Click Here to Download The Hot Knives Thanksgiving Podcast

If that’s not enough Hot Knives jabber for you this holiday season, don’t worry: Our local radio-foodie-geek-show “Good Food” invited the two of us on their program last weekend to babble about winter beer, gravy recipes, and avocadoes the size of babies’ heads. The show is here, and our spot is toward the middle of the hour-long program (or scroll down for the spot by itself!)

Hot Knives Thanksgiving Menu

Root Stuffing (recipe below)
Spiced Seitan
Golden Oyster Gravy
Ginger Beer Cranberry Sauce
Winter Shivers Salad
Mashed Sunchokes or Squash Mash

Beverage: Flying Dog’s Wild Dog
Soundtrack: The Second Marriage Records Compilation

Root Stuffing

Bread-less, wheat-free stuffing is a good way to lighten dinner plates that are already carb-laden from seitan, or other fake meats. Don’t get to caught up with finding Kohlrabi or weird roots if you’re stuck in a suburban supermarket with skimpy produce. Use what you can find: for instance parsnips could be replaced with turnips, rootabegas or even just a potato and a carrot. The important thing is the love with which you roast it!


(Serves 4-6)
2 stalks of celery
2 golden beets
2 parsnips
1 green apple
1 bulb celeriac
1 yam
1 Kohlrabi (optional)
1/2 lbs. raw cashews
1/2 lbs. raw almonds or pecans
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbs. kosher salt
1/2 Tbs. fresh black pepper
1 Tbs. fresh sage leaves
2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs. pomegranate molasses glaze (optional)
1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Peel your roots, but do it “rustic” stylez by leaving on half the skin. Then chop all your ingredients roughly, except the raw nuts. Toss them with the olive oil and lay on a baking sheet — one that’s large enough that the stuffing isn’t piled too deep, you want it to roast evenly. Season, cover with aluminum foil, and stick in the oven.
2. After 20 minutes, remove pan and check to make sure nothing is smoking (turn your oven down) or sticking (scrape with a spatula and add a couple more Tbs. oil). Then douse with vinegar, and pomegranate glaze if desired. Remove the foil, to let it roast harsher, and return to oven and for another 30 minutes. If at any point the stuffing looks like it’s drying out, have a Tbs. or two of vegetable stock handy to soak the pan. Once the yam is sufficiently cooked (gives way easily to a fork jab), remove and serve alongside seitan.
A Huge and Endlessly Reverberating Shout goes out to Meghan Delehanty, the genius behind our crystal clear pod cast glory and the Merrill Bros. for our new bitchin’ ITunes system. Without them we are cavemen throwing rocks at typewriters.

Click Here to Download The Hot Knives Thanksgiving Podcast

Two-Minute Herb Bro-schetta

(serves four)

4 slices stale baguette
3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 can cannelloni beans
sea salt and pepper to taste
1. Toss your evenly sliced baguette pieces (crostini-sized) into the toaster, set it for about 2 minutes and prepare the white bean bruschetta topping.
2. In a medium sauté pan, bring the olive oil, garlic and shallots up to medium heat. After a minute, throw in the fresh herbs. While that cooks open your can of beans, drain and rinse, empty into a large mixing bowl.
3. Once the herbed oil is fragrant, about two minutes, toss over the beans and stir. Plate the toast pieces and top with your herbed beans. Garnish with extra sprigs of thyme, a splooge of olive oil, and salt and pepper.

Vegan Catalan Toast w/ Wilted Salad

(Serves four)

4 slices stale baguette
1 red bell pepper
4 large cloves garlic, peeled
1 8 oz. package tempeh
1/4 whole grain Dijon
1 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
1/4 cup cheap white wine
2-3 Tbs. Veganaise
1 head wilted lettuce
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
1/4 cup sherry vinegar (or balsamic)
sea salt and pepper to taste
1. Start by toasting your baguette slices. Take your (defrosted) tempeh and marinate for a few minutes: slather it in grain mustard and a dash of white wine, salt and pepper, set aside.
2. Using your stovetop, char your red bell pepper. Place it on direct flame, holding it with metal tongs. Flip sides every couple minutes until the entire pepper is black. Remove from heat and run under cold water, rubbing charred skin off until you’re left with a lovely roasted pepper. Set aside.
3. Grab your toasted bread and rub one raw garlic clove into each slice, until it melts like butter. Then toss back into the toaster on a lower heat.
4. Heat the leftover sauté pan from the broschetta oil, add more olive oil, and toss in your tempeh. Get it sizzley and flip after roughly 5-8 minutes. Once browned, remove and cut into long, thin, anchovy-length cutlets. Slice bell pepper in similar shapes.

5. Remove your twice-toasted bread, coat in Veganaise until the toast is white. Then place your pepper and tempeh slices in a corss-hatch, or diamond formation.
6. Reheat the same pan, at this point is boasts lots of spiced juices. Hit it with more garlic, shallots and a little oil. After toasting for about 5 minutes hit it with the sherry vinegar and let it sputter for another minute or two. In the meantime, revive your wilted lettuce in a bowl of ice water, rinse and dry. Slice lettuce into thin slices, place in your mixing bowl and then top with hot dressing.
7. Plate your salad and drape the toasts on top, diagonally.
Beverage: Duchess de Bourgogne
Soundtrack: Velvet Underground’s “Sunday Morning”