Diva Dinners: Fuss Free Thanksgiving Dinner

By Nicholette von Reiche
Photography by Louis Hiemstra

Being South African, I am not accustomed to celebrating Thanksgiving. I am however looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with my in-laws this year.  I know enough about this holiday to understand that great tasting food is at the order of the day, but spending as little time as possible in the kitchen and as much time as possible with your loved ones is the main objective. I have decided to let you in on what I will be preparing this year and am thrilled that this menu will have dinner on the table in less than an hour.  I doubt there will be any leftovers for you to worry about and if you clean as you go your kitchen will never let on that you have put together a scrumptious 5-course meal in just one hour.

Enjoy and happy thanksgiving.
Nicholette

Thanksgiving dinner menu
This menu is simple yet sophisticated and will leave a lasting impression with your loved ones.

Nibbles:
Breadsticks, crudités and dips
Starter:
Blue cheese and grape salad
Main:
Roast turkey with orange and grape fruit segments
and pistachio praline
Side:
Peas with mint and lemon zest
Dessert:
Chocolate torte with fresh berries

Planning ahead
For effortless entertaining, no matter how big the menu or number of guests see what can be done ahead of time and plan ahead. Here is a quick guide to show how the evening can be easy and run effortlessly.

Day before
-Prepare the chocolate torte the day before.

Do ahead
-Have your table set up before the guests arrive.
-Prepare individualized nibble plates with name cards prior to guest’s arrival.
-Prepare the praline and store in a plastic container with a tight fitting lid.
-Segment the oranges and grapefruits, capturing all of it’s juices, cover with plastic and
refrigerate.

On the night
-Prepare and get the turkey in the oven first.
-Prepare the starter and serve.
-Assemble your side dish whilst the turkey is resting and serve warm in the centre of the table.
-Serve the turkey warm, cut into slices, interlaced with the praline and scatter with the segments.
-Serve the pan juices with the turkey so guests can help themselves.
-For dessert, simply remove the torte from the fridge, unmold and serve on a beautiful serving
platter scattered with fresh berries and shaved chocolate if desired. Serve with good quality coffee.

Recipes

Bread sticks, crudités and dips
Your guests will salivate at the mere smell of what’s cooking in the kitchen, surprise them with these light nibbles to prepare their palates for what is to follow.

Serves: 4-6
Preparation: 5-10 minutes

Bread sticks or crackers
Raw or lightly steamed vegetables of choice*
Two dips of choice*

Prepare an individualized plate for each of your guests.
Tie a name card and ribbon around a small pile of breadsticks or simply make a place card for each guest. In addition place some vegetables and a sample of both of the dips on each plate.

Notes:
Vegetables options: asparagus, baby carrots, celery sticks, peppers, sliced cucumber
Dip options: tapenade, hummus, tzatziki, roast red pepper or egg plant dip and beetroot hummus

Blue cheese and grape salad

Serves: 4-6
Preparation: 10-15 minutes

9oz  (250g) watercress or mixed greens
9oz (250g) seedless red grapes, halved
9oz (250g) blue cheese, sliced
1.8 oz (50g) walnuts, roughly chopped

Dressing:
6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp honey
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and ground black pepper

Prepare the dressing by placing all of the ingredients in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and whisk to combine.
Arrange the watercress or mixed greens and grapes on serving plates. Lay over slices of the blue cheese and scatter with walnuts.
Drizzle with the dressing or serve on the side.

Notes:
If figs are in season toss through some balsamic grilled fig wedges.

Roasted turkey with orange and grapefruit segments and pistachio praline

I love this dish! The flavors work together beautifully and I like how the praline served together with the warm turkey starts to melt after a while.

Serves: 4-6
Preparation: 30 minutes
Cooking: 30 – 35 minutes

5oz (150g) butter, softened
Zest of 2 lemons
2 Tbsp thyme leaves
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 x 42oz (1.2 kg) turkey breast *
2 Tbsp olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
Salt and ground black pepper

2 oranges
2 grapefruits

For the praline
1 cup sugar
3.5oz (100g) pistachios, roughly chopped

Prepare the turkey:
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Combine the butter, lemon zest, thyme and garlic in a bowl.
Place the turkey on a baking dish. Spread all over and on both sides with the lemon and thyme butter. Secure the breast with kitchen string, if not already done.
Pour the lemon juice and olive oil over the turkey, season with salt and pepper and bake covered with foil for 15 minutes.
Remove the foil and roast, basting with the pan juices every 10 minutes for an additional 20-25 minutes or until the skin is golden and the juices run clear when tested with a skewer.
Reserve the pan juices and allow the turkey to rest for 5-10 minutes before carving.

