Thanksgiving feast gobbling up more dollars
If you've started your Thanksgiving shopping already (and if you haven't, shame on you), you've probably realized that the provisions are costing more than they did in 2009.
According to The Food Institute, an industry group that tracks trends and developments, turkey prices are up some 30 percent, averaging $1.05 a pound, because feed prices have climbed.
The prices for canned pumpkin (which was in short supply last year), potatoes, onions and sweet potatoes are up as well, between 6.5 percent and 23 percent. If you plan to put pecan pie on your table, those pecans will cost you $6 a pound, up 41 percent from last year's $4.25.
On the flip side, the price for fresh cranberries and celery, as well as frozen carrots and canned apples, green beans and corn have dropped. (I think there's a case to be made for a vegetarian feast in there somewhere).
Preserving pumpkin: If you take the fresh pumpkin route for your pie, ravioli and other seasonal sweet and savory dishes, you might find yourself with more cooked pumpkin than you need.
The U.S.D.A no longer recommends canning pumpkin purée as a way to preserve it, but freezing it is quite acceptable.
Package the cooked purée into plastic bags, squeezing out as much air as you can before you set it in the freezer.
You'll have pumpkin on hand when the craving for a pumpkin pie strikes in April and when you get the urge to create this pumpkin smoothie. I tweaked this recipe from one in this month's FamilyFun magazine: Open that freezer bag of pumpkin and with a metal spoon scrape out one-half to three-quarters of a cup of purée and put it in a blender along with three-quarters of a cup low-fat vanilla yogurt, one-fourth teaspoon cinnamon, one-eighth teaspoon nutmeg and two teaspoons brown sugar.
Stirring the Pot(ter): If you want to munch on Treacle Tarts and Molly's Meat Pies on your way to see the latest Harry Potter movie (which opens Friday, Nov. 19), find the recipes in “The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook.”
Author Dinah Bucholz (a copy editor and passionate pie baker) has re-created dishes from J.K. Rowling's seven-book series like Hagrid's Rock Cakes, Mrs. Weasley's homemade fudge and breaded pork chops that Dumbledore eats at the Yule ball. She even references the book and the chapter in case you didn't remember that in Chapter 6 of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” Hermione is too worried to eat her steak and kidney pudding.
If you're not a wizard-loving muggle, the 150-recipe cookbook (Adams Media, $19.95) is a fun introduction to British cuisine.
Chefs onstage: A trio of Chicago's hottest chefs will join cookbook writer and culinary event planner Lee Brian Schrager and former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni for an open discussion of food and fame.
The panel, part of The New York Times “TimesTalks” series, includes Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, Art Smith of Art and Soul and Table Fifty-Two, and Charlie Trotter of Charlie Trotter's. Bruni, now a writer for The New York Times Magazine, will moderate the “Chicago Chefs Live!” discussion from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Tickets cost $25 for the event at the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St. Details and tickets at (888) 698-1870 or Timestalks.com.
Deborah Pankey#376; Contact Food Editor Deborah Pankey at food@dailyherald.com or (847) 427-4524. Listen to her discuss food and restaurant trends on Restaurant Radio Chicago, 5 to 6 p.m. Saturdays on WIND 560 AM.