Our Holiday Gift: The Barnes & Conti 20th Annual Virtual Feast

About the Virtual Feast

Our year-end newsletter traditionally comes with a “virtual feast” of recipes from our staff. The feast was inspired by our annual December pot luck lunch, a long-standing Barnes & Conti tradition. The virtual feast is so popular, that we continue making the virtual feast the centerpiece of our holiday newsletter.

As our expression of gratitude to you—our readers, clients, friends, and associates—we hope you will try at least a few of these and will enjoy them.

We had a smaller virtual feast in our Thanksgiving Newsletter, and in case you missed that, we’ve included links to many of those recipes too.

Appetizer or Main Dish: Duck Confit with Brussels Sprouts

Kim Barnes, Barnes & Conti CEO

In case you’re having a smaller than usual holiday dinner, here's an elegant recipe as a main course for two, and an appetizer for four to six people.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp walnut oil
• 1 lb Brussels sprouts, quartered
• One package duck confit (2 legs and thighs)
• 1/3 cup dry vermouth or white wine
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• kosher salt to taste
• ground pepper to taste

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in an oven-proof frying pan or sauté pan with lid. Heat over medium-high heat, then add the Brussels sprouts and sauté until they begin to turn golden (about 3 minutes). Add the duck confit and turn several times. Increase the heat to high, add the vermouth or wine and scrape up any clinging bits.
• Cover pan and place in the oven. Cook until the meat is easily shredded and the sprouts are tender, about 20 minutes.
• Remove the meat from the bones and fold the meat into the Brussels sprouts. Add the walnuts and drizzle with the remaining walnut oil. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Stuffed Cabbage as Good as My (Grand) Mother’s
Lauren Powers, SVP Business Development

My father loved his mother’s cooking. Her stuffed cabbage was revered and legendary. My poor mother only wanted to please him by preparing a dish that would meet his exceptionally high standards. She obtained her mother-in-law, Rose’s, recipe, and on several occasions early in their marriage, she labored away in the kitchen and made him stuffed cabbage. With each attempt, he would remark, “It’s good, but not as good as my mother’s”.

After often hearing that hers didn’t quite measure up, my mother decided she had enough and she would trick him. She asked my Grandma Rose to prepare her stuffed cabbage but she planned to pass it off as her own that night at dinner with my father.

When my dad arrived home from work, dinner was waiting and Mom was armed with “her” stuffed cabbage. He took one bite and declared, “Now, this stuffed cabbage is as good as my mother’s!” I guess he knew what he was talking about!

Ingredients:

• One large head of cabbage
• One large pot of salt water w/ 2 tbsp salt (if using boiling cabbage method: see method, below)

For the filling:

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1/2 cup rice
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 - 1 tsp powdered ginger
• 1 onion grated or diced finely
• 1/2 cup water
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce:

• 3 cups water
• 1 tsp sour salt (you can buy it in a Jewish market)
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ -1 tsp. powdered ginger
• 1 tbsp. salt
• Paprika to taste
• 2 onions, coarsely chopped
• 2-3 small cans of tomato sauce, 8 oz each

Method:

1. There are two methods for preparing the cabbage leaves according to my aunts (who gave me the recipe) I go with the boil method, but you be the judge! The other method is to freeze the cabbage overnight, defrost, cut out core as it defrosts and the leaves fall away
2. Make stuffing by mixing together stuffing ingredients.
3. Make sauce by combining all the sauce ingredients except the tomato sauce and boiling it for 5 minutes.
4. Roll stuffing in cabbage leaves. If stem of leaf is too tough, cut off the stem core part so it will be more flexible. Put meat in center of leaf. Fold over the sides and roll from the bottom.
5. Keep rolling leaves.
6. After using all meat, if there is any cabbage left, shred it and place in large ovenproof pot with sauce mixture. Add the 2-3 cans of tomato sauce. Taste the sauce to make sure there is enough sugar and sour salt; it is a delicate balance. Make adjustments if needed.
7. Place cabbage rolls seam side down and bring to a boil.
8. Cook over low flame 2 hours or until sauce thickens and it tastes right.
9. As Grandma Rose says, “You’ve got to keep tasting!”

Serves 6

Editor's note: stuffed cabbage and potato latkes for Hanukkah go very well together!

Sweet Potato and Gruyère Gratin
Martha Legare, Barnes & Conti Senior Associate

This rich, cheese-laden gratin is a more savory take on the usual sweet potato casserole, with sage and rosemary giving it an herbal bite. If you’d like to prepare part of the recipe ahead, you can peel and slice the potatoes the day before; store in a sealable plastic bag in the fridge. You can also simmer the cream mixture (don’t add eggs) and grate the cheese the day before as well, storing them covered in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan and foil
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 cup heavy cream (or half-and-half)
• 2 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped
• 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 3 fat cloves garlic (1 tbsp), grated or minced
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 pounds sweet potatoes (about 3 medium or 4 small)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 + cups/4 1/2 ounces grated Gruyère

Method:

