10 Holiday Recipes from 10 Portland Musicians

Lisa Shonberg - STLS (formerly of Explode Into Colors, Kickball)

Sweet potato or yam fries

I love to make sweet potato or yam fries—for Thanksgiving, or any time of the year, really. It is my potluck staple. I'm considering staying in this Thanksgiving and working on some music writing. That's not my typical inclination, but i am feeling the work-in-the-cozy-cave bug. I have a feeling, though, that i will end up out and about at some point. My friends are too much fun.

Tip: For the most excitement use a combination of both root vegetables.

Steps:

*Cut the yams and/or sweet potatoes into long, fry-shaped pieces.
*Put a good amount of olive oil in a casserole dish [is that what they're called? the long rectangular glass things].
*Don't be afraid to stack up those fries.
*Dice up some fresh garlic; mix in a bit more olive oil, the garlic, and a whole lot of fresh ground pepper & paprika.
*Add a teeny bit of salt. Mix it all up so the fries are evenly covered.
*Stick them in the oven (I usually set it at 350).
*Occasionally toss & turn them around.
*Don't overcook them or they will get super mushy!
*Eat. Tell jokes.

Morgan Nicholson - Pictorials

Green Chile Piñón Stuffing with Sage Sausage

Here is the ultimate autumnal savory dish with a Northern New Mexican influence. My girlfriend and I have been taking it to the last few dinner events and it has been a hit.

Ingredients:
· 1/2 large loaf of sough dough cut in 3/4-inch cubes (roughly 6 cups).
· 3 cups of loosely crumbled cornbread.
· 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.
· 1 tablespoon of truffle oil (optional).
· 2 table spoons of unsalted butter.
· 1 large leek, chopped.
· 2 celery stalks, chopped.
· 1 green apple, chopped.
· 1/2 of a cup of fresh Italian flat-leafed parsley.
· 1/2 a cup of chopped fresh sage.
· 1/4th teaspoon of kosher sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
· 3/4 pound of Italian pork sausage.
· 1/2 cup of piñón nuts (pine nuts).
· Roughly 2 cups of vegetable broth.
· 1/2 to 1 cup of fire roasted New Mexican Green Chile.

Preparation:
· Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
· Spread cubes onto large baking sheet; bake until just dried (about 5-10 minutes). Remove bread from oven; add pine nuts for another 5-minutes until lightly toasted. Place in large bowl, and then add crumbled cornbread.
· In a large skillet, heat olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the apple, leeks, and celery. Saute until very tender (about 10-minutes). Add sausage until browned.
· Remove from heat; add all ingredients into the bowl. Toss in the Green Chile, broth, fresh herbs, add salt and ground pepper (if mixture is dry, add more broth).
· Spoon stuffing into large baking dish. Drizzle truffle oil on top. Bake until browned and crisp (about 50-minutes).

Mo Troper - Your Rival

Gluten-free Turkey Melt Intended For Lunch Before Thanksgiving Dinner Assuming You Aren't Fasting Before The Feast

Ingredients:
*1/2 tablespoon of butter (grease dat pan)
*Two slices of either Rudi's, Udi's or Jensen's brand gluten-free bread (avoid every other brand like a leper).
*If your family miscalculated and finished cooking the turkey four hours before dinner, slice a generous amount of light or dark meat (your pref, but stay away from those giblets). Or turkey lunch meat.
*1/4 teaspoon (kosher) salt
*Onion, thinly sliced
*Jack or cheddar cheese, or combination thereof
*Served with cranberry sauce (optional)

Directions: Place butter in skillet over medium heat. add onion and season with salt, and cook until Aztec golden. remove from skillet. re-grease pan, and place cooked onions on slices of bread, along with multiple slices of cheese and turkey. Hold skillet over medium heat until bread is golden and the cheese has melted. Enjoy, and look forward to dinner.

