Thanksgiving is always about the dinner, and it seems as though every food story and recipe out there features the turkey, side dishes or dessert for the main meal. So, I thought I’d do something a little different and present you with a “morning after” meal, otherwise known as “not-turkey.”

I know turkey sounds really good right now, because you’ve waited patiently all year for the appropriate time to pig out on that bird. On the big day, you’ll spend four hours clawing at the oven door, tantalized by the smell of roasting turkey. Then you’ll sit down, and for the next eight minutes, you’ll stuff yourself with massive forkfuls of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and dinner rolls, working your way clockwise back to the turkey. There are seconds and perhaps thirds for those who temporarily convert a left butt-cheek into a second stomach.

After the turkey marathon, belts are loosened (or in my case, I’m smart and wear elastic) and round bodies roll toward the family room to settle into a comfy spot for the standard 12-hour turkey coma.

The next day? Trust me when I say no matter how you incorporate leftover turkey in your meal, it’s not going to be appetizing. Generally, I give myself at least three days before I try to bring back the leftovers in some form of soup, casserole or sandwich.

You’ll be so glad that you clipped this recipe, because Crispy Crepes with Apple, Brie and Prosciutto makes a fantastic light morning-after brunch.

It’s a recipe from Tyler Florence’s Real Kitchen: An Indispensable Guide for Anybody Who Likes to Cook, and I just love how the homemade crepe crisps up in the oven - sort of like a super-thin pizza. Serve these with a salad.

Crispy Crepes with Apple, Brie and Prosciutto Recipe

from Tyler Florence’s Real Kitchen: An Indispensable Guide for Anybody Who Likes to Cook

Basic Crepe Batter

1 cup milk
1/4 cup cold water
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter, melted (plus more for sautéing the crepes)

Combine the milk, water, eggs and flour in a blender. Blend on medium speed for 15 seconds, until the batter is smooth and lump free. Scrape down the sides of the blender and pour in 3 tablespoons of the melted butter. Blend it again for a second just to incorporate. Refrigerate the batter for 1 hour to let it rest. If the crepes are made immediately, they have a tendency to be rubbery; when you let the batter rest, the crepes have a better texture and softer bite.

Put an 8-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet over medium heat and brush with a little melted butter. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and swirl around so it covers the bottom evenly; pour back any excess. Cook for 30-45 seconds, until the batter sets. Use a rubber spatula to loosen the edges of the crepe, flip the crepe and cook for another 30 seconds. The crepes should be pliable, not crisp, and lightly brown. Slide them onto a platter and continue making the crepes. Cover the stack of crepes with a towel to keep them from drying out. Store leftover crepes by tightly wrapping in plastic wrap and refrigerating for up to 3 days.

Makes 10 (8-inch) crepes

for the Crispy Crepes with Apple, Brie and Prosciutto

1 recipe Basic Crepe Batter (above)
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup apple butter
1/2 pound thinly sliced prosciutto
2 Granny Smith apples, cored and thinly sliced
10 ounces Brie cheese, sliced
1 bunch watercress or arugula
Freshly ground black pepper

Make the crepes from the recipe above (you’ll only need 4 crepes). Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush olive oil on 2 baking sheets. Lay 2 crepes side-by-side on each baking sheet. Spread the apple butter on each crepe. Layer apples and prosciutto on each crepe slice. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets (top shelf to bottom shelf) halfway through until crisp like a thin pizza. Take the crepes out of the oven and lay a few slices of the brie on top so it melts slightly. Add a handful of watercress or baby lettuce and several turns of freshly ground black pepper.

Makes 4 servings

(click on photo for a set of 9 additional step-by-step photos on how I got this money shot)

While I love to make my own pizza or flatbread dough from scratch, sometimes I just don’t feel like getting my hands all messy with dough. I cheat a lot and buy packaged flatbreads from the supermarket and throw them on the grill or under the broiler for a quick pizza. One of my favorite fall recipes is Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbreads, briefly grilled on our barbeque grill.

The creamy gorgonzola with specks of blue-black cheese melts, the warmed slices of Granny Smith Apples and wedges of juicy figs cradle the shaved slices of Parmegiano-Reggiano. But we’re not done with it yet, sweet, sensual honey drapes each slice, some oozing over the edge, onto your fingers.

