For the last 104 Thanksgivings, I've broadcast my late mother-in-law – Mama Stamberg's — recipe for cranberry relish. This year is no exception, but there is a twist.
Canned pumpkin purée and coconut milk, heavily seasoned with curry spices and lots of fresh lime juice, make a sweet-sharp sauce for chickpeas. It’s a rich, creamy curry that you can eat on its own, or serve over rice or couscous. If you want to incorporate more vegetables, stir in some spinach, baby kale or sliced green beans during the last few minutes of cooking, letting them soften in the sauce.
For a hearty, make-ahead salad, we roasted chunks of cauliflower in a 425-degree oven. The cauliflower was covered for the first 10 minutes to cook the interiors and uncovered for another 20 minutes to brown the exteriors. We shaved the leftover core and pickled those shavings along with a thinly sliced shallot to create a tangy element for the salad. We repurposed some of that well-seasoned pickling liquid to make an arugula dressing that was stabilized with Greek yogurt.
This one-skillet dinner has the bright flavors of a salade Niçoise but is more substantial, so you can eat it all year long, even on a chilly evening. For a happy mix of exciting textures — tender salmon and orzo, snappy green beans, juicy tomatoes — cook the orzo with shallots and olives, then in the last few minutes of cooking, nestle in the green beans and salmon fillets to cook.
Traditional ghee is made by slowly simmering butter until the liquid has evaporated and the milk solids have started to brown. The solids are then strained out so that all that’s left is pure butterfat. Because the milk solids have been removed, ghee no longer contains dairy, making it paleo-friendly. It’s an invaluable ingredient in the paleo pantry, since it is well suited for most high-heat cooking methods, and provides a rich, buttery flavor to many a dish. Making ghee at home is very simple and more economical than buying it.