Tyler Keene - Log Across the Washer (formerly of And And And)

Keene Toast

Ingredients:
*8 eggs
*Real maple syrup
*4 pieces of white bread
*1/2 of a butter stick
*Splash of vanilla extract
*1/4 Cup of milk
*Cinnamon

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 12 minutes
Serves: 2

Steps:
Set the stove to medium heat and place a medium size non-stick pan onto the coils as they warm. Add the butter to the base of the pan to allow it to melt. Crack each egg and place them into a mixing bowl. I prefer to remove 2 or 3 yolks. add the milk and vanilla extract. whip the eggs, milk and vanilla extract for 30 seconds.

Bring the mixing bowl over near the pan. drown an individual slice of the white bread into the mixture. provide slight pressure to the bread to allow some absorption into the central fibers of the bread. Flip the bread over and repeat. Place the soaked bread onto the pan. Repeat the complete absorption process for the remaining slices of bread. Pour all remaining mixture over top of the bread in the pan.

Let the bread sit for about 5 minutes or until golden brown on the under-side, then flip the slices and let sit for about another 5 minutes (see figure 1).

Complete the dish with some organic Canadian pure maple syrup or maple butter (see figure 2) and add sprinkles of cinnamon. Put on some favorite tunes (see figure 3) and drink something.

Adam Murray - Ripley Snell/Safeword

Ghetto Spaghetto

When I was a kid my mom dated this Italian guy named Luigi. Some nights when they cooked together my mom made fried chicken, and Luigi made spaghetti. They called it ghetto spaghetto and I've been making it ever since. Here's the recipe:

*Fried Chicken Ingredients:
*Skin-on drumsticks of chicken
*Brown paper bag
*Flour
*Herbes de Provence (thyme, oregano, rosemary, fennel seed, sage, marjoram)
*Cayenne
*Beer
*Heavy cream
*Black pepper
*Canola oil

Steps:
1. Mix cream, beer (i prefer an earthy beer, maybe an IPA), cayenne in a bowl and soak the drumsticks.

2. Put flour, pepper and Herbes de Provence in the brown paper bag (the more flour the better, but herbs and pepper should be lightly distributed throughout the mixture of flour). Throw the soaked chicken in to the bag, roll the top down so as to seal the bag, and SHAKE DAT SHIT.

3. Get about 3/4 cup of canola into a frying pan (cast iron is king). Set heat on high until the oil is hot enough. How hot is enough? when it begins to POP. Once hot GENTLY breaded chicken in the pan evenly spaced (use tongs, as you will burn your knuckles using your fingers). Once chicken is in set the heat to medium. Turn your oven on warm.

Spaghetti Ingredients:
*Can of diced tomatoes (in water)
*2 Roma tomatoes
*Olive oil
*Basil (fresh)
*Garlic (fresh, dude)
*Noodles of your choosing
*Handful of diced prosciutto (cured pork>optional)
*Tablespoon of butter
*Quarter of sweet onion

Steps:
1. Onion in a sauce pan on medium heat along with butter. Let them caramelize.

2. Add diced tomatoes and sliced Romas.

3. basil, garlic, and prosciutto go in all at once, then cover the pan and change heat to low. Stir occasionally (salt and pepper to taste)

4. Boil a pot of water, ad olive oil and a little salt. Once boiling throw the noodles in.

By this time you should be getting color on your birds. Flip them. Don't be afraid of a little char, it tastes great, and it's far better than getting chicken that's cooked on the skin, but not inside.

Once you flip your chicken and it's evenly cooked on both sides, place on a baking sheet lined with another brown paper bag, and throw into the warm oven.

Now your priority is your sauce and noodles. Once the sauce is one mellifluous texture, add a couple spoon fulls of your pasta water to the sauce (it cuts the acidity nicely).

Plate that pasta, and drop those drumsticks on the side. Now you have Ghetto Spaghetto, ENJOY!

