Chef Tom, The Tourtière, and the Sonically Silky Bruno from Mars

For my neighbors to the North. Here’s something you might all be familiar with, but it’s a helluva idea for leftovers. Good on its own, too, of course. This is from one of my favorite food authors, Sam Sifton, from the New York Times. The recipe is an undertaking, but so worth the time. Pay attention to what Chef McMillan says below.

Chef Tom – A Little on the Side: Not Just For Thanksgiving Anymore

Editor’s Note – Submitted before American Thanksgiving, Chef’s column offers up some recipes that are perfect for the cold winter months ahead as well as the traditional holiday meal. Swerve these anytime the need arises for comforting additions to your dinner that also bring with them fine reminders of family gatherings and good times. Thank you.

My favorite Thanksgiving side dish has always been the stuffing. Especially the crispy bits. Savory, carb-y, fatty…you know, all the good stuff. One of my go-to flavor enhancers that I figured out way back in the mid-seventies when I was just starting out on my culinary career, is caramelized onions.

Chef Tom’s Turkey Alternatives

Not a big Roast Turkey fan. Never been. I do like the ceremony, though, a lot. Over the years I’ve kept the ritual of bringing something magnificent to the table and carving it, but I’ve replaced the bird – with beef or pork. These cuts are much more forgiving, way juicier, and still make for an elegant presentation.

Here are my two favorite go-to crowd pleasers for that Thanksgiving centerpiece.

Miso Hungry

If you’ve never had anything with miso in it, it’s an amazing, beautifully umami, easy to use miracle-food that’s chock full of all kinds of healthy stuff. Japanese have been making it for millennia. If the only way you’ve experienced it is as an accompaniment to some yummy sushi, then you’d do well to know that this odd looking paste can elevate just about anything you cook.

The ingredients that give the following recipe its name, miso and maple syrup, are strong characters, but they play well with each together. Their flavors are warm and satisfying, mellow and not immediately knowable at first, hovering in that space between sweet and savory. Coarse-crumbed and sturdy, easy to slice, easy to serve at both breakfast and to pick up and nibble in the afternoon. Good with butter and jam or with a little cheese. And it keeps well: It’ll hold at room temperature for about 4 days.

Chef Tom – Chicken with Mushrooms, High South, and Sam

I made this over the weekend. Man is it good. Rich with the cream, but hey, cream is a whole food, and the natural saturated fat is good for your brain. You need this dish to feed your head, so you can figure out what’s for dessert..

Chef Tom – Food Fusion and The Silk Road Ensemble

Not to be confused with CON-fusion. Some ultra-PC folks wax expert about cultural appropriation. Well, the one place where that construct has no business being, is in the kitchen. Every dish you cook has had multiple influences from multiple cultures. Even if I were relegated to only cooking white boy food from Northern California (eeew), there would be zero recipes that I could cook that hadn’t originated from someplace OTHER than my own neighborhood. Even my own neighborhood evolved from countless cultures other than my own.

Fusion is the result of natural evolution, IMHO. The world is one big magical soup. The parable of Stone Soup makes my point. Without the generous influence from the other cultures around us, life would be unbearably dull. 

Chef Tom – Peaches and Passion

Peaches are my favorite fruit. Firm, ripe, juicy. Can’t be beat. We’re in mid-peach season. Eat as many as you can, as often as you can. Here are some yummy recipes to whet your imagination and tantalize your tastebuds.

Chef Tom – TOMatoes

Tomato season. My favorite time of year. All the colors, flavors, textures and…juice. I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. When something is in season, eat as much of it as you can. In season means the produce is at peak nutrition. Have tomatoes every day if you can. You’ll maximize the good-for-you.

With tomato season comes all the stone fruit. Their sugars and acid are perfect matches for tomatoes, especially peaches and nectarines. Go for a variety of colors and shapes to make each dish more appealing. Experiment with your own combinations.

Here are just a few of my favorite recipes.

Chef Tom – Salad Niçoise

“Sometimes people mistake the salad bowl for a lawless place of disorganized and mismatched ingredients, chopped and discarded – dried cranberries on pumpkin seeds on soggy corn – which offends even me.”

Chef Tom – ¡Esta muy caliente!

Aguas frescas, water-based fruit drinks, are a cool way to make your fresh fruit go further—especially in the summertime when you might have a larger watermelon than you know what to do with, or peaches that are starting to shrivel.