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Good Taste: Thanksgiving recipes from Kim Severson, Nicole Conn and more

Pull up a chair, undo your top jeans button, and lift a glass. This week’s Good Taste is serving up an interview with Kim Severson, a recipe and tips from Gluten-Free Girl Shauna James Ahern, an update on Nicole Conn‘s and Marina Rice Bader’s new film in production, A Perfect Ending, and four luscious recipes from their own kitchens.

Kim Severson, is the Atlanta Bureau Chief for the New York Times and author of Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life. Spoon Fed is a rare treat for us queer, foodie girls; Severson blends her coming-of-age, coming-out narrative with the life lessons and epiphanies bestowed by eight prominent women in the food world, from Alice Waters to Ruth Reichl. Severson is a natural storyteller, an unstinting self-revelator, and she laces her book with tasty recipes, insider intel, and a heaping spoonful of unabashed joie de vivre.

Two years ago, Severson live-blogged her Thanksgiving cooking experience, but I wanted to know more. She replied to my interview and recipe request with an email with the subject line “Love me some AfterEllen.” So with the mutual admiration society in full effect, we got right down to talking turkey.

AfterEllen.com: People who aren’t that interested in food tend to faithfully stick with the traditional holiday meals they grew up with, whereas foodies play around and innovate. Is that true for you?

Kim Severson: I like tradition as much as the next person. People like to see certain things on the table on Thanksgiving. But the green bean/cream of mushroom soup/fried onions casserole &mdsah; I don’t really want to eat that. So I’ll make fresh green beans sautéed with sliced almonds or a grainy mustard, to stay with that idea of tradition.

When it comes to turkey, I want a good old-fashioned turkey with good old fashioned gravy, because it tastes good. People might say, “I don’t like those marshmallows with my sweet potatoes.” So maybe bake the sweet potatoes, scoop them out of the skins, and serve them with a little maple syrup and butter.

You can’t be held hostage by what your mother served. It’s a quandary for people who don’t feel confident in the kitchen. Just do a few nice simple dishes. It will taste good!

AE: Do you and Katia cook on Thanksgiving? How do you divide it up?

KS: We [Kim, her wife Katia Hetter, and their daughter Sammy] just moved to Atlanta a month ago. So we’re in this new place. My niece is coming in, and we’re having some of the neighbors over.

AE: Lucky neighbors!

KS: [Laughs] I always like to cook. Thanksgiving is like High Holy Days for people who like to cook. I like to do it up. It’s fun, it’s a meal where you want to hit the right notes.

Katia usually orders or makes the pies. She’s a good cook but the kitchen is my realm. She deals with the rest of the house, she sets the table, deals with the guests. She takes care of everything else, so that I can cook.

AE: That’s so important. Laura does that for me, too. What’s it like to go from eating in San Francisco, to New York, to Atlanta?

KS: In San Francisco, this time of year is the start of Dungeness crab season, and there are still lots of seasonal vegetables available. In New York, it’s already cold, kitchens are smaller; it’s cozier. I’m so new to the South. I’m looking forward to learning more. The pecans down here are just beautiful, so we’ll be able to put those into a pecan pie. I have to be here a little longer before I can begin to understand what it’s like. I like a bread stuffing, not a cornbread stuffing, so I’ll stay with that. A place gets into you and that takes time. I’m looking forward to that.

AE: Do you pay attention to the recent rise of celebrity lesbian chefs? If so, what do you think of it?

KS: It is interesting. These women in the kitchen – Cato Cora, Anita Lo, Tracy DesJardins – great, take charge lesbians, doing so well as chefs.

I’ve tried to get at why that is. Lesbians are rule breakers, willing to do nontraditional things, break the male chef hierarchy with ease – they’re tough enough to move the big stockpots around. It’s a notable trend. They’ve got the groovy tattoos.

AE: I think it’s the clothes.

KS: Yes that’s it! The clogs, the pants –

AE: The jacket with the cute collar.

KS: And some women chefs look really great in a bandanna.

Kim’s stuffing muffins (hey, who’s that chuckling? Get your mind out of the bedroom), are especially ingenious because they provide a batch of dressing that is enough to stuff a turkey, if you roll that way, plus extra to be baked in muffin tins, as a vegetarian-friendly side (use veggie stock). Or, bake all of it in muffin tins.

