Hellmann’s Holiday Recipes

Following up from a couple of months ago with a Back to School-themed cooking demonstration, Hellmann’s returned to New York with Bobby Flay and Lori Loughlin for more recipes highlighting mayonnaise.

The setup was similar, with a small kitchen in a loft space and space for a couple dozen bloggers and journalists.

The duo prepared three dishes for us: a Thanksgiving appetizer and two dishes meant to showcase your turkey leftovers. The appetizer is a take on what my mom does every Thanksgiving: balsamic-glazed stuffed mushrooms, using shallots, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, spices, and of course, Hellmann’s mayonnaise in the stuffing. Here, Lori adds salt, apparently in the right quantities this time — in September, she added the entire pinch bowl to a recipe, oops…

This is the finished result. The food we were served came from a separate kitchen, cooked up from the same recipes as Bobby and Lori demonstrated. I’m not a fan of mushrooms in general, but this cremini mushroom was kind of meaty and earthy, and the texture was all right to me. Of course, it didn’t hurt that the stuffing was so tasty, with a little zing from the hot pepper added.

Next was a post-Thanksgiving idea that worked like gangbusters. I’m not really sure what “leftover turkey” means, as in my home that doesn’t exist (I’ve managed to consume a 14-pound turkey, by myself, over the course of the day), but apparently there are those who have extra after the main event. Bobby combined this fabled leftover turkey, Swiss cheese, and coleslaw in mayonnaise-based dressing made from scratch to make the Turkey Reuben with Thousand Island Coleslaw. Just perfect balance with the tasty roast turkey and not-too-heavy dressing and cabbage. Swiss cheese just rounded out the “reuben”.

As with the mushrooms, there was plenty of work at the stove for the Turkey Paella with Lemon and Smoked Paprika Aioli. Its onion, red peppers and garlic are cooked down in a Dutch oven in the grease left from cooking turkey (or pork) sausage, after which the rice, leftover roast turkey, and vegetables are added. Finally, the aioli (Hellmann’s plus garlic, lemon and paprika) is added and the dish is served to us.

Quite the dish, and it’s really fairly simple to prepare. The rice picks up a lot of flavor from the aioli, and the turkey is a pleasant surprise — in this case, both in sausage form and chunk form. As with the previous dishes, this also came off well, and fit the theme of the day perfectly.

While it may look like Bobby Flay is discussing how to open your jar of mayonnaise, I believe we were discussing useful ideas in the kitchen. The biggest takeaway? Always have chicken stock on hand. It’s just so useful, and simple to make. Save your bones! And after Thanksgiving, the equally-tasty — okay, way more tasty, just rarer — and useful turkey stock is a must.

After the presentation ended, during the photo-op phase (I declined), tables of the day’s dishes plus a couple others were out to photograph and sample. One of the new appetizers were these red onion and pepper “bruschetta”, with a spread made of mayonnaise and cheese. Quite sharply flavored from the sort-of marinated onions, but I had to force myself to limit intake.

The turkey reubens were presented for pretty pictures and easy eating.

This was a better shot of the full set of ingredients in the turkey paella. The turkey sausage was fairly mild; the chunks, a little less obvious, were the real stars in this dish.

Finally, I tried the grilled potato wedges with a flavored mayonnaise-based sauce. Another solid appetizer that would be painlessly easy to make at home, especially if your home has a grill in the backyard.

Not pictured, the swag bag was quite generous also. Inside the useful large zippered canvas tote, I found Bobby Flay’s Throwdown cookbook, turkey-appliqued potholders, a Flay acacia-wood trivet, a jar of Hellmann’s, and the ubiquitous flash drive with information and recipes. In all, I not only learned a lot and picked up some cooking tips, but ate some pretty good food thanks to Hellmann’s.

Please note that the food and gifts were courtesy of the Hellmann’s PR. I received no monetary compensation for this review, nor was I obliged in any way to post about this meal, positively or otherwise. This is my own opinion and I feel it was unbiased; you are free to take from this what you will.