Feeling a little lightheaded and in need of a glass of wine with that description of Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbread!

By the way, I know you’re gonna ask…that beautiful knife is from New West KnifeWorks Fusionwood line. LOVELOVELOVE it.

This was a bitch to photograph by myself - and I wanted to give you my step-by-step photography of the Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbread…

I’m showing you photos before I used Photoshop, so that you can see before and after. I shoot in RAW with my Canon 40D and I used the 60mm macro lens to get nice, sharp closeups. I generally use Photoshop to sharpen, lighten the photo and increase the saturation just a bit to make the colors and detail really pop. I know many of you don’t have Photoshop (it’s expensive) but you can do the same in Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 ($99); and even in Flickr they have free online tools to help you lighten and increase saturation of your photos. I know Adobe has a free online editing tool…but can’t find it at the moment…if you find, will you please let me know?

I always try to fiddle with the photo and camera settings to take the perfect shot, which minimizes my use of software to touch up. But sometimes, the lighting is not just right or my white balance is a bit off and I’ll need to adjust. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, every single professional photographer does some sort of touch up, and it’s generally sharpening and color correction.

Here’s my before and after:

I’d love to show you what I do in Photoshop (it does make a big difference in the picture, but since so few of you have this software, I’ll have wait until I buy a copy of Photoshop Elements so that the tutorial is more relevant to more people.

In the meantime, here’s my step-by-step slideshow of how I got to my money-shot!

Oh yes, please enjoy the recipe for Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbread

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Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbread Recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 8-inch round flatbreads
4 ounces crumbled gorgonzola cheese
1 apple, cored and sliced very thinly
8 ripe figs, cut into 6 wedges each
2 ounces Parmegiano-Reggiano, shaved with vegetable peeler
2 tablespoons honey

Preheat your grill, half direct heat. Brush olive oil on top of each flatbread, especially the edges. Assemble flatbreads with gorgonzola, apples and figs.

Grill flatbreads over direct heat for 3 minutes, until the bottoms are toasted and browned. Then move to indirect heat and close cover for 3 minutes to finish melting the cheese and warming the fruit.

If broiling, set your rack to upper 1/3 position. Grill flatbreads without the toppings for 2 minutes to just get them nice and toasty. Then layer on the olive oil, gorgonzola, apples and figs and return to oven for 4 to 6 minutes until cheese has melted and fruit is warmed through.

Sprinkle shaved Parmegiano-Reggiano and drizzle honey on top.
Serves 4 to 6 as appetizer or dessert.

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Free Artisan Steak Tasting Package!

Please don’t forget to enter in the free drawing for Artisan Steak Tasting Package!! If you haven’t read it, this is one of the most interesting things I’ve ever done - tasted 6 different steaks from small ranchers and included tasting notes, breed, diet, region etc. The tasting kit includes 4 different artisan steaks so you can do your own tasting.

I’m currently in Mexico at the beautiful ClubMed Ixtapa resort with my good friend, Diane of WhiteOnRiceCouple and my brother. It would be silly to call this a “work trip,” since we’ve done more relaxing, napping, eating and drinking than actually working, but I guess that’s the whole point of ClubMed, right? They’re hosting us for a wonderful Food and Wine festival and I’ll be posting more when I return. In the meantime, enjoy this recipe for Grilled Fish Tacos with Roasted Corn and Pepitas.

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All my friends from “not-Florida” and are gushing about their cozy Fall dishes, how it’s time to break out the dutch oven and that finally, they can start wearing boots without looking like a summer fashion faux-pas. And I’m just here loungin’ in my swimsuit, sipping iced tea, toes dangling a $3 flip-flop and beaming from ear to ear, gently shaking my head.

Don’t get me wrong, I love long braises and warming stews, but Fall is just starting to breeze in and it’s still too damn hot to turn my kitchen into a sauna. Fall is finally grilling time. Oh, sure, we grill plenty during the summer, but pity the poor person with grilling duty outside in the middle of the sweltering, suffocating summer heat, which usually is my husband. It’s worse especially when we have a dinner party and I have to hand him his sunglasses, hat, sunscreen and a mountainous platter of foods to be grilled.