Baking them in the form of muffins gives you more crispy outside surface area than you’d get by baking them in a casserole-a lovely contrast to the moist, soft, pillowy insides. Nom nom.

Time: One hour plus 24 hours for drying bread

1 large loaf Pullman or other firm white bread

1 pound chanterelle mushrooms

1/3 pound pancetta, diced small

10 tablespoons butter, more for greasing muffin tins

1 large chopped onion

1/4 cup minced shallots (about three)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup white wine

3 1/2 cups diced pears (about four or five firm, ripe varieties like Bartlett or Anjou) plus one whole pear

1 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme, or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

1/4 cup minced chives

1/3 cup chopped Italian parsley

2 cups turkey stock

1. Tear bread into small pieces (you should have about 16 cups) and set in roasting pan or bowl. To dry bread, cover with paper towels and leave out overnight. Or, place on a baking sheet in batches and lightly toast. Set aside.

2. Wipe mushrooms with a clean, damp towel. Trim tough ends. Slice some thickly, chop others. Set aside. Place pancetta in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook slowly until fat is rendered, about 7 minutes. Remove to a large plate.

3. Add 2 tablespoons butter to fat in pan and turn heat to medium high. Add onion and shallots, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until just soft. Do not brown. Remove to plate holding pancetta.

4. Add 3 tablespoons butter to pan. Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and quickly sauté until starting to brown. Remove and add to plate.

5. Add wine to pan and deglaze over medium high heat, cooking until wine reduces by about half. Pour remaining liquid over mushrooms. Wipe out pan and add remaining butter. Add pears and sugar and season with salt and pepper. Sauté pears, in batches if necessary, over medium high heat until they begin to brown slightly.

6. In a large bowl or roasting pan, add sautéed ingredients to bread. Toss lightly to combine. Add herbs and toss again. Slowly pour one cup stock over mixture and toss. Add more broth to make a very moist stuffing. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper. If you are stuffing a brined turkey, remember that the bird will add a bit more salt.

8. Just before roasting turkey, place some room-temperature stuffing lightly inside a prepared bird. Place whole pear in opening of cavity to help hold stuffing in the bird.

9. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously butter muffin tins and fill each with stuffing, pressing down so each cup is well filled. Top each with one tablespoon stock. Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes, until a golden crust forms on bottom. To serve, use a butter knife to remove each stuffing muffin and invert onto the plate.

Yield: Enough stuffing for a 12 to 14 pound turkey and a dozen muffin tins. If not stuffing a turkey, recipe will fill two dozen muffin tins or a small casserole dish.

In my first Good Taste column, I promised to “keep it relevant” for gluten-free peeps. It’s a pleasure to do so by showcasing Shauna James Ahern, who has of late been tirelessly touring the country promoting her new cookbook, Gluten Free Girl and the Chef. Shauna is the go-to-girl for gluten-free recipes; as a matter of fact, when searching for lesbian or bi gluten-free food bloggers, I came up dry. All I found were happy lesbian gluten-free bloggers who religiously link to her blog and her recipes.

Shauna and her husband, chef Daniel Ahern, have revolutionized the gluten-free world with their ambitiously gourmet (yet very accessible) oeuvre. They’re sharing a delish recipe for a vegan garlic and white bean spread recipe that can go on crackers, serve as a veggie dip – or be surreptitiously or flagrantly eaten with a spoon.

Shauna supportively shared some insights on how to have a gluten-free, taste-full Thanksgiving. You can also tap into her super-extensive Gluten-Free Thanksgiving 2010 guide.

AfterEllen.com: Hey, Shauna. How can newly gluten-free folks have a happy Thanksgiving?

Shauna James Ahern: Thanksgiving is meant to be a holiday of comfort, family, and good food around the table. For many gluten-free folks, that first Thanksgiving can be anxious and alienating instead. Nibbling on salad while everyone else piles plates high with the traditional foods feels a little sad.

There is no need to suffer. If you can convince your family to feast on foods that are naturally gluten-free, make a few dishes with gluten-free flours instead of regular all-purpose flour, and be careful with cross-contamination, then everyone can eat well. If this is a holiday about family and friends, everyone should feel welcome at the table.

Serve this with store-bought gluten-free crackers, or with Shauna’s gluten-free quinoa crackers with seeds.