Prepare the orange and grapefruit segments:
Segment the oranges and the grapefruit over the same bowl, ensuring that you capture all of the juices.

Make the praline:
Melt the sugar in a saucepan over a low heat, do not stir and stay close by to make sure it does not burn. Once the sugar starts to turn golden brown, remove from the heat.
Layout a sheet of tinfoil on a baking sheet and lightly coat with oil.
Sprinkle the pistachios over the foil and drizzle the warm syrup over.
Allow to cool and harden. Once set, remove the praline from the foil and break into shards.

Serve the carved turkey warm, with orange and grapefruit segments and pistachio praline.
Drizzle with a little of the remaining pan juices and some of the orange and grapefruit juice if desired.

Notes:
* To save time, buy a turkey breast that has already been secured with kitchen string.

Peas with mint and lemon

Serves: 4-6
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 5 minutes

1 Tbsp butter
1 red onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
12 oz (350g) frozen or fresh peas
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup mint leaves, shredded
salt and ground black pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil (optional)

Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onion has softened, about 1-2 minutes.
Add the peas and lemon zest and cook until tender, about 1-2 minutes.
Remove from the heat and add the shredded mint leaves, salt and pepper and drizzle with a little extra olive oil if desired.

Notes:
This side dish is also delicious served with dollops of ricotta cheese.

Chocolate torte
This decadent cake is effortless but needs chilling time, so make it a day in advance.

Serves: 6 generous portions
Preparation: 15 minutes
Chilling: 2 hours or over night

7oz (200g) chocolate and mint cookies
2oz (50g) butter, melted
2 large egg whites
3oz (85g) castor sugar
9oz (250g) good quality plain chocolate
1 cup double cream
2 Tbsp chocolate or coffee liqueur (optional)

To serve
Chocolate curls
Fresh berries

Crush the biscuits into fine crumbs using a food processor or simply place the biscuits in a large plastic bag and crush into crumbs with a rolling pin.
Stir the biscuit crumbs into the melted butter and press the crumbs into the base of an 8-inch (20cm) spring-form cake tin. Chill whilst preparing the filling.
Place the egg whites and castor sugar in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (double boiler). Use a hand held whisk and whisk until soft peaks form, about 10 minutes (use a small pan or pot if necessary to ensure that no steam escapes and burns you).
Melt the chocolate over a double boiler or over a medium to low heat in the microwave.
Whip the cream and gently fold the melted chocolate, followed by the cream and liqueur into the egg white mixture.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin, smooth the surface and chill for 2 hours or preferably overnight.
Serve your torte unmolded on a beautiful serving plate, sprinkled with chocolate curls and fresh berries.

Notes:
You can use a loose-based cake tin if you do not have a spring form tin.  To un-mold simply balance the torte on a 14oz (400g) tin, loosen the sides with a small palette knife and gently pull the sides of the tin down. Use a palette knife to carefully slide the torte onto your serving plate.

This cake can be stored for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

Diva Dinners: Divalicious

By Nicholette von Reiche. Photography by Louis Hiemstra (www.louishiemstra.co.za)

What makes you a Diva?

Is it the way you walk, talk or dress? Is it the way you carry yourself, your attitude, your self-expression? Or is it a word to describe the many facets that makes up a lady? Is being a Diva simply the unique way that you take care of yourself from head to toe?

I think it’s a mixture of all of these things. I think it is the image you portray to others; the way you show people that you know how to take care of yourself, take control of your life. It’s knowing how to portray the best side of you at all times. With the best side of you I mean, you at school, in the classroom or in front of your books, you working your butt cheeks off at the gym, you being a supportive friend or loving girlfriend, you showing your professional side at work and you preparing unashamedly glamorous food and strutting your stuff in the kitchen. We all know that being a girl can be a demanding task and that is what I believe makes us Divas.

But what does it take to be a culinary Diva?

