Shelley Wiseman
Contributor
Shelley Wiseman has been teaching people to cook since 1990 when she first opened La Place, a French-style cooking school in Mexico City. Her career began in New York City, cooking at illustrious restaurants Le Plaisir and Le Cherche Midi. Having fallen in love with French cookery, Wiseman then moved to France to hone her craft.
After years of cooking and teaching, Wiseman joined Gourmet as a food and travel editor, where she spent 12 years developing recipes for home cooks. In 2014, Wiseman joined fellow Gourmet alum Ian Knauer as co-owner of The Farm Cooking School. She now owns and operates Shelley’s Table, hosting cooking classes and curating culinary adventures for food-focused travelers.
Wiseman is the author or co-author of several cookbooks, including Just Tacos, The Mexican Gourmet, and The Farm Cooking School, Recipes and Techniques to Celebrate the Seasons. When she’s not cooking, she spends her time painting watercolors, hosting dinners with friends, and traveling as often as possible.
Roasted Sweet-Potato Rounds with Garlic Oil and Fried Sage
Food editor Shelley Wiseman thinks sweet potatoes are naturally sweet enough when caramelized in the oven, so she eschewed brown sugar and "savorized" them instead with garlic oil. Sage leaves—too potent and fuzzy to eat fresh but mellow when fried—serve as a lovely garnish for this autumnal side dish.
Cranberry, Quince, and Pearl Onion Compote
In this chutney-like compote, quince lends a ripe-pear creaminess, and pearl onions a lush sweetness, to tart cranberries.
Tuna Tonnato With Eggplant Salad
Dressing up jarred eggplant and canned tuna results in an incredibly lusty lunch. An easy tomato and mint salad spooned on top adds just the right touch of fresh acidity.
Celery Apple Granita
Before the storm of desserts comes the palate-cleansing calm. This playful, snowy mound of savory celery with hints of green apple and tarragon refreshes after the preceding spread. Counterintuitive as it may seem, taking a break before dessert¿to eat a pre-dessert¿will help you enjoy the sweet abundance that awaits.
Seckel Pear Tart with Poire William Cream
Adorable Seckel pears are on display in this showpiece, but the essence of pear permeates the entire tart. Musky, honeyed Bartletts are juiced into white wine, creating a poaching liquid for the Seckels. Doubly infused with pear, that syrup becomes the base for the poire William-spiked pastry cream and glaze.
Spaghetti and Swiss Chard With Garlic Chips
Executive food editor Kemp Minifie brought the idea for this restorative pasta from her own home. Everyone in the test kitchen loved the briny intensity of feta and olives offset by sweet currants and slightly bitter chard. The garlic doesnt stay crisp for long, so be sure to serve immediately.
Spiced-Pumpkin Soufflés With Bourbon and Molasses Sauce
Though these delicately spiced soufflés reach toward the skies, they capture the fragrant earthiness of pumpkin.
Turkey Neck and Giblet Stock
To make the most of the turkey's giblets and neck, we first brown them to give the resulting stock (and later, gravy) depth of flavor.
Parsnip Purée with Sautéed Brussels Sprouts Leaves
Your guests will wonder what makes this purée so silky. You can either look away demurely, hoarding your secret, or confess that its parsnips. Here, the floral subtlety of these ivory tubers is bolstered by the bite of whole Brussels sprouts leaves.
Wild-Mushroom Bundles
Sturdy forest-green collards provide the wrapping for buttery, juicy mushrooms. Elegance comes easily when it comes to these bundles, since they can be assembled a day ahead.
Foie Gras Toasts with Sauternes Geleé
These little stacks of toasted and buttered bread, foie gras terrine, and Sauternes gelée—crisp, creamy, cool—will make you swoon and sigh. They provide such a rich reward for so simple an assembly: The only thing you make from scratch is the gelée; its like a sip of dessert wine on top of this extraordinary first bite.
Roast Turkey with Black-Truffle Butter and White-Wine Gravy
When food editor Shelley Wiseman was asked to develop a recipe for an over-the-top turkey, she began by rubbing truffle butter under its skin. "Its a cheap shot," she admitted, "but its damn delicious." We all agreed—its the best turkey most of us have ever tasted. The butter, an excellent carrier of that unmistakable truffle flavor, moistens the turkeys meat and crisps its skin during a high-heat roast. For this splendid centerpiece, a nuanced French shallot-wine sauce is just the thing.
Pecan and Goat Cheese Marbles
Two holiday traditions—the nut bowl and the cheese plate—unite in these refined cheese balls. Lily-pad-like parsley leaves add a herbaceous note echoed in the surprising (and surprisingly good) combination of rosemary and coriander in the center of the cheese. These diminutive marbles coated with sweet buttered pecans are just the right size, making them neat to eat.
Chestnut, Leek, and Apple Stuffing
Anyone who swears by wet stuffing is likely to sidle over to the dry camp after a taste of this Thanksgiving classic. Beneath a crunchy crust is an amalgam of yielding bread, meaty chestnuts, and softened celery, apple, and leeks.
Smoked-Sable Tartare with Beets and Watercress
Smoked sable is as moist as smoked salmon, but with a voluptuous silkiness all its own. To balance its sea-saltiness, top it with earthy roasted beets and fresh watercress. This festive salad makes a wonderfully light start to a lavish Thanksgiving feast.
Tarragon Crab Salad
The keys to this fast, simple dish, which was inspired by a crab-stuffed tomato at Yves Camdeborde's Paris brasserie, Le Comptoir du Relais, are ripe tomatoes, fresh herbs, and excellent crabmeat.