Every cook has had the nightmare-- a solidly-frozen turkey on Thursday morning, no onions for the green bean casserole and a pumpkin pie gone wrong.
But perhaps you should put aside the recipes for roasted turkey, the casserole, and pie and tune in to Wednesday's Up to Date, as local chefs Ted Habiger of Room 39 and Celina Tio of Julian will be in studio to help tune up your turkey dinner and offer their own twist on the traditional holiday table.
Not quite sure how to carve a turkey? Chef Ted shows us how:
Need a great dessert? Here's the recipe for Ted Habiger's bread pudding:
2 loafs Farm to Market Panettone Bread, cubed
2 ½ cups half and half
3 eggs
1 Tbsp ginger, minced
¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsp maple syrup
Preheat oven to 350. Warm up half and half in a saucepan with the ginger, sugar and maple syrup. When it is just below a boil, mix it with the eggs, 2 ounces at a time, whisking eggs the whole time. (Be careful not to scramble the eggs—add the liquid slowly.) Combine the custard mixture with the bread and let sit for 10 minutes. Spoon out into buttered 4-ounce ramekins. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes or until set. Serve with crème anglaise or ice cream.
Have a question for our expert chefs? Call 816 235 2888 during the show, post here or on KCUR's Facebook page, or Tweet your question/suggestion to @KCURUptoDate. Then tune in for tips to make your guests gobble gobble up the feast at your house.
Ted Habiger began his restaurant career as a server at the 75th Street Brewery in 1994. He worked his way through the restaurant with positions including bartender, line cook and sous chef. In 1995, he entered fine dining first as a line cook, then sous chef of Steve Cole's Cafe Allegro. In 1997, he was named Chef de Cuisine and held the position for three years. He was reviewed by the New York Times travel section in December 1997 stating that Cafe Allegro was one of the "best in the city, and... certainly is the top tier". The Kansas City Star awarded him with three and a half stars in 1998. In May 2001, he moved to New York City to work for Danny Meyer's renowned Union Square Cafe. He trained under James Beard Award winner Michael Romano and chef de cuisine Dan Silverman, becoming sous chef in late 2001. In 2003, Habiger moved back to Kansas City working part-time at 40 Sardines while he launched Seasons Catering and Room 39 with Andy Sloan. Celina Tio began her career cooking at Philadelphia’s Ritz-Carlton hotel. By age 23, she had been promoted to head the hotel’s Grill Room. After moving to Orlando, Fla., she helped open three specialty restaurants for Walt Disney World: Spoodles, featuring Mediterranean cuisine; Citricos, specializing in Southern French dishes and Palo, an upscale Italian experience. She spent the following seven years heading the kitchen at Kansas City’s renowned American Restaurant. There, she garnered both local and national accolades, including 2005 Chef Of The Year by Chef magazine and the James Beard Foundation’s 2007 Best Chef: Midwest. She now focuses on her first proprietary restaurant, Julian, in Kansas City, while also competing on popular cooking shows such as Food Network’s “The Next Iron Chef” and Bravo’s “Top Chef Masters.”