1 large head garlic

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and cracked black pepper

1 cup dried cannellini or great northern beans, soaked overnight

1 sprig fresh rosemary

1 large shallot, peeled and sliced

1 lemon, zest grated, and juiced

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

Roasting the garlic

Preheat the oven to 350??F. Cut the head of garlic in half, horizontally. Drizzle both halves with 1 tablespoon of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Put the garlic in a small sauté pan and cover it with aluminum foil. Roast in the oven until the garlic is soft enough that you can squeeze the cloves out of their skins, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Cooking the beans

Set a large saucepan over high heat and add the beans. Cover the beans with cold water by 2 inches. Toss in the rosemary. Bring the water to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium and allow the beans to simmer until they are very tender to the fork, about 45 minutes. You don’t want a bit of crunch in them. Drain the beans.

Sautéing the shallots

Set a sauté pan over medium heat and pour in 1 tablespoon of the oil. Put the shallot in the hot oil. Sauté the shallot until it is soft and translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Do not allow it to brown.

Making the spread

Pour three-quarters of the beans, 1 teaspoon of the roasted garlic, and the sautéed shallot into a food processor. As the beans are pureeing, drizzle in the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Taste the puree. If you like more garlic in your puree, add it here. Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer the bean puree back to the bowl of whole beans. Toss in the lemon zest and parsley. Pour in 2 teaspoons of lemon juice. Taste the puree – you want hints of lemon, roasted garlic, beans, salt, and pepper. Season with salt and pepper and whatever else you might need. Refrigerate the spread until it is cool.

Nicole Conn is the film director of lesbian-themed movies Claire of the Moon and Elena Undone, as well as the award-winning documentary Little Man, about her baby son’s struggles to survive a premature birth.

Nicole’s partner is Marina Rice Bader, the executive producer of Elena Undone, a movie based on Conn’s and Rice Bader’s very Dear John, I Love Jane, cataclysmic falling in love. Like Elena, Rice Bader was married to a man when she fell spontaneously in love with Conn. And, in true Hollywood fashion, they decided, while driving back from a romantic weekend in Ojai, CA, to make Elena Undone, which stars the startlingly gorgeous Necar Zadegan and smokin’-fine Traci Dinwiddie They’re currently raising the funds for their new film, A Perfect Ending.

Nicole and Marina have a large blended family, and every Thanksgiving, Marina makes Chewy Gooey Bars and Nicole makes a day-after leftovers sandwich that has no equal: Mommy CoCo’s Post Turkey Day Sandwich. They’ve contributed those stellar recipes to this roundup.

Bread of your choice (I actually love this on a bagel – oy, what can I say?)

Choice of brown or white meat (I prefer yummy dark meat)

Mayo, plenty of it

Mustard, not so much

Potato chips

Fry the left over mashed potatoes and stuffing up in a pan so that it gets sort of on the crispy side. Put all this between two pieces of bread, with the turkey (or veggie alternative).

Depending on my mood, I either put a very thin spread of cranberry sauce over it, or dip it in cranberry sauce.

But here’s the one ingredient you musthave to make it a Mommy CoCo sandwich: take a liberal handful of potato chips (the salt and pepper crinkle cut is my preference), mash it on the top sandwich layer and gingerly place the top piece of bread onto it. Moosh until you can get it to a bite-size width! It’s true – this is extremely difficult to get your mouth around but, oh, when you do, it’s Turkey Heaven.

Since I can’t boil water, I’m the first to admit this recipe is rather pedestrian; but let me tell you, everyone who’s ever had my post-T-day sandwich always asks me to make it again.

1 box Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden Cake Mix

1 stick butter, melted

3 large eggs

8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1-lb. box powdered sugar (save a bit for sprinkling)

In one bowl, mix together the cake mix, butter and one egg. Press into the bottom of a 9×13 pan, preferably Pyrex.

In another bowl, beat together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and two eggs until frothy. Pour over the cake layer and spread evenly.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes (until golden brown).

Cool completely, sprinkle with remaining sugar, cut into small squares, and speak to them kindly as you attempt to get them out of the pan.

So now to get started.

Candace is the co-editor of Dear John, I Love Jane: Women Write About Leaving Men for Women (Seal Press, 2010), and Ask Me About My Divorce: Women Open Up About Moving On (Seal Press, 2009). She is currently working on a memoir-with-recipes for Seal Press called Licking the Spoon. Candace is also the features editor at Mothering magazine, mama of two, and enamorata of smarty-pants Laura, her live-in recipe tester. Follow Candace on Twitter @candacewalsh.

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