Carrot Pudding & Smoked Turkey: Thanksgiving in Schwenksville, PA
So this year Elena, Ivan and I converged on my brother and his family in Philadelphia. Ivan arrived first via air from Seattle, I was to arrive right behind with a combo flight to Newark and then Amtrak to the 30th street station in Phili but debris on the train bumped me much closer to Elena’s arrival. Elena arrived on a train from Washington, D.C. that was punctual. Poor Niki had to drive from spot to spot to get us and finally we ended up in a car meeting up with Jay and Tracy to have dinner at a fabulous French restaurant in Conshohocken. Next came delivery to Jay and Tracy’s in Schwenksville (although not for long-they are moving to Pottstown). They bought a bed and breakfast but now I really do digress…
Oh, but before we go on, it is currently 17 degrees in Philadelphia and 64 degrees in San Diego.
Thanksgiving has all sorts of our traditional foods but one thing that I have really come to love is a Carrot Pudding recipe from the Cookbook The Thanksgiving Table by Diane Morgan. I have altered the recipe a bit and am attaching mine but do realize that the base of this came from that cookbook. Why do I love this? It is a vegetable (carrots) but in a pudding form so creamy and smooth. It has lemon and onion and nutmeg plus a good dose of butter and cream. The top browns and has a nice crust but the pudding itself is creamy.
Carrot Putdding
Ingredients:
8 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons of butter, melted
¼ cup sugar (slightly less is better)
1 tablespoon of flour
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ ground nutmeg
¼ cup coarsely chopped onion
1 cup cream or half and half
3 large eggs
Instructions:
Place the carrots in boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. Let cool. If you wish to make these ahead of time, you can and keep refrigerated until ready to make the dish.
Coat a 2-quart soufflé dish with one tablespoon of the melted butter. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a food processor, combine the carrots, onion. Lemon juice and 4 tablespoons of melted butter, process until a smooth puree forms. If the mix is too thick, add ½ cut of the cream. Once the mixture is smooth, add all of the rest of the ingredients and process until well combined, scraping the sides of the food processor bowl to make sure that all of the ingredients are well mixed.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared dish. This can then be refrigerated for several hours if needed. If refrigerating, bring out one hour prior to baking to allow the dish to return to room temperature.
Bake uncovered until the pudding is puffed and lightly browned and the center is firm to the touch or a skewer comes out clean (about 50 minutes to an hour). Serve immediately (but it is soooo good the next day cold).
Tracy made rolls but that will be the subject of another post which will also involve another look at the honey from the 1000 Foods book. The Purdy beans were in evidence and that is the subject of a previous post. Tracy made home-made cranberry sauce using the recipe I use as well (post to come). Jay smoked a turkey and that might require several posts. It was a very blog-worthy thanksgiving!
