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Pumpkin-White Bean
Soup with Pomegranate Crema
Jícama-Tortilla Salad with Tangerine
Dressing
Barbecued Roast Goose with Cornbread-Oyster
Stuffing
Cherry-Pecan Relish
Chipotle-Maple Sweet Potatoes
Cranberry Pudding Tamales with Tequila-Orange
Curd
"Goose, pomegranates, tortillas, oysters, cornbread, tequila
-- all of these things say 'Texas' to me," notes Stephan Pyles,
the 43-year-old chef and co-owner of Dallas' celebrated Star Canyon.
So when he sat down to create a Texas holiday feast at our request,
he found indigenous ingredients becoming the foundation of a dinner
with all the flavor and originality of his signature New Texas
cuisine. In writing the recipes, he also found himself becoming
nostalgic about Christmases growing up in Big Spring. "I wanted
to evoke the comfortable familiarity of turkey and dressing, but
I didn't want to be a slave to tradition," he says. The results
honor Texas holiday favorites and, at the same time, strike out
on new culinary trails.
His pumpkin-and-white bean soup is drizzled with pomegranate
cream and sprinkled with the fruit's jewellike seeds ("The one
pomegranate tree in our yard in Big Spring wasn't real bountiful,
so whatever we got was a delicacy"). His salad of jícama,
mango, and crisp tortilla strips has a distinctive Mexican accent.
For the main course he bastes roast goose with a savory barbecue
sauce and stuffs it lavishly with cornbread and oysters ("Even
a goose from the frozen-food case seems wild, somehow").
Dried cherries and toasted pecans enliven the traditional holiday
relish, and maple syrup and smoky chipotle chiles give a lift
to that old standby, whipped sweet potatoes. For the finale, Pyles
creates plump dessert tamales, wrapping spicy cranberries, nuts
and crumbled gingersnaps in corn-husk packets. "Cranberries are
all-American; tamales are totally Mexican. I just like the idea
of blending Texas' two major cultures at Christmas," he concludes.
by Patricia Sharpe |
(List below includes ingredients for all recipes on this menu;
for single recipe grocery lists, see individual recipe pages.)
Meat & Dairy
4 ounces bacon
sour cream
unsalted butter
2 dozen fresh oysters
8- to 10-pound goose
milk
eggs
Produce
fresh orange juice
4 medium yellow onions
1 stalk celery
2 small carrots
4 red bell peppers
2 yellow bell peppers
2 bulbs garlic
fresh thyme
fresh chives
1 pomegranate
1 small red onion
6 tangerines
1 lime
1 small jícama
1 mango
fresh cilantro
fresh spinach
2 serrano chiles
fresh sage
2 jalapeños
1 orange
cranberries
2 large sweet potatoes
1 large white potato
Grocery
chicken stock
white pinto (cannellini) beans
1 pumpkin (3 to 4 pounds)
corn oil
salt
olive oil
pure chile powder
freshly ground black pepper
brown sugar
cider vinegar
Worcestershire sauce
dry mustard
ketchup
sugar
chopped pecans
8 to 10 dried chipotle chiles
pure maple syrup
ground pecans
flour
cinnamon
allspice
ginger
gingersnaps
baking powder
20 to 40 corn husks
1 vanilla bean
cranberry juice
Bakery
1 small loaf French or sourdough bread
6 corn tortillas
cornbread
Liquor Store
gold tequila
dry white wine
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