Holiday feast: recipes for a healthful celebration

Better Nutrition, Dec, 2004 by William Rubel

Garlic Mashed Potato Pie

SERVES 10 TO 12

The pie crest recipe makes about
3K pounds of dough. The pie uses
only 2 pounds for the crust, so you
can use the extra to make decorations
for the pie.

Pie Crust
3 cups water
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp. salt
7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 large egg, beaten

Pie Filling
3 heads garlic
3 lb. fine-textured potatoes such as
  red-skinned or Yukon gold
  potatoes, peeled
1/4 lb. plus 4 Tbs. butter, at room
  temperature
1 cup milk
1 to 2 bunches small carrots, trimmed,
  scrubbed and cut in half lengthwise
1 bunch kale
Salt to taste
3 cups finely chopped leeks

1. To make Pie Crust: Bring water to
a boil in a covered saucepan. Turn
off heat, and add butter and salt, stirring
until butter melts.

2. Put flour in a mixing bowl. Slowly
add hot water, mixing with a spoon
until partially combined. Turn
dough out onto floured work surface,
and, when dough is cool
enough to handle, knead several
times until it is completely mixed.
Form dough into ball, wrap in plastic
wrap and set aside for at least 1
hour to firm.

3. Preheat oven to 325F.

4. To make Pie Filling: Put garlic
heads on baking sheet, and bake 45
minutes to 1 hour, or until pulp
begins to turn caramel in color and
is so soft it squeezes easily from
cloves. Test for doneness by curling
into cloves, and set aside.

5. Bring a large saucepan of lightly
salted water to a boil over high heat,
add potatoes, cover and cook about
25 minutes, or until potatoes pierce
easily with fork. Remove from heat,
strain and place potatoes in mixing
bowl. Cut tops off roasted garlic.

6. Using ricer or masher, mash
potatoes, add 1/4 pound butter and,
when it is incorporated, add milk.
Squeeze garlic pulp into potato
mixture, and mix until potatoes are
fluffy and smooth. Taste for salt,
and set potatoes aside.

7. Put carrots cut-side down on bottom
of a 10-inch skillet. Add 2
tablespoons butter and 1 cup of
water, cover and cook over medium
heat until water just evaporates and
carrots are tender, about 10 minutes,
adding more water if needed.
Remove more beat, transfer to a
plate and set aside.

8. Place kale in a skillet, add 1/4 cup
of water and cover. Bring to a boil
over high heat, and cook until
greens have willed and are tender,
about 10 minutes. Add salt to taste.
Remove from heat, drain and rinse
in cold water. Drain, squeeze dry
and chop finely. Squeeze dry again,
and set aside.

9. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a
skillet over medium to low heat.
Add leeks, increase temperature to
medium, and saute stirring as necessary
until leeks are soft, about 10
minutes. Remove from heat, transfer
to a plate and set aside. Increase
oven temperature to 350F.

10. Roll out a 12-olmcc piece of
dough to 8x12 inches on a lightly
floured surface. Trim the edges to
form an oval. Put carrots on bottom.
flat side down, leaving 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch
outer edge of dough. Place
minced greens on carrots.

11. Layer mashed potatoes on top.
Mold potatoes into the shape of a
pie with straight sides 3 1/2 inches high
and a flat top. Put leeks on potatoes.

12. Roll out 1 pound of dough into
2 strips about 4x16 inches. Place
strips around mounded potatoes to
form sides. Strips are wrapped resting
against sides and partially over
the top, resting the dough against
pie filling and over the lop edge of.
the filling. Pinch bottom and side
seams to seal. Trim off the excess
dough, as needed.

13. Roll out a piece of dough about
2x4 inches to complete the lop
crest, and pinch closed. Roll out the
extra dough thinly, and cut into decorative
shapes, if desired. Brush crust
with beaten egg.

14. Bake 1 hour, increasing heat to
475F to brown crust 5 to 10 minutes
more, if needed. Remove from
oven, and serve.

PER SERVING: 430 CAL; 9G PROT; 18G TOTAL FAT (11G SAT. FAT); 60G CARB; 55MG CHOL; 430MG SOD; 4G FIBER; 5G SUGARS

Candied Ginger
Cranberry Sauce

SERVES 8 TO 10

You can prepare this cranberry
sauce the day before serving, and
serve it at room temperature.

1 lb. fresh or frozen cranberries
2 oz. candied ginger, coarsely minced
1 cup water
1 lb. turbinado or granulated sugar

1. Put cranberries, ginger and water
in a saucepan, and cover. Cook
over high heat until water boils,
reduce heat to medium and cook
until the berries burst and the sauce
thickens, 30 to 40 minutes.

2. Add sugar, and cook over high
heat until the sugar is dissolved, 1 to
2 minutes. Remove from heat,
place in a serving bowl and set aside
to cool.

PER SERVING: 220 CAL; 0G PROT; 0G TOTAL FAT (0G SAT. FAT); 56G CARB; 0MG CHOL; 0MG SOD; 2G FIBER; 50G SUGARS

Pumpkin Pie

SERVES 6

A well-spiced pumpkin pie has long
been included in holiday feasts.
Using nuts in the French-style pie
crust makes a nice contrast with the
rich, spicy pumpkin filling. For best
results and for the fullest flavor, use
fresh pumpkin, if at all possible. To
save time, plan on making this pie
one day ahead.

Pie Crust
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup ground almonds
2/4 cup butter, firm but net cold
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 to 3 tsp. water, as needed

Pie Filling
1 lb. fresh pumpkin, seeded and cot
  into wedges
2 cups water
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
Pinch ground cloves

1. To make Crust: Stir together
flour, sugar and almonds in bowl.
Place mixture on work surface.
Using pastly blender, cut in butter
until uniformly size of small peas.

2. Gather dough into mound,
make well in center, break egg
into well and add vanilla. Cut
water into dough. When evenly
distributed, complete mixing by
spreading dough with palm of
band onto work surface 2 to 4
times as yon form dough into ball.
Do not overwork.

3. Cover dough with cloth, and set
aside in cool place for at least 30
minutes. Do not refrigerate.

4. Preheat oven to 325R

5. To make Pie Filling: Place pumpkin
and water in saucepan, cover
and cook over medium to high heat
until pumpkin is soft, about 30 minutes.
Remove from heat, drain and
set aside.

6. When cool enough to handle,
use spoon to scrape pulp from peel,
mash pulp in bowl with fork and
press through sieve, yielding about
1 cup.

7. Beat eggs until blended, and
whisk in milk and brown sugar.
Add pumpkin puree and spices,
and mix until well combined.

8. Roll out dough on lightly floured
surface into 11-inch circle X-inch
thick. Transfer dough to 9-inch pie
pan, pressing into bottom and
sides. Trim edges, leaving 1/2-inch
overhang. Press overhang derail,
and crimp rim with fingers or tines
of fork. Pour in filling carefully.

9. Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour, or
until knife inserted in center
conies out clean. Remove pie
from oven, and allow pie to cool
before serving.