I get the glare. He heads outside.

And then we air-conditioned folks feel all guilty for leaving the lone man outside (but not guilty enough to join him), huddle right in front of the patio sliding glass door and give him the occasional smile-nod and thumbs up to make him feel like he’s still part of the party.

Fall is time when that dinner party heads outside, guests hover around the smoking grill, husbands gets the congratulatory slaps on the back, beers are passed around and all is well and dandy. That is…until I am forced back inside the very lonely kitchen to finish off a dish on the stovetop that couldn’t be grilled and to assemble that salad last minute so it can be served chilled.

My husband strolls towards the glass door, entourage behind him, raises his drink towards me and smirks.

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Grilled Fish Tacos with Roasted Corn and Pepitas Recipe

Buy firm fleshed fish at leat 3/4″ thick, otherwise the fish will come apart on the grill. If using thinner fillets, cook the fish in a frying pan. You can still stay outdoors - just use your frying pan directly on the grill grates. To prevent the fish from sticking to the grill grates, make sure your grates get a good scrubbing. You can also pour a little oil on a wad of paper towels and wipe on the grates. The fish will be coated in some olive oil to also prevent sticking. This recipe was inspired by Jim of The Lucky Pelican in Lakewood Ranch, where I had the best fish tacos outside of San Diego.

Recyclable plates made of pressed fallen leaves from Verterra. These biodegradable plates are so cool - they are oven, microwave and dishwasher safe. Time.com has a slideshow on how they are made.

1 1/2 pounds firm fleshed fish fillet, 3/4 inch thick (I like grouper or mahi-mahi)
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 ear corn, shucked
1 large tomato, 1/4″ dice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
8 corn tortillas
1/2 cabbage, shredded
2 limes, cut into wedges
1/4 cup pepitas or roasted pumpkin seeds

For the sauce (stir together)
1 cup light sour cream
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ancho chili powder (substitute with regular chili powder)

Preheat your outdoor grill. Cut the fish into 8 thick strips, about 1″ wide x 4″. You’ll be using 1 fish fillet per taco, 2 tacos per person. On a plate or bowl, toss the fish with the garlic salt, paprika and olive oil. Brush a bit of the oil onto the corn on the cob. Grill the corn on the grill over direct heat, rotating a few times.

Three minutes after starting the corn, it’s time to grill the fish for 2-4 minutes each side, depending on thickness of the fish. During the last 2 minutes of grilling, throw the corn tortillas on the grill, flipping halfway. The corn, fish and tortillas should be ready around the same time.

Use a serrated knife to cut the kernals off the cob. Toss with the tomato, salt and cilantro. Assemble tacos with cabbage, a piece of fish, a spoonful of sauce, grilled corn/tomato, a squeeze of lime and a sprinkling of pepitas.

Serves 4

(click on photo for shot-by-shot food styling and photography analysis of some of the photos that led up to the “money shot”)

Chinese restaurants in China don’t really have Chinese Chicken Salad on their menus, it’s a creation of Chinese-American restaurants! According to Cecilia Chiang, author of The Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey from Beijing to San Francisco(one of my all time favorite Chinese American cookbooks), lettuce was rare and imported in China, and “salads” referred to pickled items. But, I still love a good Chinese Chicken Salad, especially if it’s got a tangy, sweet sauce and crunchy bits of fried wonton strips.

But please, Applebee’s restaurant, can we rename your “Oriental Chicken Salad” to something more hip? Asian Chicken Salad or Chinese Chicken Salad would be much better. Oriental is such a dated word…so..19th century!*

Recipe for Chinese Chicken Salad is below.

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Food Styling and Photography

Many of you requested that I continue posting my shot-by-shot analysis of all the failed photos that led up to this one that I like…my “money shot.” I also show you my photo setup - which really doesn’t change too much during the “NOT-winter” season. I use natural light as much as I can, and when dreary winter comes along, I switch to using my Lowel EGO lights.

Vegan Yum Yum just posted a fabulous write up on food photography - make sure you check it out.

In the meantime, here’s my shot-by-shot analysis of the Chinese Chicken Salad photos!

For more food photography posts, I have a whole category called “Food Photography/Blog Tips.”