Abe Ingle - DJ Invisiboy

MashUp Potatoes

Ingredients (for 8):

*2 pounds of Potatoes (Use whatever kind you wish, but quality Is worth it - you want cooking potatoes not french fry potatoes)
*1-2 heads of Garlic
*1 Tb Butter (or more to taste)
*1 Tb Olive Oil
*1/4 - 1/2 Cup of Milk
*Pinch of Baking Powder
*Salt and Pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Drizzle olive oil on the garlic heads and wrap them in Foil.
Bake Garlic in the oven for an hour.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Add whole potatoes, and cook until tender (usually 15 minutes).
Drain, air-cool, and chop the potatoes.
Stir in butter, milk, salt, and pepper.
Remove garlic from the oven and cut them in half.
Squeeze cloves into the potatoes and mash them up until you like what you see.
While mashing, add in just a tiny pinch of baking powder to make your mashed potatoes extra fluffy!
Enjoy!

Note: DJ Invisiboy has a tie-in track coming out on a free continuous-mix mashup compilation this week. To listen, click here.

Alan Singley

Bestest. Oats. Ever.

Steps:
*Boil a Cup of Water.
*Add a Half Cup of Quick Oats.
*Cook a minute, pour into bowl.
*Mix in a TBSP or so of any Peanut Butter.
*Add fruit, nuts, honey or something like that.
*Add nutmeg and cinnamon.
*Splash with some kind of milk thing.

Makes 1 Serving
Pssst* The secret is the peanut butter.

Nadia Buyse - Ghost Mom

Gluten-free Mac Casserole

Ingredients:
*One package brown rice elbow macaroni
*1 shallot
*1 leek
*1 lb of ground spicy Italian sausage
*1 1/2 cups Greek style garlic sauce
*1-2 cups blue cheese
*olive oil tbs

Steps:

In one pot bring six cups water to boil. Put in rice pasta. Cook until tender.
In one pan put olive oil, sliced leeks, shallots and Italian sausage cook until sausage is brown.
Drain water from noodles and add in blue cheese and garlic dip. mix in sausage and leeks. stir together. Put in a baking pan and bake together for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

Tip: You can out cheese on top if you wanna.

Adam Forker - White Rainbow, Purple & Green

WHITE RAINBOW SGT FORKNER DR PIZZA'S ANTI-IMPERIALISM THANKSGIVING PIZZA SPECIAL

1 - Large Pizza with meat toppings from your favorite place
1 - Bowl of chipotle dipping sauce
1 - Frozen smoothie with yogurt, banana, mango, blueberry, peanut butter, flax seed, spinach and super green powder 1 - Bottle of Jameson

$45 Jack Lewis - Jack Lewis and Awkward Energy

Vegan Desert

Here's a super simple super yummy vegan desert recipe I make a lot (despite my not being the least bit vegan).

*1 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips (these could be vegan if need be) (about 10 oz)
*1 package soft silken tofu
*1 can coconut milk 13 oz
*A dash of cayenne to taste
*Sweetener of choice (agave, maple syrup)

Directions:

To start you'll need to melt the package of chocolate chips in a double boiler. (This might sound difficult but it's quite easy. Fill medium pot with water and bring to a simmer or boil. Place a small amount of the chocolate chips in a smaller pot. Place the pot in the boiling water. Be careful not to get any water in the pot of chocolate. Stir until the chocolate starts to melt, add more chocolate chips, until you have melted the whole package.)

Pour the melted chocolate into a blender. Add the can of coconut milk, tofu, sweetener of choice (in any amount you like) and add a pinch of cayenne pepper (if you want a yummy kick)

This amazing desert can be made in 5 minutes. (You can eat it hot or put it in the fridge where it will harden a bit into a mousse).

Once you make it once and impress your vegan or non vegan guests you'll find yourself bringing it to every potluck and dinner party.

Photos courtesy of contributors, except Alan Singley photo is by Rachel McGuire. Jack Lewis, Adam Murray and Lisa Schonberg photos are by Nilina Mason-Campbell.

Nilina's previous LocalCut compilation posts:
Big Q&A: Portland Musicians Get Political on Election Day
Compilation on Love from Portland's Music Scene