and can be kept in the fridge for up to 1 month.

Homemade Mixed Berry Jam
1 pound strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 lemon, seeded
1 pound mixed blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries

In a large stainless saucepan, toss the strawberries with the sugar and let them stand for about an hour until the sugar is most dissolved. Stir every now and again so all the sugar gets mixed up.

Squeeze the lemon over the strawberries and add it to the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until all of the sugar is dissolved. Cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until the strawberries are just softened, 5 minutes.

Then add the mixed berries and cook over a moderate heat, stirring, until the liquid runs off the side of a spoon in thick heavy drops, around 20 to 25 minutes. If any scum rises to the surface of the jam, just skim it off.

Once the jam is thick enough, throw out the lemon and spoon the jam into 3 1/2-pint jars, leaving about 1/4 inch of space at the top. Close the jars and let the jam cool to room temperature.

You need to store the jam in the fridge once it is cooled, and it will last for up to 3 months.

Like so many things, homemade jam just tastes better than most jams from a jar. You use the best fruit that you can find and can add as much or as little sugar as you want. Homemade jam also doesn’t contain high fructose syrup, which you often see added to jams on top of regular sugar, yuck! This Plum Jam recipe makes enough for 3 1/2-pint jars at a cost of 11 cents per ounce.

Homemade Plum Jam
2 pounds small plums, pitted and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 lemon, seeded

For the plum jam, I used the prune plums from the farmers’ market that I also used for the Plum Clafoutis. The guy at my favourite stand gave me a deal on the plums since they were a bit too soft to sell. So if you get your fruit at a farmers’ market, ask whether they have any soft fruit that they want to get rid of since it is perfect for making jam.

In a large stainless saucepan, toss the cut plums with the sugar and let them stand for about an hour until the sugar is most dissolved. Stir every now and again so all the sugar gets mixed up.

Squeeze the lemon over the plums and add it to the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the liquid runs off the side of a spoon in thick heavy drops, around 20 to 25 minutes. If any scum rises to the surface of the jam, just skim it off.

Once the jam is thick enough, throw out the lemon and spoon the jam into 3 1/2-pint jars, leaving about 1/4 inch of space at the top. Close the jars and let the jam cool to room temperature.

You need to store the jam in the fridge once it is cooled, and it will last for up to 3 months.