1. Grate Parmesan. Grate Gruyère. Chop herbs.
2. Heat oven to 400 degrees and generously butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan or shallow gratin dish. Butter a piece of foil large enough to cover top of pan. Sprinkle Parmesan all over bottom of pan.
3. In a medium pot, bring cream, sage, rosemary, garlic, nutmeg and a pinch of salt to a simmer. Simmer until reduced by 1/4, about 10 minutes.
4. In a large, heatproof bowl, whisk eggs just enough to break them up. Slowly pour hot cream into eggs to combine, whisking while pouring, and reserve the mixture.
5. Meanwhile, using a mandoline or sharp knife, slice the potatoes into 1/8-inch-thick rounds.
6. Place 1 layer of potatoes in the pan, (green oval dish is 10” X 7 1/2") slightly overlapping as you go, using about a third of the slices. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste, then pour 1/3 of the egg mixture over potatoes. Top with 1/2 cup Gruyère. Repeat with another layer of potatoes, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, pepper and 1/3 egg mixture. Top with 1/2 cup Gruyère. Top with remaining potatoes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper to taste, and remaining egg mixture (but not the remaining cheese). Press down to compact the potatoes.
7. Cover with foil and bake until potatoes are tender, about 50 minutes, then remove foil, sprinkle top with remaining 2/3 cup Gruyère, and bake until browned and bubbling, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool slightly, then serve.

Note: Make it day before, but stop after the first 50 min. in Step 7. Refrigerate overnight. Let warm to room temp, then add last of cheese, bake at 350 for 35-40 min. instead of 20.

Serves 8

Soy Braised Chicken with Dried Mushrooms
Joel Kleinbaum, Internet and Web Consultant

Joel says, “I captured the recipe for one of my Christmas Eve stir fries that I wrote about this year in a newsletter some years ago. However, I wish I’d known about soy-braised dishes back then! They’re so much easier as they just simmer ’til they’re done. Now the centerpiece of my Christmas Eve dinner is a soy braised brisket with sweet potatoes (nicknamed “Shanghai Tzimmes“—Tzimmes is Jewish dish that can also involve brisket and sweet potatoes is cooked very slowly). It involves a homemade Chinese bone broth and I don’t think there’s any quick and easy substitute available. Here’s a simpler braised dish that is just a festive.

If you have a bone cleaver (I don’t), you could cut the chicken thighs into 3-4 pieces. You really want bone-in chicken though, for a rich sauce and the best flavor.”

Ingredients:

• 6 chicken thighs
• 3 tbsp tamari soy sauce
• 2 tsp blackstrap molasses
• 1/4 cup Shaoxing rice wine, dry sherry, or Sake
• 10-12 dried shiitake mushroom, reconstituted by soaking in 1 cup of almost boiling water for at least 10 minutes
• 3-4 slices ginger, cut into julienne
• 2+ tsp. brown sugar (or caramelized rock sugar)
• 1-2 star anise, broken
• 2-3 cloves
• 1 small stick cinnamon
• 5-6 scallions, sliced
• 1+ tbsp peanut oil or sunflower oil

Method:

1. In a Dutch oven or heavy pot for braising (or your wok, if you're not accompanying this with a stir fry), heat oil, and briefly stir fry the ginger until it’s fragrant.
2. Briefly stir fry the chicken on both sides with the ginger. If the chicken gives off a lot of fat, you can pour some of it off.
3. Add the soy sauce, rice wine or sherry, and molasses and let the mixture bubble for a few seconds
4. Add the reserved soaking water from the mushrooms, the aromatics (star anise, cloves, cinnamon), and the mushrooms. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer slowly for at least 45 minutes, until the chicken is very tender.
5. If the sauce is too thin, remove the chicken and boil it for a few minutes. The sauce should be salty, savory, sweet, and taste of the aromatics. Add the scallions and heat until they are wilted.

Serves 6, with steamed rice and maybe a vegetable stir fry or two.

Blueberry Banana Bread

Nermin Soyalp, Curriculum Design and Development Consultant

Nermin says, “I’ve made this twice, and it was a great success! The recipe makes one loaf of bread and 6 muffins (or 2 loaves of bread). The picture shows only two muffins because my husband and I already ate 4 of them. It’s very delicious when fresh out of the oven. Enjoy with a cup of tulsi tea.”

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 2 eggs
• 2 ripe bananas mashed or sliced to pieces
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/4 cup walnuts mildly crushed

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease pans - one loaf bread pan and 6-muffin pan (or 2 loaf bread pans)
2. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl.
3. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
4. Add 1 egg and allow to blend into the butter mixture before adding the second egg along.
5. Continue to blend mashed/sliced bananas thoroughly into the mixture. Add flour mixture in small increments while blending until just combined into a thick batter.
6. Fold blueberries and walnuts into the batter.
7. Pour into prepared loaf pans.
8. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick or a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. NOTE: Muffins cook faster than the loaf. Check Muffins after around 20 minutes.
9. Cool in the pans for 5 to 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Dessert: Baked Pears

Lauren Powers, SVP, Business Development

Lauren says, “This is a staple for our family. It is particularly nice to have during the holidays as a healthy alternative for breakfast or dessert. Its beauty is in its simplicity…so easy and quick to make.”

• 6-8 ripe pears (the riper the better!)
• 2-3 cups apple cider
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• Cinnamon

Method:

1. Quarter pears leaving skin on and remove seeds.
2. Place in rectangular baking dish.
3. Pour apple cider over pears covering them about halfway.
4. Mix in dried cranberries.
5. Sprinkle cinnamon over pears. You can also use a cinnamon sugar mixture but since the pears, cider, and cranberries are sweet, it is usually not necessary.
6. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to one hour, checking for doneness. It is done when the fruit is soft.
7. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream for dessert or cold with granola and/or yogurt for breakfast.
8. Leftovers will keep for days in the refrigerator.