Culinary Divas know that with basic kitchen equipment and some tips and secrets they will be able to create dashing dishes no matter the occasion. They use real butter and take advantage of seasonal ingredients. They are the girls who know how to put together an entertaining evening and how to enjoy a delightful occasion with their guests by not spending most of the time stuck in the kitchen.

These gals know how to simplifly entertaining and above all they realize that being able to cook is a very useful skill. A skill they like to cultivate by constantly adding to their already impressive repertoire. Besides cooking impressive dishes, a culinary Diva is never intimated by cooking or words and ingredients they have never heard of before. They are not afraid of the occasional cheat if it means it will save time. These girls realize that creating glamorous, delicious food can be simple to prepare and take up very little time.

Diva Dinners is a column that helps Diva’s create stress-free meals for their friends, loved-ones or themselves. Our Divas already have the attitude and the charisma we simply give them some inspiration and help them create delightful dishes, learn new things and approach a modern style of entertaining

To celebrate our first issue of Diva Dinners we have put together a simple menu for all our Diva readers. Invite over some girl friends and celebrate life, good food and being the multitasking wonderful Divalicious babe that you are.

Divalicious Menu:
This menu will leave a lasting impression with your guests. The flavors are simple and the tastes work well together.

Starter: Edamame and parma ham salad
Main: Lemon and pistachio crusted lamb
Side: Roast potatoes and steamed green breans
Dessert: Granadillas with vanilla ice cream

Edamame and parma ham salad

Serves: 4
Preparation: 10-15 minutes

125g (4.5oz) parma ham
100g (3.5oz) watercress or mixed salad leaves
100g (3.5oz) punnet of edamame
6 radishes, cut into wedges
Onion sprouts, to garnish (optional)
Pine nuts (optional)

Dresssing
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp brown sugar

Blanch the edamame beans

Prepare the dressing by combing the ingredients in a bowl. Whisk to combine well and set aside. 
Place all the ingredients for the salad, except for the dressing in a bowl and gently toss to coat.

Serve drizzled with the dressing.

Notes :
Edamame is green soya beans, you can replace it if sliced greenbeans or aspargus in this recipe. Replace the parma ham with serrano ham or other preffered variety.

Sliced peaches or nectarines will also worked well in this salad.

Lemon and pistachio crusted lamb

Serves: 4
Preparation: 10-15 minutes (including sides)
Cooking time: 20-30 minutes (dependng on cut of meat)

2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp fine lemon zest
100g (3.5oz) pistachios, roughly chopped
4 Tbsp mint, roughly chopped
Salt and ground black pepper
Lamb meat of choice (see notes)
4 Tbsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F).

Combine the crushed garlic, lemon rind, pistachios and mint in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Brush the lamb with half of the olive oil. Press the pistachio mixture onto the lamb to create a crust.

Transfer to a lightly oiled baking dish and drizzle with the remaining olive oil.

Roast the lamb for 20-25 minutes or until the lamb is cooked to your liking. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before carving or slicing.

Serve with roast potatoes and steamed greenbeans.

Notes:
We used a deboned lion fillet, but any roasting meat or even lamb cutlets will work perfectly with this recipe. Cooking times will vary on the cut and thickness of meat, as well as preferred doneness of meat so keep a close eye.

Roast potatoes
Halve 400g (14oz) baby potatoes. Place in a microwave dish. Add 4 Tbsp water and a pinch of salt and cook until almost soft about 5-10 minutes. Add to a roasting pan, drizzle and coat with 1 Tbsp olive oil and roast at 180°C (355°F) for 15 minutes or until browned lightly.

If possible use the last 10-15 minutes of the cooking time for the lamb and add the potatoes to the same dish.

Steamed greenbreans
Wash 400g (140z) greenbeans and place in a bowl. Cover with boiling water and strain after 1 minute. Flavour with salt, pepper and a knob of butter if desired. Serve with the lamb.

Granadillas with vanilla ice cream

Serves: 4
Preparation: 5-10 minutes

Granadillas (1-2 per person)
Good quality vanilla ice cream, to serve
Mint, to garnish

Cut the granadilla in half and serve with ice cream and mint

Notes:
Replace the granadillas with any other fresh seasonal fruit. Cherries sprinkled with lemon zest and chopped mint, mixed berries drizzled with a balsamic reduction or sliced plums, apricots or nectarines.