Updated Steamy Kitchen Web Design

Do you like the new look? Cleaner, brighter and much faster. I’m still working on it, but I think this is a lighter design that fits my personality more.

Guess what? Now I have a print functionality!!! If you want to print out a recipe without the sidebars and ads and stuff, there is a little print icon right next to each post’s header text. Click on that and you’ll get a nice, clean version that you can print out.

Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe

This Chinese Chicken Salad recipe makes a really quick light meal if you use store-bought roasted chicken and pre-fried crispy noodles (found in a bag or canister in the Asian section of supermarket.) I like to get a whole rotisserie chicken, use the breasts for the salad and the remaining meat for paninis the next day. The bones? I throw them in a pot, add water carrots, celery and make a very flavorful soup. Don’t waste the bones of a roasted chicken!

You can also throw in a handful of almonds too. The dressing for this Chinese Chicken Salad is one of my husband’s favorites - a copycat version of Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad dressing which is a tangy and sweet.

serves 4-6

15 wonton skins, cut into strips (or if you don’t want to fry: 1 cup fried crispy chow mein noodles)
oil for frying
1 head lettuce, leaves shredded or torn
2 cooked chicken breasts, meat shredded with your fingers
1 cucumber, sliced
handful snow peas, sliced on diagonal
11 ounce can mandarin oranges, drained

For the dressing
a la Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad Dressing

makes scant 1 cup (use half for the salad and store the rest in refrigerator)

6 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

To make the salad dressing, whisk together the honey, mayonnaise, mustard until very smooth. Then whisk in the oil and vinegar.

To fry the wonton skin strips, heat 1 inch of oil until 375F. If you don’t have a thermometer, just slide one wonton strip into the oil - it should sizzle immediately and turn light golden brown in about 30 seconds. Fry the wonton strips in several batches and drain on a rack or layers of paper towels. Each batch should take about 30 seconds to 1 minute to fry.

Assemble Chinese Chicken Salad with lettuce, chicken, cucumber, snow peas, mandarin oranges. Drizzle on salad dressing and sprinkle with wonton strips.

How to poach chicken breasts

If you have uncooked chicken breasts, you can poach the chicken breasts. In a medium pot, add the chicken breasts and fill with water or broth 1 inch above the chicken. Add 1 teaspoon of kosher or sea salt to the water. Bring the pot to a boil and immediately turn the heat to low, simmering for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and cover. Let sit for 20 minutes. Save the poaching liquid for cooking or for soup. There you go…perfectly poached chicken breasts!

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Classy Is My Middle Name

The winner of the cookbook, Dave’s Dinners signed by Dave Lieberman is Lynn, the Half Asian. Part of the fun was to have each of you guess what my pickup line to Dave Lieberman was, when I first met him. Though your answers had nothing to do with winning - it was just for shits and giggles.

Here’s what Lynn thought I said:

“I don’t have to show my husband the film…”

Funny! Even though that’s not what I said, Lynn is the random winner that  was chosen by the Psychic Science random number generator. Congrats! Email me at jaden@steamykitchen.com with your address.

So, what was my pickup line to Dave Lieberman?

“Ohmygod. I have lens envy!”

Clearly, his was big.

imabigdork. Yes, that’s exactly what I said to him the moment I saw Dave Lieberman. And he was sooo sweet, offering me use of his big lens. But after further inspection of his big lens, we discovered his big lens didn’t fit into my camera.** Just wasn’t a good fit, which was just too bad. We tried, but it didn’t work out.***

Sigh.

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*The word “Oriental” is not offensive at all to me (very few things actually offend annoying people like me) It’s like the word “Chinaman” - not offensive, it’s just a dated word that people don’t use anymore. Funky seeing the word “Oriental” on a big chain’s menu!

**My camera is very capable of handling big lenses, just not Dave’s big lens. Seems like wrong type. (ahem)

***But if you must know, his big lens fits his Canon Rebel XT but isn’t compatible with my Canon 40D.

I’m the newest guest author at my friend Elise’s blog at Simply Recipes!

My first recipe is Chinese Shrimp Fried Rice.

Come on over and read the secrets to light, fluffy and flavorful Chinese Shrimp Fried Rice — secrets that my Mom taught me.