Thanksgiving Salad and Dessert
We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with Vicki’s family at her mother’s house. Vicki really outdid herself this year, making three fabulous desserts and a wonderful salad. She made the salad based on one we had at Soizic Bistro in Oakland, where we recently had an outstanding dinner. It includes frisee lettuce layered with roasted acorn squash, prosciutto, and pomegranate seeds. It is sprinkled with feta cheese and served with kale pesto and a vinaigrette. Wonderful flavors and texture!
One of the three desserts she made was a pecan pie that uses rum and honey. It was delicious, crunchy and sweet, outstanding with whipped cream. The recipe suggests using Lyle’s Golden Syrup, which is a good alternative for the evil corn syrup. It’s made in England from cane sugar and has a nice golden color; available from Amazon.com.
Pecan Pie
Adapted from John Thorne’s “Best-Ever Pecan Pie” recipe, found in the book, Classic Home Desserts
Home-made pie dough for 1 crust, or frozen pie dough
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup
2 tablespoons complex honey (lavender, herbed, etc.)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon dark rum
3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs (at room temp.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups broken pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Follow directions for home-made dough (i.e.: roll out, fit to buttered 9-inch pan, trim edges and chill), or remove your froze crust from the fridge.
In large saucepan, combine sugar, Golden Syrup, honey, maple syrup, rum, and butter over medium heat. Let mixture come to a boil for a minute, scraping down sides. Remove from heat and let cool for 20 minutes.
In a bowl, beat eggs till creamy. Incorporate slowly into the cooled syrup. Stir in the vanilla, pecans and salt.
Pour filling into pie shell and bake in middle or lower rack, and bake for 45 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
Serves eight.