Thanksgiving: food and cooking and stuff
Tuesday afternoon we drove to Brooklyn to pick up our pre-ordered, spatchcocked heritage turkey. This required driving to Brooklyn, which is always a pain. It was nine miles away as the crow flies, and took us almost an hour each way. But the pickup went smoothly, we got home and found room for the bird in the fridge.
Since both of us have been sick on-and-off for the past month, we planned to keep things relatively simple: no guests, no dishes we haven't made before.
Wednesday evening we made carrot slaw, and I made an almond-meal pie crust, filling to follow.
Thursday morning I woke late, almost 9 AM, made cranberry custard, filled the pie crust with it, and baked it. Then sliced a bunch of onions and put them in the oven to roast.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shalmestere woke up an hour later, came downstairs, and (since it was Thursday) fired up the TV to see this week's installment of "Lower Decks". Browned some sausage, chopped up more onions, celery, and peppers, and sauteed all that together for stuffing. Added breadcrumbs and turkey broth and put the stuffing in the oven, taking the onions out.
While the Macy's Parade was playing on the living-room TV, I prepared the turkey and set it to roast on top of a bed of onions, taking the stuffing out, whileshalmestere assembled the giblets, onion skins, and celery leaves and put them on the stove to simmer with turkey broth. Somewhere in there I took a shower, got dressed, fed and walked the dogs. (Kibble with raw turkey juice, yum!)
Every Thanksgiving there is at least one ingredient that we discover we're out of at the last minute. This year it was red wine for the cranberry sauce. Fortunately, the liquor store three blocks away was still open: it tends to have staff who know even less about wine than I do, but the guy behind the counter was able to guide me to the wall that has red wines, and I bought some Merlot for the cranberry sauce and some Cabernet Sauvignon for less-fruity applications.
While the Dog Show was playing on the living-room TV, I made cranberry sauce, then cleaned, stemmed, and sliced Brussels sprouts and set them in a frying pan to brown. Eventually took the bird out of the oven and moved it to a cutting board to rest. Put the stuffing back in the oven to brown on top, and put the pan of Brussels sprouts into the oven for a few minutes, then took them out, added salt, pepper, and Balsamic vinegar, and reduced that on the stovetop whileshalmestere made gravy in the roasting pan.
Dinner was about 5:30, by which time most of the accumulated cruft of the past two months had been moved off the dining room table. Turkey was moist, flavorful, and gorgeously browned. Gravy was luscious and flavorful. Brussels sprouts were tender, tangy, and caramelized. Carrot slaw was bright, tangy, and sharp. Cranberry sauce was tangy, mulled-wine-ishly spicy. Everything worked well.
After an hour or so to let things settle, we each had a slice of cranberry-curd tart, which also worked well. Walked the dogs, fed them again, and had hot chocolate while watching the traditional WKRP Thanksgiving Turkey Drop episode.
Put away leftovers, loaded the dishwasher, had a quiet, laid-back evening.
Since both of us have been sick on-and-off for the past month, we planned to keep things relatively simple: no guests, no dishes we haven't made before.
Wednesday evening we made carrot slaw, and I made an almond-meal pie crust, filling to follow.
Thursday morning I woke late, almost 9 AM, made cranberry custard, filled the pie crust with it, and baked it. Then sliced a bunch of onions and put them in the oven to roast.
shalmestere woke up an hour later, came downstairs, and (since it was Thursday) fired up the TV to see this week's installment of "Lower Decks". Browned some sausage, chopped up more onions, celery, and peppers, and sauteed all that together for stuffing. Added breadcrumbs and turkey broth and put the stuffing in the oven, taking the onions out.While the Macy's Parade was playing on the living-room TV, I prepared the turkey and set it to roast on top of a bed of onions, taking the stuffing out, while
shalmestere assembled the giblets, onion skins, and celery leaves and put them on the stove to simmer with turkey broth. Somewhere in there I took a shower, got dressed, fed and walked the dogs. (Kibble with raw turkey juice, yum!)Every Thanksgiving there is at least one ingredient that we discover we're out of at the last minute. This year it was red wine for the cranberry sauce. Fortunately, the liquor store three blocks away was still open: it tends to have staff who know even less about wine than I do, but the guy behind the counter was able to guide me to the wall that has red wines, and I bought some Merlot for the cranberry sauce and some Cabernet Sauvignon for less-fruity applications.
While the Dog Show was playing on the living-room TV, I made cranberry sauce, then cleaned, stemmed, and sliced Brussels sprouts and set them in a frying pan to brown. Eventually took the bird out of the oven and moved it to a cutting board to rest. Put the stuffing back in the oven to brown on top, and put the pan of Brussels sprouts into the oven for a few minutes, then took them out, added salt, pepper, and Balsamic vinegar, and reduced that on the stovetop while
shalmestere made gravy in the roasting pan.Dinner was about 5:30, by which time most of the accumulated cruft of the past two months had been moved off the dining room table. Turkey was moist, flavorful, and gorgeously browned. Gravy was luscious and flavorful. Brussels sprouts were tender, tangy, and caramelized. Carrot slaw was bright, tangy, and sharp. Cranberry sauce was tangy, mulled-wine-ishly spicy. Everything worked well.
After an hour or so to let things settle, we each had a slice of cranberry-curd tart, which also worked well. Walked the dogs, fed them again, and had hot chocolate while watching the traditional WKRP Thanksgiving Turkey Drop episode.
Put away leftovers, loaded the dishwasher, had a quiet, laid-back evening.
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So are the lemon-cranberry bars from the recent NYT recipe.
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